Bombeiro Support and Lunch

Thursday, Aug 9

I made a quick trip to the corner frutaria for last minute items for lunch today.  I love having everything so close – right next to our apartment building.

An area of Portugal just north east of us has been on fire for a week (Moncheque).  The missionaries had been asked to contact Branch members for donations to assist the “Bombeiros.”  The Sisters called asking for help picking up supplies around the area.  We saw some new areas of the city as we went to members’ homes for their donations.  I bought a big bag of oranges to add to the stash.  We loaded the back of our little car and drove to the church to drop everything off.  The Elders were assigned to deliver the goods to the fire house.  Then we returned to prepare lunch for the missionaries.

We had to work fast to have everything ready before the missionaries arrived.  We served chicken taco salad with all the toppings, salsa, fruit salad, bread and juice.  We finished with frozen ice cream bars.  We enjoyed lunch with the missionaries and got to know each other better.  They had lots of questions about senior missionary service. (Foto: Sister Kelson, Sister Madsen, Elder Alder, Elder Buarque)

Later in the afternoon, we  received a call from the Sisters saying that the Branch President wanted us missionaries to come to the church to take care of all the supplies we had left.  The Sisters were a bit perplexed.  But we all went to the church to help sort, package, and load everything back in our cars to take to the firehouse.  Pres. Rui was there to assist. 

Outside of the city stands a beautiful new facility with amazing fire trucks and equipment.  The firemen were appreciative of the donation and showed us around.  I asked about a “crest” on the sides of some of the fire trucks.  We were told it symbolizes the beginnings of the Algarve, the southern area of Portugal.  “Life for Life,” is the motto with laurel leaves as a symbol of victory and honor.  On the left is a depiction of the Catholic king, on the left is a Muslim ruler.  They joined together centuries ago and were instrumental in forming the Algarve, ruling together until the Catholic king decided to run the Muslims out of the country.  They later settled in places like Morocco.

Bombeiros Municipais de Loulé was established in 1927.  The men are proud of their profession and shared information and booklets – while the missionaries shared pass along cards and an invitation to learn more about our message.

In the evening we walked to the big park a few blocks north of our apartment.  We were amazed how such a spacious, green area is sitting in the middle of the tangle of streets and structures.  It was dusk, but it was beautiful.  We will return during the day to take pictures.  There were soccer courts, rugby fields, miniature golf, exercise equipment, swimming pool, tennis courts, and lots of biking/walking paths.  Amazing.

See if you can decipher the words and then find the meaning.