So this week was really exhausting. It rained and rained and rained.
The flooding left a good number of families homeless. and
caused all sorts of problems, streets are destroyed, mud everywhere,
cobblestones in the street everywhere, the whole town just smells damp and like
mildew, and all of this was on the national news here in Portugal and we were
walking around in it trying to knock doors and go make some visits which was
not easy and not super successful . We have been soaking wet all week long
including our house got flooded and we had to spend several nights up super
late cleaning water off of the ground and eventually we were so sick and tired
and just exhausted from moping and toweling up water that we went to bed with
our house still just full of water. Plus
with the crazy high humidity and the utter lack of dryers. We have been super exhausted and it has been
really tough to work this week because for one we were basically supposed to be
staying inside because it was flooding and cars were crashing and all sorts of
crazy stuff. I sure was glad that I
chose to bring my rain pants on my mission.
This week as we have been suffering I decided that the
best way to keep me motivated to go out and get soaking wet, walk around in
water in church shoes for the whole day was to read and study about the
pioneers and the early struggles that they had physically in the church. Reading books about all the struggles that
they went though as they walked around in the snow all day long with nothing
but rags on their feet for the same reason made me feel a need to not complain
about our struggles risking trench foot
out here as the soldiers of the Lord, because at the end of the day I did get to
take a hot shower and hop into a only damp bed to sleep for the night. So I guess it was a humbling week, that
really tested us a little with our resistance and drive to keep obedient and
figure out how to work even when mother nature herself seemed to be fighting
us. We talked to a bunch of people and
they said that it was the worst couple days of rain in the last 40 years and it
still is yet to clear up all the way.
As far as my comp Elder McGraw he is a really fun guy and
I have been
enjoying working with him. He is very different from the rest of my
comps and it has been a nice change. As I told you he was a cross country runner
and could run a 4 and a half minute mile, so I was pretty excited to go run
with him in the morning and we took off on the first day and I totally broke
him on accident. I didn't mean to make
it that difficult of a run but he was definatly in pain for a good couple days
haha. Hopefully I will be smart enough
to work him back into it so that I can get him out there running with me again.
We had a couple presidency meetings this week to get
President Broderick up to speed on everything here in the branch. (that process
was once again left to me basically alone) and it was interesting to get to see
how his style and knowledge made the meetings different then the ones that we
had with President Cabral. I am loveing
my chance to get to learn how to work with leaders and how to be a leader. The mission really does get you ready for all
sorts of things that I never would have expected in the past.
Com certeza nunca podemos sentir satisfeito até o dia que
o Senhor recebe-nos nos braços dele e aceitar nossa vida e esforço todo de
seguir a Ele.
Fátima foi confirmada está semana. Tivemos uma semana cheia de tribulações e
desafios de natureza com toda a chuva que recebemos mas ficávamos com bom animo
e seguíamos sempre em frente. Temos uma
piscina de ensina um pouco vazio agora mas vamos lá e encontrar com os eleitos
do Senhor se não estamos a ver progresso vamos para a próxima pessoa até
encontramos com a pessoa que o Senhor precisa na Igreja
dele nesta momento.
Eu amo o oportunidade que temos para prestar
testemunho a muitos mesmo se eles aceitem ou não, porque
com o espírito estamos a fazer nosso parte e vamos ser abençoados.
Fátima was confirmed yesterday and I was able to do the
confirmation.
She was in tears afterwards when she stood up. It was a really special experience and I love
the work and when I get to be with such amazing examples like that wonderful
woman. She was interviewed by Elder Broderick right after church and he was
also very impressed with her and her resolve to keep all the Lord's
commandments. Now we are just needing to
find more people like her. That is always the goal!
Com Amor
Elder Hobson
P.S. Elder McGraw is really good about taking pictures so
he has more pics of me now then I have taken in my first two transfers here.
Kindof nice to have a private photagrapher walking behind
me all day long.
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