Week 7 February 10-16

Sun Feb 10

Merl visited with Sister Neves at church this morning asking if she would proof his talk – make sure he is using the Portuguese appropriately. She has always been willing to help.In Sacrament meeting, two of our missionaries that are leaving were asked to share some thoughts; Sister Ngalu is going home, and Elder Howard is being transferred to Madeira. Three other Elders from the east Algarve are being transferred – Elder Bailey, Elder Paul, and Elder Pugh, all great missionaries! We will miss them!

Elder Howard and Sister Ngalu sing “Army of Helaman” in Portuguese for the closing hymn. We had practiced a lot to get the dynamics just right – many people were crying by the end of the song. After church, the missionaries met at our apartment and signed each other’s journals and flags and said their goodbyes. Nestor picked up the Sisters, and everyone helpedccarry Sister Ngalu’s bags down the three flights of stairs. She had extra items she was taking to donate to the mission office store. Then the were off to the train station. Sister Prado will return on Wednesday with her new companion.

The Elders returned for a late lunch of chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, followed by Tres Lehes Bolo.

With Elder Paul leaving Olhao (Elder Carreira left a few weeks ago), we took the opportunity on Monday to do a deep cleaning of the upstairs apartment - 4^th floor and no elevator. The apartment had been closed up for almost a month, and we found several rooms with mold. We worked all day cleaning every surface in the apartment, arranging furniture, cleaning out cupboards, scrubbing balconies, etc. We later found out that Sisters will be coming instead of Elders on Wednesday. We were so glad we had taken the time to have everything in good condition for them.

Tuesday: I made banana bread to share with the missionaries today,  We visited the Loule Sisters’ apartment to make repairs to the bed frames and made sure the apartment was ready for their return.

Early afternoon, our “ex-landlady” stopped to help me finish the inventory lists. The apartment belongs to her son, and she wants the contract in his name  It was nice to visit and get to know her better. She has had lots of financial and legal struggles the past few years with the foreclosure of many apartment buildings owned by the company she worked for. Long story, but the headaches are not over. We gave her a loaf of banana bread as she left.  I am sure she will remain our contact for the apartment.

We drove to Olhao and purchased a few kitchen items for the "Sisters' apartment and some food for a couple of meals. The sisters would be arriving about 9:30 on Wednesday night. We left a loaf of banana bread at both of the Olhao apartments.

Sister Prado and her new companion, Sister Brown, came over to meet us in the evening. I think this will be a good companionship.

Happy Birthday Keegan. Today, February 13, you turned 13 and joined the ranks of a teenager. Hope you had a great day!

Our morning was busy with paper work – me with inventory documents and Merl with finances and his talk. In the afternoon we went to visit our friend Alice (Alice Gongalves Cristina). I had hope to help her with some gardening – she has a large flower bed in the front and a beautiful orchard and garden in the back. She said all the work was done; she was just waiting for the spring rains to come. Portugal is in another drought this year.

Merl stayed in the car to practice reading his talk out loud. Instead of working, we looked at her photo albums and then prepared a little tea party. . . peppermint tea (leaves from the garden) along with cookies and slices of bread and cheese. Merl was invited – and he even didn’t mind the tea. It was a bit difficult to leave as Alice loves to talk and has all kinds of things to tell us; too bad that we don’t understand everything.

We needed to go to Faro to pick up the Olhao sisters (Sonnevelt and Bradley) and take them to their apartment. The Olhao Elders (Weber and Harper) met us at the train station and loaded the suitcases in their car. (Elder Egbert has been having problems with his left shoulder – concern of rotater cuff problems.) We got the Sisters settled and were home by 11:00 p.m.. Long day.

Thurs Valentines day

Now that all our missionaries have arrived, we had the weekly Conselho de Distrito today.   I had purchased apples, oranges, baby cucumbers, and some candy bars to make treat bags for each of the missionaries for Valentine’s day. . .  completing the assignment of ensuring the missionaries are getting their fruits and vegetables.   We have three new missionaries in our District – Elder Ribeiro from Brazil, Elder Plummer (pronunced Ploomer) from Honduras, and Sister Brown from Layton, Ut.

 
Elder Payne
Elder Ribeiro

                              Sister Brown
                              Sister Prado





Elder Mortensen
Elder Plummer


                                 Sister Larson
                                 Sister Warren




When we arrived home, both Merl and I sat on the couch and went to sleep. We had worked long and hard this week and haven’t been getting to bed on time. Hopefully we can change that tonight.

Merl has now finished putting his talk in order and is practicing it – over and over – working on pronunciation and syntac. I started working on the blog again, did laundry and dishes, and added a few more pictures to the apartment inventory list.

After a dinner of chicken noodle soup, we took a walk to the city center to see the preparations being made for Carnival coming up and the Chocolate Fair going for ten days on the market plaza. I am  glad we had just eaten so I wouldn’t be craving too much to eat. . . we both purchased a big chocolate that ended up being a little disappointing. . . they were filled with a soft, marshmellow type cream instead of chocolate. I will try something else in a couple of days.









On the market plaza, is a little shop that makes their own specialty beer.  The sign today listed some interesting varieties.

After three previous attempts, Friday was our last chance to meet with the Manns to complete the water conract for the Lagos apartment.  They are heading home to California on Monday.  We drove over in the morning, met the Manns in Portimao, and drove to Lagos together. We were feeling good about the day. It looked like a slow day, so we anticipated getting through the process quickly. . . we were met in the lobby by a security guard telling us that the city was on strike (um greve)– for only one day – and that is today. We almost had to laugh.

So what do we do today since we had already made the trip? Elder Mann recommended walking the boardwalk at Ponte de Piedade. We had been to the point many times, but we didn’t know about the other side of the point and the incredible scenery. We were able to walk to the end of the boardwalk and saw the beach we visited when Brian and family were here. The waves were much calmer than when Courtney was knocked over by a big wave.

I really liked the trash containers along this stretch of the beach - might be fun to replicate in the back yard when we go home.

 

We had a nice dinner at one of our favorite spots on the historical plaza Restaurant Carabela – 2 lasagnas and 2 swordfish platters. We said our goodbyes to the Manns, took all the apartment paperwork, and two sets of their apartment keys. We hope that another couple will be sent here.  (photo:  beautiful hydrangea tree on the Lagos plaza)

On Saturday morning, Merl received a phone call postponing his talk for another week. A member of the District Presidency requested the time for a special message to the members. One more week of preparation and practice was welcomed.

We visited the market this morning – the crowds in the city this week would rival what we

experienced at Christmas. We moved slowly between people to find carrots, zucchini, scallions, avocado, broccoli. . . love the market. I am making Portuguese soup, baked cheesy spaghetti, steamed vegetables, green salad, loaves of bread stuffed with brie cheese, and lemon bars for dessert. I can prepare a lot of it ahead today and just put the vegetables and salad together tomorrow.

Saturday is usually a catch up day and preparation day.  We did a lot of both and even got to bed a little earlier than usual.