Elder Lindquist 7/26/10

This week went well. Right off the bat we had a cool experience, we missed our first bus to district meeting on Tuesday (it was fairly early in the morning) and we were starting to walk back to the chapel to study a bit before the next bus came when a lady comes running over to us and was like hey you are the Mormon missionaries right, (speaking English) and we were like yeah. She continued to explain that she was a member from Finland and got there the day before for vacation. The first thing she did when arriving the day before was look for the chapel. Later that night she said a prayer that she could find the missionaries so that she could know what time church starts and then the next morning she found us. Isn’t it great to know the Lord puts you in the right place at the right time:) I translated for her yesterday. The Elder from the retired couple serving on this island served his mission in Finland and they knew a lot of the same people. Even though he served his mission there several years before she was born. Well tonight I'm heading off to Lisbon for another zone leader council. The first counselor from the area presidency, Elder Teixeira is here. (You may have remembered that he spoke in the April session of 2008 and mentioned Portugal in his talk. I love it when the brethren make a shout out in conference just like the president of the young men did in the last priesthood session. Woot woot!!
Well we are super excited for Francisco's baptism. He is a man of great faith and I'm grateful for the chance I have to teach him and see the changes that he has made in his life. The first time we went to his house to teach him he was trying to bible bash with us with what he thought was a bible. (It was a dictionary) but now he has been sober for quite a while and is humbly studying the Book of Mormon. The coolest thing is we hadn't even taught the word of wisdom and he had already stopped drinking. We love that guy. I love my time in the mission. It's the greatest thing ever. E. Mclean and I have a TON in common, almost too much and we love talking for hours. I feel super blessed for being where I am and sometimes I don't want to leave this place. But I know eventually the time will come. I can't believe that Matt is going home already!! ahhh!! That makes my brain want to explode. Didn’t he leave like three weeks before I did? Time flies! Well I hope you have a good week of work and play. Thanks for remembering me in your prayers. I try to remember you in mine. (It’s easier for you guys because it's just one missionary, but it's a lot harder for me when there are a million of you.) Well, as they say in the Portuguese language. Até o próximo!

Love, Elder Lindquist

P.s the only thing I ask for are more contact lenses, (I'm wearing my last pair right now) and crest whitening strips, (or any other kind of teeth whitening strip) other than that I think I can survive the remaining months. The best birthday present you guys could give is a big hug when I get home. (and maybe a couple of G's in the bank so I can pay for school and such.. haha I'm kidding)

Elder Lindquist 7/19/10

Well here I am again writing to you guys... I swear weeks pass like days in the islands. I love serving here with Elder Mclean. He really is like my best friend in the mission. We have a great chemistry in our teaching it's great. Wow it has been stinking hot here. But it's not the same heat that you guys are used to. The humidity is what kills me!! My goodness I constantly feel like I just got out of the shower. It’s super uncomfortable. But it's kind of funny to be in a different climate and see the side affects:) Well we marked a Cabo Verdian guy yesterday. He's great! His name is Fransisco, he was actually like the fifth person we contacted when we got on the island but we would always go to his house and he would be super drunk and stuff. So we kind of gave up on the guy. But then something changed in him. I'm not sure what, but we saw him in the street one day and invited him to go to church and he promised he would go and he went. He has gone every week since. When we finally went back to his house to teach him again he told us that he hasn't drank in 3 weeks. It was amazing! You can just see this huge change in him he's got a certain light in him it's awesome. So he will be baptized at the end of the month. It was a great week and it looks like things are turning around here, (slowly but surely):) I loved Pres. Uchtdorf ‘s talk in Priesthood meeting on patience. Patience isn't just waiting; it requires action as well. Just as faith without works is dead. I hope all is well with everyone. It's always good to hear from you guys. Let me know where G+G B are going on their mission.
Love, Elder Lindquist
o elder mais lindo no mundo (Most handsome missionary in the world)

Elder Lindquist 7/12/10

So this week was pretty crazy. But things are going fine here on the island of São Miguel. We saw this lady get nailed by a mo-ped that tried passing some cars on the sidewalk. The bike threw her into a wall as well. People here are such crazy drivers. A bus the other day on the same street we were walking on killed a person. The door for the luggage was open and struck him. The sidewalks on these streets are literally 3 inches wide. Seriously you have to suck in your belly for the rear-view mirror to not hit you. Or just do more exercises. It was also Elder Mclean's birthday and Bruno, (our first counselor) and I surprised him and took him out to lunch. We have also been suffering a big loss of people in the branch. A lot of people are going inactive and it is very sad to see. Many times people leave the church for such trivial reasons and it kills you to watch people throw their salvation away. Some people just don't get it. They think that the church is like a game and we can stay active when they want to and play around in the world when they feel like it. But as Elder Holland says we can't live in the city of Enoch most of the year and have a summer cottage in Babylon. There are a lot of good things going on too. It just seems like sometimes there are so many people that are in distress and the situation gets pretty real. We had an investigator of ours come to the chapel after our sacrament meeting ended and we talked to him for a good 2.5 hours. He is going through a lot and needed some comfort. It's funny you know, I never would have imagined that I would be where I am doing what I'm doing as a missionary. In other words I never imagined that my mission would be in a country like this and that I would have the experiences and face the challenges that I've faced. Probably because I didn't even know about this culture therefore did not know what experiences I would have in such a place. But I'm grateful for the opportunity that the Lord has given me to serve a mission and have these type of experiences I know they will help me out later on in life when I pass through places and things that I haven't imagined yet. Anyway, we had a meeting yesterday with a Seventy (Elder Rocha) and he gave our branch some great instructions. I hope we can start baptizing people here!! We are not completely happy if we aren't completely fulfilling our purpose. There is nothing better than seeing some one enter the waters of baptism. The island is beautiful but without a doubt in my mind I know the best sight I can see is some one dressed in white :) Well keep up having a blast this summer. I'll keep working and we shall see each other soon enough. I love our Savior and Our Heavenly Father and I love being a missionary. Hey tell everyone to stop getting married! My goodness I don't think there will be any single women when I get home.
Love, Elder Lindquist

Elder Lindquist 7/5/10

Hey how's it going everyone? I appreciate your emails and those that don't send them I still feel your love so don't stress about it. (After this much time in the mission I've become accustomed to not receiving stuff). Well today we had T-calls. (I know, you're probably thinking already?) We thought the same thing. It seems like it was just yesterday that Elder Mclean and I stepped off the plane onto an unknown island. But thankfully we will be staying at least one more:) Well our week went relatively smooth. We are working hard with quite a few people. Almost everyone here has a problem with either the word of wisdom, or the law of chastity. Supposedly they don't have anything else to do on a small island. Well one of the most heart-breaking things happened to us this week. We found this wonderful investigator named Fátima and her daughter Carolina. They are from the island of Flores, (Flowers) and were here for a surgery that Carolina had to do on her hand. They were completely prepared to hear the gospel. In the second lesson we had with them they said they wanted to be baptized. The restored gospel was such a treasure to them since the church doesn't exist on their small obscure island. Unfortunately we received news on Wed. that they would be leaving Thursday morning and would not be able to attend church and be baptized. That just broke my heart. I didn't know what to do. Flores is one of the farthest islands from here and it is likely that it won't have missionaries there for a long time. But we hope that they will eventually have the chance to receive the gospel. I love this work it is amazing and even though it has its disappointments there are also many times where you feel a lot of joy. I spoke with Elder Togo today, he said the recent converts from the Miratejo ward are doing great. A few of them are preparing for missions. Elder Togo will be coming out to the other island so we are co-zone leaders, technically companions again. I'm excited for this transfer it will be great. Time is flying so fast!!! Well have a good week and enjoy your summer vacation:)
Love, Elder Lindquist