Week 20 May 12 - 18, 2019

Sun 12:  We attended church in the small Tomar branch.  (bottom, center - with air conditioner on front).  They actually have a small baptismal font!

The Albrantes Elders and us, along with a family of four from the U.S. made up almost half of the congregation.  We met Curt and Brooke Phillips with their son (who had served his mission here recently) and his wife.  They are from Logan;  Pres. Fillmore was Pres. Phillips' counselor in the Stake Presidency. Pres Phillips is also a Physical therapist and gave Merl some more instruction on taking care of his arm.  The two missionaries gave the talks . We were invited to dinner along with the Phillips to the home of Lia and Francisco . 

Lia and her daughter are members, a very gracious family. Sister Lia has worked extensivly on the restoration of the castles, convents, etc. in the area.  Her speciality is stain glass.  Merl was given an ancient "Knights of the Templar" helmet to try on - one of Lia's prized possessions.  



We did a little sight-seeing around the city this afternoon.  Pretty quiet on a Sunday.  The surrounding area is covered with pine forests and lakes - much different than the Algarve.  We thought we would maybe enjoy serving in this area until we found out that the summers are much hotter than we would have expected - well over 100 degrees.  We will stick to the Algarve.  

We enjoyed a leisurely walk through the countryside - the aparatment is right on the edge of town.  We enjoyed a cool breeze watching a sheep herder with his sheep, snails climbing a wall, old architecture, flowers and trees.  

Mon 13  After breakfast, we left Tomar to go to the neighboring city of Batalha.  The city and monestary were built to commemorate the  Battle of Aljubarrota fought between the Kingdom of Portugal and the Crown of Castile on 14 August 1385.  The result was a decisive victory for the Portuguese, ruling out Castilian ambitions to the Portuguese throne, ending the 1383–85 Crisis and assuring John as King of Portugal. It took almost 200 years to complete the monestary, and it has been well preserved.  Parts of it is still being used.   Our friend Lia restored most of the stained glass widows in the monestary.
















We were fortunate to be there when they had the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  




 I started the food prep for the meal tomorrow at the mission home.  I brought my pressure cooker with me so I could cook the potatoes for a Brazilian potato salad and the eans for a big pot of feijoada (black beans and meats).


We spent the afterning boxing all church owned property and loading up our car.  What wouldn’t fit in the car, we placed all together in the front bedroom for future pickup. 

We received a call from Sister Anderson informing us that Sister Moulton had injured her toe playing beach soccer in Portimao (ripped the nail off of her big toe).  We gave her directions and protocols for informing Sis. Fillmore and the mission nurse in Germany.  We felt bad that the Andersons had to take care of "our" missionary, but they were willing and much closer.  

We enjoyed another walk around the neighborhood in the evening.

Tuesday morning we woke early to clean and close the apartment.  We finished loading the car and were on the road by 10:00 a.m..  It was already getting hot outside.  We enjoyed the drive to Lisbon and were the first to arrive at the mission home.  We spent some time with Pres. and Sister Fillmore going over the activities of the afternoon and making final preparations.  

Everyone arrived by 2:00 - was good to be with all the senior couples again - and to meet the Carters and the Bangeters for the first time.  We learned that Elder and Sister Carter had a son, James with his family, that lived in our ward in Twin Falls and remembered us.  Merl started the meeting by having all the couples itroduce themselves and share mission and family information.  He then turned the first 1 1/2 hours over to Pres. and Sister Fillmore for training and instruction.  

After a break, discussion turned to how we, as couples, can best serve and help missionaries and members in Portgal.  We came away a bit overwhelmed at all the possibilities and needs that we could be involved with.  Good brain storming meeting.

We had an amazing Churrasco dinner with all the traditional foods.  I helped Sister Girrard make her yummy tortillas.  

After dinner, the weather had cooled down enough for us to walk down to the Tagus River at the bottom of the hill from the mission home.  The mission home is located in a very upscale area over looking the city and is surrounded by international embassy residences. 

As we crossed over the freeway on a walking bridge the Tower of Belem came into view.  Thet ower  played a key role in Europe’s Age of Discoveries since it served both as a fortress and as a port from where Portuguese explorers departed to establish what would be the first European trade in history with China and India. It also served as a ceremonial gateway to Lisbon 

 The tower is the third World Heritage UNESCO sight we visited this week (Batalha and Convento do Cristo)

Within walking distance is the Monument to the Discoveries -  A stylised caravel seems to be setting out to sea, with Henry the Navigator in its prow. On the two lateral ramps ascending to the symbolic figure of the Prince are some of the significant characters of the Portuguese overseas expansion and cultural names from the age of the Discoveries, 32 in total, all portrayed with symbols that allude to their identity: navigators, cartographers, warriors, colonisers, missionaries, chroniclers and artists.

We enjoyed walking around the plaza map of the world identifying places in the world that Portugal had discovered, colonized, etc.

 A look back at the Tower of Belem as we started our walk back to the mission home.  The return trip was much more strenuous as the sun was setting and the moon appeared.  It was a beautiful evening!

We said goodbye to most of the couples; three of us stayed at the mission home for the night:  Us, Andersons, and Carters.  

 

The next morning, we had  breakfast and packed up.  I have been intrigued by the tall walls surrounding cemeteries throughout the country - with the tops of little houses peeping over the top.  I finally convinced Merl to stop at the Belem cemetary close to the mission home.  It didn't disappoint!  

From the cemetery, we drove to the office to drop off all the supplies we had packed from the Tomar appartment.  We were asked if we could wait for the Loule Sisters who were getting their SEF cards to return to the office and take them home with us.  While we waiting, Merl sorted through tools in a cupboard and found treasures.

Drove back to the Algarve with Sister Moulton and Sister Darnell – stopping at Galp Tangerina to pick up sandwiches for the drive home. We found a cat watching the street across from our apartment - four stories up.  It joins the other window watchers who act as the Portuguese surveillance system.

Thusday we scraped and patched a bedroom wall (signs of water damage coming through from other apartment).  We spruced up apartment for a mortgage inspection tomorrow.  Our landlady, Philomena, brought us some paint. . . her son is using the apartment as collateral for a loan to build a house in the country. 

Checked on Sister Moulton’s toe – talked to Sister Fillmore.  After seeing the pictures, the nurse in German recommended it be be checked by the mission foot clinician.  We took the sisters to the train station to purchase tickets to Setubal in the morning.

Friday morning we took our Sisters to train station at 8:30.  We then drove to Olhao for a cockroach check and dropped things off at the Olhao Elders and Faro Sisters.  We finished painting the bedroom wall before the mortgage inspector came.  Picked up Sisters at train station. Fixed salmon for dinner. We were feeling exhausted from all the traveling and work from the pasts few days.  We had a surprise phone call from Elder and Sister Mann who are now back in California.  They are both helping with the Oakland Temple Open House. Elder Mann is a sealer at the temple.  They were a great couple to work with. 

Saturday morning we spent some time studying and later walked to the church to deliver cold medication to Elders.  I  started a new “healthy” eating plan (missionaries will probably miss the sugary desserts). For now, no sugar or bread type products.  We did some grocery shopping  and then listened to conference talks as we caught up things at home. 

The evening was disturbed by a loud rucus on the streets.  It didn't take long to learn there had been an important soccor match, and the favored national team had one.  Just like celebrations we experienced in Canela - honking, driving in circles, fire works, streets crowded.

We spent the latter evning making arrangements for housing and transportation to Oeiras for zone conference next week.  All our missionaries are assigned to cars – no one needs to go on the train. It helps as the zone and sister leaders had already gone to Lisbon for meetings.  It has been an adventurous week!