This has been a week of flashes of intense rain, scattered between pretty hot weather at times. Preparing to leave the house has been a nightmare! One day we left without an umbrella, because the sky was blue and it was early in the week, so we hadn't learnt yet. Plus, it was only a couple of hours before we would return home for lunch. However, the rain struck and we dashed for a bus home to retrieve water gear (it then proceeded to be really sunny and I looked like an idiot in my waterproof and really warm boots!). The Elders had had it worse, because they had not returned for an umbrella and when we passed them at the end of the day they were completely drenched. Elder Garcia had a clear line down his trousers where one side was a completely different colour to the other. As they hadn't had money to afford a bus pass this month, they had been walking all day in the rain. One time a bus passed them and the driver told them to get in, when they proceeded to say they had no money, he insisted that they hop on anyway! Bus drivers are nice here! We got hit by the rain again going to church, because as we waited for our bus, we realised we hadn't got the packet of pamphlets we had promised our ward mission leader, so we waved goodbye to the bus, got the pamphlets and then had to walk all the way in torrential rain (waterproof and umbrella was not enough protection!).
We have taught some good lessons though. One day we took the trip out to Anthanol (requires a bus not covered in our monthly pass, so it's quite a sacrifice!) and visited the parents of one of our members. They were actually there and waiting for us even though we had received no reply from our member. They were really lovely, insisted that we had a snack with them and asked lots of questions, especially as their daughter is getting married and they wanted to know lots about it. They also told us some great stories about the history of Coimbra, like the wife of the King who founded the university, Queen/Saint Isabel, who shaved her hair when her husband died and laid it on his tomb and miraculously turned bread into roses.
We also had a different kind of Ala Ingles. Lina, our German friend, turned up with Portuguese grammar books, so we spent some time perfecting our Portuguese. Then our recent convert Carlos turned up, we made popcorn and watched a Mormon Message about living up to the blessings that God has in store for us. We talked about the film in English, which was really good, especially as we had been trying to catch Carlos at home all week!
Our ward mission leader had this great idea that we would do a training for the members on the 5th Sunday this week. We basically split into groups with one missionary and 3 or 4 members. We then had to practice teaching a lesson with our 'member' to contribute as well and then give feedback on how they did. The two people being investigators the first time had not grasped the concept of their role and were talking about they own conversion stories, or interrupting my lesson to tell me about Joseph Smith (how do you know about him yet?!) It was fairly chaotic, but a great opportunity to get the members more interested, less worried etc. about missionary work.
During Noite Familiar we played mafia and I was the murderer! Yes! Obviously, as normal, there were people who hadn't grasped the concept of the game. This meant it was pretty easy to manipulate people and no one ever guessed me as the murderer. Right up until the final three and we voted off Elder Garcia instead. Oh, the sense of accomplishment!
Anyway, on a spiritual note, I have been reading lots of Elder Utchdorf talks this week, as I an trying to build up a folder like Sister Fernandes´ Elder Holland one. I had remembered the story of the statue of Christ that had been destroyed in World War Two and even though most of it was repaired, the hands were not. The people in the town used this as a reminder that we are Christ's hands. It is amazing to think that we can literally act for him as we develop Christ like attributes. This week we were lucky enough to knock on the door of an old lady who didn't understand a lot of our message, but was begging for us to come back, because she couldn't go to church due to ill health. We didn't share exactly the same faith, but I feel privileged to be able to offer some emotional support for her. This mission is not just about baptising people, but ministering as Jesus would have done, helping people feel closer to him and finding the peace they need. Those are the days that we can be the hands of Christ here on earth.
Love hearing for everyone (even if I am really jealous of my family's trip to Disney land this week!)
Com amor,
Sister Regan xx
We have taught some good lessons though. One day we took the trip out to Anthanol (requires a bus not covered in our monthly pass, so it's quite a sacrifice!) and visited the parents of one of our members. They were actually there and waiting for us even though we had received no reply from our member. They were really lovely, insisted that we had a snack with them and asked lots of questions, especially as their daughter is getting married and they wanted to know lots about it. They also told us some great stories about the history of Coimbra, like the wife of the King who founded the university, Queen/Saint Isabel, who shaved her hair when her husband died and laid it on his tomb and miraculously turned bread into roses.
We also had a different kind of Ala Ingles. Lina, our German friend, turned up with Portuguese grammar books, so we spent some time perfecting our Portuguese. Then our recent convert Carlos turned up, we made popcorn and watched a Mormon Message about living up to the blessings that God has in store for us. We talked about the film in English, which was really good, especially as we had been trying to catch Carlos at home all week!
Our ward mission leader had this great idea that we would do a training for the members on the 5th Sunday this week. We basically split into groups with one missionary and 3 or 4 members. We then had to practice teaching a lesson with our 'member' to contribute as well and then give feedback on how they did. The two people being investigators the first time had not grasped the concept of their role and were talking about they own conversion stories, or interrupting my lesson to tell me about Joseph Smith (how do you know about him yet?!) It was fairly chaotic, but a great opportunity to get the members more interested, less worried etc. about missionary work.
During Noite Familiar we played mafia and I was the murderer! Yes! Obviously, as normal, there were people who hadn't grasped the concept of the game. This meant it was pretty easy to manipulate people and no one ever guessed me as the murderer. Right up until the final three and we voted off Elder Garcia instead. Oh, the sense of accomplishment!
Anyway, on a spiritual note, I have been reading lots of Elder Utchdorf talks this week, as I an trying to build up a folder like Sister Fernandes´ Elder Holland one. I had remembered the story of the statue of Christ that had been destroyed in World War Two and even though most of it was repaired, the hands were not. The people in the town used this as a reminder that we are Christ's hands. It is amazing to think that we can literally act for him as we develop Christ like attributes. This week we were lucky enough to knock on the door of an old lady who didn't understand a lot of our message, but was begging for us to come back, because she couldn't go to church due to ill health. We didn't share exactly the same faith, but I feel privileged to be able to offer some emotional support for her. This mission is not just about baptising people, but ministering as Jesus would have done, helping people feel closer to him and finding the peace they need. Those are the days that we can be the hands of Christ here on earth.
Love hearing for everyone (even if I am really jealous of my family's trip to Disney land this week!)
Com amor,
Sister Regan xx