Week 36 Sept 1 - 7, 2019

Sunday Sept 1.

Merl woke up early and walked up behind the bus station to bring the car back to our parking garage. City workers were all over the streets taking down equipment, decorations, and cleaning debris off the streets. By the time we went to church there was little sign of the happenings from last night.

Klayton and family were at church today. His wife, Bruna, met with Odilia (Self Sufficiency counselor) about needs for their family. We have some items we will donate. We will be going back to fix the table one day this week and see how else we can help.

Fixed lunch and defrosted our refrigerator and little freezer. Now I know what food we have again and will start utilizing it better. Took a walk around town to enjoy the breeze and fresh air. Nice music at little streetside restaurant – much better than most of what we listened to last night.

Scheduled apartment inspections for this week – the big road trip to Beja, Evora, and Sines again. Probably will be our last time there – a new senior couple in Lisbon will probably take them back into their rightful area. We have enjoyed the scenic, off the freeway trips through the center of Portugal.

Monday, Sept 2 Worked on projects at home table leg, fans, sorting supplies for distribution to family in need. Trip to Portimao to take a drying rack to Andersons and pots and pans to Elders. Merl and Elder Anderson checked the Elders apartment for cockroaches and construction disruption damage.

I had a nice visit with Sister Anderson.

We drove to Albufeira for piano lessons with Karina and Risiane – need to practice more. Our Sister missionaries (Hales, Moulton) stopped by to give a quick message on patriarchal blessings before we gave them a ride back home. Stopped on the way out of town to buy bags of oranges a a roadside stand..  Algarve oranges are the best - even if we are way past prime season.

Fixed a late dinner. Merl studied and prepared a message for District Council tomorrow.

Tue Sept 3 Made lemon mousse this morning for treats after meeting. Topped with crushed up chocolate chip cookies. One of my favorite from Brazil. Inspection of Loule Sisters apartment District Council – had all six of our missionaries back together today. Te sister companships have been taking turns helping with the Lisbon Temple Open House.  (Photo of Sisters with the Portugal President Marcelo de Sousa at the Temple Open House)

Merl's summary of message for District Council
Salvation and Exaltation - The Law of Justice has two parts:

First: All blessings are predicated upon law. If you keep the law or the commandment, you will eventually receive the blessing associated with it.

Second: Penalties are also based upon law. There is a penalty affixed for breaking any law or commandment of the Lord. This penalty must also be payed which will be equal to the nature of the offense.

Because Jesus Christ paid the debts, penalties of all men, we are all in his debt. He, therefore sets the conditions upon which we must comply to receive forgiveness for our sins. This is the part that is not free and must be complied with by all men who desire the blessings of mercy and the blessings of obedience to his conditions and commandments. This is when we are judged by our works and the intentions of our hearts.

Included in the law of Justice is that no unclean thing can enter back into the Kingdom of God. Jesus Christ, by paying the debt of Adams transgression and the sins of all men, creates a condition of satisfying the demands of Justice so we can enter the presence of God for the judgement, but it does not make us clean! We can only be cleansed by the blood of Christ, through our repentance and His forgiveness.

Forgiveness comes through “The Doctrine of Christ.” This includes, First, belief in His word, Then Faith in Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, and Savior of the World; Repentance of sins, which includes refraining from committing them anymore. Then all who would enter His Kingdom must be baptized by His authority, as a sign of a covenant they must make with the Father. Then, the Father promises to bestow the Holy Ghost upon them which they must choose to receive. Lastly, they must endure the trials and temptations of this life to the end of their probation.

The glory that one receives after the judgement will be based on their works, whether they be good or evil – or both. I Corinthians – the resurrection will be as varied as the brightness as the stars in heaven.

There are no covenants that need to be made with the father to enter into the Telestial or terrestrial Kingdoms. However, Covenants, beginning with baptism, are required for entrance into the Celestial Kingdom or Kingdom of God.

Scheduled apartment inspections with the missionaries - that time of the transfer cycle.  They seem to be coming more frequently.  With the Sisters in tow, we stopped at the British store on our way home – picked up a few things and an ice cream bar for each of us.

Weds Sept 4    Up early and on the road by 8:00. Today is our road trip inspection marathon. Started in Beja (arrrived at 9:30) and found things in good shape there – Elders Garcia and Phillips (from Kuna).   I sprayed my favorite degreaser on the stove and the tile around it. Elder Phillips washed it all off while Elder Egbert showed Elder Garcia how to easily remove some mold starting to grow on the bathroom tile walls. If you stay ahead of the problems, life is much easier.  

Arrived in Evora around 11:30 (an hour drive from Beja). In addition to an inspection, we were following up on some maintenance issues. Delivered a new sandwich maker and glass baking pan, along with semi-used pots and pans from the Olhao apartment. . . all an upgrade for them. Merl fixed the toilet  with his makeshift plunger mechanism made with screws and plastic anchors.   I sanded on the butcher block counter top that was damaged by standing water – removing mold. .. varnished, caulked around everything, remounted wood trim. Not perfect, but a lot better.


 Merl gave Elders Howard and Throolin a ride way out into the country for a teaching appointment; I stayed in the apartment and tried to clean up some walls and organized a closet. Shower had a mole in all the caulk, so I removed it- Merl replaced with new caulk. Ceiling is too high to reach without our ladder (which we didn’t bring), but if the owner doesn’t agree to address the mold, we will probably return to work our magic. Left around 5 (hadn’t planned to stay that long) with a blender and a few personnel items left behind by Elder Flores who is now in Portimao. Off to Sines.

The wifi quit working on my phone – used up my data plan not knowing it wasn’t connecting to our home wifi when we were in the apartment. . . thus no GPS available. Pulled out the old Garmin and had an adventure trying to get to Sines.

Saw some beautiful, new country and amazing coastal beaches trying to work our way into town. There was some festival going on, so many of the one-way streets were blocked or rerouted which made getting to our destination even more difficult. Arrived about 7:30 and found an amazingly clean apartment. Merl replaced a bed support board that he had taken home to fix after our last visit. Only issue was that electricity wasn’t working in three rooms. Wiring all looked good. Merl checked the panel and breakers which all looked good. Three of the four light bulbs were good Opened up the junction boxes and finally found the culprit. A loose wire in a wing nut. The Elders had already let for a teaching appointment expecting to return to no lights. On our way at 9:15 - and drove through back country, eery looking sights, narrow roads, cork trees for almost an hour before reaching the freeway. Home by 11:30!! What a long day, but got a lot of work done!!

Thur Sept 5  Todd’s birthday

Slow start this morning. Sandra cancelled Tomas’s piano lesson this morning due to a member baptism in Faro that was to start at noon. We picked up the Sisters at 11:30 and arrived at the church at 11:55 – we were almost the first ones to arrive. This is usually pretty typical.

 At about 12:30, I started playing prelude as people started to arrive. I played for over half an hour before the service started. Suyay Yahir Maldonado Flores was baptized – a young Ecuadorian boy in our Branch. We have a large group of Ecuadorians who are members and live in Albufeira. Many of their family who have settled in Barcelona, Spain, were also in attendance. They are a beautiful people!

It has been really hot this past week – 102 in Beja and hovering between 92 and 100 here.. We came home and laid down to rest for a bit – so tired and hot. Slept for over an hour. Fixed lunch and decided to take the blender and other items to Elder Flores in Portimao. Their apartment is looking better all the time (Elders Flores and Pullin). We stopped by the big British store in Portimao and picked up a few items and drove home. Worked around the house for a while and did some computer/blog work before going to bed.

Sept 6 Fri     Faro and Olhao apartment inspections. Spent time in followup discussions of grace and mercy with Elder Eriksson and Elder Ross.  Didn’t get home until 3:30, had a late lunch and drove t Salir for piano lessons. Went well and had snacks.  We were informed that Cairo in Tor wouldn’t be home from work until 10:30. . . we decided not to stick around that long – will have to catch him another time. We took a nice walk to the park for some late exercise. The weather has been very hot – high 90s during the day. Evenings are nice, especially when there is a breeze.

Sept 7 Sat   I could hardly wait to wake up this morning so we could watch the recording of President Nelson’s 95^th birthday celebration. Loved every minute of it as I washed dishes and cleaned the kitchen.


 Merl worked on repairs to parts of the table we sent to Klayton’s apartment. Merl has certainly been a blessing to many people here. He is getting quite the reputation!  Went to the pharmacy across the street for an opinion on a strange rash that comes and goes around my mouth. Had previously been using an ointment that seemed to work, but it keeps coming back. The pharmacis's recommendation was to go to the local hospital and see a dermatologist. . . will have to wait until we have at least four unscheduled hour - because everything at the hospital takes at least that long.. . . Also checked with two hardward stores looking for furniture dowels to fix the table for Klayton and Bruna. No luck yet.

Went to Sao Bras Alportel to put the table together – only to find more damaged pieces. Will repair and try again on Monday. Worked on trying to get gas hooked up to the stove top.  They have no oven. . . need to purchase a tank of gas. The two boys, Miguel and Lucas, are wild. . . hopefully when they start preschool in October, someone there will be able to instill some discipline and acceptable behavior. Cute kids. . .

Made two cakes – one sheet cake and one layered round from a recipe from Kelma. I loved it when it was served at seminary graduation. Sister Marriott wanted to try it, so I made one to serve at the JAS meeting tomorrow and one for her to take home. Chocolate sponge cake with a ganache filling and frosted with whipped cream.  It is amazing!

Walked to park at night for some fresh air. Found an artisan fair set up – The sisters later called it a hippy fair. . Meditation, reflexology, do terra, mood stones, natural food, inscense, lots of jewelry, etc.