Monday, August 27
This P-Day we had made plans to go to Sand City in the town
of Péra. This is an attraction that Sister
Madsen had hoped to visit before she was transferred from the Algarve. Today was the last chance.
Because it has been so hot (and due to other commitments),
we decided to be at Sand City as soon as it opened – 10:00. We were a few minutes late due to trying to
avoid the toll road to get there. GPS
took us on an alternative route which sent us back to the same freeway just in
time to get zapped by the toll cameras.
We did have a nice rural tour of Boliqueime where we saw people
harvesting carob pods from the trees.
The countryside was beautiful.
Sand City is a unique “tourist” attraction in the middle of almost nowhere. (sandcity.pt) Artists from around the world have assisted in carving scenes into sand. This is the 15th year of adding an additional theme, and it was Star Wars. The essence of this kind of sand sculpture is based on the optimal combination of sand and water to make a moldable material that can be carved in many ways. Almost any form can be carved in this material depending on the technique and skills of the sculptor. The fine detail in faces was particularly amazing to me. The sand dries hard and the sculptures can last for years, can be patched, and some times destroyed to recreate something else. 
The Sisters were particularly fun to watch as they would try to pose in front of characters that different family members liked.
The afternoon was spent in studying. We had been invited for dinner with Michael
and Corrinne Mazi – our new friends here on holiday. They asked Merl to present the Family Home
Evening message. Bro. Mazi speaks
several languages, and his wife speaks mostly French or Dutch with a little
English and Portuguese. The two sets of
Loulé missionaries also were invited.
Sister Mazi had given us a hand-drawn map that was rather confusing, so
I tried to put it into the GPS – took us to house under construction in
Quarteira. A phone call got us and the
Sisters on the right track again, and we found the lovely home with its
beautiful, natural gardens/yard. Bro. Mazi showed us around his yard - he gets so excited about everything that is growing there. The
property is located about ¼ mile from the beach. The Elders got lost so Sister Madsen and
Sister Mazi went to find them – while the rest of us enjoyed the appetizers.
Sister Mazi had spent all day preparing a beautiful and
delectable French dinner – cous-cous with chicken and fresh vegetables cooked
in a broth. At the end, I shared that it
was our 48th anniversary -
and Merl had taken me to a wonderful French restaurant for dinner with our best
friends. (The Mazis gave us a quick tour of their house with the upstairs
bedrooms. They invited us to return to
Portugal after our mission to stay in their home for our holiday. We just may do that!)
Merl’s added comments: 
Brother Mazi: story of conversion.It appears he randomly stopped by a neighbor’s house and was invited to listen to the missionaries that were there. After a few future meetings with four missionaries – a sister sitting next to him invited him to read the Book of Mormon. He didn’t accept at first. She told him if he did not commit to read it, this would be the last time they would see him. He went home, and began to reason with himself. “I have two choices, read the book or not read the book. If I don’t read the book, I cannot know for sure if it is true. If I read the book, then I can know. Once he began reading, he read until 3:00 am the next morning. His mother came to his room and said, you must be to work at 5:00. He didn’t want to stop reading. He stopped and knelt down and prayed about the book … He knew it was true. Then he wanted to be baptized immediately. He called the missionaries and told them he wanted to be baptized on the weekend. They told him he had to have all 12 lessons before they could baptize him. So – he had all 12 lessons, 2 a day, that week so he could be baptized. Now he is a sealer in the temple in Holland. He flies back and forth to Holland each week that he is assigned to serve as a sealer – most weekends.
His wife was 7 years old and was instructed by her parents to prepare for baptism. She wanted to know about the truth of the Book of Mormon. She read it and began praying - for nine months she asked for an answer. When she turned 8, her parents asked her if she was ready. She said no. she had not received an answer and wasn’t going to be baptized yet. Then one day, the thought ( answer) came into her mind, “why do you ask me to know if the Book of Mormon is true when you already know it is true? And she did know, she just wanted an answer. She then accepted to be baptized.
Another experience: While he and his wife were relaxing out
on their patio, the spirit told him to go into the center of the city. He didn’t know why or where (and his wife
initially wasn’t pleased to be disturbed).
He soon found four missionaries; one set had left the keys in their joint
apartment, so they didn’t have keys to the car or the apartment. They asked him why he was there; and he told
them he didn’t know. He was just told to
go into the city – so he did. He
assisted them in solving their problem and got them on their way again.
I have been very impressed with this couple who always
respond immediately when they sense a prompting from the spirit. And they attest to the guidance of the spirit
any time something occurs that they hadn’t planned that seems to be a
coincidence in their lives for good. They felt they were in the market at the
right time and place to meet us; they were supposed to be there to meet us.
They didn’t know why they were there.
After dinner, when they found out it was our anniversary,
they immediately told us they had a discussion whether to have us to dinner
Sunday or Monday and then decided Monday would work best and then invited us
and the four Loulé missionaries to dinner. Not only was it our anniversary, but Sister
Madsen is leaving tomorrow for Porto. They were just overwhelmed at the seeming
coincidence – supposed to happen – dinner on this special day. The spirit guided them; and it truly was a
dinner fit for royalty! We could not
have planned a more special anniversary dinner.
I had been assigned ahead of time to give the FHE lesson. I
used a portion of the farewell talk I gave in TF on Spiritual Gifts. When he saw I had printed two copies (one for Kathlyn
so she could follow along), he asked if he and his wife could read along with
me (written in Portuguese and English). I
gave it in Portuguese. I was told that they could understand my words and
message. This turned into a testimony meeting where each one of us bore our
testimonies. This was really a special day.
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