Dear Everyone,
Hey there! This was a pretty sweet week! One thing that I have learned about Portugal is that everyone is really nice, just like everyone said they would be... until you start talking about the gospel! I was told by a friend and my trainer a couple months ago that Portugal has been hit pretty hard with religion multiple times through it's history, so no one wants anything to do with anything they aren't familiar with. We taught this big family of 11 PEOPLE who would have been elect investigators, but the dad was worried that by changing or doing anything different, his family would get torn apart. There is a scripture in Matthew 10 that talks about brothers fighting their brothers and children against their parents - the context is Christ sending His Apostles out to do missionary work. Christ explained that the gospel would cause contention because people wouldn't accept it. It makes me sad that that could happen! The family was so happy but just needed a little something like the true gospel to be together forever, and the dad didn't want it.
But! We had a Christmas party for a few of the wards here in Coimbra which was way good! The Bishops of the wards put together a montage of the First Presidency´s Christmas Devotional so I finally got to see a little of that, though it was in Portuguese so I didn't get to hear President Uchtdorf's sweet voice so that was sad. But 10 of us missionaries did a 12 days of Christmas song about things we get as Missionaries, and it was so fun! It was in portuguese, of course, but here is our 12 days of Christmas song translated:
on the (twelfth) day of Christmas, I recieved... (the rhythm works in portuguese I promise)
12 kilograms (or pounds; because of all of the food!)
11 new socks (poor missing sock)
10 Books of Mormon (Book of Mormons? Ah, COPIES of the Book of Mormon!)
9 ugly ties (thanks mom. (just kidding I love all of my ties that's just what we said!!))
8 hours of sleep (because we need it. For real.)
7 grand lunches (lunch is the big meal here. Holy amounts of food.)
6 sweaters (ugly Christmas sweaters of course!)
5 references! (Because we need em!)
4 girlfriends (haha our Zone Leader Elder Roberts had letters from four different girls to show off!)
3 tangerines (oranges and tangerines and every thing alike are very big here. I promise it makes sense. I also juggled the tangerines and it was pretty fun. :)
2 new shoes (because the Portugal cobblestone eats up the soles!)
1 customs tax! (if you aren't careful, you can be charged over 200 dollars just to pick up a package, which totally happened to one of our sisters!)
So that was our song! It took a lot of work but was super fun! The members and non members all laughed and had a good time and we had a Pai Natal (santa claus, or Father Christmas more correctly translated) who had actual presents for all of the kids! Like toys and stuff! Members are so nice!
So for this week, to get you all in a Christmassy mood, I want to tell you all that I have a rock solid testimony and knowledge that our Savior was born. He isn't a fairy tale. Atheists make me kind of mad sometimes, but I won't get into that. I know that our Savior lives! He was born and died here on Earth to be our Redeemer, our Christ. I love my savior and I am so grateful for His sacrifice for me, and for all of us, and for the example He set here on Earth for us to follow. I love His example of service and kindness. It is something I try to follow because as my Savior, all He asks is that we follow Him, and not only will we be happy, but through Him, I can help others be happy too! I love my Savior!
Also. For all of you who all saw the star wars movie. I hope you enjoyed it. I was proselyting.
That is all! Merry Christmas, everyone! Tell me what you got for Christmas! I hope I get new investigators! Until next week!
Ho ho ho,
Elder Valentine!
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