Friday, Oct 12
The three sets of
Loulé missionaries were invited to lunch by Sister Paula Neves. She
is a Family History Missionary and was asked to help us by
interpreting at church for a couple of Sundays. If there are angels
on the earth, she has to be one of them. If there is good being done
here, she is involved. She only lives a couple of blocks away from
us, but it was still kind of hard to find her. Her address on a
“praca” doesn’t show up on a map. After we found it, we had to
go find the Elders. . . they are having a hard time getting around
this area.
She
first served us a traditional sopa de verde (vegetable soup blended to a thin consistency – yummy!), followed by a green salad and two variations of bacalhau – whole fillets and pieces in a casserole type dish. The fillets were good, but a little salty for me, while the casserole was more mild. Mango mousse was served for dessert. We enjoyed being in her home and seeing a real Bimby! You need to look that one up!! All the craze in Europe. Our Mission “Mom” has two of them in her kitchen. The views of her apartment overlooking the bus station are incredible.
Saturday, October 13
We got a call from
the Elders to inform us that the remnant of Hurricane Leslie was
heading towards the Portugal/Spain coast. We also received a call
from the Powers to see how our weather was. So far, it has been cool
and a bit windy, but not bad. They were planning to drive to Loulé
early on Sunday morning and meet us at the church for Sacrament
meeting. It rained pretty hard over night.
I started food
preparations for our Sunday missionary meal – chicken enchiladas,
baked beef tacos, refried beans, tri-color salad, fruit bowl, and
bread pudding.
Merl met with the
subcontractor in Olhão in the afternoon to hopefully resolve the
problem with the water heater. He removed the heater to take it to
his shop and thinks he can fix it and return it on Tuesday at 2:30
p.m.
We took an evening
walk to our little local market to pick up a few last minute items to
prepare dinner tomorrow. As we left the market, we were met by two
guys on the street who saw our name tags and starting praising Jesus
and God and shared some of their beliefs – as it turned out, they
were hungry and just wanted a piece of sausage, a piece of bread, and
a box of juice. They didn’t want to have anything I offered them
from my grocery bag, but they were very content accepting some money
from Merl – hope they used it for food. This is our first
encounter with beggars here. We were a target in Brazil because Merl
always gave them something.
Sunday, October 14
As we entered the
church this morning, we were met by a family from Arizona who new
Brad Hobbs – Mark and Sandy Arner. Bro. Harner delivered one of
their children while they were in Washington D.C. in school (I
think). We have had many instances of meeting people with
connections with home – it has proven to show that we live in a
small world, especially if you have ties to the church -then the world gets even smaller.
Elder and Sister
Powers (Mark and Katia) arrived shortly after Sacrament meeting
started. We were so happy to see they arrived safely. The weather
around Lisbon and north of there was not good due to Hurricane Leslie
off the coast. Their daughter served a mission in Portugal close to
15 years ago, and Loulé was her favorite area. She had given her
parents the names of several people she wanted them to contact. . .
and all of them were at church. There were many experiences and hugs
shared by these good people.
We had prepared
lunch for the missionaries and the Powers; but Nestor and family
invited the Powers to go with them to see where the Sisters used to
live and work – and to have dinner with them. It was a perfect day
for them. As it was, we had three more at our table than we
expected. The meal turned out well, and the missionaries say they
like eating with us – they don’t have to be too concerned with
what is being served.
Later in the
evening, when the Powers returned, they shared dried figs, almonds,
and honey they had received from Bro. Nestor and his little farm
operation. I fixed some grilled chicken burgers for a quick dinner.
All was very good! We had prepared a bed in our spare bedroom with a
couple of pads and a king heating pad cover (they push two twins
together to make a king). Most beds are really hard here – the
loved their private room and bath.
Monday, October 15
After waking up,
fixing a little breakfast and visiting with the Powers, I decided to
accompany Sister Powers to Faro for her training with Helena Silva on
the church medical system. It was raining again today. It took us a
little while, but we finally found her home – on a bluff along the
coast in a well-to-to neighborhood. I had not been in a “stand
alone” house here – just apartments. It was a beautiful,
spacious home.
Sister Silva and
Sister Powers worked in an office on the computer, and I chose to sit
in the living room with my computer to catch up on a few things.
After a little while, a man entered the front door and went down the
hall; he didn’t notice me. He puttered around in the kitchen for a
bit, visited with his wife, and then came back down the hall. He was
surprised to see me there, and said, “Sister Egbert, what are you
doing here?” I then recognized him and put two and two together.
I was sitting in the home of the District President, Manuel Silva.
We visited for a while, and I learned that he had gone to the U of U
and became a nurse; he then received his Masters degree there and
worked for Inter-mountain Health Care and was a Bishop in Utah. He
and his family lived in Utah for eight years before returning to
Portugal. He is now the District President for the entire Algarve
area.
We talked about
learning languages (he is fluent in English, Spanish, French, and
Portuguese). I told him I wasn’t sure if I even knew how to study
effectively to learn a language. His analogy was that you can read
the Book of Mormon ten times and not really know or understand it
until you need to apply it to something in your life. He thinks
language is the same. . . you can study and learn, but you really
don’t know it until you are force to use it and apply it. His
recommendation was just to surround ourselves with the native
speakers and wing it (my interpretation of what he was saying.) He
then brought me a nice plate of snacks and a glass of water.
When the Sisters
were finished with their work, Sister Powers and I decided that we
wanted to find the Faro Beach while we were in the area. It was
P-day. It didn’t matter that the wind was blowing and it was
raining. After a little drive and a few wrong turns, we finally
found our way – heading to the beach. We first stopped by a little
fruit stand on the side of the road and purchased some oranges and a
watermelon. Sister Powers engaged in a discussion with the vendor
and left him with a pass-along card. . . which he really didn’t
want to take. It was fun to watch.
The storm was
increasingly getting worse, but we had come this far and we weren’t
turning back. In fact, we started across a one-way, one lane bridge
over a waterway with the beach in sight. We didn’t notice
(visibility pretty low) that there was a little traffic light above
on the side of the road. It must have been red when we entered; we
were about half way across when a line of cars were coming straight
for us. Poor Sister Powers didn’t have any choice but to back all
the way off the bridge and let the cars pass – and then wait for
the green light. It was almost hysterical by this time (you had to
be there.)
We could hardly open
the car doors to get out, but we were determined to get a picture of
the beach – the little bit we could see (remember we have a
hurricane/tropical storm north of us). Two bus loads of tourists
were trying to do the same. A quick, non-flattering selfie was taken
and we ran to the car covered with wet sand and salt. We did arrive
home safely and stopped at our little pastelaria across from the apartment for a pastry and a most delicious cup of hot chocolate to warm us up. We then found our husbands still working and studying away.
They missed out on the adventure today.
Later in the afternoon Sister Powers and I went walking with Candida Centeio, a woman who had been contacted by the daughter of Sister Powers 15 years ago. She wanted to show us where the church was previously, the hangout areas of the missionaries, and where she was living when the missionaries found her. We had a wonderful walk around the center of Loule - places so close that we hadn't been to before. We had been invited to President Rui and Candida’s home for dinner at 8:30. We drove – not knowing that they lived few blocks away on the third floor of a building. They have a nice, compact apartment and one three year old son. Candida prepared an elegant dinner with goblets filled with olives and baby cucumbers, bread with dipping sauces, rice with a wonderful vegetable-fish soup, and a rich chocolate cake for dessert. They shared the story of their meeting and joining the church. I will try to put the story together at a later time. They are a dynamic couple now, making a difference in our little Branch. We left around 11:00 p.m. and discovered that Sister Powers had left her phone. She called Pres. Rui, and we walked back to get it – beautiful evening.
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