I love the old Portuguese ladies here! They call us beautiful and clean young men!

One more week passed!  I hope everyone has a great week or made it a great week!:)  It was a good week here in Portugal for us!  Really we had some great things happen.  I will start by telling you all this story that strengthened my testimony.  So I don't know how much I have written to you about Familia Maia.  They are this family of Gypsies, the father was baptised but has since been excommunicated and they also have a daughter who is a member but is less active.  Anywho we found them randomly on the street a week or two ago and we started teaching them a lot this past week.  We went there I think it was on Wednesday and something just didn't feel right.  When we were teaching the Spirit wasn't really there and it just felt weird.  Not a lot of the family members wanted to participate and we could tell that there was a conflict between some members of the family.  So anywho we are teaching and near the end the Mom walks in and hears about our testimonies and the closing prayer.  After the prayer the dad was telling the mom how we can give preisthood blessings of peace and comfort and maybe that would help.  She agreed and we were of course happy but we expalined that it will work acording to your faith, do you believe this will help?  She responded with a firm yes and we then gave a blessing.  The blessing was great but it didn't appear to affect her too much.  So we left and went back to the apartment with plans to return back the next night.  So the next day we got a call From João (dad) and he made sure we were coming over and told us that a miracle had happened.  So that night we went over there and he told us the story.  Mirisa (mom) had been passing through some very rough times with financial problems and also some other threats against her brother and other things.  She was very stressed and that night was a very bad time.  She was in bed and didn't want to move until she said that she prayed to God asking her for help and she got a prompting to come into the room and listen to us.  Then I think it may have been a little after we left and gave the blessing that some conflict started in the house and it got to be too much.  This Mom (who also has diabetes)  that night tried to take her own life by taking 100 units of insulin.  Enough to put her into a coma and kill her.  Seeing this the husband ran her to the hospital immediately.  The doctors did tests upon tests.  They cam back and asked her.  Mirisa, what are you talking about?  You didn't take any insulin, she became very confused and her and her husband told the doctors that they were sure that she has taken it.  The docs reported that there were no changes whatsoever in her blood sugar levels.  And they said that if she really had taken 100 units she would be dead.  She was super confused with what was going on until she remembered the blessing that we gave to her.  She said she felt a power touch her and she knows that it was because of our blessing that she is still living.  Now I am not sure exactly what happened with all of this but I do know that The Lord is in charge and he will put us where he needs us at the time that he needs us.  It was a very powerful thing to me and I am too very glad that she is still living!  Anywho they all went to church yesterday and we are going to keep working with them and help them resolve there problems so they can return to the church!:)  Anywho the time I have is already up but I just want to say a few more things.  I love the Old Portuguese ladies here.  I love it when we walk away from them and they call us beautiful and clean young men:)  Keeps me going:)  the portuguese people also like my freckles:)   Yeah they are great:)  OH Also thank you all so much for the quotes that you sent me on faith I lovec them!  Now to my next request!:)  IF you have any REALLY good recipies for chocolate chip cookies and brownies that would be fantastic!:)  I love you all make it a great week and Be Strong!:)

I love you all!

Elder Eldredge:)

Lots of Pictures!!

Nossa amigo Thomas

The town square in Povoa

Povoa

Me in all my glory!!  :)

Me & Elder Davis thinking we will use this tower

like King Benjamin!! :)

One more week passed in beautiful Povoa!!

Hey everyone! Well one more week passed here in beutiful Póvoa! I don't have many great stories that happened this week but it sure has been fun! We did I division and I was with one of the Elders that went into the MTC with me so that was fun to spend a day with him! He talked to a lot of people and sometimes we would just go up to people ans say hey we are the elders and we are her to baptize you! Haha we actually got a few addresses and phone numbers by doing that! It was great! I have been reading a lot about faith lately and it is very intresting to me and I have a hard time wrapping my head around what is true faith and how can I show my faith better! It is a very interesting thing for me! Anywho that was kind of random but if any of you have some good thoughts on faith I would love to hear them!:) So this week we were walking on that division and all of a sudden this girl stopped us and was like are you the mormons? We were like uhh yeah! And she started talking about how she had been baptised and what not and then she invited us to come to her house and meet her family! So we were walking and we waked into this building that Elder Davis was telling me about a few weeks back where this guy lived that was super strong in the church went to the temple and everything and then he was excommunicated for some reason I can't remember, I think maybe he tried to create his own Church. I remembered something that Elder Davis was telling me about this man, that he had had an accident where half of his face was burned with acid or something. But anywho we walked in and I didn't think anything of it! So we go into the house sit down and start talking to some other members of the family and what not and a few minutes later in walks this man. Soon after I noticed the scarred tissue on the right side of his face! It was him! He was very welcoming of us and let us sit down and we taught the whole family about the Restoration again. Come to find out he has wanted to come back to church for a long time now but he can't really get to church very easily becuase they lost their car. He started telling us that his only desire is to get sealed to his family in the temple! They are actually a really awesome family! We are going to continue working with them for sure and see if we can get them back on their feet and enter the path. But the funniest thing about this whole thing is their son. His name is Leandro and I am telling you he is the perfect Portuguese replication of Porter! Absolutley the same other than looks and language. He LOVES us every time when we leave he asks if we will come back and to bring him a present! Yesterday he even went to church without the rest of his family (they were up late taking the wife to the hospital) because he likes us so much! Haha it is really sort of uncanny how much he is like porter! I love it! I love you too PORTER!! Haha oh one other thing we challenged thomas this week to not take any tobacco or anything with him to the ocean (he is a fisherman) and to be baptised this Saturday I reallly am hopeing that he will have to strength to overcome all of these addictions and really change his life! Anywho! It has been an adventure so far and I know that there is a ton in store ahead!:) I love you all so much! Have a great week and Remember to always be happy and don't give up! With much love!:) Elder Eldredge:) Excuse my many spelling errors:)

Another week down!! Had a lady put Holy water from the real River Jordan on our heads as we left her house!!

  Well there went one more week!  I cannot believe how fast the weeks go by!  Anywho time is short!:)  So this week was definitely a week of trying to find people we just don't really have a lot of progressing investigators and so we are trying to find some poeple to teach!  It has been a little harder and people just seem to be rejecting us but I know that there are those who are ready!  The hard part is finding them!  So this week we went to This guy named Nuno´s house and we talked with him and his family.  His wife is like super catholic and said that if we weren't americans she wouldn't have let us into her house!  Haha but after the lesson she was a lot more nice and open and even put some of her Holy water from the real river Jordan on our heads!!  Haha it was very interesting!  Also we were walking along and we found one of our inactive recent converts in the road sitting on a bench we were talking to him and he started telling us the story about how he met the girl he is with right now.  What he did was he put 50 fliers around town on la posts and things like that with his phonenumber and basically just saying WANTED:  WIFE  haha and then he showed me the text he got from this girl that he is seriously dating now!  Pretty funny!  WE talke to thomas again this week unfortunately he wasn't able to stay away from smoking agin this weekend we really just tried to focus him on 10 years from now and how instead of being a helthy 50 year old he is going to have the body of an 85 year old man that can barely breathe!  He is really a good guy I hope we can help him out!  Another guy we talked to this week, his name is Joe, he lived in america for 40 years but then got deported after he went to prsion.  He was very interesting and tried to convice us that he was Jesus.  He was fun.  And also this week in Church we had something pretty cool happen.  One of the members brought one of theri neighbors to church and during priciples of the gospel class we were talking about the church in general and at then end all of the memebers in the class went around bearing testmony of what the church means to them.  IN the end this friend, Luisa, just buried her head into her hands and started crying.  Afterwards we talked with Luisa and her member friends and we are hoping we can set somthing up sometime this week!:)  

Well anywho I hoope you all enjoyed the pictures!  And I can't believe it is already time for conference again here soon!  Before you know it Chirstmas is going to be here!   Anywho a few more things for you all!:)  This week I really learned the imporance of a journal.  Keep a journal.  We had some rough times this week and something that gave me the most streangth was going back and reading a few of my spirritual experiences that luckily I was smart enough to write down:)  You never know when you are going to need those experences again and this way, it helps you remember so that when time of trial and tribulation come you can have that anchor that you really have had true experiences with the spirit and how strong your testimony really is!  Anywho my time has already come and gone but I love you all very much and hope you all have a great week!:)  

Com muito amor

Élder Éldredge:)

Elder Davis and I both love Megamind!!

Hey everybody!  I hope everything has been going good for all of you back there at home!  Nothing to worry about here I am doing just great but I appeciate and love your prayers!:)  Also remember to include the families of those missionaries that have passed away within the last few weeks.  That is absolutely tragic but it is conforting to know that they are continuing there mission on the other side but remember to inlcude those families in our prayers.  This week was good for me.  I will admit it was one of the harder weeks but I was amazed that as I repent daily for my mistakes I can feel the strength of the Savior.  I had my first interview with President Fluckiger this week!  I sure do love that man, he is so loving for this country and for this amazing work.  He inspired me to work harder and offered me the counsel to always make sure to act rather than be acted upon.  Interesting counsel that I think we should all ponder.  So this week we met with a guy named Thomas.  He is a fisherman and so he goes out on fishing boats during the week so we only can meet with him on the weekends.  He is having lots of problems right now and is really seeking help to get free of some addictions that he has.  I know that he can make it and I just want him so bad to really feel the feeling of freedom and peace that the power of the Atonement brings.  He is an awesome guy and you will all hear more about him I am sure!  

Something this week that I really have been thinking about and trying to apply is letting the Lord build me into the person He wants me to become.  A lot of times because of pride or fear or other motives we can get in the way of the work of the Lord.  I think maybe it is because we get down on ourselves and depressed during hard times and wonder why we are going through trials.  The thing we have to realize is that we as humans have a very narrowed perspective.  We tend to see things in the present and maybe anticipate in the near future and so things may seem like they will never get better or we feel like we don't deserve such things.  The Lord does not have such a small perspective.  He truly sees things in the eternal perspective and how little things now make a big difference in the end.  He knows what lessons we need to learn to reach our great potential.  the thing I have been contemplating and trying is how can I let the Lord mold me better every day so taht I truly can become what he wants me to be.  As you all can tell I still haven't organized my thoughts well and maybe I didn't make any sense but oh well!  Just trust in the Lord.  He knows you.

Anywho me and Elder Davis are getting along just fine!  Another thing that we found in common is that we both love megamind!  We have been quoting it a lot back and forth and it has been quite fun!  HE is really knowledgable and is teaching me a lot!  

Sorry taht I wasn't able to send pictures again I promise I will send some next week we already ahev plans to walk down by the beach next Pday so I can get some pictures!:)

Oh one more thing!  This young man came to church yesterday that is a son of a member but never has been baptised and is smoking... (it is really sad here how so many people start smoki ng so young)  He is 16 but he went to the FSY (efy for portugal)  He had a incedible expereince so hopelfyly we can talk to him too!:)

I love you all so much and I hope you all safe this week!:)