Elder Lindquist 3/25/09

Hello all, Time is going by way too fast. Way too fast! I think I hit six months yesterday or today, crazy! This last week was good we had some good lessons and it looks like we've got some new potential investigators so I'm excited to keep teaching them. I'm also excited to see general conference here in a couple weeks. If I stay in Beja then we can watch it here in our chapel but if I get transferred to another area chances are I'll have to travel a ways to see it. I have a feeling I'm out of here so if you guys send letters you should probably send them to the mission home. You usually don't stay in your first area too long in fact I'm one of the last ones from my MTC district to still be in my birth area so I think I'm taking off, (hopefully to the Azores!) But I love Beja I would be content with serving my whole mission here. So this last Sunday Pedro received the priesthood. I didn't give it to him but it was still cool to be a part of the ordination of my baptism. He was SO excited to pass the sacrament. Elder Hansen and I took all of the second hour to teach him how to do it and he passed well (without too many crazy gypsy moments.) Our zone leaders were here the other day for our district meeting then we had divisions. During lunch we planned a way to surprise Paula Cristina. So what we did was Elder Hansen and I went up there and I was like sister we have to say a prayer right now! She got this really worried look on her face and was like why? I was like we just have to I'll say it. So we stood there as I said a prayer and I prayed that we might enjoy the presence of our friends this week, especially the presence of Elder Rissi. Elder Rissi and his companion snuck in the house because the door was open and he went and stood beside her. When she opened her eyes she FREAKED OUT! I've never seen anyone so happy before. She gave him a hug. Yes a hug and it was not just a two second hug, she wrapped her arms around his head and was jumping up and down for like two minutes straight screaming her head off. He didn't know what to do because he couldn't escape her grasp so he just tried not to touch her with his hands. It was hilarious. So needless to say all the gypsies were ecstatic to see him. We are legends among the gypsy folk Rissi and I. I think Pedro is the only gypsy in the world to be baptized and receive the priesthood; it's just not part of their culture. Paula Cristina caught a bunch of giant snails in a field the other day, (she has bags of them) and said she's going to make us a snail snack. I don't know what that entails but she says they are delicious. Well I hope you all have a good week. -Elder Lindquist

Elder Lindquist 3/18/09

Hello everyone! It's good to hear from you. This last week has been busy but it's been fun. I had to go to Lisbon two times in one week to renew my visa and we stayed with our zone leaders and had a zone meeting/interviews with president so we haven't been in our area a lot this last week. After interviews Elder Hansen went to stay in Evora and I traveled alone from Setúbal to Oriente to spend the night with Elder Craig my MTC companion. It was a long string of bus/train rides but I arrived safely and we had a great time. The next day we met up with everyone else from our district except for Elder Bennet because he's already out on the Azores. But the first night I had to go there to renew my visa he was there and we spent the night in the office. That was really fun too. It's interesting to see everyone's progress with the language, I feel extremely blessed to be able to speak the way I do. I love this language. I still have a lot of progress to make but I feel very comfortable with the way I'm speaking now. This morning Elder Hansen and I went to the castle here in Beja (it was my second time there) here are some pictures from that and a couple others from the past couple weeks, (they should tie ya'll over until my picture card reaches you..) so I'll probably send a small package there within the next few days because I just filled the questionnaire out. Thanks for the package, it was awesome. Today I think we're going to bring Pedro to lunch then I'm giving him a haircut so I'm excited about that. Recently we've been going on the outskirts of town to find new people to teach. We found this small neighborhood on the other side of the train tracks that has some promising people there. We have a couple of lessons set up for tonight and throughout the rest of the week so I'm excited to see what comes of that. I have a feeling I'm getting transferred. Missionaries usually don't stay in their first area too long and I've been here almost four months but we'll see what happens. So Pedro turns twelve this Saturday and I think I might be giving him the priesthood on Sunday so that would be really cool to give my baptism the priesthood. Also we told Paula Cristina that Elder Rissi went back out to the Azores (his birth area) and so she always talks about how much she misses him. Little does she know he's my zone leader in Setúbal and he's coming here to do divisions with us this Monday. We are going to surprise her; I'm really excited to see what her reaction is going to be. But she has bad health so I hope she doesn't have a heart attack. Well I'm going to go; I hope all is well with you guys. Se cuida e bem haja!-Elder Lindquist

Elder Lindquist 3/11/09

So this last week was good. We spent most of our time looking for new investigators, after the baptisms we kind of hit a wall on people who are progressing and whatnot so we're trying to build an investigator pool now. Yesterday the Elders from évora and santo andre were here and we did a street meeting it was fun. I spent all morning writing our number on DVD's, pamphlets, pass along cards, etc. It's always a party when our district is here as a whole. And today is Elder Young’s birthday so we made a cake and drank some guaraná last night. We had zone conference last week and on our way home on the bus I started talking to the guy next to me and his buddy joined in our conversation, then a girl sitting next to him joined in to because she was from Porto and had a friend from our church. We talked for like two and a half hours, about school, work, and missions. They were very curious about what it is we do; all the youth here just think we're strange because we have the same name. All the time we'll be walking down the street and you'll hear O ELDER! They think it's so funny that we're both called Elder. So it was good to clear some things up with them, and I could tell everyone in the packed bus that was sitting in our area was listening too. When they got off in évora they expressed their respect for us and wished me good luck. I was thrilled about that visit because I've never really talked to the youth here so it was fun to find out that we actually have a lot of things in common. Last night Elder Cap, Elder Young and I went to the guy’s house that is a missionary for another church; we invited him to come to our church and told him we'd go to his. We asked him some questions about their beliefs and it is very interesting to see other people’s views on things like the Godhead, the gift of tongues, and prayer. So I'll let you know how the church meeting goes. Well I'll send your package next week, once I receive yours so I can include the questionnaire and stuff. It's good to hear you're doing well, especially mom! Tchau e ficam bem.-Elder Lindquist

Elder Lindquist 3/4/09

Hello all thanks for the emails, sounds like you guys are doing great and had a fun time at grandpa's birthday party. (By the way Grandpa B happy birthday! ou feliz aniversário!) sorry anyone else who had a birthday and I haven't done a shout out I don't know all these things.. Well this last week was pretty good, but it was a little slow. We had to go to évora for a couple of days and then when we got back Elder Hansen was sick so we didn't get a lot of work done here in Beja. This weekend we have zone conference in mirateijo, I love zone conferences they're awesome and spiritually uplifting. A lot of times it's easy to allow yourself to slip into the blues because no one wants to listen to you but zone conferences help lift the spirits. I especially enjoyed Elder Bednar’s visit a couple weeks ago. He's so straight forward I love it, he has inspired me to be more bold with the less actives here, (still being sweetly bold of course) but just giving it to them how it is ya know. The night before he talked to us they had a meeting with members and investigators, people came from all across Portugal to see him so the chapel was packed. I guess it was a question answer type deal and a young man asked Elder Bednar what significance a mission had for him and the other young men there. Elder Bednar responded, you would be betraying yourself if you did not serve a mission. You would miss out on blessings and would be withholding blessings from other people’s lives. I thought that was pretty neat. Missions are awesome and will bring blessings to your life and the life of your future family. I know I would have been betraying myself if I had not come on this mission. So last night we had our first English student since I've been here! He already knows a little bit and he's Brazilian so of course he's open to hearing about our church. So I'm excited to see what comes from this. A couple weeks ago we had divisions here in Beja with Evora and Elder Coombs and I went to a guy’s house that is a missionary for another church. We had taught him before, just about the restoration and he was pretty open to our ideas. But this time pretty much the second we sat down he started firing questions at us. It was pretty intense, but we handled it pretty well. Of course he'd heard bad things about us from members of his church so the questions he had were pretty interesting. It's interesting to see the progress of understanding another language. It's funny because I understand people well enough to know when they contradict something they had said earlier. Well hope all is well with you; it's freezing and raining here in Beja. Ficam bem meus amigos. -Elder Lindquist

ELder Lindquist 2/25/09

So this last week was good. It was a different experience getting a new companion it feels weird without Elder Rissi around to make most of the decisions but it's my turn to be in the driver’s seat. Elder Hansen is cool; he's 23 and has been a convert for three years this week. Speaking of dates I left for the MTC exactly five months ago yesterday. Scary huh. I'm freaking out because the time is going by so fast and it scares me. But I'm still in my first area so I've got plenty of adventures ahead of me. The language is coming still. Yesterday a lady standing next to me in the grocery store line complimented my Portuguese! I felt awesome after that. We started talking about our church while we waited in line and I was pretty pumped about that. Now that I don't have that safety net of my trainer I have to be more self reliant with my language and I think this has helped me a lot. When people hear your accent that sounds different they either ask if you’re from Porto or Brazil haha that's where the other Portuguese is. So the other day Paula Cristina told us that her daughter in law is messing around with some witches in Beja so we might give her grandson a blessing. He is a crazy little kid and she thinks he has a demon in him or something. Oh and we can't find her records in the church so we might have to baptize her again. She was baptized 20 years ago and we can't find her records on the computer so her getting baptized again will be complicated because she's married under gypsy law but not legally. So we'll so what we need to do about that. Well I hope all is well with everyone back home and with the ward and everything. Spencer got his call to West Africa? Is he going to be speaking Portuguese? Well fica bem tudo mundo espero que tudo vai correr bem esta semana para vocÊs. Elder Lindquist

Elder Lindquist 2/18/09

Wow this last week was great and I've only got a little time so I'll let you know what happened real quick. We just got done playing soccer with the gypsies and I don't mean to brag but I'm basically a pro now. Last week we played with them and they were all laughing at me hysterically so later that day I went and bought a ball and have been practicing in our little area between our predio this week for exercises. Needless to say the practice has paid off and they weren't laughing because I was schooling them. Seeing Elder Bednar was one of the most spiritually uplifting experiences of my mission. He was awesome and I'll have to be honest before his visit I thought he was kind of a dull apostle, compared to Jeffery R. Holland. But he was way down to earth and had an awesome personality. His wife talked to us then he followed her. We had kind of a group discussion, all of the missionaries from the mission were there and it definitely exceeded my expectations. Our new mission president has been called, his name is Moroni Bing Torgan and he's from Brasilia Brazil. I'm excited and sad at the same time because President Terry is such an awesome president. I also have a new companion, his name is Elder Hansen and he's from San Diego. It's funny because we just stayed with him and his companion, (whose place I took here in Beja) this last weekend in Lisbon for Elder Bednar’s visit. Elder Rissi has been called to serve in Setúbal as our zone leader so I'll still see him quite often. I pick up my new companion from the bus station tomorrow morning. Again I'm sad and exited at the same time. Well I hope all is well with you I'd like to write more but I've got to go wash up so Elder Rissi can say his goodbyes to people. Até logo-Elder Lindquist

Elder Lindquist 2/11/09

Wow this last week has been busy, and good. It's starting to look like spring here in Beja so I'm very grateful for that. This coming week will be pretty busy as well. We have another baptism. It's an awesome eight year old girl. Her name is Ines and she's so easy to teach. Whenever we go there she's always like what are you going to teach me today? Where do you want me to read in the Book of Mormon? Man I wish teaching everyone was this easy. She's way funny we have an awesome secret handshake that we can do in like three seconds. She's pretty well behaved so I don't think there will be any cannon balls at this baptism unfortunately. So this Monday Elder Bednar is coming to talk to us and we're all very excited. He has an interview with the government TV station in Lisboa and then we're going to have a three hour fireside with him so I'm way excited. Well last night we had an interesting experience that I'll share quickly. There is an inactive lady from Brazil that our Brazilian investigator told us about and she's having a hard time going to church because her mom is very sick with cancer. We visited with her last night and it was a great opportunity to share my experience with her and share some scriptures that helped me during this difficult time in my life. I was able to testify to her that her Heavenly Father still loves her and her family and is watching over them. I'm grateful for this opportunity I had to relate to someone and help lift their spirit in this difficult time. Elder Rissi and I invited her to our baptism this Saturday and church on Sunday and she said she'd think about it. I said I have a talk at the baptism and it's a good one so you better come! We all laughed and said a prayer. Missionary work is so rewarding, I'm so grateful for the chance I have to serve the Lord and help bring light to people’s lives. Oh and before we went to that house we were walking there and saw a lady and a man carrying a big piece of a bed frame. So we immediately grabbed it from the lady and helped the man carry it. The lady was like no, no we don't want to distract you from your work. Elder Rissi said this is our work. We helped them carry it up a big hill and past the castle to their house. We probably walked a mile or so and while walking we talked about our church and missionary work. When we reached the man’s house we talked to them about the Book of Mormon and gave them both a copy. They asked if they could give us anything in return and we asked if we could come by and teach them another day. They agreed and thanked us again. I was so excited about that. I love service because a lot of times people don't recognize you and the Lords servants they just think you're two weird guys walking around in suits that are from the CIA or something. But service helps break that mentality and shows people that we're just here to help. Well this is the last week of the transfer and we're pretty sure Elder Rissi is getting transferred so I'll let you know what happens. It has been nice to have a native for a trainer. I get the feeling that President likes me the best because he has entrusted me with this great gift.. Well I hope all is well with you. Se cuida, Elder Lindquist

Elder Lindquist 2/4/09

This email was received on 2/11, but Elder Lindquist sent it on 2/4.

Hello all, I can't believe it's already Feb. That's crazy. This last week has been pretty busy and the next two weeks, (last two weeks of this transfer) will be even more busy.. This last Saturday was Pedro's baptism. For some reason he changed his mind the day before and wanted me to baptize him so I did. Needless to say it was probably the most memorable baptism in the world. After I baptized him I went to give him a hug but what he did shocked me to a great degree, he let out a loud gypsy yelp, jumped up, and did a cannon ball. Water almost splashed all over all the people watching. Elder Rissi ran over and started to close the baptismal gate so no one could see him swimming around. I reached down and grabbed him by the collar of his vest and dragged him out of the baptismal font. When we got to the top of the stairs and I started to head into the bathroom when he jumped off the top stair and did another cannon ball. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I yelled at him to get in the bathroom and he stopped swimming around. We should have filled the font with cold water so he'd want to be in and out; it was pretty interesting. Who would have thought that my first baptism would be a gypsy? After the baptism I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. On Sunday Pedro bore his testimony. He's reading the Book of Mormon and praying; it has been awesome to see the change in him the past two months I've been here. We have another baptism on the 14th so I'm excited for that. It won't stop raining here, and our space heater broke so it's pretty cold, but other than that all is well here. Thank you for your support and love, Fica bem.-Elder Lindquist

Elder Lindquist 1/28/09

Ok hello everyone this last week was a good week. And I have been feeling better about my language capabilities. Last night we were on divisions here in Beja and some old guys that own a bird shop around the corner from our house asked if we could help them this morning. So this morning at eight six of us, (the elders from Évora and our zone leaders from Setúbal) went over there and helped unload half of a semi full of bird seed bags that weighed like 15 or 20 pounds each. It was awesome! I was beginning to think that we'd never be able to find a service opportunity here because everyone refuses our help. Even if we want to help a ninety year old lady carry her 30 grocery bags up a huge hill they always shut us down. They're pretty stubborn here, but this morning was really fun. One of our zone leaders that’s been out for a year and a half said that that was the best service he's been able to do here. So it was good to have that opportunity because service opens so many doors in missionary work. The work is going good here, Pedros baptismal interview was last night and he's getting baptized this Saturday. Edson and Rose were not able to get married in time so I think that we're going to try and do their baptism on the same day as our other person we have marked for the 14th of Feb. But everything is good, we have a new investigator that is Brazilian and last night while on divisions three of us taught a Brazilian guy here that is a missionary for another church. It was a lot of fun Brazilians are so easy to teach and so willing to listen to anything you have to share. I'll tell you a story that happened a couple of days ago. The other night Elder Rissi and I were headed to talk to a referral we'd received, (the first one we've gotten since I've been here! but that's another story for another day) and on our way there we saw this guy that was drunk out of his mind. I was like let’s go talk to this guy, Elder Rissi said but he's wasted. I said lets go anyway. We crossed the street and started talking to him and joking with him a bit and after a few minutes I had a feeling to tell him something. I said António I want to share a message with you, God loves you. He stopped swaying back and forth and mumbling and he looked down at me. He put his hand on my shoulder and started to cry. He continued to cry for a minute or two as I put my hand on his shoulder and I felt for that minute he was not drunk, he was feeling the spirit. I think one of the greatest if not the greatest messages we can share with people here is that we are Gods children and he loves us. I don't know why I told him that I just felt I should. I don't know what is going on in his life but I know he needed to hear that. And even though he was wasted he is still a child of God, and he needed to know that his father in heaven loves him. He gave us a hug and we left. I know that God loves us, and knows us individually and if you do not know that I would encourage you to ask him in prayer if he does or not. I'm so blessed to be here at this time and share the message of the gospel with these people. I hope all is well with everyone, thank you for your letters and support.-Elder Lindquist

Elder Lindquist 1/21/09

So this last week was good. We had zone conference in Meiratejo and holy cow! I've never received so many packages and letters in my life! I came out of the room with the mail in there and as I walked with my gigantic heap of mail in my arms people were drooling with jealousy. I think I had more mail than my zone and the other zone that was there combined. So thanks everyone who has sent me stuff it was great. This was an interesting week as far as visits go. On Sunday an awesome guy named Hélio was here, he's from Brazil and lived here for a few years and everyone loves him. Yesterday he drove us out to a little city called Aljastrélo that is about 40 minutes away but it's still in our area. We have a few members there and lots of inactive members. One of which was a good friend of Hélios so we went by her house and she was very bitter about the church here, (people get offended very easily here. If you look at someone wrong they'll leave the church.) So she was nice to her friend but not to us. She said if he wasn't there she wouldn't have had us over. The whole time we were there she was ragging on our branch and the leaders in our branch. I was sick of hearing this, just because she was offended by a leader of our branch that doesn't mean that the missionaries are bad too. I told her it doesn't matter who the branch president is Christ is the leader of this church and this thing that happened shouldn't keep her from coming to church because the sacrament is more important. (No she didn't break down crying and say she'll come back every week) but she did say I realize I'm the one losing. She said I know it's not enough to just read the scriptures here at home and try and light up my family with a candle. I hope she eventually comes back because she knows the church is true, it just breaks my heart to see these people losing out on the blessings of the church because of their pride. But when we left she did say that we would be welcome back in her house if we wanted to come back. That was just one layer of many that we need to break in order to get her back to church. Now we just need to do that with the other 300 inactive members of our branch. Well that was a long story so I'll keep the rest of this short, at the first of the week I thought the language was coming along ok but honestly right now I feel like I'm horrible. Two people this last week were trying to talk to me and when I wouldn't understand something they'd be like he doesn't understand anything! Then they'd talk to me like I was a three year old. This has been discouraging. My confidence has dropped quite a bit since last week but I'm still trying to communicate to the best of my ability. I know the Lord will help me learn. I hope all is well with you, continue to pray for the missionaries. We need all the help we can get! Love Elder Lindquist

Elder Lindquist 1/14/09

Hello all,
This last week was good. We are working really hard with our Brazilian investigators to make sure they can get baptized on the marked date. Oh and this week we marked another for baptism in Feb. before Elder Rissi gets transferred. (At least we think he is; he's been here in Beja for decades.) Her mom is a member and her brother is too but her dad isn't so hopefully we can work on getting him baptized soon too. Even though the work is going good here in Beja it always feels like we can do more. It is hard not to compare the success of areas to areas or missions to missions because we've compared things our whole lives. That is probably what was hardest for me in the MTC was not comparing my speaking to other missionaries. But we're doing really well here. We have zone conference in a couple days and I'm excited to see my old colleagues from the MTC. I gave my first talk in sacrament meeting on Sunday about the restoration. I probably would have had to do it sooner but we had Christmas programs and other things going on. It went good though. I hope all of you are doing well and working on your New Year’s resolutions.
Love, Elder Lindquist

Elder Lindquist 1/7/09

So this last week was great. We started off the New Year on a good foot. We have three people marked for baptism! I couldn't be more excited. So the first person we marked was Pedro, the gypsy kid. We challenged him on New Year’s Day to be baptized on the 31st of this month. It was amazing because we always just shared spiritual thoughts and scriptures with him before but this time we taught him the first lesson, the restoration. After the lesson we invited him to pray about the things we had taught him, if the Book of Mormon is true and if Joseph Smith was a prophet. The spirit was SO strong during that lesson. When Pedro prays he usually speeds through it so he can unpause his video game and continue playing. But this time was different, he asked God if the Book of Mormon was true and instead of rushing through the rest of the prayer he stopped and there was about ten seconds of silence. He then said Heavenly Father is the things the missionaries told me true; and after a second he finished his prayer. With a huge smile he said he answered me! I was so happy; this strengthened my testimony so much that WE are not the ones that convince people of the truth, the spirit is. We don't convert anyone. I get chills every time I think of that experience. I know that what we're sharing with people is the true gospel of Jesus Christ but in order for other people to know they have to ask God and he will give them knowledge of the truth as it talks about in Moroni's promise. A couple days later we had fast Sunday. And some Brazilian investigators we have bore their testimonies for the first time, and their five year old son, (instead of bearing his testimony he got up to the pulpit and said a prayer. It was so funny.) They've been investigators since before their son was even born. They also have a thirteen year old daughter that has already been baptized. Edson and Rose, the parents; just need to get married then they can be baptized, this can easily be done by the end of the month so we felt the time was right to challenge them. I am excited needless to say. I am going to be doing the confirmation for Pedro; I am very excited for this opportunity I have to give someone the Holy Ghost. The members here are so nice, I love this place. The work here in Beja has been kind of slow over the past couple years but hopefully these baptisms will get people fired up about sharing the gospel. I'm getting a haircut today, I'm excited. Ok have a nice week. Elder Lindquist

Elder Lindquist 12/31

It was great to talk to you all on Christmas day! We had a good time visiting with members and opening a few presents. This last week was pretty crazy but it has been fun. Yesterday was transfers and the only person leaving our district will be Elder Flint. He's going to be a district leader up north so I'm stuck with Elder Rissi for at least one more transfer. Ha I'm kidding he's a great missionary. The work has picked up in the last week which makes me happy because sometimes I wish there was more members and more people to teach but we're trying to make it happen. We have two new Brazilian investigators and I think we're going to try and mark Pedro, (the gypsy kid) for baptism this week. So I'll let you know how that goes. A couple days ago we were at their house and Paula Cristina fed us a wild hogs head or something. I'm not sure what it was exactly but it was way good, the teeth on that thing were huge. I think they cooked it in the ground or in a stone oven or something. I had some neck meat and half of the nose, which was crunchy but good. I had a funny experience this last week, we were walking to visit an old member of our branch and on our way there I saw an old man sitting on a bus bench and decided to talk to him. When I started talking to him he said "Eu sou um testimunho de jahova" I thought he said I have a testimony of Jesus so I said oh! Me too! (What he really said was I'm a Jehovah witness...) and then he was like "não nós accretitamos o opposto de vocês." (No we believe the opposite of you all) and I thought he said no we believe in apostles. So I was like "oh apostles we have those too! Twelve of them." at this point in time Elder Rissi was laughing uncontrollably and sat down next to him on the other side of the bench and saved me from further humiliation. I love this language but sometimes it doesn't love me. I hope one day I will be able to have a conversation with someone without telling them I'm a Jehovah witness. I love it here in Portugal and thank you all for your prayers and support. I hope you all had a good Christmas and hope you have a happy new years eve tonight.Love Elder Lindquist

Elder Lindquist 12/24

So it's Christmas Eve today. I hope all is well with you today and tomorrow and I hope you all have a great Christmas holiday. Christmas is my favorite holiday but it's a lot different here. The Christmas trees are only like three or four feet tall and there's no lights on the buildings because they're just big apartment buildings so how can you decorate one of those? Of course there is no snow but that was expected. Today we have a lunch and dinner appt. and tomorrow we have lunch with the president of our Branch but other than that we don't have too much going on; which is kind of sad but oh well. We had an excellent zone/Christmas conference this last week. There were a couple zones there so I got to see and visit my MTC district. Not too much has happened this week. We have a new investigator which is a friend of our Branch President’s son. He's eleven and they're pretty good buddies so hopefully we can get all the lessons taught here pretty soon, he seemed to like the first one. Elder Rissi says he thinks he's getting transferred next week, (this transfer is a week shorter and the next one will be a week longer.) so I might be getting a new companion next week. Elder Rissi has already been here for five months or so. This last week we had a lot of encounters with drunken people for some reason. The other night we were walking home and a bunch of them yelled our name so we went to talk to them for a second. They were trying to get us to drink their beer and coffee and smoke their cigarettes. Elder Rissi started messing with them and they started freaking out! We got two or three presents from branch members! So we're pretty much loaded. Just think of us as you're opening your piles and heaps of presents. Actually no think of Our Savior Jesus Christ instead. Oh I just remembered the gas ran out in our apartment a couple days ago and the guy was supposed to bring it yesterday but he didn't and he still hasn't come today. We've been taking freezing cold showers for like a week. I can't wait to start Christmas day tomorrow morning with an ice cold shower. Feliz Natal!De Elder Lindquist

Elder Lindquist 12/17

Olá meu amigos Feliz natal e boas festas!This last week was interesting. We had our Christmas party for our branch and there were almost 50 people there! At church the next day we had almost 50 people again! It was amazing. Wherever there is food here people come. Whatever the incentive may be we were glad to see so many people there. We were able to get some investigators there and a couple less active people showed up so it was a success. We watched the Joy to the world DVD and had a play preformed by a couple of the young adults and then had a feast. There was quite a bit of food left over (which Elder Rissi and I got to take home with us) I've never seen our fridge so full. The language is coming along ok. People in my area have a strange accent, (kind of a red-neck version of Portuguese) so it's hard to understand people sometimes but it will come eventually I guess. Today we are in Setubal, a large city across the Teigo River from Lisbon. We did divisions with our zone leaders here yesterday; divisions are always interesting I love them. Last night a man told us if we knock on his door one more time he will hit us in the head as he shook his fist at us. So we are spending our p-day here today and we have our annual Christmas conference tomorrow in Mira Teigo and then we will head back to Beja. I'm excited to see my MTC district tomorrow we had a good time at zone conference a week or so ago talking about our first areas. We also had training from one of the first presidency from the seventy. I can't remember his name but he's from France and he spoke in conference back in October. It was a good training. Well that’s about all I can remember from this last week. We have a few potential baptisms so I'll let you all know how things go with that. I love being a missionary I couldn’t ask for a better opportunity than I have to serve here in Portugal and to see the work here progress. This place will eventually be baptizing at the rate Brazil is, it may be another 20 years but it will happen. I'm excited to see that day. I hope you all have a great Christmas holiday and remember the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. -Love, Elder Lindquist

Elder Lindquist's New Address

Elder Lindquist's Beja Address

Send letters and packages here

Elder Lindquist

Rua de Camilo Castle Branco

No 28 R/C DTO

7800-280 Beja

Portugal

Family update

This week has been pretty busy. Last Wednesday (12/3), Suzette was supposed to get her 1st post chemo treatment PET scan. This was canceled due to the solution they pump into her was not available for some reason.

Monday night we enjoyed a Kurt Bestor Christmas: A Celebration of Life concert at UVU. This concert was dedicated to all of the cancer survivors. At the beginning of the program they showed a video presentation of cancer survivors and their stories. This brought back a flood of memories and emotions. It was an enjoyable evening and it was good to have our boys join us as well.

Anyway, her PET was rescheduled for yesterday. Her appointment was at 1:00, so she had to fast all morning. She came through the procedure with flying colors and was rewarded by her loving husband with dinner at Cafe Rio. She is such a trooper and has never complained. She is a great example! Her appointment with her Oncologist to give us the results of the PET was today. Dr. Clark said that the PET was perfect. Suzette is in remission! We celebrated by attending the temple and her loving husband treated her to lunch at Olive Garden.

Suzette will continue to undergo PET scans every 6 months with CBCs (complete blood counts) on the 3 month mark in between the PET scans. We are so excited about this news!!! We have been so blessed in so many ways and are so grateful for all of the love and support shown in our behalf.

Elder Lindquist 12/10

Hello from Beja! Hey everyone how is everything? I have more or less been in Beja for about two weeks now and I love it here, this last week has been amazing. We have a new investigator and a couple is pretty close to baptism they're just waiting for their marriage papers to come through. We're the only missionaries in Beja and our area is pretty big so we walk a lot. Your feet get beat up from walking on cobble stone all day but I can't complain it is so beautiful here. Last P-day we went to the castle that's here in the middle of the city and took some really cool pictures, it's been pretty cold and rainy this last week but it's not too bad. The language is coming pretty good I feel like I can communicate pretty well but I have a long ways to go. On Monday Elder Rissi and I went to a city called Evora to do divisions with part of our district. (We have six elders total in our district, a companionship in Evora and a companionship in Santo Andre.) It was way fun and we got so much done. For some reason almost everyone we talked to that day was accepting of our message. Elder Flint and I were able to obtain about twenty addresses/phone numbers from contacting, teach two lessons, place two Books of Mormon, and get in a door. That usually doesn't happen in an entire week. So it was really fun to have that much success in a matter of 5 hours or so. We were on our way to pick up some dinner and talked to a guy in a park who was a little hesitant to talk to us but once he realized we just wanted to visit with him and not take any money or anything he really opened up. He played guitar and we talked about music, (in English). I was way excited to talk to someone in English!) We talked about Miles Davis, Neil Young, Led Zepplin, the whole gang. It was sweet. Elder Flint and I were also able to teach him most of the first lesson about the restoration of the gospel and it was really cool. He seemed really interested in the fact that we had a living prophet on the earth today. He had band practice after talking for about 45 minutes but we gave him a Book of Mormon and challenged him to read Moroni 10:3-5 and pray about the book. I wish I could be there for their next appointment with him but I am needed here in Beja. Last night we all went to the bus station to come back to Beja and spend P-day here. Elder Flint’s companion forgot some things so he and elder Rissi went back to their house to get it. While they were gone elder Flint and I decided to do some more contacting since we missed our bus and the next one wasn't leaving for another hour and a half. Every one we talked to gave us their address to visit another day, which is extremely rare here. Almost everyone says they don't have time to talk and sticks their hand up in your face. It's really funny. So as we were contacting we decided to go back into the city to visit one of their new investigators who they'd only taught once. He's like nineteen and is from Cabo Verde, Africa. He was home as well as all three of his roommates. They were all watching the soccer game between Sporting Portugal vs. Brazilia Brazil. They were way cool guys but didn't really seem interested in why we were there. We went into another room with their investigator to share the second lesson. We were visiting with him for a while, and in the meantime some of his roommates would come in to talk a little bit. The game was really loud coming from the other room, and pretty soon all of his roommates were in the room. We had a lot of fun talking to them while a couple of them bounced a basketball around, so it was really loud. Time was running a little short so I said ok guys now we want to teach you about the plan of salvation. It's the plan Our Heavenly Father has for us to return and live with him again. This got their attention and they shut the door to block the sounds of the game in the background, this was a miracle. For about twenty five minutes Elder Flint and I taught four Cabo Verdians about how they can live with their families after this life. It was the coolest thing in the world. I will always be able to skateboard and play drums and do all of that stuff I did before the mission but that is one thing I will never be able to do again after these two years here. I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to serve here and I know that I'm supposed to be here at this time.With love, Elder Lindquist

Elder Lindquist 12/3

Hello all! How is life back in the USA? I have been in Portugal for a week and one day now and it is crazy here. Everything here is the exact opposite of America. I've started to appreciate things a lot more that I took for granted back home. My first area is a place called Beja. It's a town of about 40,000 people and its right in the heart of the mission. So we're kind of out in the middle of nowhere. It was a three hour bus ride to get here and the first week has been awesome! Beja has lots of crazy people; there are lots of drunks and gypsies. But there are also so many nice people who will give you anything they have. I feel bad because they don't have much but they are willing to help the elders any way they can. It is freezing cold here, the buildings don't have heating or air conditioning because the people think that airflow like that makes you sick. So needless to say we have the space heaters on constantly. The first week wasn't too bad at all, I had some jet lag but I think it’s wearing off.

My trainer is awesome, his name is Elder Rissi and he's a native from the Porto area, which is the northern part of Portugal. He's a really nice guy that speaks perfect English. We do a lot of visiting with members and trying to get them to come to church. We have a couple of potential baptisms but we'll see. So many things happen every day I can't even think of a story to tell.

The city here is really cool, there's a big castle right by our apartment. All the roads and sidewalks are cobblestone, most of the city is really old and the buildings look really cool. We live in kind of a ghetto area but our apartment on the inside is nice. We live by a lot of gypsies. One of which is a member, Pala Cristina. She's the nicest lady! She has a son named Pedro that's about 12 and we're trying to get him to the point so he can receive the lessons but he's got a ways to go.
Most of the members are old crazy people, church is very interesting. It is the exact opposite of the way church is in America, people will just get up in sacrament meeting and go in the kitchen to eat the left over food from the activity we had on Saturday night. It is going to take some getting used to. President Gil, our Branch President asked me to get up and introduce myself and bear my testimony. There are about a hundred members in our branch but only about thirty go to church and only like four hold the priesthood. We walk everywhere here, and it stunk because it rained a lot this last week. So yeah that's pretty much how my first week went. I'll try and remember a story for next week.
Eu espero tudo bem!ama Jordão

He's there!

So we finally made it to Lisbon. It has been a long string of airplane rides but I'm doing alright. We're all really excited and happy, but very tired. My brain hurts just from even thinking of what to type. We almost missed our flight from Paris to Lisbon because JFK took forever to leave but a lady called the plane and they waited for us and a couple other people going to Lisbon. Our mission President met us at the airport; he and his wife are very nice. We are going to spend the night at the mission home and then get matched with our trainers tomorrow. Right now we're just kind of relaxing while the mission president interviews people. We're going to get pizza here in a little bit and have orientation. I'm so excited, Lisbon is awesome! Well I've got to go, take care I love you. Elder Lindquist