Week 11 March 10 - 16

Sunday: (Merl) Up, prepare for church. We have a young lady who has been called to play the piano

for Sacrament meeting. . . but if she isn’t comfortable playing a song, she asks Sister Egbert to play. .  today the Sacrament hymn only. Sister Egbert also played for the District choir practice after church. As far as understanding what is said in meetings, I don’t know that I understand what is being said any more today than I did 7 months ago. My brain is just not recognizing spoken Continental Portuguese. I do know that I am reading more easily.


After the choir practice, we came home, and finished preparing the Sunday meal for the missionariaes. The meal (baked potatoes with chili and toppings, salad, crusty bread, and lemon mousse dessert) was good. As we were eating dessert, the discussion was changed when Sister Brown asked a question. . . “Elder Egbert, will the’ time’ during the millennium be according to the time of Kolob, one year = 1000 of our years?” The discussion following from their many questions traveled through some ‘last days’ events, gathering of Israel brought about by the Book of Mormon, the nature of our Heavenly Parents, marriage, and our purpose in life. We had a great discussion. They were picking my brains.

Sister Egbert and I took a nap after dinner, I later did some reading – read the first fifteen chapters of Moses – looking for an answer. I know we have only a small fraction of the writings and prophecies of the prophets.

Before bed (very late here), we received phone calls from Angela, Curtis, and Brian.

Monday we shared our P-Day with the Sisters from Portimao. Sister Warren will be going home to Utah in two weeks, and neither she or Sister Larson had been to Ponte de Piedade. . . a must see for every missionary who serves in the Algarve. We made our preparations and ate breakfast before
driving to Faro to pick up the Sisters. We enjoyed visiting with the sisters on our one hour drive to Portimao. (foto:  Sister Warren, Sister Larson)

Our first stop was at the couple’s apartment to make sure everything was in good shape after the Elders moved out. We tidied up a bit and gathered a few things left behind. We then went to the Elder’s apartment to drop off supplies. They weren’t there, but we did find them at the church. That was handy because we were able to leave all the supplies for all the missionaries at one location. They will all be at the church for their District Conselho meeting tomorrow.


 Then we were off to Lagos and our visit to the Ponte. I still very much enjoy the beauty and dynamics of this place even though we’ve probably been here about 8 times now. Every time there is something new to see. We have now seen it in late summer, winter, and early spring - high tide and low tide.


The Sisters loved the area and took pictures in “dangerous looking” places. After showing them what was to be seen there and walking along the boardwalk, we went to the nearby Camilo beach and climbed down the 200 or so stairs to the sand. The three girls instantly had their shoes off and were wading in the water. It was the perfect day to be here – sunny, warm, and just enough breeze to be comfortable. 

 We had planned a nice lunch at one of our favorite shops back in town on the historical plaza, but time ran out. Sun and sand were more important than food!. We did grab something to eat at a Burger King located by the gas station. Everyone was happy with that.



This Sisters needed to home around 4:00 to get ready for an appointment, and we arrived at their apartment in Faro shortly after their desired time. We drove home and both collapsed on the bed for a short nap. At 7:00. I received a phone call from the Portimao Elders – they had lost their keys! They said they would keep looking and call me back in 15 min. We had already made that trip once today! I quickly said a prayer and asked Father in Heaven to help them find them. I didn’t want to drive back over there this evening (1.5-2 hrs. there and back). About five minutes later, Sister Carr called. She had picked up their keys thinking they were hers; she found two sets in her pocket. I thanked her and my Father in Heaven.

We checked our emails, etc. and read articles on the Rome Temple dedication and activities –
amazing event!  Would have loved to have been there this week.

Tuesday morning I made apple cinnamon cookie bars for the District meeting. I didn’t have time to cook several pans of cookies and I had extra apples – so this new recipe was perfect. With the Sisters in tow, we drove through lots of traffic today to get to the meeting. . . only a few minutes late.
We came home and finally washed and dried our Sunday dinner dishes. We didn’t have any more clean dishes to eat with! We also did several loads of laundry – all while watching/ listening to a movie on the computer in the kitchen.

Later we walked up to the park and worked out on all the exercise machines. Merl feels better after getting some fresh air and working out here. With the rain we received last week, the whole Algarve is bursting into bloom. The trees and flowers in the park are blossoming and are beautiful.

We are becoming accustomed to taking a short afternoon nap (either at the computer or laying on the couch). Today Merl did some computer research on Trifle ingredients.

Wednesday

We slept in a bit this morning. Merl has been having a lot of discomfort with his left shoulder/arm. He has concerns about the possibility of another torn rotator cuff – and he refuses to even think about doing a surgery here. He plans on healing it with positive thinking and prayer.

We had a late breakfast and took a walk around the city streets. The weather has been very pleasant after several days of rain earlier last week. I found a couple of sweaters on season clearance that will be nice for these transitional days. We spent most of the day doing house chores and studying.

Thursday was a momentous day. The city of Loule has a very nice athletic complex a couple of
blocks away next to our favorite part. We had visited the facilities before, asked questions, and picked up paperwork before. This morning I decided I would take the plunge (literally) and check out the swimming pool. Senior missionaries are allowed to swim here. Merl wanted me to check it out first. . . he doesn’t like cold water or getting cold after he gets out of warm water. I completed the paperwork, had my photo taken for my pass card, paid €5 for my first five visits, and then went to the dressing room to change. The hallways and rooms were warm, clean, and not crowded in the morning. There were three indoor pools (lap pool, kiddie pool, and a pool used for swimming lessons and water aerobics. The water was warm (although the lap pool was a little cool after getting out of the aerobic pool). I spent some time exercising in the water with two other “older” women and then checked out the jacuzzi and sauna. The jacuzzi is small, not hot, and big bubbles for 10 minutes. . . then you have to get out while it goes through a cleaning cycle for 5 minutes. . . but the room was very warm as was the sauna.

While I was swimming, Merl walked up to the outdoor exercise equipment to stretch and move. He met me back at the pool and we walked home. I hope he will join me in the pool on another day.


We received a phone call from Sister Garrard from the mission office asking us to schedule a trip to Portimao to evaluate the possibility of putting safety bars in the tub for a new couple Andersons, arriving on March 23.

Friday morning we drove to Portimao to check the couple’s apartment for installation of tub safety bars. Merl took measurements and checked construction. . . ceramic tile on top of concrete walls. We went to AKI, a home improvement store to see what products are available.

We stopped by the Elders’ apartment to pick up the sleeping pads we let them use while staying at the Couple’s apartment. Elder Barrios will be going home in a couple of weeks and wanted some counsel on girls. He is a crazy Latino missionary – but a good missionary and hard worker.

Later we stopped at the Overseas market (British grocery store) to check out their specials. I was excited to find cans of cream of chicken soup on sale. Canned soup is difficult to find in Portugal, and to find it for only €1 a can was incredible.



We had some extra time, so we decided to drive to Silves, a beautiful little city about 15 kilometers away. Elder and Sister Layton recommended we visit it sometime while we are here in the Algarve. It was one of their favorite places.  The highway winds through the hills, and a view of the city with it’s castle was inviting.



 We drove around the city and found it to be small but pretty and clean.


After driving through some neighborhoods and up through the hills, we turned back into town to find visit the castle and old cathedral.

The cathedral itself is being renovted, and a rock layer was outside with a pile of small white rocks building the walkway around the cathedral.  What a tedious job - and most Portugal cities have many of these tiled roads and sidewalks.

We didn’t have time to actually go through the castle today, but we did find a ceramic tile shop where all the products are hand painted. The lady noticed our name badges and said, “I have a surprise for you.” She showed us a binder filled with pictures and patterns of LDS temples, prophets, Book of Mormon scenes she has painted for missionaries and members over many years. Needless to say, we are not trying to decide which temple we would like her to paint for us.. . Lisbon, Idaho Falls, or Twin Falls. We will get back with her on a future trip.




 I love the Moor chimneys, and this one was particularly beautiful with a weather vane on top.

Drove home to get ready for a District adult dinner/dance at the chapel in Faro. The event was very nice and well attended. The missionaries and the YM/YW groups served little appetizers at the table, creamed bacalhao in a bread bowl, salad, and platters of rice/potatoes and pork chops. Chocolate pudding or jellowas served for dessert. We have a branch member who is a DJ; he played fun 60-70’s music for listening and dancing, many songs by request. He did a nice job; huge success! We left at 10:30 p.m., and the party was still going strong!

 

Saturday we started our apartment inspections again in advance of missionary transfers next week. We were able to complete inspections of both Elders and Sisters apartments in Faro and Olhao. We had nice visits with each set of missionaries and found everything in great shape! We have great missionaries in the District!

I started dinner preparations for our Sunday lunch with the Loule missionaries and did a little grocery shopping for items I needed. Curtis called with a request for us to send him an update on our mission activities. He will be speaking in Sacrament meeting and was asked to include a report from us. So we spent time in the evening thinking and talking about or experiences here before typing up and sending him an email. 

Mission Update: 

Every day, no matter where you are, you need to take care of your daily needs: eating, sleeping, cleaning, laundry, shopping, exercise. It is the same for us on a mission. . . we just get to do the every day things in a different place, with different people, in a different language.

We are having the opportunity and blessing of working with and learning from other senior couples who have become great friends. The missions around the world are always needing more seniors to help in the work. We highly recommend it to everyone who is in a position to serve.

We daily rub shoulders with and support wonderful young missionaries who are a great, trained force of powerful teachers. What an example of dedication and hard work they are to us. We serve with missionaries from many countries with a variety of backgrounds, races, colors. . . but we are all children of our Heavenly Father. We are brothers and sisters in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - which has no national boundaries.

We have the blessing of teaching and counseling these young people as we share experiences and gospel insights. The dinner table is often the place this happens. Oft times, Elder Egbert has given blessings of comfort or health; and we have spent many hours in hospital waiting rooms with different nervous “kids” facing uncertainties away from parents and family. Yes, we are sometimes surrogate parents and grandparents.

This past week, a young man preparing to return home to in a few days (Elder Barrios) approached Elder Egbert and said (in Portuguese Spanish), “We need to have a conversation before I go home. I need to talk to you about girls.” He embraced Elder Egbert and said "Voce pode ser meu Avo." (You can be my grandfather.)

We enjoy working alongside members and missionaries with inactive members helping them to rid themselves of bad habits or doubts while returning to activity and fellowship in the branches. We have truly experienced what a difference the gospel can make in their and our lives.

We didn’t really know what to expect when we put in papers to serve a mission. We have been surprised to be involved in the administrative end of negotiating with apartment landlords, contractors, local government agencies while closing apartments and opening new ones as needed.

We have been called to use our talents and abilities, whether it is with music or fixing meals, apartment repairs and inspections, to having input from our public health experience to help keep our missionaries safe and healthy.

Being a missionary is about bringing others to Christ. . . but we now have time to have a greater focus on studying the scriptures and the gospel ourselves to help strengthen our own conversion and bringing ourselves closer to Christ as we work with others.

If you see our occasional posts on Facebook, you are probably aware of one of the perks we have of spending our P days sightseeing and discovering the amazing relics of history and beauty of Southern Portugal. We have also had the opportunity to travel twice to Madrid to attend the temple there with our Branch members, spending three days at a time doing ordinances in Portuguese, Spanish, and French. We are excited as we anticipate the opportunity to participate in the open house and dedication of Portugal’s first temple in August and September. What a blessing this will be to the great saints here.

We love you all and are deeply grateful for your prayers and concern for us and all missionaries. We also want to thank Sister Sue Hanchey’s Young Women’s class for the cards and letters last month. What a fun surprise.