Elder Lindquist 2/22/10

Well how's it going is everything running smoothly? Sounds like you guys are enjoying the Olympics. People haven't really been too excited about it here, maybe because there are so few Olympians from Portugal. Well carnival is over, it wasn't bad at all there was hardly any commotion if not any just a few people dressed up going around getting candy it was like a miny Halloween. Torres Vedras actually has a huge party. That city has a tradition and is known for its carnival parties. Well the baptism was amazing yesterday the spirit was very strong. Elder Daley came to do the baptism it was really cool. This week was a little slower:( Elder Bezerra and I had some minor health interruptions, colds, back pains, ingrown toenails ya know the usual. But we're pumped for this week because it's the last one of the transfer. We're anxious to see what will happen with the zone. I don't know if you have seen on the news but the island of Madeira (that's part of Portugal but is part of the Porto mission) had some bad flooding/mudslides and quite a few people have died. It's pretty sad. Yesterday we got permission to leave our area to give a blessing to one of our members moms it was cool it's always good to exercise the priesthood. We didn't travel to Beja this week maybe another time. Familia Texeira (the coolest family ever) is doing well, the members like them a lot. Well today we're going out to lunch with a member I'm excited to eat some BBQ. Have a great week every one I love you guys!
-Elder Lindquist

Elder Lindquist 2/15/10

Wow what a week! It was fun and went by pretty dang fast. Allow me to fill you in on a few happenings from this last week. We were able to mark Adonis, (a caboverdian investigator of ours) for this coming weekend. He is such a stud; he came to church in a suit and tie yesterday. Actually he was dressed better than we were, I will explain. Saturday we left at about 10 in the morning to start teaching and E. Bezerra locked the door, we didn't get back until 10 at night and when we tried to unlock it the door would not open. We tried for quite a while then finally we had to call the assistants and they came and picked us up and we slept in Lisbon with them. Oh the joys of the mission! It wasn't fun wearing the same clothes for 48 hours with my beard growing out of control but Sunday actually turned out to be really good. We finally got a ward mission leader called!
I was thinking that we'd only have like 8 investigators in church since we didn't have an opportunity to talk to a lot of them on Saturday but we were extremely blessed and had 13 investigators there! (The most I've had in my whole mission) Elder Bezerra and I call it the miracle of the multiplication of the investigators. After church we went to the house and had to call a key place to come and open the door which cost 70 euros :((about 95 U.S. dollars) but the rest of the day went really well. That family I told you about are doing really well they are so awesome! Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting because of stake conference last week and in the middle of the meeting the mom tapped me on the shoulder and was like can I go up there? I was like of course I'll go with you. She bore her testimony the second week in church and told the story of how we found her family and how she has received an answer about the truthfulness of the church and everything it was amazing. But yeah things are going really good I feel extremely blessed to be here right now! I think that tomorrow we might be going to Beja to participate in a district meeting that is held by one of our districts in that chapel. If I can I'll swing by Paula Cristina! Today is the holiday of Carnival and the weather isn't very good for people to be partying outside so I think all the commotion will be held indoors. But I think we're going to play ping pong with the youth today, should be fun. Keep up the good work and enjoy yourselves there in America and I'll do the same in Portugal ok.
-Elder

Elder Lindquist 2/8/10

So it sounds like the week went well for you guys, ours was great as well. Antónia's baptism went well on Saturday it was really great to see her enter the waters of baptism. It was a tough fight but it just goes to show what a difference a lot of faith, prayer, and fasting can make. Our zone conference went really well, I love President Torgan's trainings and messages. That man can lead an army. As a matter of fact he talked about how the mission is like a war. We studied about the war in heaven and how a spiritual war is still going on right now on earth and we, as missionaries are the warriors on the front lines. It's true, serving the Lord truly is suiting up for battle and no unhallowed hand can stop the work of the Lord. This week we found a bunch of great investigators; one family in particular came to our stake conference yesterday. It was a little different though; every two years instead of a live stake conference they have a transmission where some of the Seventy and a Twelve Apostle speak to the stakes in Portugal and Spain. Elder Neilson spoke and it was really cool. Well things are going fine I hope you all have a great week and I hope you all can fell our Savior’s love every day.

Elder Lindquist 2/1/10

So this week was great we taught a bunch of lessons and we were finally able to mark Antónia for baptism this next week. She's doing great and so are the kids. We're also working with some other people preparing to get them baptized before the end of this month. We still have a lot of work to do but it will be good. I'm glad to hear you had a good dinner with Elder Peterson, that kid is a stud. Elder Bezerra is awesome. We've been having a lot of fun and working hard also, he's such a funny kid. His dad is currently the mission president in Rio de Janeiro. He's a great missionary. We have a training to give in our zone conference this week and we're really excited about that. I had already heard about the temple in Payson. Elder Bennet, my homeslice from the MTC is in the mission office right now and he called me the other day. I thought he was joking but I guess he was telling the truth. Well our ward is doing really good here (even though we still haven't received a ward mission leader) but a lot of in actives are coming back and the recent converts are doing well. The old people in the ward are so funny because they still have some catholic roots in them. The other day a lady was saying the closing prayer in sacrament meeting and in the middle of the prayer repeated a part of "pai nosso" I don't remember what the translation is in English but it's the model prayer that Christ does in Matthew 6. Another super old lady last week was like Elders I really need a visit from you guys can you pass by on this day? When we got there she had two bottles of vinegar and newspapers in her hands for us to wash the windows of her apartment. Clever woman! She’s learned a few things over the years. So how is the ward there? Has it divided again? Well I hope you all are doing well and hope you are participating in missionary work as well, there is no other work in the world that brings this much joy. Love, Elder Lindquist