The city of Santarém is situated on a plateau, located on the right bank of the Tagus River, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Lisbon. The economy of the city remains mainly dedicated to the production of agricultural goods.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

April 11, 2016 Aveiro

Olá minha família!!!!

I feel like its hardly been any time at all! It’s been an interesting week here in Aveiro.

Last Tuesday we had an interesting District Meeting. We, as a district, decided that 20 would be our goal for the number of baptisms this transfer. At first it was 14, but after deliberation and prayer, we decided on 20. It’s a very lofty goal, but we felt good with that number, and so we intend to make it happen. I didn’t realize how lofty it was until the other districts in our zone showed that their goals were 6 and 9 haha. I know that with the Spirit we can do it though! With this goal in mind we’ve been working really hard. Sadly, though, most of our plans have been falling thru. People just haven’t been available, and or just cancel. It’s been pretty frustrating, especially because we’re really working hard, and trying to be perfectly obedient.

The other day we were passing a potential investigators home, only to find they weren’t there. So we started knocking doors. We end up catching this lady as she enters one of the apartment buildings, and we start talking to her. I guess they were moving or something from one floor to another or something, and we asked her if we could help. She said yes and let us in. We end up meeting her family, her husband and son, and we help them move some furniture and boxes around the house and up the stairs. It was nice to do some service for once. Turns out a different pair of elders had helped them yesterday in a different part of Portugal. We were like what?! Then we’re like, ʻhere we’ll leave this Book of Mormon with you’, and they’re like ʻoh, we have one’. They take us downstairs and show us this copy of a Portuguese Book of Mormon from like the 60’s! Super cool! We end up teaching them the first lesson, inviting them to read and pray about the book, and ask if we can come back to which they said we could. Was super cool!

We also taught this Brazilian family. A dad, mom, and their two sons. One is 8, the other is 4. We had already taught the first lesson to them, so we taught the second lesson, the plan of salvation, and it was awesome!!! We had a member present too, who happens to be the primary president, which made it really awesome. I have high hopes for them!!!

RULANDA HAS BEEN CONFIRMED!!!! I’M SOOOOOOO RELIEVED!!!!!! It was a long time coming but it’s finally happened! We were able to teach her a few times this week, and I gave her a blessing on Friday, (my first blessing in Portuguese). She didn’t get stuck in the elevator, and she showed up to church. So awesome! We kinda lost her again right before church, but we found her again and she now has the gift of the Holy Ghost! Official member of A Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Últimos Dias!!!!

I made shoyu chicken this week. Turned out really good! I don’t think it was as good as mom’s one though hahaha. The others really liked it. Ima make it again this week too.

Weather has been somewhat turbulent. Wind has just been gusting with the rain pouring every other day. We even had lightning and thunder yesterday.

We also had my first Zone Conference in Porto this week. It was pretty good! What was cool is that I was following pretty closely what was being said. I'd say about 70-75% at the beginning, but about 60-65% towards the end, just because I was getting tired and stuff and it’s harder to concentrate. (We have to catch the train to district meeting every week, which is an hour south, and then we caught the train to zone meeting, which was about an hour north. We sat next to this drunk guy on the train who we talked to about the gospel. He was cursing and stuff, and he was soooo busss hahaha. The public transportation here is really good. The bus system is on time, and clean. The trains are also cool.) I had my first interview with President Amorim, the mission president, which was kinda intimidating, but I really liked it. I love him, respect him, and sustain him.

I’ve been doing well! Me and Elder Meza are doing well, working hard. The new elder, Elder Teixeira, is really cool! I feel like my Portuguese is getting better cuz he’s in the house. The other day, we were knocking doors, and we found this lady. We were talking to her, and she said we could come back another day, and then right before we left she’s like: ‘you (Elder Meza) have a Brazilian accent, but you (me) you don’t have an accent’. I was sooo proud! As far as what people think I am, most people automatically know I’m American, I mean orange hair is pretty different from the normal brown and black of Portugal. One person guessed I was German the other day though haha.

I had some scriptures I thought you might like: 2 Néfi 2:24, Doutrina e Convênios 78:7, and Alma 29:14. Happy you guys liked that Tongue of Angels talk by Elder Holland.

Well family, I love you!!!! Eu os amo!!! Ficam seguro (Be safe)! Ficam fixe (Stay cool)!

Com amor (With love),
Elder Kim

P.S. I just bought a 16gb media card but it doesn’t seem to be working right now. I’ll try figure it out this week though. Hopefully next week I’ll have pictures for you!





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