Elder Lindquist 9/30/09

Hey sorry I didn't send an email yesterday the missionary couple that served here and left a couple months ago is visiting this week and took us all around in their car to all these sweet places that would be impossible to visit without a car. Then we went to the area of our zone leaders because I had a baptismal interview to do there and we planned on doing email there but the power went out! So I got permission from president to use it for a bit today so this will be quick. Well things are going really well this week we had an awesome week. Both Joana and Ana are progressing very well. Joana will be baptized on the 24th and she is soooo excited. The baptism was supposed to be on the tenth but our branch president will be in Brazil so she agreed to do it after he got back but she is really anxious to be baptized. She without a doubt is elect. Ana is also doing really well but has a lot more questions and concerns, this morning we had a lesson with her and the couple that served here. Brother and Sister Parker from Idaho helped us out and it was probably one of the best lessons I've taught on my mission. It was awesome and without their help it wouldn't have been the lesson it was. We had zone conference yesterday and it was very intense, and our president is a beast; both spiritually and physically! It's incredible to be in a meeting with him I feel like we're in a meeting with the apostles. He really is a spiritual monster and a great leader of this mission. For the past few years our mission has averaged 11 baptisms a month. This last month the mission had 42 baptisms, I hope all of them, including Teresa stay strong in the church. Speaking of apostles I'm really excited for General Conference. Every time I hear it announced I get giddy, I don't know why but it's a lot cooler on the mission. I really know we are led by inspired men of God. We will watch it in our chapel on a little laptop and we'll use the computer speakers I bought to use with my walkman. Well have a great week everyone I love you and pray that everything goes well for you this week!-Elder

Elder Lindquist 9/23/09

Wow time is flying by! It scares me to think that my time in the mission is more and more limited but I look at it like the mission cup is half full, not half empty. Elder Larsen's B-day is tomorrow as well so we're going to party it up. Caldas da Rainha is sick! I really like it here but it took me a few days to get used to it here. Even though it's close to Torres and the city is similar the work is very different. Once again I'm out in the middle of nowhere, even a million miles away from people in our district. Our branch here is very small, about 20-25 people. But there are some sick members here. The mission leader in the branch is awesome. He's a 25 year old guy named Christophe and he walks with us and teaches with us every day for the rest of the day after he gets done with school. That's a big help. We do service here every Friday morning at a soup kitchen for homeless people it's pretty cool we kind of help prepare the food then we serve it and do the dishes after it was cool. And we've got two really good investigators right now who are progressing really well, Ana and Joana. We marked Joana for baptism the other day; she'll be baptized in October. She has a cousin that's a member in our branch and that helps a lot. And Ana is still praying to know if the Book of Mormon is true and I know she'll receive an answer because she's one of the most down to earth sincere people I've met. We have family night every Tuesday here and it was a good one last night the members here are pretty cool, there's not a lot of crazy people like there is in other branches. My district here is huge; there are 8 of us including our zone leaders so it will be a party. Oh by the way President Torgan moved P-day to Monday, starting this coming Monday so make sure to send your emails on Sunday night instead of on Tuesday. I had a sick dream last night, Elder Larsen and I visited a music store on P-day and I played the drums for like ten minutes it was amazing. That reminds me the other day Elder Wheeler and I were proselyting in Torres and I heard drums coming from an apartment. We rang the door bell like a hundred times but no one answered :( it's alright I'll eventually get my chance. I was way excited to hear that Aspen will be getting a little brother! That's awesome I'm excited to see him when I get back. When will Nat and Isaac have their baby? Well I'll end with my testimony on the priesthood; I know the power of the priesthood is real and that holders of this priesthood can lay their hands on someone’s head and cure them in the name of Jesus Christ. Have a great week.
My address here is:
Elder Jordan Lindquist
Rua fonte do Pinheiro
Nº43 3ºESQ
2500-Caldas Da Rainha

Elder Lindquist 9/16/09

Hey all how's life? I hope everyone had a great week ours went pretty well. The baptism went really well on Saturday and we tried to stay busy this whole week making sure everything is in order because in interviews president told me he was probably going to whitewash Torres, (he likes to whitewash areas.) and he did. So we're making sure everything is in order for the new elders that arrive. Well we got transfer calls yesterday and I'm getting transferred even farther north almost to the border of the Porto mission! It's a city the same size as Beja and Torres Vedras called Caldas da Rainha. I'm way excited because I've heard lots and lots of good things about this area. The branch is small but the members are great, and that area has some of the coolest castles in Portugal. Elder Wheeler is going down to Mafra ha-ha different area but the same branch. I'm really bummed to leave Torres because I really love the people here they are amazing and I'm going to miss them a lot but I'm excited to go up to Caldas. My companion is from California, (another one) his name is Elder Larson and he's from Brea California. Well today we're going to a place called Cabo da Roca with the elders from Cacém, Cabo is the furthest point in western Europe so that should be fun. I'll send pictures from the baptism and such, I'll let you know what my address is there in Caldas so you can send the shoes there, or you can send them to the office if you want. I'm glad you guys liked the package, have a great week!
-Elder Lindquist

Elder Lindquist 9/9/09

So this week went really well. Ha I've been waiting all week to tell you guys but last Wednesday night we met up with Teresa and she informed us that she had received an answer to her prayer concerning her baptism. So she let us know that she wants to be baptized this coming Saturday, it's a really cool story of how it all came together but one to be told in person and not typed out. That was the biggest thing we encouraged her to do was to search prayerfully for an answer and she received a sign. We're very happy about that, all I can say is God loves his children and answers their prayers. And I know that miracles are real. We had a fun day on Saturday, our ward mission leader got married and we partied it up at the reception, Teresa also insisted on taking us out to a nice restaurant Saturday night; so we ate pretty well on Saturday needless to say. Well we have a lot of good investigators but most of them have a hard time going to church. That is probably the biggest barrier we have and unfortunately it's the barrier that keeps people from being baptized. But we try our best to get people there without destroying their agency. We found some cool people this week, it's pretty cool when plans fall through then you have to go with another option and you end up finding amazing new investigators. It's funny how the spirit works. Well this stupid computer is telling me it's going to shut down in a second but did you guys get your package? Well have a great week we're going to the driving range with the rest of our district today. This next week we will know if I'm getting transferred. I'm nervous but excited. Tchau pessoal!-Elder Lindquist

Elder Lindquist 9/2/09

So this week went well, it's really cool to see people progress it's one of my favorite things to see. The baptism didn't go through. Teresa was really nervous and didn't think she was ready to make that commitment. She continues to progress, we had a family night with her on Monday and we played a game I made that reviews the restoration it was really fun and we had some good laughs. It was a bummer but she'll still be baptized soon when she feels completely ready. (She is ready she just got scared). So Saturday was a rough day it was very hot and we were both exhausted. We were getting shut down all day. We went to the other side of town to teach Sister Maria Regina and after that (about 7:30) we didn't have much to do. I was like I feel like we should do some finding in Bairro Boavista (which is another 30 minute walk from where we were) Elder Wheeler looks at me like you've got to be kidding me, but we decided to go. We started walking up the long road that led to that part of town and we decided to start knocking those apartments. Everyone was treating us like trash and I was getting a little annoyed, so I was like should we keep knocking here or go up to the Bairro? Elder Wheeler was like I don't care, so we decided to keep knocking. A few doors later I knocked on a house and a younger lady answered. She was a little hesitant to talk to us at first and let us know that they were eating dinner I jokingly said "oh cool do you have room for two more? I'm starving" (I really was because I slept during our hour for dinner) she laughed and was like do you want to come eat with us?! I looked at Elder Wheeler and we both shrugged our shoulders and I was like sure. So we go in and there's a table full of people in their living room, so they found space for us and preceded to hand us plate after plate of food. It was awesome. After desert we talked to them about the Book of Mormon and left them a few copies, they wanted us to write our testimonies in them so we did and we left that house walking on clouds. It's funny how the days can shift so quickly. I definitely know that our Heavenly Father had our back that day because it wasn't going very well and he was aware of that so he gave us a nice tender mercy. So last night we had a lesson with our African investigator Vanessa. She is so sick! She's on chapter 11 of 1st Nephi and we had a great lesson talking about the tree of life vision and all this good stuff. I told her that she's going to like chapter 13 because it describes the church of the devil and I was like pay attention to the characteristics I'm pretty sure you'll be able to decipher which church it is. She was excited about that. Well today we're going to Sintra with our Zone it's going to be sick. Elder Wheeler has never been so it will be a good day. I hope you had good birthdays Mom and Dad the package should get there in about a week. Take it easy and study/work hard! Love vosso querido Elder Lindquist