Ok...ill start off with the bad news and then get to the better:
we didnt quite make our goal of new investigators.....we only got half....but weºre keeping on trying...its harder said then done haha, but weºre working hard, and i think here soon weºll get some good investigators. We went by a university the other day and talked to some people. Weºre gonna try to get a conference or presentation going there. Thatd be really cool. The assistants did really well with new investigators... they blew the goal out of the water and got 14! not i have a new thing going that if anyone in my district beats the APs Iºll buy them lunch. Hopefully it inspires them haha.
But we do have some good news, we have an investigator thats gonna be baptised on the 28th of feb! :D hes this brazilian (a roommate of a member) that is a new investigator of last week. hes been reading the book of mormon, and i asked him about it and he said that hes really mad and i asked why and he was like "cuz laman and lemuel are so stupid! they wont listen to anyone!" haha. hes awesome. We taught about the plan of salvation and about how everyone has a mission on earth and he said " well i think Franciels (his roommate) mission was to introduce me to the church and my mission is to bring it back to my family!" So even though we didnt make our goal of 10 investigators, 1 golden one makes up for it :D
Weve also been working with Fabio (i think i mentioned him in my last letter) hes doing really good. improving every day. we were going to go to a family night in the institute and we decided to swing by his house unanounced and see if he wanted to come. We got there and he was really excited to go so we went and he had a good time! So things are going good with him.
Then with Milton...hes still having troubles deciding if he wants to be baptised. he likes church and has a testimony of hte book of mormon, but we found out yesterday that he is having troubles believing Joseph Smith. So we had a good lesson with him, cuz I dont know if you guys even knew this, but i had doubts about Joseph Smith before the mission...but i knew the book of mormon was true...so i forced myself to beleive in him....but it wasnt untill the MTC that i really got a STRONG testimony of JS...instead of a forced one. So i shared that with him and i think it helped.
OH! guess what! this week, i was in the newspaper! Its this news paper called the Metro, and its daily for free in all the Metros here in Lisbon, so its a pretty widespread newspaper and me and few other elders were in it! they did an article on this Aquarium (almost as good as that aquarium we went to befoer my mission....almost :P) here in lisbon...and we were there last PDAY and we got our picture taken looking at otters and it was put in the paper! One other elder called us up and was like have you seen the metro today? and i was like...noo... and he was like...go get one right now! so we went and got one and we were in it! it was awesome!
I dont have any funny expericences this week...at least none that i can remember.....but it was a really good week. I really like this area, i know how to work it really well...so it makes work alot more enjoyable. Today weºre gonna have a fun Pday, its rainy so weºre gonna have a rainy day pday, play board games, watch best 2 years, etc with a bunch of elders. it should be fun.
And thats about it!
Untill next week!
-Elder Rhett
PS This coldplay music video is TRIPPY...it has paper butterflies and lazer pens and fireworks and whoa......(not that im watching it...cuz that wouldnt be good.....even though its in this internet cafe and right infront of me.....:D)
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Bom Dia Todos!
heres the update for the week
I just got done with a 2 day division. I was out of my area for 2 full days doing divisions with other elders in my district, and i realized how attached I am to Campo Pequeno. I felt out of place in the other areas and wanted to get back to my area.....man...i didnt realized how good this area is.
While i was on division, we went to go visit an inactive member named Antonio Alves. He had sent us a text saying that he had a dream that he died and hes suffering alot (he has psycological problems, so he says interesting stuff alot) So we went to visit him and we opened the door to his hallway (its kinda like a Motel hallway, outside and then has doors to go into the individual appartments) and he was at the end laying on the ground. We go over to him and ask him whats wrong. He said he fell 2 days ago and dragged himself outside to get help, but hes been there for 2 days. and said he feels a pain in his bones all over his body. we called an ambulance and then gave him a blessing. then the medics came and checked him out. He was fine physically but just mentally he was a mess. He hadnt been talking his medication, so they took him to the hospital to visit with his doctor and get medication.
Then they went back (after the division) to clean his house cuz he left us his key while he was going to be in the hospital. and the front door had a hole in it. Apparently he was only in the hospital for a few minutes cuz his doctor wasnt there and he came home and just broke a hole in his door to go in. it was a pretty interesting experience.
I heard about Barrack Obama, and that he messed up on the oath. I found that funny that this man, that is pretty much a god here in portugal messed up. haha.
We got challenged in Zone Conference to get 10 investigators a week, so weºre striving to get that. and we have gotten 7 so far and 5 of those is from 1 member. This brazilian named Francel. he just started being active again. Heºs 26, served a mission and is married with a little girl but they live in brazil and hes here to work, but we went over to his house and we taught his roommate, his roommate loved it and even came to church the next day. Then after church we went to his house to eat and he invited TONS of his friends, so we got 4 new investigators from him. it was a fun dinner..and they want to go to this brazilian buffet with us sometime :)
We also have been working with this inactive kid named Fabio. Hes 20, has no job, or school...pretty much stays home, playing videogames, or goes out and smokes weed with his friends. But we started teaching him more and hes opening up more. so thats good. hopefully we can continue to help him.
now on to some bad news.....Elder Tuckers new comp (that he was training got sent home a few days ago. I dont really know why but Tucker said he was having problems. so that was sad....weve had 3 people go home early in the last few weeks...its been tough.
And Elder Watkins was sick with a fever for 2 days...that was killer....cuz we just stayed in for most of the day.......i was bored outta my mind...one day we played Settlers of Katan for like 3 hours straight....gah. we got to go out for a few hours each day and those hours felt so good.
And some bad news about Madelena. We were having a hard time marking and appointment with her and she didnt come to church. At church we talked to her friend whos a member and she said that she doesnt want to meet with us anymore....maybe sometime in the future, but not now.....so that was kinda hard....
but whatever...the work goes on and its still great here!
have an amazing week everyone
-Rhett
------- <<< No PS today.... :(
I just got done with a 2 day division. I was out of my area for 2 full days doing divisions with other elders in my district, and i realized how attached I am to Campo Pequeno. I felt out of place in the other areas and wanted to get back to my area.....man...i didnt realized how good this area is.
While i was on division, we went to go visit an inactive member named Antonio Alves. He had sent us a text saying that he had a dream that he died and hes suffering alot (he has psycological problems, so he says interesting stuff alot) So we went to visit him and we opened the door to his hallway (its kinda like a Motel hallway, outside and then has doors to go into the individual appartments) and he was at the end laying on the ground. We go over to him and ask him whats wrong. He said he fell 2 days ago and dragged himself outside to get help, but hes been there for 2 days. and said he feels a pain in his bones all over his body. we called an ambulance and then gave him a blessing. then the medics came and checked him out. He was fine physically but just mentally he was a mess. He hadnt been talking his medication, so they took him to the hospital to visit with his doctor and get medication.
Then they went back (after the division) to clean his house cuz he left us his key while he was going to be in the hospital. and the front door had a hole in it. Apparently he was only in the hospital for a few minutes cuz his doctor wasnt there and he came home and just broke a hole in his door to go in. it was a pretty interesting experience.
I heard about Barrack Obama, and that he messed up on the oath. I found that funny that this man, that is pretty much a god here in portugal messed up. haha.
We got challenged in Zone Conference to get 10 investigators a week, so weºre striving to get that. and we have gotten 7 so far and 5 of those is from 1 member. This brazilian named Francel. he just started being active again. Heºs 26, served a mission and is married with a little girl but they live in brazil and hes here to work, but we went over to his house and we taught his roommate, his roommate loved it and even came to church the next day. Then after church we went to his house to eat and he invited TONS of his friends, so we got 4 new investigators from him. it was a fun dinner..and they want to go to this brazilian buffet with us sometime :)
We also have been working with this inactive kid named Fabio. Hes 20, has no job, or school...pretty much stays home, playing videogames, or goes out and smokes weed with his friends. But we started teaching him more and hes opening up more. so thats good. hopefully we can continue to help him.
now on to some bad news.....Elder Tuckers new comp (that he was training got sent home a few days ago. I dont really know why but Tucker said he was having problems. so that was sad....weve had 3 people go home early in the last few weeks...its been tough.
And Elder Watkins was sick with a fever for 2 days...that was killer....cuz we just stayed in for most of the day.......i was bored outta my mind...one day we played Settlers of Katan for like 3 hours straight....gah. we got to go out for a few hours each day and those hours felt so good.
And some bad news about Madelena. We were having a hard time marking and appointment with her and she didnt come to church. At church we talked to her friend whos a member and she said that she doesnt want to meet with us anymore....maybe sometime in the future, but not now.....so that was kinda hard....
but whatever...the work goes on and its still great here!
have an amazing week everyone
-Rhett
------- <<< No PS today.... :(
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Hey peeps
This week....hmm....we had zone conference yesterday. That was good...its always SOOO LONG gah. I mean its really cool and i learn alot...but by the end im so brain dead i just want to sleep haha. Its really crazy that I only have 3 more Zone Conferences! the mission is too short...
Weºve also been helping out a member named Alcidio find and apply for work in Ireland. He is limited in english, but wants to learn...so hes going to ireland to work and learn english. But if you guys know of any good job that would hire someone that speaks limited english but would give him achance to learn, lemme know.
Weºve also started to teach pepiºs mom, We watched the testiments with him her and her boyfriend the other day and they really liked it. Afterwards we had a good question and answer session. Hopefully she shows more interess. I also had a division with one of the APs (elder Allen) luckily this transfer we have 2 very good APs, in contrast to the 2 not so good ones we had last transfer haha. We got alot of good ideas together on how to make the work go better. its gonna be a good transfer.
We also have a new investigator (i might have mentioned her already before) but her name is Madelena. Shes a neighbor of a member and we met her when we went to the members house for christmas. Buts shes come to church the last 2 times and loves it. We watched the restoration on saturday and invited her to pray. i asked her about it on sunday and she said she prayed and all she could think about was the movie! yay!
Things are going well with Elder Watkins. weºre getting along well, although im sick of playing Magic.....haha...he wants to play for almost every dinner break. But we get along well and its been really fun. He says hes from Scotsdale AZ, but really only lived there for 3 years...I say hes from smithfield UT...where hes lived longer.
Ive started writing more in my free time, like i used to in Jr high, cuz one of my APs talked about how he writes...so i started, mostly gospel based stuff (ya know...cuz im a missionary and stuff haha...) so thats been good.
My parents told me that guy with a claw hand was a hereditary disease.....but i think thats just a cover for the aliens we have among us :P haha
anyway....ate mais!
-Elder Rhett
Weºve also been helping out a member named Alcidio find and apply for work in Ireland. He is limited in english, but wants to learn...so hes going to ireland to work and learn english. But if you guys know of any good job that would hire someone that speaks limited english but would give him achance to learn, lemme know.
Weºve also started to teach pepiºs mom, We watched the testiments with him her and her boyfriend the other day and they really liked it. Afterwards we had a good question and answer session. Hopefully she shows more interess. I also had a division with one of the APs (elder Allen) luckily this transfer we have 2 very good APs, in contrast to the 2 not so good ones we had last transfer haha. We got alot of good ideas together on how to make the work go better. its gonna be a good transfer.
We also have a new investigator (i might have mentioned her already before) but her name is Madelena. Shes a neighbor of a member and we met her when we went to the members house for christmas. Buts shes come to church the last 2 times and loves it. We watched the restoration on saturday and invited her to pray. i asked her about it on sunday and she said she prayed and all she could think about was the movie! yay!
Things are going well with Elder Watkins. weºre getting along well, although im sick of playing Magic.....haha...he wants to play for almost every dinner break. But we get along well and its been really fun. He says hes from Scotsdale AZ, but really only lived there for 3 years...I say hes from smithfield UT...where hes lived longer.
Ive started writing more in my free time, like i used to in Jr high, cuz one of my APs talked about how he writes...so i started, mostly gospel based stuff (ya know...cuz im a missionary and stuff haha...) so thats been good.
My parents told me that guy with a claw hand was a hereditary disease.....but i think thats just a cover for the aliens we have among us :P haha
anyway....ate mais!
-Elder Rhett
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
HAPPY NEW YEARS!
I hope everyone had a great newyears....mine was kinda...nothin special, but whatever!
heres what has been happinin lately
things here.....are great as normal. I have my new comp, elder Watkins. Hes not as bad as other missionaries have said, we get along pretty well. Hes pretty nerdy (remember, geeky is good, nerdy is bad...geeky means you like computers and stuff but still have a social life and are not obsessed with stuff like that, nerdy is you would rather play on the computer instead of go on a date. haha) but we can connect with things like that. Ive been sick the last few days (dont worry, just a cold and its already passed...and it wasnt that bad) so we had to stay in a bit, so I spent the time either sleeping or we played Magic the card game or Settlers of Zarahemla (its this game like Settlers of Katan.,.a board game, but the mormon version. He actually bought it in a popular Media (movies books cds etc) store here called FNAC, i was amazed they had it) But i beat him at both games quite a bit, more than lose...he didnt like that haha, cuz i ddint even know how to play Magic at the start but last night I beat him pretty bad (ok...now i might be getting a little nerdy...bragging about beating someone at magic...haha)
Everyone was pretty surprised at me being in church...they were like....ummm what happened....i just had to tell them that im here for another 6 weeks! haha, everyone was happy at that though.
Oh the other day, Elder Watkins and I were waiting for a bus, and there was a guy in a parked car talking to some people outside of his car, and the guy in the car had claws for hands! and not like mechanical claws cuz his hands were chopped off, his hands were litterally claws, like the shape of a crab claw and they were big. it was INSANE i think it was an alien. Im pretty sure it was, cuz i couldnt see his face, he was wearing a hood, and had claws....definately and alien.
See, there are all these cartoons on TV and you watch them and all the cartoon characters have very exaggerated features, like big noses, long necks, etc...and you think...these characters are pretty crazy, but fake. WRONG, they are crazy, but im pretty sure that everyone that has made a cartoon got their inspiration from some people here in portugal! haha. Ive seen people here with perfectly round but huge noses, weird cartoon eyes...there are tons of cartoon characters here! haha, i love it here
A few nights ago we had an appointment with a member, but it got over early so we still had about 30 minutes to do something before heading home, so we decided to knock doors. Its about 8:30 and we start on this one building....and EVERYONE in that building got mad at us, they were yelling at us through the intercom and 3 people came out the windows and were yelling at us, 1 stayed out the window and yelled at us till we left that we cant be knocking all the doors and were disturbing people etc. It was funny how everyone was so mad, at 2 well groomed, and very handsome (at least on my part :P) young men trying to talk about Jesus Christ. Its a crazy world we live in. But we kept on going untill 9:00 where we decided to head home. While we were waiting for the bus, i started talking to this one lady that was really nice and we talked at the busstop, got on the bus and talked the whole way home. It was really cool, she was really receptive and hopefully she turns into a new investigator. It was just an interestign contrast in a matter of 30 minutes.
Our investigators are doing well, weºre still working with Milton, we invited him to fast and pray about getting baptised, even if its against his mothers wishes. We told him that if he gets baptised his earthly mother might be offended, but if he doesnt, his heavenly father might get offended. That put things in perspective for him.
Weve been working with Pepi alot, taking him to lessons and stuff. hes amazing. We had a lesson with his girlfriend in Brazil via webcam. And we invited her to find the missionaries and get a book of mormon. 2 days latter we were talking with pepi and he said that his girlfriend found the church closest to her, which was all the way on the other side of her city, she walked there only to find it locked shut. she waited a little but no one came, so she wrote on a note that she wanted a book of mormon with her number and her address and then threw it behind the gate, then she was looking at the note and thought.,..hmm that will probably blow away, so she went around back, jumped the fence, got her note and slid it under the chapel door and went home. On her way home the bishop called her and said that hed send the missionaries over with the book! its really cool...hopefully she gets baptised, pepi can go home marry her, create a nice little brazilian mormon family, etc.haha
We went to a members house here and he had these gel packs..from provo, a company called Agel. it like protein supplements and energy boosters etc. The purple on I had was good...the red one was disgusting, but had 10 grams of protein. have you guys heard of these...im guessing its prolly soem piramid scheme in utah, haha.
things here.....are great as normal. I have my new comp, elder Watkins. Hes not as bad as other missionaries have said, we get along pretty well. Hes pretty nerdy (remember, geeky is good, nerdy is bad...geeky means you like computers and stuff but still have a social life and are not obsessed with stuff like that, nerdy is you would rather play on the computer instead of go on a date. haha) but we can connect with things like that. Ive been sick the last few days (dont worry, just a cold and its already passed...and it wasnt that bad) so we had to stay in a bit, so I spent the time either sleeping or we played Magic the card game or Settlers of Zarahemla (its this game like Settlers of Katan.,.a board game, but the mormon version. He actually bought it in a popular Media (movies books cds etc) store here called FNAC, i was amazed they had it) But i beat him at both games quite a bit, more than lose...he didnt like that haha, cuz i ddint even know how to play Magic at the start but last night I beat him pretty bad (ok...now i might be getting a little nerdy...bragging about beating someone at magic...haha)
Everyone was pretty surprised at me being in church...they were like....ummm what happened....i just had to tell them that im here for another 6 weeks! haha, everyone was happy at that though.
Oh the other day, Elder Watkins and I were waiting for a bus, and there was a guy in a parked car talking to some people outside of his car, and the guy in the car had claws for hands! and not like mechanical claws cuz his hands were chopped off, his hands were litterally claws, like the shape of a crab claw and they were big. it was INSANE i think it was an alien. Im pretty sure it was, cuz i couldnt see his face, he was wearing a hood, and had claws....definately and alien.
See, there are all these cartoons on TV and you watch them and all the cartoon characters have very exaggerated features, like big noses, long necks, etc...and you think...these characters are pretty crazy, but fake. WRONG, they are crazy, but im pretty sure that everyone that has made a cartoon got their inspiration from some people here in portugal! haha. Ive seen people here with perfectly round but huge noses, weird cartoon eyes...there are tons of cartoon characters here! haha, i love it here
A few nights ago we had an appointment with a member, but it got over early so we still had about 30 minutes to do something before heading home, so we decided to knock doors. Its about 8:30 and we start on this one building....and EVERYONE in that building got mad at us, they were yelling at us through the intercom and 3 people came out the windows and were yelling at us, 1 stayed out the window and yelled at us till we left that we cant be knocking all the doors and were disturbing people etc. It was funny how everyone was so mad, at 2 well groomed, and very handsome (at least on my part :P) young men trying to talk about Jesus Christ. Its a crazy world we live in. But we kept on going untill 9:00 where we decided to head home. While we were waiting for the bus, i started talking to this one lady that was really nice and we talked at the busstop, got on the bus and talked the whole way home. It was really cool, she was really receptive and hopefully she turns into a new investigator. It was just an interestign contrast in a matter of 30 minutes.
Our investigators are doing well, weºre still working with Milton, we invited him to fast and pray about getting baptised, even if its against his mothers wishes. We told him that if he gets baptised his earthly mother might be offended, but if he doesnt, his heavenly father might get offended. That put things in perspective for him.
Weve been working with Pepi alot, taking him to lessons and stuff. hes amazing. We had a lesson with his girlfriend in Brazil via webcam. And we invited her to find the missionaries and get a book of mormon. 2 days latter we were talking with pepi and he said that his girlfriend found the church closest to her, which was all the way on the other side of her city, she walked there only to find it locked shut. she waited a little but no one came, so she wrote on a note that she wanted a book of mormon with her number and her address and then threw it behind the gate, then she was looking at the note and thought.,..hmm that will probably blow away, so she went around back, jumped the fence, got her note and slid it under the chapel door and went home. On her way home the bishop called her and said that hed send the missionaries over with the book! its really cool...hopefully she gets baptised, pepi can go home marry her, create a nice little brazilian mormon family, etc.haha
We went to a members house here and he had these gel packs..from provo, a company called Agel. it like protein supplements and energy boosters etc. The purple on I had was good...the red one was disgusting, but had 10 grams of protein. have you guys heard of these...im guessing its prolly soem pyramid scheme in utah, haha.
And thats about it! have an amazing week everyone!
-Elder Rhett "Dark Dungeon Ice Master" Hildebrandt! :P
heres what has been happinin lately
things here.....are great as normal. I have my new comp, elder Watkins. Hes not as bad as other missionaries have said, we get along pretty well. Hes pretty nerdy (remember, geeky is good, nerdy is bad...geeky means you like computers and stuff but still have a social life and are not obsessed with stuff like that, nerdy is you would rather play on the computer instead of go on a date. haha) but we can connect with things like that. Ive been sick the last few days (dont worry, just a cold and its already passed...and it wasnt that bad) so we had to stay in a bit, so I spent the time either sleeping or we played Magic the card game or Settlers of Zarahemla (its this game like Settlers of Katan.,.a board game, but the mormon version. He actually bought it in a popular Media (movies books cds etc) store here called FNAC, i was amazed they had it) But i beat him at both games quite a bit, more than lose...he didnt like that haha, cuz i ddint even know how to play Magic at the start but last night I beat him pretty bad (ok...now i might be getting a little nerdy...bragging about beating someone at magic...haha)
Everyone was pretty surprised at me being in church...they were like....ummm what happened....i just had to tell them that im here for another 6 weeks! haha, everyone was happy at that though.
Oh the other day, Elder Watkins and I were waiting for a bus, and there was a guy in a parked car talking to some people outside of his car, and the guy in the car had claws for hands! and not like mechanical claws cuz his hands were chopped off, his hands were litterally claws, like the shape of a crab claw and they were big. it was INSANE i think it was an alien. Im pretty sure it was, cuz i couldnt see his face, he was wearing a hood, and had claws....definately and alien.
See, there are all these cartoons on TV and you watch them and all the cartoon characters have very exaggerated features, like big noses, long necks, etc...and you think...these characters are pretty crazy, but fake. WRONG, they are crazy, but im pretty sure that everyone that has made a cartoon got their inspiration from some people here in portugal! haha. Ive seen people here with perfectly round but huge noses, weird cartoon eyes...there are tons of cartoon characters here! haha, i love it here
A few nights ago we had an appointment with a member, but it got over early so we still had about 30 minutes to do something before heading home, so we decided to knock doors. Its about 8:30 and we start on this one building....and EVERYONE in that building got mad at us, they were yelling at us through the intercom and 3 people came out the windows and were yelling at us, 1 stayed out the window and yelled at us till we left that we cant be knocking all the doors and were disturbing people etc. It was funny how everyone was so mad, at 2 well groomed, and very handsome (at least on my part :P) young men trying to talk about Jesus Christ. Its a crazy world we live in. But we kept on going untill 9:00 where we decided to head home. While we were waiting for the bus, i started talking to this one lady that was really nice and we talked at the busstop, got on the bus and talked the whole way home. It was really cool, she was really receptive and hopefully she turns into a new investigator. It was just an interestign contrast in a matter of 30 minutes.
Our investigators are doing well, weºre still working with Milton, we invited him to fast and pray about getting baptised, even if its against his mothers wishes. We told him that if he gets baptised his earthly mother might be offended, but if he doesnt, his heavenly father might get offended. That put things in perspective for him.
Weve been working with Pepi alot, taking him to lessons and stuff. hes amazing. We had a lesson with his girlfriend in Brazil via webcam. And we invited her to find the missionaries and get a book of mormon. 2 days latter we were talking with pepi and he said that his girlfriend found the church closest to her, which was all the way on the other side of her city, she walked there only to find it locked shut. she waited a little but no one came, so she wrote on a note that she wanted a book of mormon with her number and her address and then threw it behind the gate, then she was looking at the note and thought.,..hmm that will probably blow away, so she went around back, jumped the fence, got her note and slid it under the chapel door and went home. On her way home the bishop called her and said that hed send the missionaries over with the book! its really cool...hopefully she gets baptised, pepi can go home marry her, create a nice little brazilian mormon family, etc.haha
We went to a members house here and he had these gel packs..from provo, a company called Agel. it like protein supplements and energy boosters etc. The purple on I had was good...the red one was disgusting, but had 10 grams of protein. have you guys heard of these...im guessing its prolly soem piramid scheme in utah, haha.
things here.....are great as normal. I have my new comp, elder Watkins. Hes not as bad as other missionaries have said, we get along pretty well. Hes pretty nerdy (remember, geeky is good, nerdy is bad...geeky means you like computers and stuff but still have a social life and are not obsessed with stuff like that, nerdy is you would rather play on the computer instead of go on a date. haha) but we can connect with things like that. Ive been sick the last few days (dont worry, just a cold and its already passed...and it wasnt that bad) so we had to stay in a bit, so I spent the time either sleeping or we played Magic the card game or Settlers of Zarahemla (its this game like Settlers of Katan.,.a board game, but the mormon version. He actually bought it in a popular Media (movies books cds etc) store here called FNAC, i was amazed they had it) But i beat him at both games quite a bit, more than lose...he didnt like that haha, cuz i ddint even know how to play Magic at the start but last night I beat him pretty bad (ok...now i might be getting a little nerdy...bragging about beating someone at magic...haha)
Everyone was pretty surprised at me being in church...they were like....ummm what happened....i just had to tell them that im here for another 6 weeks! haha, everyone was happy at that though.
Oh the other day, Elder Watkins and I were waiting for a bus, and there was a guy in a parked car talking to some people outside of his car, and the guy in the car had claws for hands! and not like mechanical claws cuz his hands were chopped off, his hands were litterally claws, like the shape of a crab claw and they were big. it was INSANE i think it was an alien. Im pretty sure it was, cuz i couldnt see his face, he was wearing a hood, and had claws....definately and alien.
See, there are all these cartoons on TV and you watch them and all the cartoon characters have very exaggerated features, like big noses, long necks, etc...and you think...these characters are pretty crazy, but fake. WRONG, they are crazy, but im pretty sure that everyone that has made a cartoon got their inspiration from some people here in portugal! haha. Ive seen people here with perfectly round but huge noses, weird cartoon eyes...there are tons of cartoon characters here! haha, i love it here
A few nights ago we had an appointment with a member, but it got over early so we still had about 30 minutes to do something before heading home, so we decided to knock doors. Its about 8:30 and we start on this one building....and EVERYONE in that building got mad at us, they were yelling at us through the intercom and 3 people came out the windows and were yelling at us, 1 stayed out the window and yelled at us till we left that we cant be knocking all the doors and were disturbing people etc. It was funny how everyone was so mad, at 2 well groomed, and very handsome (at least on my part :P) young men trying to talk about Jesus Christ. Its a crazy world we live in. But we kept on going untill 9:00 where we decided to head home. While we were waiting for the bus, i started talking to this one lady that was really nice and we talked at the busstop, got on the bus and talked the whole way home. It was really cool, she was really receptive and hopefully she turns into a new investigator. It was just an interestign contrast in a matter of 30 minutes.
Our investigators are doing well, weºre still working with Milton, we invited him to fast and pray about getting baptised, even if its against his mothers wishes. We told him that if he gets baptised his earthly mother might be offended, but if he doesnt, his heavenly father might get offended. That put things in perspective for him.
Weve been working with Pepi alot, taking him to lessons and stuff. hes amazing. We had a lesson with his girlfriend in Brazil via webcam. And we invited her to find the missionaries and get a book of mormon. 2 days latter we were talking with pepi and he said that his girlfriend found the church closest to her, which was all the way on the other side of her city, she walked there only to find it locked shut. she waited a little but no one came, so she wrote on a note that she wanted a book of mormon with her number and her address and then threw it behind the gate, then she was looking at the note and thought.,..hmm that will probably blow away, so she went around back, jumped the fence, got her note and slid it under the chapel door and went home. On her way home the bishop called her and said that hed send the missionaries over with the book! its really cool...hopefully she gets baptised, pepi can go home marry her, create a nice little brazilian mormon family, etc.haha
We went to a members house here and he had these gel packs..from provo, a company called Agel. it like protein supplements and energy boosters etc. The purple on I had was good...the red one was disgusting, but had 10 grams of protein. have you guys heard of these...im guessing its prolly soem pyramid scheme in utah, haha.
And thats about it! have an amazing week everyone!
-Elder Rhett "Dark Dungeon Ice Master" Hildebrandt! :P
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
FELIZ NATAL
Sorry I didnt update this week, but im updating now.
So, i think Im just gonna stop guessing about transfers...like my mom said, i was wrong again.....the thing is that the Zone Leaders do this thing called indicaçoes that tells president what everyone should do for transfers...and since ive been in the district with the Assistants, nothing has happened as the zone leaders have said. They have been saying for 5 transfers that i should go Zone Leader...but i dont think the assistants like me cuz i treat them like normal missionaries, and not the gods they think they are haha. but Im staying here in Campo Pequeno. Elder Wilson is leaving to one of dad´s areas, Estoril. My new comp is going to be Elder Watkins. Hes a transfer older than me and....not many missionaries get along well with him from what ive heard....but we´ll see. I wasnt really expecting this at all and already said my goodbyes to everyone. Everyone is going to be surprised when I show up to church again on sunday haha.
This whole week, nothing really exciting happened. Christmas was good, we just spent the day with other elders, it was fun.
Christmas eve we were invited to a members house to eat. We didnt start eating till late, adn we had already eaten at chilis a few hours before so i wasnt hungry. First they brought out shrimp(still in the shell with eyes legs and everything..thats how they eat it here) and bread and cheese, I didnt really eat much, I dont really mind shrimp but i dont like taking it out of the shell and it looks disgusting. Elder Wilson LOVED it. he ate soooooo much, probably a couple pounds of shrimp. Then they brought out Cod Fish (which is traditional christmas food here) Elder Wilson didnt know there was more. But he loved it and ate tons of cod fish. I usually like how they prepare the cod here, but this was just grilled and it was really chewy and boney and yuck...it wasnt that good. Luckily it was late so we used the excuse that he have to be home on time, so we left. and went to the other elders house, slept there and had christmas in the morning.
The rest of the week I visited lots of members cuz i thought I was leaving....it was fun though.
Elder Wilson has been freaking out all week, first cuz i was leaving and he was scared of how he was gonna be when I left...then even more when he found out he was leaving and didnt say goodbye to people. This morning he packed....it was one of the most funny and enjoyable things ive ever seen just watching that kid pack. It was a mess! i just sat back and chuckled to myself as he frantically did everything.
We taught a lesson with pepi to another investigator (cuz pepi is a member now so he helps out with the missionaries) He teaches REALLY well. I was just sittign there thinking, "wow...i never taught him how to do that" or "I dotn remember teaching him that" but he teaches better than me, i was very impressed. Then we went to his house and taught his girlfriend via webcam in brazil. He was very sincere with her, he really wants her to get a book of mormon and read it and he really wants to marry her in the temple. it was cool, shes a good girl too, I think she wont have a problem finding out the truth.
And thats about it this week.
I hope everyone has a good new year! I dont really have any plans but...meh
Tchau todos!
-Elder Rhett
PS. I hope my christmas presents got to everyone...and there is more christmas on the way! ;)
So, i think Im just gonna stop guessing about transfers...like my mom said, i was wrong again.....the thing is that the Zone Leaders do this thing called indicaçoes that tells president what everyone should do for transfers...and since ive been in the district with the Assistants, nothing has happened as the zone leaders have said. They have been saying for 5 transfers that i should go Zone Leader...but i dont think the assistants like me cuz i treat them like normal missionaries, and not the gods they think they are haha. but Im staying here in Campo Pequeno. Elder Wilson is leaving to one of dad´s areas, Estoril. My new comp is going to be Elder Watkins. Hes a transfer older than me and....not many missionaries get along well with him from what ive heard....but we´ll see. I wasnt really expecting this at all and already said my goodbyes to everyone. Everyone is going to be surprised when I show up to church again on sunday haha.
This whole week, nothing really exciting happened. Christmas was good, we just spent the day with other elders, it was fun.
Christmas eve we were invited to a members house to eat. We didnt start eating till late, adn we had already eaten at chilis a few hours before so i wasnt hungry. First they brought out shrimp(still in the shell with eyes legs and everything..thats how they eat it here) and bread and cheese, I didnt really eat much, I dont really mind shrimp but i dont like taking it out of the shell and it looks disgusting. Elder Wilson LOVED it. he ate soooooo much, probably a couple pounds of shrimp. Then they brought out Cod Fish (which is traditional christmas food here) Elder Wilson didnt know there was more. But he loved it and ate tons of cod fish. I usually like how they prepare the cod here, but this was just grilled and it was really chewy and boney and yuck...it wasnt that good. Luckily it was late so we used the excuse that he have to be home on time, so we left. and went to the other elders house, slept there and had christmas in the morning.
The rest of the week I visited lots of members cuz i thought I was leaving....it was fun though.
Elder Wilson has been freaking out all week, first cuz i was leaving and he was scared of how he was gonna be when I left...then even more when he found out he was leaving and didnt say goodbye to people. This morning he packed....it was one of the most funny and enjoyable things ive ever seen just watching that kid pack. It was a mess! i just sat back and chuckled to myself as he frantically did everything.
We taught a lesson with pepi to another investigator (cuz pepi is a member now so he helps out with the missionaries) He teaches REALLY well. I was just sittign there thinking, "wow...i never taught him how to do that" or "I dotn remember teaching him that" but he teaches better than me, i was very impressed. Then we went to his house and taught his girlfriend via webcam in brazil. He was very sincere with her, he really wants her to get a book of mormon and read it and he really wants to marry her in the temple. it was cool, shes a good girl too, I think she wont have a problem finding out the truth.
And thats about it this week.
I hope everyone has a good new year! I dont really have any plans but...meh
Tchau todos!
-Elder Rhett
PS. I hope my christmas presents got to everyone...and there is more christmas on the way! ;)
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
1 week to go
hey everyone! so......im done with another week cool huh! Its crazy, I hit my slump day in 3 days....Ive been on the mission for 18 months! whoa!
But.....
The week was good. Its been cold here....not as cold as there, but its humid and im used to the warmer weather here now so im always freezing. It stays around 9ºC. and its been raining nonstop for about 1.5 weeks.
Elder Wilson LOVES the cold and wet weather and is always like making fun of me for not liking it....and that gets annoying....Its been a very annoying 2 transfers. I love the kid, and hes a very nice kid and we get along alright, just every day I wake up and want to hit my head against the wall haha just kidding. One particuarly rainy and cold morning we had a streetmeeting schedueled. (streetmeeting is where we get together as a zone in one area and contact people) well Elder Wilson was estatic that it was raining and said he had been praying for it, but because of the rain, the streetmeeting was canceled right before we had to go out after our studies and we didnt have anything else planned that day. So needless to say i wasnt too happy. Cuz i didnt want to go get soaked in the rain trying to contact people on the street that wouldnt listen cuz it was raining or knocking doors that no one would open cuz its morning. But i decided to visit this guy named Arton that we passed by a week or 2 ago and left a christmas message. Hes a nice guy from Sao Tome Principe, and has a friend named Cristino that lives with him, and also a daughter named susana. So we went over there and i was getting annoyed by everyhting Elder Wilson was doing (which is not normal for me to do with anyone else....he just knows how to hit all my buttons wrongly) but we went to this guys house and luckily he was there. So we went in, waited for him to finish somethin in the kitchen and while we were waiting, his friend Cristino comes in and starts talking with us. He said hes feeling sickwith his back and leg. and wanted to know if we did prayers for the sick. We told him we could give him a blessing after the lesson.
Arton came in and we taught them a good 1st lesson and watched the restoration. They both had really good questions and his daughter was in there to watch the movie! they were really interested and after the lesson we gave Cristino a blessing, and it was really cool, the spirit was awesoem. Then we left and went to a ward party and dinner at Pepis (which was really good. We go tto teach his mom and his moms boyfriend) At the party Elder Wilson realized he left our keys at Artons house....so that night we had to go back to get the keys, we got them and invited him again to church the next day. He said maybe. Well at church the next day, durring sunday school, arton shows up. and then in sacrament it ewas the primary program, he loved it. then just last night he showed up to aulas to ingles!
And then on division the other day, Elder Wilson and Smith stayed here and went and taught Cristino again cuz he wanted another blessing. And things could be really good with this family, im excited. So it was a good ending to a day that started off really bad haha.
Also we have an investigator named Laurinda. A really old lady that has been coming to church for years but doesnt want to be baptised and is kinda senile. But she loves the Elders and has started warming up alot to us. I think she likes me alot. But yesterday, she committed to be baptised finally! She still needs to understand about...everything cuz its hard for her to grasp all the contents of the lessons, even when we teach them simply. But at least shes making progress!
We had a good ward christmas party. We put on the nativity and I was an angel! haha. Me and Elder Wilson and Pepi also performed the Little Drummer Boy song in portuguese! it was awesome! I played the Bongos, Pepi played guitar and elder Wilson sung. sadly, we didnt get that on camera....but it was awesome. Pepi is an awesome member.
Lets see...what else happened.....
Oh I got a letter from that brazilian family that I taught in Olhao, Juliane Gessyca and Manuela. (gessyca is the one that looks like sister sister) that was really cool! they said that they are all reading the book of mormon and listening to the elders. I dont know if they jsut said that to make me feel good, but at least they are thinking about it haha.
Well.....next week is christmas, so everyone prepare...i would not decline any letters or packages sent to me :D haha jk
(Elder Rhett Hildebrandt
Rua Jorge Barradas 14.c
1500 Lisboa
Portugal) haha
But.....
The week was good. Its been cold here....not as cold as there, but its humid and im used to the warmer weather here now so im always freezing. It stays around 9ºC. and its been raining nonstop for about 1.5 weeks.
Elder Wilson LOVES the cold and wet weather and is always like making fun of me for not liking it....and that gets annoying....Its been a very annoying 2 transfers. I love the kid, and hes a very nice kid and we get along alright, just every day I wake up and want to hit my head against the wall haha just kidding. One particuarly rainy and cold morning we had a streetmeeting schedueled. (streetmeeting is where we get together as a zone in one area and contact people) well Elder Wilson was estatic that it was raining and said he had been praying for it, but because of the rain, the streetmeeting was canceled right before we had to go out after our studies and we didnt have anything else planned that day. So needless to say i wasnt too happy. Cuz i didnt want to go get soaked in the rain trying to contact people on the street that wouldnt listen cuz it was raining or knocking doors that no one would open cuz its morning. But i decided to visit this guy named Arton that we passed by a week or 2 ago and left a christmas message. Hes a nice guy from Sao Tome Principe, and has a friend named Cristino that lives with him, and also a daughter named susana. So we went over there and i was getting annoyed by everyhting Elder Wilson was doing (which is not normal for me to do with anyone else....he just knows how to hit all my buttons wrongly) but we went to this guys house and luckily he was there. So we went in, waited for him to finish somethin in the kitchen and while we were waiting, his friend Cristino comes in and starts talking with us. He said hes feeling sickwith his back and leg. and wanted to know if we did prayers for the sick. We told him we could give him a blessing after the lesson.
Arton came in and we taught them a good 1st lesson and watched the restoration. They both had really good questions and his daughter was in there to watch the movie! they were really interested and after the lesson we gave Cristino a blessing, and it was really cool, the spirit was awesoem. Then we left and went to a ward party and dinner at Pepis (which was really good. We go tto teach his mom and his moms boyfriend) At the party Elder Wilson realized he left our keys at Artons house....so that night we had to go back to get the keys, we got them and invited him again to church the next day. He said maybe. Well at church the next day, durring sunday school, arton shows up. and then in sacrament it ewas the primary program, he loved it. then just last night he showed up to aulas to ingles!
And then on division the other day, Elder Wilson and Smith stayed here and went and taught Cristino again cuz he wanted another blessing. And things could be really good with this family, im excited. So it was a good ending to a day that started off really bad haha.
Also we have an investigator named Laurinda. A really old lady that has been coming to church for years but doesnt want to be baptised and is kinda senile. But she loves the Elders and has started warming up alot to us. I think she likes me alot. But yesterday, she committed to be baptised finally! She still needs to understand about...everything cuz its hard for her to grasp all the contents of the lessons, even when we teach them simply. But at least shes making progress!
We had a good ward christmas party. We put on the nativity and I was an angel! haha. Me and Elder Wilson and Pepi also performed the Little Drummer Boy song in portuguese! it was awesome! I played the Bongos, Pepi played guitar and elder Wilson sung. sadly, we didnt get that on camera....but it was awesome. Pepi is an awesome member.
Lets see...what else happened.....
Oh I got a letter from that brazilian family that I taught in Olhao, Juliane Gessyca and Manuela. (gessyca is the one that looks like sister sister) that was really cool! they said that they are all reading the book of mormon and listening to the elders. I dont know if they jsut said that to make me feel good, but at least they are thinking about it haha.
Well.....next week is christmas, so everyone prepare...i would not decline any letters or packages sent to me :D haha jk
(Elder Rhett Hildebrandt
Rua Jorge Barradas 14.c
1500 Lisboa
Portugal) haha
Th-t-th-thats all folk!
-elder Rhett
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
I never want to get hurt in portugal
Its been a crazy week this week. believe it or not....Wilson did it again, We were moving furniture around in our room and he goes to lift a little night stand thats by his bed...and a window....he lifts and his shoulder goes through the window...shattering it. So now wilson has a grand total of 2 windows broken, and he still doesnt ahve any personal money....Luckily he sent for his card last week and should be getting it soon....and ill make him pay me back...there is no way im leaving without money cuz ive been jipped lately. Wilsonºs a good kid, and a really nice kid, and he doesnt try to be malicious in his doings...hes just kinda......doido (dad will know what that is) This week he also broke an old oil lamp that was in our house cuz he hit the coat rack it was on really hard and it fell and shatterd the glass and broke the metal...ANd he broke a chair at Pepis house just by touching it...and pepi was sitting on it...wilson touched the chair and pepi fell cuz the legs came out under him and broke....AND our neighbor (this old lady) on the 1st floor has a broken window cuz she said glass fell from our window, hit her window and broke it. That one im not buying at ALL. 1st of all its very unlikely that a piece of glass could break a window, and 2...the window that was broken on her isnt the one directly below the window wilson broke....its to the left and AROUND a corner...so she just wants money or something, i already told her that it wasnt our fault and not paying....but wilsons bad luck is INTENSE.
Something else exciting happened yesterday, I was on a division with another elder in my district and we were walking home, I passed a parked car and thought I saw something, i stop and walk back and theres an old man laying on the ground with his coat over his head...right onthe street, not moving. I looked up and there were 2 girls and some other people gathered around. I asked what happened and they said that they think he fell and heºs bleeding from his head. I asked if they checked his pulse and they said hes been moving a bit and that they called an ambulance about 30 minutes ago. I think and im like well, we need to keep this guy awake. I look at the guys head, and its hurt and bleeding, not bleeding really bad but his forhead had a nice bang on it. Then i start talking to him, tell him to stay awake, dont sleep. One of the girls said that he only responded to her in english, so I started talking to him in english, telling him to stay awake, asking his name but he wouldnt say anything. But he did move around some. Turns out its an old Ukranian guy that lives around there. Finally after a few minutes, the police show up, a female cop gets out of the cop car and comes over, she takes off the guys coat and starts asking him questions. The girls say that he doents respond to english, then the girl cop puts the coat back on the guys head and starts asking what happened and stuff. The girls says and then she just stands back and tells everyone not to touch the guy cuz no one is a registered medic. and then the cop doenst do anything,
Then an old lady from the window comes out and says "oh that guy is still there, i saw him get knicked by a car and fall down about an hour or so ago" and then one of the girls snapped at the old lady "and you didnt tell anyone or call the ambulance!?" then the cop tells the girl to calm down and the girl is like "sorry, its just a stressful situation" then takes out a cig and starts smoking. Then another old lady comes walking by and is like...oh an ambulance already came and looked at this guy about an hour ago... and the girl was like "and they didnt do anything? thats unbelieveable" and lthe cop is like "well if he doesnt have any documentation, they cant do anything". Well then the girl cops partner comes...and he is the BIGGEST jerk ever. he goes over to the guy and takes off his coat and starts just joking with him and poking him. then puts the coat back over his head and was like "oh just let him sleep, hes just drunk" and then the whole time he was just making fun of this guy...then he starts brutally rummaging through the mans pockets for ID and the man starts freaking out. I keep him calm and the girls start yelling at the cop cuz hes hurting the man more. He finds a wallet and starts going though it, while im still trying to talk to the man, keeping him awake. Then i realize that this guy is in shock and hes shivering....so me and Elder Smith decide to go get a blanket from our house cuz the ambulance isnt showing up. So we run home (it wasnt far) get a blanket and run back, but by that time, an ambulance had already shown up and was taking the guy in. The police officer came over and thanked us, but still in avery lighthearted way.
I never want to get hurt here in portugal. It was RIDICULOUS! they could have cared less about that guy...except for the girls that were there. It was horrible. I hope the guy is alright, I wish i did more, thinking back there is tons I could have done that i didnt. It was really an eye opener.
Well....on to better stuff, A few days ago, we had a conference with Elder Causee of the 70. He gave a talk in last general conference. The french guy. He was really good. I enjoyed it alot and i learned alot.
Our investigators are doing well, Milton (the nephew of a member) told us yesterday that he knows the book of mormon is true and hes scheduled to be baptised on the 3rd! the only problem is that his mom is against it. So hes going to have to talk to his mom. We cant talk to her cuz shes still in Cabo Verde. So weºll hope that his mom permits him.
Pepi is still doing awesome....weºve found a couple of families and taught them, they might have potential, weºll see. But the work is going relaly well.
Oh and a little post mission stuff... I was talking to some people about rooming with them at BYU after the mission, we have me and 3 other people that want to start a turtle house. Have an apartment or smaller house and weºre gonna decorate it with turtle stuff and then also each of us have a turtle...so itºll have to be soemthing that allows small pets. its gonna be awesome!
And that was my week!
Keep it real!
-Rhett
Something else exciting happened yesterday, I was on a division with another elder in my district and we were walking home, I passed a parked car and thought I saw something, i stop and walk back and theres an old man laying on the ground with his coat over his head...right onthe street, not moving. I looked up and there were 2 girls and some other people gathered around. I asked what happened and they said that they think he fell and heºs bleeding from his head. I asked if they checked his pulse and they said hes been moving a bit and that they called an ambulance about 30 minutes ago. I think and im like well, we need to keep this guy awake. I look at the guys head, and its hurt and bleeding, not bleeding really bad but his forhead had a nice bang on it. Then i start talking to him, tell him to stay awake, dont sleep. One of the girls said that he only responded to her in english, so I started talking to him in english, telling him to stay awake, asking his name but he wouldnt say anything. But he did move around some. Turns out its an old Ukranian guy that lives around there. Finally after a few minutes, the police show up, a female cop gets out of the cop car and comes over, she takes off the guys coat and starts asking him questions. The girls say that he doents respond to english, then the girl cop puts the coat back on the guys head and starts asking what happened and stuff. The girls says and then she just stands back and tells everyone not to touch the guy cuz no one is a registered medic. and then the cop doenst do anything,
Then an old lady from the window comes out and says "oh that guy is still there, i saw him get knicked by a car and fall down about an hour or so ago" and then one of the girls snapped at the old lady "and you didnt tell anyone or call the ambulance!?" then the cop tells the girl to calm down and the girl is like "sorry, its just a stressful situation" then takes out a cig and starts smoking. Then another old lady comes walking by and is like...oh an ambulance already came and looked at this guy about an hour ago... and the girl was like "and they didnt do anything? thats unbelieveable" and lthe cop is like "well if he doesnt have any documentation, they cant do anything". Well then the girl cops partner comes...and he is the BIGGEST jerk ever. he goes over to the guy and takes off his coat and starts just joking with him and poking him. then puts the coat back over his head and was like "oh just let him sleep, hes just drunk" and then the whole time he was just making fun of this guy...then he starts brutally rummaging through the mans pockets for ID and the man starts freaking out. I keep him calm and the girls start yelling at the cop cuz hes hurting the man more. He finds a wallet and starts going though it, while im still trying to talk to the man, keeping him awake. Then i realize that this guy is in shock and hes shivering....so me and Elder Smith decide to go get a blanket from our house cuz the ambulance isnt showing up. So we run home (it wasnt far) get a blanket and run back, but by that time, an ambulance had already shown up and was taking the guy in. The police officer came over and thanked us, but still in avery lighthearted way.
I never want to get hurt here in portugal. It was RIDICULOUS! they could have cared less about that guy...except for the girls that were there. It was horrible. I hope the guy is alright, I wish i did more, thinking back there is tons I could have done that i didnt. It was really an eye opener.
Well....on to better stuff, A few days ago, we had a conference with Elder Causee of the 70. He gave a talk in last general conference. The french guy. He was really good. I enjoyed it alot and i learned alot.
Our investigators are doing well, Milton (the nephew of a member) told us yesterday that he knows the book of mormon is true and hes scheduled to be baptised on the 3rd! the only problem is that his mom is against it. So hes going to have to talk to his mom. We cant talk to her cuz shes still in Cabo Verde. So weºll hope that his mom permits him.
Pepi is still doing awesome....weºve found a couple of families and taught them, they might have potential, weºll see. But the work is going relaly well.
Oh and a little post mission stuff... I was talking to some people about rooming with them at BYU after the mission, we have me and 3 other people that want to start a turtle house. Have an apartment or smaller house and weºre gonna decorate it with turtle stuff and then also each of us have a turtle...so itºll have to be soemthing that allows small pets. its gonna be awesome!
And that was my week!
Keep it real!
-Rhett
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
28 days later....divided by 4....
So my week was pretty cool. heres what happened!
Thanksgiving went REALLY well. I cooked a turkey, ham, stuffing, candy yams, apple pie (all of which i had never made before), mashed potatoes, gravy, jello, salad, pudding, and I think thats about it. But it all turned out DELICIOUS! there were 14 people i cooked for and everyone loved it. Everyone played soccer while I cooked then we all came in and ate and shared stories and stuff. it was a really good traditional feeling thanksgiving.
Sorry, i dotn really have any big Elder Wilson stories....he always starts very awkward situations....like we (me and a couple elders) were talking about old people and funny stuff they do and then randomly he says he grandpa died a year ago....talk about a conversation kill...stuff like that happens often lol. Oh and the other day we were leaving from Pepis house and it was dark, pepi lives on the 3rd story so we have to go down stairs and when we were leaving pepi says "Elder Wilson, be careful going down the stairs" cuz Pepi knows how clumsy he is. well sure enough weºre going down the stairs, elder wilson slips on a stair and twists his ankle. haha, it wasnt anything bad, he walked it off and was fine but it was funny.
As for the work, we had a lesson with this inactive member we found from cabo verde named Maria. and we thought her 12 year old daughter was a member, but shes not, but shes really cool and really funny....a perfect girlfriend for shea hahaha :P but we taught maria and her daughter and maria invited her boyfriend over and we watched the restoration video and they all liked it. So we got 2 new investigators through maria!
Also on sunday when we were waiting for the bus to go to church, a guy came up to us and asked us where an address he had written down on a paper was, we looked at it and it turned out to be the address of the chaple. WE were like, ya, weºre going there right now. Then he recognised us as the elders and he came with us to church. hes an inactive member from brazil who moved here, never really went to church, he and his family were baptised when he was 12 (hes 26 now) but he never really went to church, but randomly he came back and really liked it. His names Rinaldo.
Pepi got to pass the sacrament at church last week, it was amazing. He didnt own any white shirts or ties, but the 1st councilor gave him a white shirt and 2 ties and then he went and bought slack and new dress shoes. He looked sharp. It was really cool. Before his baptism he asked about wearing white shirt and tie. I told him it wasnt NESSECARY but he always should try and look his best. And he really didtn want to wear it cuz he doesnt like it. but after his baptism he really wanted to wear a white shirt and tie...it was cool, hes also been trying to share the gospel with people. Hes been calling us up with doubts people have that he doesnt know how to respond. Its really cool seeing him progress. WEve been teaching him about the temple and hes really excited togo when possible.
I had to do something I didnt like doing last monday at district meeting. I had to lay into my district and repremand them, cuz we have to report numbers every week, like lessons taught, new investigators, baptisms, people marked for baptism, etc. one of the things we have to report is the number of hours of prosylliting we do int he week (time outside of lessons when we are knocking doors, making contacts on the street etc) normally in a week a companionship gets around 15 hours. well last week, my district got 10.5 TOTAL. and me and elder wilson got 8 of those hours. So I had to really lay into my district cuz they were slacking off, especially the assistants to the president. Theyre supposed to be the example for the mission and they didnt do anything last week. I didnt like doing that but it needed to be done.
Hmm....i cant think of anything else exciting that has happened. So that was my week.
Talk to yall later!
-Rhett
PS. Keep Smilin´ or whatever else you feel like doin! haha
Thanksgiving went REALLY well. I cooked a turkey, ham, stuffing, candy yams, apple pie (all of which i had never made before), mashed potatoes, gravy, jello, salad, pudding, and I think thats about it. But it all turned out DELICIOUS! there were 14 people i cooked for and everyone loved it. Everyone played soccer while I cooked then we all came in and ate and shared stories and stuff. it was a really good traditional feeling thanksgiving.
Sorry, i dotn really have any big Elder Wilson stories....he always starts very awkward situations....like we (me and a couple elders) were talking about old people and funny stuff they do and then randomly he says he grandpa died a year ago....talk about a conversation kill...stuff like that happens often lol. Oh and the other day we were leaving from Pepis house and it was dark, pepi lives on the 3rd story so we have to go down stairs and when we were leaving pepi says "Elder Wilson, be careful going down the stairs" cuz Pepi knows how clumsy he is. well sure enough weºre going down the stairs, elder wilson slips on a stair and twists his ankle. haha, it wasnt anything bad, he walked it off and was fine but it was funny.
As for the work, we had a lesson with this inactive member we found from cabo verde named Maria. and we thought her 12 year old daughter was a member, but shes not, but shes really cool and really funny....a perfect girlfriend for shea hahaha :P but we taught maria and her daughter and maria invited her boyfriend over and we watched the restoration video and they all liked it. So we got 2 new investigators through maria!
Also on sunday when we were waiting for the bus to go to church, a guy came up to us and asked us where an address he had written down on a paper was, we looked at it and it turned out to be the address of the chaple. WE were like, ya, weºre going there right now. Then he recognised us as the elders and he came with us to church. hes an inactive member from brazil who moved here, never really went to church, he and his family were baptised when he was 12 (hes 26 now) but he never really went to church, but randomly he came back and really liked it. His names Rinaldo.
Pepi got to pass the sacrament at church last week, it was amazing. He didnt own any white shirts or ties, but the 1st councilor gave him a white shirt and 2 ties and then he went and bought slack and new dress shoes. He looked sharp. It was really cool. Before his baptism he asked about wearing white shirt and tie. I told him it wasnt NESSECARY but he always should try and look his best. And he really didtn want to wear it cuz he doesnt like it. but after his baptism he really wanted to wear a white shirt and tie...it was cool, hes also been trying to share the gospel with people. Hes been calling us up with doubts people have that he doesnt know how to respond. Its really cool seeing him progress. WEve been teaching him about the temple and hes really excited togo when possible.
I had to do something I didnt like doing last monday at district meeting. I had to lay into my district and repremand them, cuz we have to report numbers every week, like lessons taught, new investigators, baptisms, people marked for baptism, etc. one of the things we have to report is the number of hours of prosylliting we do int he week (time outside of lessons when we are knocking doors, making contacts on the street etc) normally in a week a companionship gets around 15 hours. well last week, my district got 10.5 TOTAL. and me and elder wilson got 8 of those hours. So I had to really lay into my district cuz they were slacking off, especially the assistants to the president. Theyre supposed to be the example for the mission and they didnt do anything last week. I didnt like doing that but it needed to be done.
Hmm....i cant think of anything else exciting that has happened. So that was my week.
Talk to yall later!
-Rhett
PS. Keep Smilin´ or whatever else you feel like doin! haha
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving!
So guess what?! weºre having thanksgiving today!!!! Im cooking everything! its crazy! i already made 2 pies, the turkeys in the oven, we have a ham gonna make jello, already made stuffing, gonna ahve salad, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and other stuff...its kinda crazy, now i know how my mom feels. I kinda wish i was back just playing football haha. the turkey weºre having isnt a full turkey...well it is but its already cut, cuz we went to a butcher shop and they didnt sell full turkeys, but they said that we could order one and theyd kill it and keep it whole for us and have it ready by this morning, well.....they didnt have it ready. so we just had to buy it in parts as they had, breast, legs, wings, etc and build our own turkey haha. hopefully itll be good.
We found out about transfers. Elder Wilson and I are staying together for another transfer! Yay!....kinda....its gonna be hard....hes a really good kid, just does dumb stuff...and some of his habits are really annoying...but weºre fixing that haha. itºll be a good transfer...hopefully.~ He still does...."interesting" things everyday...like he likes touching stuff...adn there was a beer bottle that was on the wall around the stairwell for the metro...and without thinking, he just touches it, sending it falling down the metro stairwell, shattering on the bottom, almost hit someone...sigh..... but ill just have to learn more patience.
We have another baptism marked on the 20th. a kid named Milton. Hes from cabo verde, the nephew of a member. so that should be good.
Pepis baptism was amazing. He was stoked and love it. his mom liked it too. He bore testimony after the baptism and the spirit hit me like a brick wall...it was STRONG...the only time i felt the spirit like that was when Elder Holland was talking the the MTC. Then on sunday he got confermed and recieved the priesthood! next week heºll be blessing the sacrament! cool huh!
Weºve got a couple new investigators....non really seem extremely promising but weºll see. We found this crazy romanian lady that thinks she knows where Maddie is (a little english girl that got abducted in the algarve a year or so ago) then also a member presented us to her neighbor. her neighbor listened, so weºll see where that goes.
Also, we did a deep clean of our house. its really nice! we got new showercurtain that has little ducks on it! its awesome!
And that was my week!
Ate mais
-Elder Rhett
We found out about transfers. Elder Wilson and I are staying together for another transfer! Yay!....kinda....its gonna be hard....hes a really good kid, just does dumb stuff...and some of his habits are really annoying...but weºre fixing that haha. itºll be a good transfer...hopefully.~ He still does...."interesting" things everyday...like he likes touching stuff...adn there was a beer bottle that was on the wall around the stairwell for the metro...and without thinking, he just touches it, sending it falling down the metro stairwell, shattering on the bottom, almost hit someone...sigh..... but ill just have to learn more patience.
We have another baptism marked on the 20th. a kid named Milton. Hes from cabo verde, the nephew of a member. so that should be good.
Pepis baptism was amazing. He was stoked and love it. his mom liked it too. He bore testimony after the baptism and the spirit hit me like a brick wall...it was STRONG...the only time i felt the spirit like that was when Elder Holland was talking the the MTC. Then on sunday he got confermed and recieved the priesthood! next week heºll be blessing the sacrament! cool huh!
Weºve got a couple new investigators....non really seem extremely promising but weºll see. We found this crazy romanian lady that thinks she knows where Maddie is (a little english girl that got abducted in the algarve a year or so ago) then also a member presented us to her neighbor. her neighbor listened, so weºll see where that goes.
Also, we did a deep clean of our house. its really nice! we got new showercurtain that has little ducks on it! its awesome!
And that was my week!
Ate mais
-Elder Rhett
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Theres a pigeon in my soup!
So, the other day, we came home for lunch, and we walk in our room and there was a pigeon in there! It started freaking out and flying all around, it kept on trying to fly out the window, but the window was shut so it kept on just flying and smaking against the window! haha. I have a movie of it, maybe if possible. But we opened the window and it flew out. it was hilarious though. elder wilson didnt think it was very funny though...cuz it peed and pooped on his stuff. haha, but it was great for me.
Oh, and exciting news, we have a baptism this sunday! Luzie, the girlfriend of the member, shes doing really well and excited for baptism.
Hopefully after the baptism, they get engaged. Theyre pretty serious and the members kids love her. So weºll see-
Then pepi is doing amazing. the other day we were talking about reading the scriptures and i shared that one thing i like is that lots of time if you have a problem you can just open up the book of mormon to anypage and start reading and it can help you. then he showed us a list of scriptures that he found while doing just that when he was wondering if he should be baptised. and the scriptures that he randomly opened to were scriptures like Alma 34:32, Alma 32:28, 2 Ne 31, Mosiah 2, 1 Ne 3:7, etc scriptures that are like famous amazing scriptures. How cool is that.
Hes doing really well and going to be baptised on the 22nd.
Oh, this sunday, we had a returned missionary come to church, Brother Bangeter, from Highland Utah. He served here 30 years ago, his dad was the 1st mission president. and his uncle is the man of the bangater highway. He gave an awesoem talk in sacrament meeting about the start of the church here in portugal. it was really interesting. I liked it alot. I dont know if dad know this, but before this portugal was dedicated, it was open for missionaries. cuz right after the fall of salezar they opened it up. but they were doing an election and one of the parties running wouldnt let the church in and the missionaries would have to have been pulled out. Well right before the elections, Pres. Bangater called Thomas S Monson who was in europe at the time to have him come and dedicate portugal. Elder monson didnt know if hed have time, so he couldnt promise anything. well Elder Monson decided to drop what he had planned to come to portugal and he dedicated it. Well the elections which were just a couple days away, they went well and missionary work was able to continue. it was a cool story.
Oh and another cool experience happened. we had a lession schedueled with an investigator, but when we got there, he wasnt there. so we walked down the stairs and stood int he entrance way of the building, I didnt want to go out cuz we didnt have anything planned and i didnt want to make contacts in the cold. And i just felt really bad about going out...i really just didnt want to. Well I kinda stalled a little bit inside and right when we were gonna leave, in walks an inactive member and her daughter. I had talked to her daughter the other day, but she gave me a faulty address so we couldnt find their house. But they were excited to see us, invited us up to talk with them, we taught a good lesson and they are comming to church with us this sunday! If we would have just left without me stalling and not wanting to go out into the cold we would have missed them! cool huh!
Well thats about all thats happened this week. Im taking my greenie to a castle today. I bet heºll like that.
That was my week.....Arent i good...updating my blog 2 weeks in a row... Ill try to make it a weekly thing....basically i just copy the stories i send my fam....so thats cool...right?
-Rhett
Oh, and exciting news, we have a baptism this sunday! Luzie, the girlfriend of the member, shes doing really well and excited for baptism.
Hopefully after the baptism, they get engaged. Theyre pretty serious and the members kids love her. So weºll see-
Then pepi is doing amazing. the other day we were talking about reading the scriptures and i shared that one thing i like is that lots of time if you have a problem you can just open up the book of mormon to anypage and start reading and it can help you. then he showed us a list of scriptures that he found while doing just that when he was wondering if he should be baptised. and the scriptures that he randomly opened to were scriptures like Alma 34:32, Alma 32:28, 2 Ne 31, Mosiah 2, 1 Ne 3:7, etc scriptures that are like famous amazing scriptures. How cool is that.
Hes doing really well and going to be baptised on the 22nd.
Oh, this sunday, we had a returned missionary come to church, Brother Bangeter, from Highland Utah. He served here 30 years ago, his dad was the 1st mission president. and his uncle is the man of the bangater highway. He gave an awesoem talk in sacrament meeting about the start of the church here in portugal. it was really interesting. I liked it alot. I dont know if dad know this, but before this portugal was dedicated, it was open for missionaries. cuz right after the fall of salezar they opened it up. but they were doing an election and one of the parties running wouldnt let the church in and the missionaries would have to have been pulled out. Well right before the elections, Pres. Bangater called Thomas S Monson who was in europe at the time to have him come and dedicate portugal. Elder monson didnt know if hed have time, so he couldnt promise anything. well Elder Monson decided to drop what he had planned to come to portugal and he dedicated it. Well the elections which were just a couple days away, they went well and missionary work was able to continue. it was a cool story.
Oh and another cool experience happened. we had a lession schedueled with an investigator, but when we got there, he wasnt there. so we walked down the stairs and stood int he entrance way of the building, I didnt want to go out cuz we didnt have anything planned and i didnt want to make contacts in the cold. And i just felt really bad about going out...i really just didnt want to. Well I kinda stalled a little bit inside and right when we were gonna leave, in walks an inactive member and her daughter. I had talked to her daughter the other day, but she gave me a faulty address so we couldnt find their house. But they were excited to see us, invited us up to talk with them, we taught a good lesson and they are comming to church with us this sunday! If we would have just left without me stalling and not wanting to go out into the cold we would have missed them! cool huh!
Well thats about all thats happened this week. Im taking my greenie to a castle today. I bet heºll like that.
That was my week.....Arent i good...updating my blog 2 weeks in a row... Ill try to make it a weekly thing....basically i just copy the stories i send my fam....so thats cool...right?
-Rhett
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