Aveiro 5/23/16

Aloha mai kakou e ka ohana!!!

I feel like I open all my letters home by saying that its been a crazy week, so I will just say that its been a normal week, cuz this one was just as crazy as any other.

Tripa, which is basically like a crepe or a pancake filled with chocolate

 or something. Those things look harmless but let me tell you,

 they are DENSE! Sometimes I get hard time finish one, haha! 

On the 19th we had our Mission Conference thing with Elder Bednar in Porto. It was pretty crazy to navigate our way there. We had to wake up early, catch a train to Porto, catch the metro, catch a bus then walk a little bit to the chapel in which it would be held. It was so cool to seen all the Élderes and Sisteres that came. It was also cool to see my old companion, Elder Wanlass, and others from the MTC.

Man, from the moment he walked in it was like electric in there. It was awesome!!! The spirit was so strong! He didn't give a talk or anything but rather conducted it like a discussion. He would ask questions, one of the missionaries would answer, then he would elaborate or show a point of his and ask more questions. Then we had some time to ask him questions. Then we had some time to give comments on what we learned today, and we concluded with testimonies from our Mission Presidente and his wife, the Area Seventy, Élder Moreira and his wife and then Sister Bednar then Elder Bednar. It was powerful!!! Man, was pretty tired after that. Actively laboring in the Spirit always takes it out of me.

He spoke a lot about being agents and not objects. Agents go out and work, they act, while objects wait to be acted upon. I heard a lot on how we need to show our faith by reading scriptures and saying prayers, but that after that we need to go out and exercise our faith and work. Prayers are strongest after you say amen, get off your knees and make it happen. IT'S SO TRUE!!! He said how one sure way to know if its the Spirit prompting you is if you start seeing the faces of your investigators and start applying what you are learning to them and how it can help them. I definitely had some impressions on helping our investigators. He spoke about how fear is the opposite of faith. Faith is an action work, while fear is inaction. Something cool I thought he said, which I really like, was he said something like fear only comes when we stop. It's okay not to know everything but just keep going in faith because once you stop fear steps in.

Man there was just so much stuff that I felt like I learned; a lot of it was not necessarily said but felt. I felt like what I was hearing and feeling was confirming things I had been thinking about recently and that would help me become the missionary I need to be. It was awesome! After it was done, he shook all our hands!!!!! I WAS SUPER IN AWE!!! I'm a fan, ha,ha!!

Bolo de berlin,like a malasada, but filled with ovos moles, 

this special sauce made only in Aveiro. ITʻS SOOO GOOD! 
I think that's my new favorite goodie to eat, haha. Gotta watch out 
cuz they make um at like all bakeries, and the bakery under our house 
seems to make the best I've tried yet! (Danger, haha!!)

Oh yeah something he said that was funny was "In Church culture (when he said this I was thinking Utah but really it could apply to everywhere) we do dumb things". Man bust laughing!!! Also at one point of the conference, which was like 5 hours long, he fist bumped President Amorim! Man, Elder Bednar is awesome!

Leading here in Aveiro has been stressful but super rewarding as well. Every night I go to sleep tired of body, of mind and of soul, but content that we've worked hard.

 We had three people to church this week, which the most I've ever had to church. We had Madelena, that catholic lady (she's so nice and funny), Isabell, she's from Cabo Verde and has two very young children,(she reminds me a lot of you mom back when we were all small. Just the way she acts, and how she is with the kids, its like wow, she could have been my mom if I was African. It makes me so grateful for all you did mom), and Yamine, a nine year old girl who hasn't been baptized that we've been trying to contact who came to church with her grandma. 

It was sooo stressful to get them to church, with coordinating everything but it all worked out. We did everything in our power to get them there, and then trusted the Lord, and He pulled thru, and then blessed us on top of that with Yasmine who we hadn't even planned on.

Yesterday, we thought we'd go by Ana's house to check on her. I guess she had just left her house though, and so her roommate, told us she would let her know. So we left and we started looking for this less active reference that the bishopric had asked us to find. As were walking away, I kept thinking and feeling that we should go back and talk to her. Me and Elder Meza (my previous comp) had wanted to talk to her before but she never was available, but the thought kept coming so I asked my comp if we should, and he's like "ehhh...". I was like man we're doing this. So I go back and I'm like "Hey, so Ana just left? Oh shucks, well ok...would it be okay if we talked to you?" She's like "yeah!" I was like YES!!!! So we taught her the first lesson and it was awesome!!! Man I'm so excited for her especially as this will help Ana strengthen her testimony as well as she will be helping us teach her.

We also found this Dutch guy to teach which was pretty interesting because we had to teach him in English.

Tile Mosaic, 3 mins away from my house, next to train station.

Anyway, I love you guys!!! I can't believe its already been like 4 1/2 months already! Crazy! Time flies when were working hard and loving life, haha. Oluolu malama ia oukou iho ea? Hoomau i ka hana maikai!!!

A hui hou kakou i keia pule ae,

Élder Kim