Week 6 February 3 - 9

All week I had been thinking it was time to visit the Olhao Branch again. We had heard that our good friend, Helen Nyika, was having some serious health issues. We hoped that she would be at church this morning. We didn’t see her when we arrived and were told by the missionaries that she probably wouldn’t be there. 

 As we took our seats during the prelude, we were approached by a woman we had not seen before. She introduced herself as Ann Sykes; she had arrived in Olhao a few weeks earlier from Italy. As we visited, conversation turned to the Milan Mission where Brian served and where our good friends President and Sister Allen are serving. She dropped to her knees with tears in her eyes - “you know Pres. Allen?” A very, very long story, but Sister Sykes (originally from Australia) needed to leave Italy for her safety, and she wanted us to get a message to Pres. Allen that she was safe.

We later learned that Helen and her son had slipped in late to the back of the chapel and left immediately after. No one is able to visit her where she lives, so we decided to make contact with her by facebook or text.

Sister Sykes invited us to walk with her after church to the Olhao marina and the historic part of town. She is an ambitious woman with lots of plans and ideas of various projects and developments. We enjoyed the sunshine, the warm breeze, and the company – along with seeing some new things in Olhao. We parted back at the church and plan to stay in touch. Amazing woman!

Because Merl has a document giving him authority to sign on behalf of President Fillmore for apartment activities, we were requested on Monday to go to Lagos and assist Elder and Sister Mann to get the water at the new Elders’ apartment put into the mission’s name. We met at their apartment in Portimao and had a quick lunch before going to the attorney’s office in Lagos to get some papers signed. The attorney was out of town, so we were not able to go to the water department.

We decided to go to one of the Mann’s favorite beaches for a walk. It was sunny, the water a little cold, but I couldn’t resist taking off my shoes to walk in the sand – and eventually the water as it washed up on the shore.

We walked along the boardwalk which was empty – in a couple of months, the tourists will be crowding in every where. 

 Sister Mann purchased a few items at one of the shops she likes (she is going home in a couple of weeks and is finishing her shopping for souvenirs. (photo is of me finding a blue and white volkswagon van like our honeymoon vehicle)

We had an early dinner at a Chinese buffet close to the Mann’s apartment which was pretty good. We were home in time to meet the missionaries at the church for Sister Ngalu and Elder Howard to practice a song they will be singing in Sacrament meeting.

Something special happened on February 5 – it is Emma’s birthday! She is 11 years old and becoming quite the young lady. We love her and hope she had a wonderful day.

I made a quick batch of lemon cookies to take to the Conselho de Distrito meeting this morning. After the meeting, the missionaries had a little surprise farewell party for Sister Ngalu who will be heading to Lisbon next Sunday and then on to Utah on Tuesday morning. She has been nervous about the changes coming soon.

We had an appointment at the hospital for Elder Mortensen in the afternoon. He was to have an ultrasound to identify some lumps he had found and had been checked by a doctor. This was one of our shorter hospital visits – maybe 1 ½ hours. . . and good news. Everything was normal – a big relief for Elder Mortensen.

We made a trip over to Olhao to meet with Helen. She is in a shelter home and cannot have any guests so she met us at the Jumbo shopping center where we sat out on the balcony and visited for an hour. We got the story of her life, and she is definitely a survivor. It is difficult to understand why some people have to suffer so in this life. She had a little light in her eyes as she left; I hope we can help get her through these hard times.

Wednesday brought another trip to Portimao to meet the Manns for the drive over to Lagos. The attorney had signed the incomplete document, and we all headed to the Camara Municipal (water department). We finally found parking in a paid parking lot and walked to the building. As we approached, there was an ambulance in front with paramedics hovering over a little, old woman who had apparently fallen down the stairs to the building. There was blood everywhere. . . later as she was placed on a stretcher, we saw that she had broken her arm and had scraped up her face pretty badly; but she was alert.

Another obstacle presented itself in our quest for the day. . . our completed paperwork did not have a report showing that the landlord had paid the taxes – and he is in Lisbon for the rest of the week. We will have to try again.

The only consolation to all of this is that there are many, amazing beaches here that call to us. Today we went to Praia de Roche. The day was not quite as nice, so I kept my shoes on. 

 

Next stop was to see the Elders’ new apartment. We needed to know where it was since we most likely will be doing inspections on the west end of the Algarve if another couple is sent to replace the Manns. I am sure that these lucky Elders will be the envy of all Portugal missionaries. The apartment is clean and modern, nicely furnished thanks to the donation of furniture from an American family who were moving to England. But the view from the 5^th floor window!

Sister Mann gave us a couple of blankets to take to the Olhao apartment. Our two husbands tried to figure out why the hot water heater wouldn’t kick on like it should. From the apartment, we drove back to the marina and found a little shop to have lunch. I had soup and a sandwich and Merl had a big Hawaiian chickenburger which was very good.

All of our missionaries attended a memorial service in Lisbon for Elder Gondim today. They had to travel there and back in one day, which made a long day for them. We heard that it was a good service, and everyone was glad they went.  And we stayed behind to again fail at the water department.  

Sister Hellen had not been responding to my texts; found out that she had to drop texting from her hone plan.  We are now communicating through Facebook messenger.  

Thursday was an inside work day.  Our apartment contract is being changed – taking off Filomina’s name and putting in her son’s name (he is actually the one that inherited the apartment from his grandfather). Filomina is the ex-wife of a counselor in our Branch Presidency, Eulalio. It was good to clean and organize the whole apartment - every cupboard, drawer, closet and room. While I was doing that, Merl starting working on a talk for Sacrament meeting on February 10. He was offered an interpreter, but he said he would deliver his message in Portuguese.

For a mid-day break, we took a walk to find some ruins Merl saw on our city map, Convento de Graca (Monastery of Grace). There are existing walls and arches, but most of the convent has been replaced by other buildings being built over the top. It’s amazing to have so many historical things within walking distance. Several of old or collapsed houses are being restored in the area.  










 I picked out two that would be good candidates for us to purchase and restore so we would have a place to stay when we come back to visit. . . Merl didn’t think that was a good idea.

The one on the left is for sale (no roof), but I like the one on the right. . . garden area, two story - could make a lovely home!



We later went grocery shopping to pick up some things for our big Branch party on Friday night. It is going to be a cultural night with food and dancing from other countries. Each family was given a different country to research and bring food and information. We were assigned Ireland. We decided to make Irish Stew, Irish soda bread, and colcannon. I started on the stew today and will do the others tomorrow.

Jairo called and asked if we could take him to Faro to visit his brother, Jared, who had emergency surgery yesterday. W took him there and waited in the waiting room for quite a while The hospitals here scare me.

Early Friday morning we took the Sisters to the train station to get their tickets for the trip to Lisbon on Sunday afternoon. Sister Ngalu will be completing her mission, and Sister Prado will accompany her to Lisbon and pick up a new companion on Tuesday.

I worked on our Irish food most of the day, makig two batches of soda bread with raisins (I quite

liked it) and a big pot of Colcannan (mashed potatoes with kale, cabbage, bacon, and butter). Merl paid bills from home and worked on his talk. He was also asked to drive to Albufeira and help transport Branch members to the church (about 30 minutes away). Nestor and his daughter were kind enough to pick me up so I wouldn’t be late in setting up our little table. 

Our Culture Event was a big success and was well attended. Some families came in costume, others performed traditional dances, and everyone had plenty of food to eat. The missionaries started the evening with a spiritual message focused on how we are all children of our Heavenly Father – no matter where we live – and He loves us.

The evening ended with a DJ playing dance music and lots of visiting. We stayed to help prepare the building for meetings on Sunday. We took Alice home and probably spent an hour listening to her talk and talk. . . wish we could understand her better. I think we were home by midnight.

Saturday was spent catching up on things. I took pictures of everything in the apartment and created a picture log, separating owners. Merl continued to work on his talk.

We were invited to the baptism of Andreia Switha in the afternoon in Faro. She was baptized by her new husband (recently reactivated), Silvio Switha. It was a nice meeting with great refreshments.

Jared asked if we could again take him to the hospital to pick up his brother. He had surgery for an intestinal hernia, but seemed to be doing pretty well. We dropped them off back at home in Loule and then went to the church to practice with Sister Ngala and Elder Howard. They are singing “We’ll Bring the World His Truth” (Army of Helaman) as a farewell song for Sister Ngalu. They both have good voices and blend well. Merl sits in the back and coaches/critiques them.