Week 5 Jan 27 - Feb 2

We had a wonderful family from Utah come to church today, the Christensens - all tall, beautiful blondes. Seth Christensen, the father, has ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). They are in Portugal for two months working with his nonprofit organization promoting ALS research and means to assist here in Europe. When this family entered the chapel, everyone could feel something special. They carry a light with them, dignified and humble. Not knowing anything about them, I could not help but feel they were a remarkable family. A few weeks later (yes, I am that far behind), I did an internet search to find information on his visit here in Portugal and his non-profit. I found this amazing youtube video made about 5 years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HTAsl9blqQ

(First photo:  Family in 2011, second in 2018)  Bro. Christensen is now using similar technology as was used by Stephen Hawking. This family is amazing, and I am grateful we had the opportunity to get to know them.

We had another nice dinner with the missionaries and Jairo.

On Monday, we were coming back into town after a trip to Faro, the traffic was backed up much further than usual. This allowed me to see something I haven’t seen in the six months we have been here. . . a very large stork nest on top of a chimney. . . and only a block away from the Loule market. Now we have our own stork nest to watch this spring.

This afternoon we were notified that Elder Gondim, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, passed away while playing soccer. He had just scored a goal and was walking back across the field when he collapsed and hit his head. The other missionaries there were able to get the paramedics on site quickly; after 25 minutes of no pulse or breathing, and no response to CPR and shock treatment, efforts stopped. 

 I can’t imagine how Pres. And Sister Fillmore are feeling. It must be the most devastating incidence to lose one of your missionaries. We didn’t know him, but things we have been hearing make him sound bigger than life in many ways. He was indeed loved. The
scripture, D&C 138:57, keeps coming to mind.

On Tuesday, I made choco/peanut butter bars for the Conselho de Districto in Faro. The spirit and energy was a bit subdued today as everyone is still shocked by the news from yesterday. Grief counseling has been set up for those needing it. Two memorial services will be held, one for the north part of the mission and one for the south part. (Photo:  Elders Weber, Howard, Bailey, Payne, Pugh, Mortensen, Paul; Sisters Prado, Ngalu, Warren, Larsen)

After the meeting, we inspected the Faro Sisters’ apartment. Merl also fixed a leaky kitchen sink faucet while I did some bathroom caulking. We try to leave each apartment we visit a little better than we find it. Then we met the Elders at their apartment. I discovered that they didn’t have a rack in their oven – they haven’t turned it on yet and hadn’t noticed. On the way home we stopped at IKEA and Wortens looking for suitable, affordable table lamps for the Sisters’ study desks. We were surprised to find just what we needed at Leroy Merlins.  (Photo:  I love the old doors - while at our little fruit market, I found a package of seeds for Perslane - a weed we try to keep out of our garden.  Purslane is a succulent annual trailing plant that grows in many countries because it thrives in poor soil. It can be eaten as a cooked vegetable and is great to use in salads, soups, stews or any dish you wish to sprinkle it over.  Aaron instroduced it to us a couple of years ago, and we ate a lot of it one summer.

Wednesday we stayed home in the morning to study and take care of household duties - things that need to be done, no matter where you live.

 We were invited to have lunch with Candida Gorjao at Vegan Joe’s. We were amazed at how close it is to our apartment, and we had never noticed it before, less than a five minute walk.

Lunch was amazing – we started with an appetizer of hummus with bread and veggie sticks. Even Merl didn’t miss the meat – he had a lentil loaf; I had a French onion (leek) dish; and Candida had macaroni and cheese (cheese was creamed cashews). Everything was delicious, and I suggested having lunch here once a week.  Candida is the wife of our Branch President and is seriously introducing the vegan lifestyle in her little family.

We thought we would have the evening at home, but we were invited to Andrea’s home for dinner with the missionaries. She wanted us to join her in celebrating her new job in a nice restaurant in Vilamoura.  Her dream is to someday have her own restaurant.  When I suggest that she doesn’t need to feel obligated to invite us with the young missionaries (we can feed ourselves), she reminds me of the principle of receiving more than you give. She says she has received many blessings recently, and she attributes it to her willingness to share and sacrifice for the missionaries. It is always a late night when we get home from her apartment in Quarteira.

Thursday was inspections for the Loule missionaries. First stop was the Sisters where Merl glued a toilet plunger bracket back onto the plastic tank of the toilet. Hopefully it will hold for a while (Merl really doesn’t like the toilet mechanisms in this country). Next stop was the Elders where we got to discuss heat/electrical use. We had received a call from the mission office saying they had a very high power bill that month. We discussed taking shorter showers, turning off their heaters at night, using a shorter wash cycle on their clothes washer (2 hours is too long). Merl also discussed being on time for their appointments – or at least inform others if they are going to be late. This has been an ongoing problem.
(Photo:  This tree - or two trees - is on the grounds of the Faro Chapel.  Two trees grew and joined, grew a little more together, and then sent out branches. . . we call it our genealogy tree)

We went grocery shopping at Continente and bought ingredients for a big vegetable pie. Later I scanned the apartment inspections and got our reports to Sister Garrard. Sister Gnalu came over to use Skype on my computer for her BYU job interview; she will be returning to Utah in a couple of weeks. Merl made phone calls to Curtis and Kendal to create a limited power of attorney so Curtis could sign checks and deposit some money that we are being refunded from two health benefit plans with Washington National. Every little bit helps as we will have major expenses when we go home – building an apartment and buying a new car.

“Life can only be understood backwards! Unfortunately, we can only live it going forward!” (from a Hallmark movie we watched.)

Friday morning started with some exciting news. In Logan’s weekly email, we learned of his recent calling to be an Assistant to the President in the Queson City mission. We have watched him grow in confidence and faith, and we are excited for this new opportunity for service and growth. Working closely with these young missionaries has been humbling. Most of them are so well prepared and trained to teach the gospel and to be leaders. Our greatest hope is that all our grandsons (and grand daughters) will have the opportunity to serve missions.

I love Saturday mornings and going to the local market for fresh produce. Today I was looking for leeks, carrots, potatoes, thyme, and kale. I was successful finding everything except the kale. I stopped at our little neighborhood fruteria only to learn that kale isn’t used much and not sold here. . . except, we were directed to a store called Apolonia in Almancil – it is an English store that caters to the foreigners. We were warned that it was expensive to shop there.

Merl and I took a walk around the block from the market trying to spot the stork’s nest we had seen earlier this week. We went around a corner, and there it was – huge with two big storks in it. It was amazing to see it right on top of a chimney on top of a small apartment building. Storks are protected here, and it is illegal to disturb their nests. Big construction cranes have needed to be cemented to the ground and abandoned when a stork decides to build a nest on it. Crazy!

We arranged to take the Sisters to Almancil to deliver invitations to the upcoming Branch cultural event, and we went to Apolonia. Yes, we found kale; and yes, the prices were outrageous. Most of the shoppers were snobby Brits (I guess I can say that here). Sister Ngalu found Spam – she has searched for it for months. She is making Spam sushi for her cultural dish representing Hawaii. I can’t think of two worse things to eat together – seaweed and spam.