Week 9 Feb 24 - March 2

2-24 Sunday:     Merl is taking over for this week. . .

Up and ready for church. Still practicing my talk, a bit. Arrived at church and surprise! Elder and Sister Marriot are attending the Loulé branch today!  Sister Marriott was a Counselor in the General Young Women's Presidency.  They were recently called as YSA missionaries and to assist with the temple open house and dedication.  It was good to meet them for the first time.
(photo:  Jorge, Sis. Marriott, Eld. Marriott, Eld. Egbert, Sis. Egbert, Sis. Prado, Sis. Brown, Eld. Payne, Eld. Ribeiro)

Sister Sandra (Nestor’s Wife) spoke first and took her allotted time, then Roberto (Ecuadorian) spoke and didn’t take his allotted time. Then it was my turn.  Still 20 minutes of time left.  As I stepped up to the podium, President Rui told me to take all the time I needed.  I had plenty.  So I began my talk, and didn’t have to hurry through it.  I even quoted the verses out of Abraham that I was going to skip because I thought my time would be short . It seemed to go fairly well. I think my 10-12-minute talk took about 15 minutes.  So we still got out about 5 minutes early.

After the meeting, Brother Mazi asked for a copy of it, then Pres. Rui asked for a copy.  I asked if my Portuguese was understandable.  Each said it was.  Elder Marriot said I had a bit of a Spanish accent. I thought that was a bit weird.  Most important was that people could understand what I said – and hopefully the spirit of the Holy Ghost related the feeling and meaning to most or many of them. The Title, “God and the Family.”

We made arrangements for the Marriotts to have lumch with President Rui and family since we had packed up all our perishables and were driving to Lisbon after church.

Also, today, I had a nice discussion with Jairo and Jared about serving missions. Both are a bit tentative about this challenge, but I told Jairo particularly that he is doing an amazing job of being the Branch Mission Leader during his first year of membership, and he really could be a great missionary.  The experience would provide the growth and development needed for the rest of his life. He agreed and said he would consider it.  I encouraged both of them to prepare themselves to serve missions. Jared is not so active as Jairo.

We hurried home, fixed a quick sandwich, packed the car, and headed to Almada. It’s about a two hour drive. We had a nice visit and a late dinner with Elder and Sister Powers before going to bed. They had moved the mattress topper from their bed to their office floor to sleep on. We were given the bedroom which was very kind of them.

Monday

M: Well, I just completed my 70^th year on this earth – and it’s not getting any easier. Today is the first day of my 71^st year. Wow!

Elder Powers was not feeling well this morning and decided to stay home from our adventure today. Sister Powers said they had both slept better than normal and might consider sleeping on the floor all the time. After a light breakfast, we were on our way.  Arrangements were made for two sets of
Elders to accompany us on our excursions for the day.
(Elder Garcia, Merl, Kathlyn, Elder Dowdle, Elder Matos, Sister Powers, Elder Throolin).

We picked up the first set of Elders (Matos, Dowdle) at the Almada train station and started our drive to Sintra and the Palacio de Monserrate. Just getting there was a bit of a challenge – finding the right road when it was partially closed to thru traffic and winding around the mountain side.  We went through any way around some construction trucks, etc.  Sister Powers is a fearless driver!  



Shortly after arriving, Elders Garcia dn Throolin arrived, and we walked to the ticket office to buy tickets to the palace and grounds.  As the lady asked if we were over 65, (as though we didn’t look it).  I said, "yes, eu sou setenta," (small hesitation) "hoje!"  Then Sister Egbert looked at me and surprised asked, “Today is your birthday?  I thought it was tomorrow!”  (The interaction was quite humorous. . . but you had to be there.)

So, my birthday lands on a P-day – just before I get to go through the rigamarole of getting my Portuguese drivers license tomorrow and the next day. Today we have fun – the next two days I go through torture.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monserrate_Palace

We had a great day in the gardens and the palace. At first I wasn’t too excited about visiting another old building, but the gardens were the best birthday present I could ask for. It was how I envision the Garden of Eden. The palace has had a lot of restoration done, and it is beautiful with exquisite detail. There are two large castles up higher on the mountain that will have to wait for another trip.

On the way home, we went to the Sintra Forum and had pizza. Sister Powers slipped away and purchased a beautiful birthday cake .We returned to the Powers apartment and prepared dinner for five of us couples (Powers, Egberts, Garrards, Marriots, Merrills) and a family Home Evening. 

We had a potato bar and salad. It was a very nice evening with Marriots giving the lesson on Prayer; and then we ate the fruit covered birthday cake after Sister Powers went to her neighbor’s apartment to get some mataches to light the candles. Elder Marriot (crazy) sang happy birthday using the Donald Duck squawk voice; then they all sang the “Parabens pra voce” song in Portuguese. It was fun. 
After cleaning up, we drove to our hotel in Lisboa at 11:00 pm, small but clean. Turim Iberia

Tuesday morning we met at the mission office at 8:15. There were several of us who were going to get our Portuguese driver’s license today: Elder Powers, Elder Bower, Elder Moura, Sister Moura, Elder Doughman, and me. Seven of us piled into the white van (Blizzard); Elder Barton was our chaperone and guide. The first stop was at a government office to get a NIF number (a tax number for temporary residents) by showing all of our government issued documentation. I only had a copy of my passport and was lucky to finally be processed.

The second stop was the Center de Saude (health center) to get a government medical number that would allow us to access medical care. Our medical appointments were scheduled for 2:00 p.m. so we went to a big food court in the mall.  (Sister and Elder Moura, Elder Powers, Elder Doughman, Elder Shriber, Elder Bower, Elder Egbert)

 We arrived at our next destination a little early and sat in the waiting room until being called back. Hearing was tested by the doctor standing behind me clicking his fingers. I had to tell him which side he was doing the clicking. The vision test was similar to what we used to do in grade school – stand on a line 20 feet from a chart on the wall and reading the lines of letters. A few simple routine health questions, and we were signed off. All in all, the process today went smoothly. We were all finished by 3:15 and on our way back to the office. I was certainly glad that I was not the one driving around this crazy city.

Elder Powers and went back to Almada to the Powers apartment to await the arrival of our wives after their day of sightseeing.

K: We, the wives, had a much more enjoyable day than the men. It was a day of cars, boats, trains, and lots of leg work. Sister Powers, Sister Bower, and I drove to the southern pier and purchased tickets to take a ferry across the big river to Belem (bairro of Lisbon).


 
We bought round trip train tickets that took us from the Belem station along the coastline to Cascais. It was a beautiful ride traveling through quaint neighborhoods and scenic views of homes and beaches. I could have done this all day. One of Sister Powers’ favorite places is Cascais, and she had many places
she wanted to show us.

We spent several hours walking around the plaza, the beach, the castle, the shops, the historic buildings and streets. It was difficult to take it all in. I saw something I had never seen before on the beach – a group of boys of several ages playing futebol-volei – beach volleyball played without using hands or arms – only feet, head, chest. Takes volleyball to another level.

  As we boarded the train to go back, Sister Powers had one more place she wanted to go – one stop beyond where we originally boarded this morning. We tried desserts and ice cream at a huge streetside market/mall in Carcavelos before saying goodbye to Sister Bower (her husband picked her up). We rushed to the train station and got on the wrong train – so after getting off at the next stop, we returned to where we were able to catch a ferry back to our car. It had been a crazy, fun day with two crazy, fun Sisters. After returning to Almada, Merl and I visited with the Powers and went back to Lisbon to our hotel for the night.

e were surprised by a birthday gift from the hotel when we arrived – two apples, a large piece of coconut, chocolate cake, and a bottle of champagne. We ate the apples and part of the cake. . . and left the champagne for whoever comes across it after we leave. It was a nice gesture. We both slept well that night.

M: Wednesday was a different story. We left our wives at the mission office because we thought it would not take long to get our licenses this morning. We arrived at the DMV (for lack of knowing the real name) 10 minutes after it opened. The line to get in was already a full block out side of the building (half a block from the door to the corner, around the corner and half-way down the next block.) Actually getting into the building took only about an hour. Then we took numbers to get served. A letter at the beginning of the number divided people into different departments. Our numbers were B 05 to B 09. (Elder Powers was sick today). So we waited another hour or so till my number, B005, was called. . . and come to find out, we were given the wrong department numbers! The Elders tried to convince them to assist us anyway – but it didn’t happen. (Except for Elder Moura. Somehow, he convinced a person to help him now!) So we were given new numbers T105 to T109. It didn’t seem possible that we would even get in today with such high numbers. They gave the Elders an app they could use to track when the numbers were being called. So we all went to the office.

K: The Mouras are from Brazil, and they wanted to go to a Brazilian market across town. That sounded more fun to me than sitting in the office all afternoon. Merl wanted to stay and read, so the Bowers and I accompanied the Mouras. I picked up a few things that I recognized from Brazil – tapioca flour for pao de queijo, soup mixes, and lemon wafer cookies.

M: Surprise of surprises, The DMV went through the 100 people before us; so around 4:00 we returned to the DMV. This time my number was first – but we were all through the process by about 5:30. We returned to the office and picked up mail and supplies. Sister Egbert wanted to go help Sister Powers clean an apartment this evening. I was tired. But Sister Powers called and said there was nothing that could be done today, so we drove home to Loulé.

Thursday morning came much too soon. I have come down with another bad cold and had planned to stay home and catch up on some sleep and things around the apartment. We received a phone call from the zone leaders in Faro who asked us if we could transport the Portimao Elders back to their apartment this morning. While we were gone, someone had broke into the apartment – the Zone Leaders picked up the Elders and brought them to Faro yesterday.  (Broken glass we swept up)

The Mission Office recommended we move the Elders into the Mann’s apartment while things were checked out. We drove to Faro and picked up Elder Barrios and Elder Vidal, helped them clean up some glass, and moved them to the other apartment. We had to give them strict instructions on how to treat the apartment and to not use the bedrooms. We took sleeping pads with us for them to use. They were like two kids in a candy store. . . (Elders Nadal, Flores, Barrios, Cook - Portimao and Lagos Elders)

We stopped by the British store and purchased a block of cheddar cheese and some Heinz Tomato Basil soup packets, along with some canned soups. They are hard to find anywhere else. When we arrived home, I spent the rest of the day in bed.

Friday was not much better. I have a pretty bad head and chest cold. I rested and tried to sleep most of the day while Merl spent the day working on finances (taxes coming up), reading scriptures, and studying Portuguese. He cleaned up a board/shelf he found in the garbage and made a shelf for his books on the bed next to his desk. 

He walked to the park to exercise, and I asked him to take a new picture for me (he chose the skateboard park). He also picked me up a decongestant at the pharmacy across the street. I took a hot bath and drank hot lemonade and honey. Hopefully things will be better in the morning.

Saturday: I slept well last night and hope my battle with this cold is working. I still have coughing episodes, but overall feeling better.  My colds here like to linger as long as they can.  This morning I finished reading the first volume of “Saints.” I got up and spent some time swiffering all the floors in the apartment. I will never understand where all these dust bunnies come from!

We needed to go grocery shopping today. We had taken everything perishable to Lisbon with us earlier in the week. Fruits and vegetables don’t keep very well here; so you use them or lose them.