Thursday, November 1
Our family has lots
of birthdays in November. . . starting today with my Dad. I remember
decorating his birthday cake every year with candy we received for
Halloween. Thinking back, he probably got tired of that. My
other distinct memory of Dad’s birthday was when I was catching the
bus in front of our house on a cold November 1 morning in Idaho
Falls. He would usually step out on the porch and wave goodbye to us
as we were getting on the bus. This particular morning, he was 40
years old. I looked back at him and thought he was sooooo old. Oh,
to be 40 again! He left this life way too early; he deserved to
become sooooo old. (Had to add a couple of favorite Halloween pictures of Christopher andMya.)
November 1 is a holiday in Portugal, All Saints Day. Many of the stores were closed around town, except those that cater to the tourists. Traditionally families spend the day cleaning the graves and placing flowers.
Catching this nasty
cold has caused us to not be out and about or very productive. We
have been reading and studying more, which is probably a good thing.
The weather has been cold and wet, and it is hard to get or stay warm. The sun did come out today with a high forecasted to be 65º.
I opened some blinds and just stood in the sun shining through the
window. It felt so good! Merl spent a good amount of time on the
phone working on apartment closures and repairs with
the Church FM group and contractors. We did venture out for a short walk and found 'roasted chestnut vendors' on the street. We bought a few to try - actually reminded us of the roasted pine nuts in Brazil. 
We
were able to talk to Brian for a short time. The family is now in
Switzerland staying for a week while going to the temple to receive
some “divine” direction. We
have been hoping they would have a chance to come to Portugal in
their travels,
but the prime weather is slipping away.
*
* * * *
Friday,
November 2
Shortly
after waking this morning, our power went off. It was obvious it was
more than our apartment. The Sisters across the street were also
without power. Merl took a walk outside and found that our block and
businesses on the main road had also been affected. I stayed wrapped
up in a blanket for a couple of hours before the electricity was
flowing again.
While
Merl wass out checking the power outage, he met the Sisters on the
block. Sister Ngalu was complaining about a pain in the bottom of her
foot. She is very flat-footed and usually wears flat sandals. She
thinks it is a broken bone, but Merl told her it was probably some
sore tendons or ligaments out of place. . . she can move her toes
without pain. On our mission document site, we have medical/health
documents posted on all kinds of common ailments for missionaries.
The first one on the list was feet and leg problems. Merl printed
the document out for her and suggested that she try some of the
exercise and stretches. She said she had also contacted Sister Lima
to arrange a hospital appointment to get an x-ray.
My
SmartPhone has not been working for over a week now. The Mission
Office Elders have been working on the issue. They found this phone
was not on the group plan, but on a separate plan (I inherited the
phone from Sister West). Each day they say they are working on it.
The biggest concern is that we have no GPS without it, and we will be
traveling to Setubal next Tuesday for a Zone Conference. We can get
to the outskirts of the city on our own; but once we are off the
freeway, it will be a different story. Sister Powers and I are in
charge of providing lunch for 65 that day. Fortunately, Sister
Powers lives in Setubal so she can order the main lunch item
(debating between pizza or KFC).
This afternoon we
went to a home furnishing/construction store called Leroy Merlin. It
is by far the most elaborate (fancy) home construction store we have
seen before. . . puts Lowes and Home Depot in a different class. We
were particularly needing to have some keys copied for the Mission
Office, but also looking for a source for parts and materials for
small apartment repairs. We walked through the whole store marveling
on the layout, décor, ultra-modern designs of fixtures and lighting.
. . needless to say, we were impressed. . . but they didn’t copy
keys.
We were directed to
the Mar Shopping Mall (next to IKEA). We first walked through the
Algarve Outlet Mall – again marveling at the high-end storefronts
and design. We have found that great care is taken to provide places
for children (and probably husbands) to hang out and be entertained.
Splash pads and climbing areas were attractively incorporated into
the complex.
We finally found “Minit Shoe Repair” and key shop. We needed nine keys – we were surprised by the cost, averaged about 7€ each. The actual apartment keys are more intricate – 4 sided, but the building entrance keys are simple. We did some grocery shopping and started cooking dinner at 8:00.
The
Sisters stopped by requesting a blessing for Sister Ngalu. The
Elders (Payne and Lewis) were called to assist. After the blessing,
Merl discussed with the missionaries the use of the priesthood in giving blessings using President Nelson's talk from last April that priesthood blessings are not just prayers. Give them the blessings of the spirit that they need.
Just
as the missionaries were leaving, Merl remembered finding a set of
crutches in the top of one of our closets. He pulled them out for
Sister Ngalu to use; she said they helped a lot.
* * * * * * *
Saturday,
November 3
We
spent the morning in the apartment taking care of laundry, cleaning,
some studying, etc. . . We had an appointment at noon with Pres.
Azevedo (Olhao Branch) and a contractor who will be painting and
completing repairs in the Faro apartment. 
We
missed the first hour, but it was good to be there. Pres. and Sister
Fillmore spoke along with Pres. and
Sister Gardner (Madrid
Spain Temple President and Matron). It was nice to see the Gardners
again after having met and spent time with them in the temple last
month. One thing we missed, and we were very disappointed) was
hearing Jorge play the panflute earlier in the meeting. He promised
us he would play for us next time we visit them.
We
knew the Sisters were hungry, so we stopped at McDonalds on our way
home. It was packed, but we finally got our sandwiches (wraps) and
hot chocolate. After
arriving home, we received a phone call from Curtis and Carson who
were on their way to Boise for the big BYU/BSU football game.
Carson’s birthday is coming up soon, and he asked for tickets for the game. We expressed our birthday wishes
for a BYU win.
*
* * * * * *
Sunday,
November 4 
Happy birthday to Brett – who just turned 14 and was ordained a Deacon.Teacher! How did he get so old?
Happy
birthday to Preston – who is in Switzerland! Love that smile!
I woke up early this morning and did a quick check on last night’s game results. The game had just ended with a BSU win (21-16). I am sure Carson and Curt were disappointed.
In
addition to the Sisters, we had been asked to pick up Sister Etelvina
Gomes for the drive to Faro for District Conference. We were
surprised when Merl returned with her husand, Julio, instead (she
must not have been ready). Someone else who had room for one more
person in their car had been asked to pick him up. . . we just
swapped. Neither Merl or
I could understand a word he was saying as he was giving directions
for a short cut from his house to Faro. Thanks to the Sisters, we
found the way.
The
chapel was filled to overflowing, and we gave our seats to some
elderly members and moved to an annex room where we watched the
conference on TV. We had a few restless babies in the room so we had
to listen extra carefully. Pres. Rui motioned to Elder McKee
to assist with some translation as needed.
Much
of the conference was focused on preparing to attend the temple. The
Lisbon temple should be dedicated sometime in 2019. A youth choir
sang “La no Templo
Santo” (In that Holy Place), and the Primary children sang “Eu
Gosto de Ver o Templo” (I Love to See the Temple). Sister Gardner
had a difficult time containing her emotions when she spoke following
the music. She speaks
slow, articulate Spanish, and she is easy to understand.
Another
focus of the District is preparing youth to go on missions. A
missionary just returning and another just leaving spoke. Just a few
years ago, there had only been one missionary from the District; now
there are 12 who have or are serving. Everyone
was spiritually fed.
I
had not planned a meal for the missionaries today because I had been
sick and didn’t think it would be a good idea to have them in our
apartment. After conference, all the missionaries stayed for
interviews with Pres. Fillmore, so we took both Bro. and Sis. Gomes
home. When we arrived home, I was feeling a little guilty for not
having a lunch for the missionaries – and they would be really
hungry by the time interviews were over. Merl called them and
invited them over for grilled cheese sandwiches with fried potatoes
and hot cabbage/bacon salad. . . that’s about all that was in the
house to fix. They arrived about 4:00 and were grateful for it. I did share my sweet
sticky rice and apple compote for dessert.
*
* * * * * * *
Monday,
November 5
Today
was dedicated to making cookies for the Setubal/Algarve Zones
Conference on Tuesday. I made four big
batches of cookies (two
each of Snickerdoodle and Chocolate Chip/Oatmeal). I have a small
oven and could only cook between 8 to 10 at a time. I think we ended
up with about 150 cookies. We
did some shopping for some lunch supplies to take with us. We had
planned to help Pres. Nestor remove the old refrigerator from the
Sisters’ apartment, but he didn’t show up.
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