Apartment work, Trip to Lagos, and Something Good to Eat

Wednesday, Sept. 12

The missionaries came by this morning to pick up the soup.  We hope it will help.  What these “kids” need to do is drink lots of water and stay in bed so their bodies can recuperate.  Like that will ever happen!

Stayed in all day taking care of business.  Merl spent most of the day putting together financial transactions, receipts, reimbursement reports, etc. to be scanned and emailed to Lisbon.  Add that to his personal budget tracking, and you have a full day.

I organized the kitchen cupboards and finished the inventory of our apartment.  I sent inventory reports on our apartment as well as the Olhão/Tavira Elders and the Faro Elders.  Tomorrow we will deliver the desk to Olhão and do another inventory of the Olão A Elders and the Faro Sisters.  Then only two more to do here in Loulé.  We need to get them done this week – next week we will be going to Lisbon for two days (Southern Portugal Zone Conference one day and Leadership Council the next).  We will be home for a few days and then hope to go to Madrid to attend the temple with the Loulé branch.   I  watched some young girls playing under our window while their parents were eating at the little shop next to us.  We are situated in a nice location.

I made a big batch of sweet sticky rice that didn’t entice Merl at all . . . but I thought it was really good. Be evening, I felt like I was pacing like a caged animal, so we went for a long walk around another section of winding streets.  Merl didn’t bring his wallet, and I forgot my camera so we just enjoyed the cool weather and watching people and discovering new places we will want to visit in the future.  (Foto:  Finally found some vanilla - same size as a bottle of fingernail polish.)

We thought we would go to bed at a decent time but spent some time on our MajicJack phone talking with kids.  Brian and family have not yet been successful in catching Navy flights to Italy.  The approaching hurricane has not helped the cause.  In fact, they are heading north to get out of the path as the southern and central coasts are being evacuated.  The plan is to attend the Philadelphia Temple and spend a few days in that area.  Sure hope things work out for them!

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Thursday, Sept. 13

We received a phone call first thing this morning from the Sister Trainers in Lagos requesting a ride for our Sisters tomorrow.  They are planning splits, and the Laytons will be on their way to the temple in Madrid.  We said we could accommodate them. 

Before we took off to the east to do inventories, we delivered some soup and sticky rice to the Sisters next door. Then off we go. . . we do most of our traveling with my big tote of cleaning supplies and Merl’s big toolbox.  We usually end up needing both.

The first stop was at the Olhão A Elders.  They have splits with the Faro Elders today and needed a ride so our plans needed to be changed.  The car had a desk in the back, so while I did the inventory, Merl and the Elders somehow squeezed into the car to deliver and assemble the desk at the Olão B Elders apartment.  While there, Merl also replaced the shower head so everything is working well again.  Elder White had made a batch of chocolate chip cookies and sent everyone away happy.

I used my amazing grease remover to clean out some cupboards before replacing all the miscellaneous plastic ware.  Inventory done – now time to deliver the Elders to the church in Faro and on to the Sister’s apartment.

Merl repaired a toilet and jimmy-rigged a shower head while I did the inventory.  I got to the question about a bath mat – and the Sisters took us to the bathroom to show us something.  A big towel was spread out next to the tub – that looked normal; but they removed the towel to reveal a ratty, old mat that had glued itself to the floor.  They couldn’t pull it up or out.  Merl finally was able to pull the woven part off, but a nasty solid layer was left behind.  He used a hammer and a trowel to chisel it off.  Sister Esteban wanted to try her hand at it (thinking it looked fun).  It took some time, but they now have a clean floor; and we will send in the request for a new bath mat–  maybe bright pink to match their shower curtain.  

The Sisters bagged up a couple of sacks of abandoned clothing and shoes to either send to the Mission office or to a Relief Society President or to the trash.  They shared some fruit juice that was some of the best we have had here.  It was a gift from a member.  I took a picture of the box and made a goal to find it.  (They recommended Aldi.)  They also showed us a plastic wrap product that we can use to make ice cubes.  I need to get me some of that! 

There just happened to be an Aldi not too far away, so we stopped on our way home.  I did find the juice and also some other items not found in most of the stores:  a big bag of corn chips, a can of Thai soup, a box of packets of instant mashed potatoes.  It was 3:00 p.m. by the time we got home.  After a late lunch, I got the inventories completed and sent off to the Mission office.

The Sisters stopped by to get an update on a hurricane they had heard about.  Sister Kelson’s sister lives in North Carolina, and she has been worried about it.   We shared what we knew and let her know that most people along the coast had been evacuated (the storm has not hit yet).  They said they loved the rice with fresh mango – like the mango sticky rice from Prasai’s back home.  I hadn’t thought of that!  I insisted on a late outing to find a mango before the stores closed - made it just in time.  Merl also found a nice bunch of seedless grapes on sale. . . about $.80 cents a pound (pictured above). He says they are the best he has had here in Portugal.  Successful trip – and the mango sticky rice was wonderful (but I ran out of rice).

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Friday, Sept. 14

Apartment inventory this morning for the Loulé Elders.  They have a nice apartment on the other side of town, and it didn’t take much time.  I think we must be getting better at this.

We have been asked by some at home about our responsibility for apartment cleaning and inventory.  From what we understand:  When the two missions (Porto and Lisboa) merged in July, the office couple (Elder and Sister West) from Porto transferred to Lisbon to work with the new mission
president.  The two previous mission presidents had very differing ways of doing thing,s so many early efforts for us have been in getting apartments up to a new standard.  Some apartments across the country may be closed due to fewer missionaries scheduled to come as others leave.  Inventory from the closed apartments may be used to supplement apartments in need of things considered “essential.”  So we have been helping get apartments up to standard and taking inventory for the mission office staff.  About done with this now.  We will still have inspections once each transfer to make sure the missionaries are in a clean, healthy environment.  Who better to do this than a former Health Inspector!

 

After arriving back home, we walked over to Vodafone to pay our bi-weekly internet bill.  There was quite a line in the little office, so we continued up the street checking out the shops.  We rounded a corner and found a Waffle loja that had gelado (like our sorvete loja in Brazil).  We decided to each get a cup to eat on our way back.  I felt like people were looking at us strangely – eating ice cream on the street.  We then learned (from our Vodafone friend), that ice cream is not eaten in the morning here. . . it is an afternoon or evening indulgence.  We loved it anyway.  I told Merl that we needed to find all the gelado shops, try their flavors and check the cost, and pick the best one to patronize.  Later we learned that most of these shops close for the winter.  We had better get busy fast!

We bought another cup of soup from our little store below us and enjoyed eating it before meeting with the Sisters.  We gave them a ride to Lagos to exchange partners and then returned to Loulé.  Sister Haws had never been to Lagos and really wanted to see the cliffs of Ponta de Peidade.   This is her last transfer and will be returning home to Arizona in about 3 weeks.  This seems to be "right of passage" when you come to serve in the Algarve.  We left early enough to visit this beautiful spot for a few minutes – only about six minutes from the church.  The Lagos Sisters called and asked to meet then at the town square (praça) and we did our best. . . but cars just aren’t supposed to go on those streets.  We tried and had quite the adventure.  We finally got out of the maze and waited at a gas stop across the street.  They came to find us!  Then we took the new two-some (Sister Haws and Sister Hansen) back to Loulé.     
                                                                                                               (Foto:  Sister Haws, Sister Kelson, Sister Egbert)



 That evening, we decided we would try a new idea – take turns planning something to do for a date on a Friday night (as schedules permit).  So I decided that Merl would go first.  He thought it would be nice to find a little restaurant and have a nice dinner – didn’t know where, so we walked up and down several streets trying to decide.  We ended up at a little place called Tashquina da Malta with some outdoor seating with a little candle on the tables.  Their specialty was meat or fish.  Guess what Merl ordered… salmon which came with potatoes, broccoli, carrots, and a slice of lemon.  I ordered the sea bass with the same sides.  It was a nice dinner on a quite street.