Aveiro - Post 2

Aloha Family!!! Ola!!!

Just finished my first full week here in Portugal!!! YAY!!! It has been a long one haha! For all of those who have emailed me, I am sooo grateful for the emails! I may not respond promptly, but I will try.

I’m happy to hear that everyone is ok. I’m soooo stoked for Kuʻilua!!!! New Zealand!!! So awesome!!! Jonah, right on with the Eagle Project haha. I know you probably don’t want to, but it’s so worth it to be able to say you’re an Eagle. Thank you, mom for getting on him :) Sam, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! You’re 14yrs old!!! yay!!!! Sam, I love you, and I’m so proud of you. I’m not able to be there right now, but know that if I could be there, I would be. Ima try get you something small to send over.

As for me, I really don’t know what to say haha. We’ve been walking all over, knocking on doors and contacting people on the street. (No bike or car, it's been great. The shoes are working out fine. Also, I’m so grateful for being able to shine um cuz that makes um waterproof-ish haha.) We also started working with the members this week, and have gotten quite a few referrals we are working on. We started off the week with one investigator, whose name was Didiana. We ended up getting dropped by her. We’ve since found 6 more investigators. First is Afonso, who’s a college student and a practicing Catholic, but is interested in finding out more about religion. We’ve soft committed him to baptism, and have given him a Book of Mormon to read. We have a group of three college girls, who we taught the first lesson, and have a follow up scheduled for this upcoming week. We hope to commit, or soft commit, them to baptism. We also have Imaculada and Bruno, also college students. Imaculada is from from Indonesia, and Bruno is from Cape Veirde. We taught them the first lesson, and left them with a Book of Mormon to read. We found all these people thru street contacts and knocking on doors. I hope we’re able to get all of these people to church this Sunday. Oh yeah, and we have one more. Her name is Rulanda and we found her as a referral thru her brother who’s a member. We taught her the 2nd lesson and have her marked to be baptized on the 19th!!! I hope we’re able to have the baptism on that date. We’re gonna have a tough lesson with the word of wisdom with her....

Here in Aveiro, it’s been cool. It’s been under 15 degrees celcius (59˚ F) the whole time. Rain hasn’t been uncommon, and the wind is pretty crazy at times haha. It’s been good though. I’m staying warm. Thank goodness for coats and long johns!!! haha

The language has been tough. Understanding has really been frustrating. I can kinda follow when people are talking and stuff, but when they talk to me, it just flies over my head. Thank goodness for my companion who understands haha. It’s coming though. I’m able to communicate my thoughts, and people are able to understand, so that’s good. It’ll take some time, but I’m sure, with God’s help, I can get it.

Something interesting I learned is that fear can be a type of pride. I kinda have this fear of talking to people because I’m afraid to look dumb, but what I need to do, is just put myself out there and do it. Easier said than done haha. That’s something I’ll be working on though.

Something cool I noticed here is that all the sidewalks are cobbled. I don’t think I’ve seen a paved one yet! They are beautiful, but a lot of work to make and repair. Also, I tried Fracezina the other day. Basically it’s a sandwich with like, 7 different kinds of meat, and is covered in gravy. I’m so sorry I didn’t take a pict! It was sooo good! Sadly, no bacalhau yet haha. We are being fed by members, but that’s like 2-3 times a week. We do most our own cooking. Recipes would be awesome!!! Please send some simple ones haha. I know I so “pua ting” haha.

Anyway family, I love you!!! Thank you for emailing me. I’m sorry I’m not able to respond to all your emails, but know that I do read them, and I appreciate them a lot! I love you, mom! I love you, dad! I love you, family! Thank you for your support.

Ate proximo vez minha familia, eu amo voces,

Elder Kim

PS - Mom I can’t send pictures thru this computer. I’m sooo sorry.

(Elder Kimʻs mailing address in Aveiro. We had to take a picture of it in order to get the correct markings in Portuguese.)