Week 70 Letter

Monday, October 6, 2014

Famlee!

Hello everybody! How are you all? I heard a lot of fun things about you all from mom, and it sounds like you are all anxiously engaged in a good cause. Good job! Keep up the good work.

I wanted to shout out to Cameron about his mission call: I am so excited for you Cameron! I saw the video of you opening your mission call and it made me want to get mine all over again! You are going to learn Spanish! That is so cool man! We will be able to understand each other just fine I think when we get back home together. I can understand Spanish pretty easily, and you will learn to understand Portuguese soon. I know a mission who lives in Alaska who got super excited to hear that you were called there. He says he is going to visit you sometime =)

Well, this week was so awesome! I love being back in the field! I have an awesome companion. His name is Elder Bezerra and he is a crazy little Brazilian. When I got out of the office all I wanted to do was work like a dog, and he has the same desire. Because of that and because of the tender mercies of our Heavenly Father we already have found an awesome family who is marked for baptism on the 18th. They are soo amazing! I think I should get Ali the email of one of the daughters, Giane, who is learning English and speaks really, really well. All of them are so incredible. We had the most picture perfect lesson I have had on my entire mission with them this week, where we committed each of them to be baptized, one at a time, asking them why they wanted to be baptized. They all have so much desire and all gave amazing responses. However, there is one thing that we need to overcome before everything is perfect. The mom, Indira (an absolutely amazing woman from Guinea Bissau) has been with her 'husband' for almost a dozen years now, but they are not legally married. The husband lives in Guinea, and isn't here to get married. The husband belongs to the Muslim faith. They are separated because Guinea is basically in a civil war right now. As a result the education system has failed; there is insecurity, violence, and lack of resources. So, they had to make the decision to have the family move up to Portugal while the dad stays there working in a big business to support the family. The dad is very successful, and has a really good high-paying job. As we were hearing this, we became a little sad because we didn't know how everything would work out. It seemed pretty impossible. However, we then found out that he will be coming up on October 15th to stay for a couple months and visit! I have so much faith that everything will work out that that the entire family will be baptized together. Please, please, please pray for them, and include them in your fast on Sunday. They are a family that needs to be sealed for time and all eternity!

Everything else is going well too. I am driving, yes a stick shift, yes in crazy Lisbon. Portuguese drivers are crazy! I already knew that, however now that I am on the road driving with them it is even more apparent... they don't have a lot off accidents, but the driving style is definitely different, and when I first was learning stick it was pretty scary! Good thing I have a lot of miles in a car... luckily I learned stick pretty fast. I only have killed it once so far, so that's good =) I have the hang of it now for sure. 

Well, my time in this little Indian internet café is running out, and these guys are ruthless. I heard that if you go over your paid time that they will cut off both of your thumbs so you can never use the space bar again, and all of your emails justlooklikethisanditisreallyannoying. We wouldn’t want that, would we?

I love you all. I hope you all loved conference! It was awesome!

Lots of love, 

Elder Lee

PS- The names of the family members are Indira, Aiman, Giane, and Tália (mom, son, daughter, daughter)        

Loveyouall!

Hey mom! How are you?

I am great. The new area is super cool as far as the work goes. I am driving (a stick shift, wooh!) here in Odivelas. My address is R. Alfredo Roque Gameiro Nº5 3ºd. However, you should probably just use the office address for anything you send, I am pretty close to the office and my zone meetings and stuff will be in the office chapel. I am basically in a suburb of Lisbon, it might even be considered part of Lisbon, Lisbon is pretty big. I am serving with Elder Bezerra, a little Brazilian elder. 

Conference, yeah, I got to actually watch it this time. It was really cool. I especially like the talk where it was actually in Portuguese and not just translated. I know the Brazilian guy's son; he was a teacher in the MTC

My time is short.  I sure love you.  Have a great week.  I know I will.