Week 39 September 22 - 28

Sun Sept 22    Prepared for church and packed a little food for our trip to Beja to meet the Powers. We are taking a sack of things that Sister Moulton left behind to the Powers and picking up Merl’s suit bag which he left on our last trip.

Had a nice Sacrament meeting and met two older couples from Alberta, Canada, Sister Neves translated for them. One of the men is the Branch President of a small branch in Alberta – he said it is much smaller than our Branch. We visited for a while after church about their trip (three weeks – starting at the Rome Temple) and what being a missionary is like here. There are 10 things they knew about Portugal that are must do’s. They have done three so far. . . ate custard tarts, ate Piri piri chicken, and golfed in the Algarve. They have loved it. We said goodbye and headed to Beja to meet up with the Powers.

Beja has a lovely little church – right next to the castle – within the narrow, windy streets within the castle walls. Some corners of the walls have been worn away by being hit by cars. We found the small parking lot behind the church and had a nice tour of the chapel by the Branch President Bonza and his wife, Salina Bonza. e we waited for the Powers, we walked around the chapel grounds - you drive through an opening to get to the back parking area.  Mirrors are positioned on outside walls to show when traffic is coming around the narrow streets.

The Powers returned for us, and we followed them to the home of Graca Oliveira – a lady they had been introduced to them by their daughter, Mae, when she was visiting earlier this year.  She had been a missionary here and knew Graca.

Graca was a delightful person. She invited us into her home – two story duplex in a long row of duplexes close to where the Elders live. Her husband is a pilot and works away from home for long periods of time. They have lived in several places, including Virginia. They have two grown children, daughter in college and a son working as a co-pilot for American Airlines in the U.S. He hopes to become a pilot. Her home is the most “memorabilia” filled home we have ever been in. The walls, tops of any piece of flat furniture, the floors – you name it. . . it was covered with beautiful artistic, cultural things imaginable. . . and very tastefully put together. Every room in the large home presented a history of their lives. Good visit – exchanged phone numbers for possible future visits. Wish I had taken photos. . . maybe next time.  

Said goodbye to the Powers and we went our two separate ways. We arrived home around 5:30. Merl practiced the piano, we listened to a talk on the two restorations (restoration of the church and the continuing restoration of the fullness of the gospel). I fixed a nice salmon dinner with shredded potatoes, steamed mixed vegies (asparagas, broccoli, carrots). Tried reaching Curtis without any luck.
(Passing a truck loaded with fresh-cut cork.)

Sept 23, Monday We had not made any P-Day plans for today, so it was pretty relaxing to just stay home and take care of business. Merl did get a call from the Sisters on how to check the air pressure on the tires of their car. The gasket was missing from the gauge, so Merl suggested they stop at the Toyota dealership on their way to Faro to pick up the other sisters for their P-Day trip to Portimao.

I decided to clean our balcony this morning – it took me two hours to complete the job – scraping off years of paint spatters and a messy grouting job. It looks so much better now, and I am sure our clothes will appreciate drying in a better space. Merl took the vacuum down to the garage and cleaned out our car – it really needed it.

We had a good, late breakfast and then settled into our own projects on the computer. I have been trying to catch up on the blog. I took some fig cake to our music maker man and fruit market man – I haven’t been baking as much the past couple of months, so they appreciated my offering today.

We did go out for a walk in the park before dark – pleasant temperature. . . fall is showing signs of being close. Leaves are falling in the park – even though it never freezes here.  A lot of progress is being made on the addition/renovation of the grounds around the skatepark.  We had a good workout on the exercise machines and came back home to spend a quiet evening. Curtis called back – still working with the renter on carpet stuff. Merl talked to Curtis about his new laundry room proposal in the house. Sounds like a plan.

Sept 24 Tues Merl has been getting up early to listen to a Regain your Brain series; he then fills me in on everything he is learning. As we age and have our senior moments, there is always a little fear of dementia. . . we are doing everything in our power to remain alert and healthy!

Our refrigerator likes to freeze drops of water on the back wall – I discovered a huge chunk of ice when trying to get some juice from the back – stuck to the wall. So we defrosted and cleaned the inside of the refrigerator today. Made onion bread (2 whole onions, 1/3 cup flax seed – mix in blender, spread on cookie sheet and bake) makes a nice thin bread.

Late afternoon we went to Primark to look for some shoes (found them) and to a couple of grocery stores for things for District Council and JAS meeting tomorrow. The Sisters came over in the evening to visit; learned that they had a nail and a screw in two different tires. They were lucky to not be stranded out on the freeway somewhere.

Wed Sept 25 When Merl wakes early and can’t go back to sleep, he gets up and reads or studies. Today he listened to the fourth episode on Brain Health. While Merl was preparing his message for District meeting today, I made lemon cookies and little onion bread bites with cream cheese and tomato/cucumber/olive toppers for District counsel.

Elder Goff has been beginning our meetings with a little video clip of “Just Do It.” Merls discussion this week was on the two restorations. I gave the closing prayer in Portuguese. Our new District leaders (Elders Goff and Ross) have made great efforts to include us in conversation and input. Meetings are much more lively.

The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (The New and Everlasting Covenant) versus the Restoration of “All things”

Isaiah 29:11-14; A marvelous work and a wonder; a book from the dust;

Matthew 17:11; Elias shall come to restore all things;

Revelation 14:6 Everlasting Gospel preached to all Nations;

Ephesians 1:10 Dispensation of the fulness of times…he will gather together in one all things;

Acts 3:21; Times of the restitution of all things.

There are two restorations that shall occur.

First is the restoration of the fulness of the Gospel and the New and Everlasting Covenants which was first given to Adam and Eve. This is now in progress and is made possible through the calling of new prophets and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and other new scripture.

Second is the time of the Second Coming (Acts 3:21) when Christ will again come down from Heaven and restore all the conditions that existed upon this earth before the fall of Adam. The earth will then receive its paradisiacal state. All disease, sorrow, deception, unfairness, oppression, violence, injustice will cease upon the earth. He will redeem all mankind from the effects of the fall (but not from their own unrepentant sins). The wicked will be burned and the good and righteous will be spared and caught up to meet Him.

Our responsibility is to help God in preparing for the Second Coming by helping open peoples’ eyes to the truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and helping them come unto Christ through the everlasting covenants, beginning with baptism.

We did some grocery shopping and then spent time at home preparing for our JAS activity tonight – First Institute class of the fall – studying from the Come Follow Me manual. Fortunately I made enough cookies and snacks this morning to have enough for the evening meeting. It has been good getting to know the young adults in our District and helping to strengthen the program.

 When we arrived home, there was lots of loud music and talking coming from the main plaza. Upon inspection, we found a big political rally for upcoming elections of city officials.

Thur Sept 26 Piano lessons with Tomas...still struggling with note recognition (doesn’t practice much). Sandra shared some persimmon with us that she picked at the alfarroba place. Said we could pick some when we would like.

Fri Sept 27 Merl has been listening to a series each morning this week on “Regrain your Brain.” The premise is that dementia and alhzymers is reversible. Information on how to prevent ourselves from memory loss and demention includes diet, exercise, sleep, supplements, cognative activities;  we are really trying to stay healthy in our aging years.

Walked to the park this morning – focusing on increasing our heart rate by doing more walking than strength building.  Merl practices the piano every day – starting to play two hands together.  Exercising body and mind. . .

We then walked to the alfarroba orchard to pick persimmons at our friend’s place.  (Persimmons known as dióspiro in Portugal and as caqui in Brazil.  

Powers called to let us know that they will be going home earlier than planned. The landlady of their apartment wants to move back into it, so they need to vacate by the end of October. They were already planning to go home for a week when their son gets married in November. Now they are going to go home on October 30 and not return. We are very sad – they have become such good friends

Made a yummy persimmon cake this afternoon. Took molasses cookies to Salir with us for piano lessons and persimmon cake to Sandras in Tor. Arrived home – Merl practiced piano again – he is really trying to stay ahead – or up with Daniel.  I think he is doing great!

Reading, studying, catching up in the later evening. Sun is going down earlier all the time. I think Autumn is almost here. Merl wrote a document entitled “Salvation is free.”

Sept 28 Sat  I had promised to take Alexandra some persimmon cake – since she has been letting us pick the fruit. They have several trees, and the fruit is falling on the ground. . . it is a shame. She was anxious to try it.

As we were returning to our apartment, we met the Sisters on one of the becos (alleys) behind our complex. They showed us where Amelia lives (an elderly sister in the branch that doesn’t read). She has invited us a few times to come see her – and now we know where to find her. .. #136. We later took a container of persimmon cake to the Sisters.

I made another batch of onion/flax bread and a batch of hummus. Good stuff! We took a drive to Sao Bras in the hopes of finding Clayton and/or Bruna at home, but they were not. On the way home, we purchased a music ledger book thinking I could simplify some music for our piano students who need more interesting songs to help them learn to read notes on staffs. It is a challenge. I made a valiant effort in copying the music onto the new paper, but the lines are too small to be very legible. Need another plan.

Our days lately have been filled with studying scriptures and Gospel Principles. There is so much “Anti-Christ” stuff against the church, its leaders, and the Book of Mormon that no wonder some people are so confused. Propaganda full of misrepresentation, personal bias and agenda, and conclusions based on incomplete and inaccurate information is prevalent.