Week 17 - April 21 - 28

Being so far behind on adding to our blog, we decided to take a more simplistic approach.  Time is going so fast - even if we do many of the same things each day.  It doesn't matter where we live in the world, routines of everyday living are very similar.  I will focust on the highlights.

Easter Sunday:  Since our Branch President was recently called into the new District Presidency, we sustained a new Branch President on Sunday, Giovani Pignaton da Costa.  He was previously the first counselor.  He and his wife, Poliana Rodrigues Teixera and their 5 young children moved here from Brazil a few years ago.  Poliana is the Primary President.  We read most or all of the lesson material in English during the week so we have an idea of what the Sunday School discussion is about.  Our friend, Sis. Ann Skyes, is now in our branch..  It was great to see her again - she is a real go getter.

April 21:  For Easter dinner we fixed strawberry chilled soup, chicken andpork chops, funeral potatoes, stuffing, broccoli/grape salad,  deviled eggs, folar-lo (traditional Easter Portuguese bread – with a whole egg/with shell cooked inside).  Dessert was provided by the missionaries, chocolate cake and jello.  We discussed the blessing of the atonement and the death of Christ.  Christ had power over death, but he suffered for our sins (mentally and physically) until his work was finished.  How grateful we are for his love for us. 

Easter Sunday in Loulé marks the beginning of the celebrations 'Feast of the Sovereign Mother', the patron saint of Loulé.  The Small Feast (Festa Pequena) takes place on Easter Sunday when the statue of the patron saint is brought down from its sanctuary to the Church of São Francisco, where it will stay until the Festa Grande.  This all takes place just around the corner of our apartment.  It is a blessing to live so close to all the activity in the city, but it does sometimes cause traffic problems with all the street closures.

We were able to catch a few of our children at home in the evening - it was a good day.

We listened to the Tabernacle Choir's Easter program while doing all the dishes on Monday morning.  What a beautiful program!  We received a phone call from the Faro Sisters requesting we pick them up at the train station in Loule - they were joining our Loule Sisters for a P-Day shopping day at the Mar Mall.  We also received a call from Elder Marriot ((senior missionary and Counselor in the Mission Presidency) asking us to organize a Couples Conference on May 14.  The preliminary work would be to query all the senior couples to gather information on what activities we are all involved in and ideas of what more we could do to assist the young missionaries along with the wards and branches.  The conference would include a training from Pres. and Sister Fillmore, an activity, a group presentation and discussion of our ideas, and dinner.  We ended the day by having dinner at the Loule WOK, a nice restaurant by the church.

Tuesday morning I made a pan of chocolate chip banana bars with a brown sugar glaze for Missionary District Council in Faro.  It was another good meeting.   It is really easy to take off  on a wrong exit in these cities.  Today, while distracted, Merl took a wrong turn and we headed to the airport.  The way the roads are constructed, and rules of the road, it is impossible to just turn around and go the other way.  We got all the way to the airport before turning around to head back to Loule.

After arriving back home, Merl and I walked to the pharmacy to purchase a pain rub for Merl’s arm.  It is aching most of the time with sharp pains when he moves it wrong.   We also went to our local fruit market (Nice Mercado) to purchase oranges, pears and water.  We have become good friends, and we finally got a picture of  Martins Jose.  He likes to teach us some new Portuguese words or phrases, and we share cookies and other baked goods with him.  Sometimes he even gives us some fruit that is unusual for us to try.  

Wednesday we spent the day in Portimao working on the Elder's ceiling.  The Elders just happened to break their kitchen faucet that morning and we weren't able to find parts.  Merl installed a new faucet for them while I organized their missionary supplies shelf.  We were really tired at the end of the day.  

Thursday we went grocery shopping and made a BIG pot of chicken noodle vegetable soup along with fresh french bread.  Merl went to Olhao and Faro to pick up the Sister Missionaries to spend the night with the Loule Sisters in preparation for drive to Setubal in the morning for Zone Conference.  We had eight missionaries over for soup and bread (six sisters and the Loule Elders).  We watched a program from Live Longer, Feel Better Episode 1 on Fresh water, fresh food, fresh air, family relationships, fun (keep happy and healthy).  Much good information.

Friday we were up early and drove to Setubal for Zone conference.  We always enjoy meeting with the missionaries and Pres. and Sister Fillmore.  We don't always know exactly what is being discussed or taught, but we come away with energy to keep going.  The Powers had made arrangements for lunch and helped set up and organize.  We had spaghetti, salad, and bread.  This was the first Zone Conference for Elder and Sister Anderson.

The missionaries had Portuguese/English class in the evening.  We got them back to Loule in time for the class, but we had to take Sister Larson back to Faro, pick up the Olhao Sisters there and take them to Olhao.  Logistics are crazy sometimes.   

We ended the week by helping clean the chapel for church tomorrow.  We had been asked to unlock the door for a coupe from Albufeira to do their assignment.  They hadn't arrived, so we started in another area.  We stayed and helped finish all the cleaning, which we took on the challenge of cleaning the walks in front of the chapel - scraping off gum.  We bought a new jar of honey from the Farmers' Market and walked to Continent for groceries.  We watched Live Longer Live Better Episode 3 Dementia  (missed episode 2).