portugal experiences

President Barcellos came to the Conference early to interview many.  His talk in the Sunday meeting can only be described as inspired and 'Masterful'.  He somehow pulled in every concern and situation in our branch into a talk about changing our lives as we 'Come unto Christ'. President and Sister Barcellos are dynamic leaders and very generous and gracious in sharing their love with everyone. President Barcellos invited us to breakfast with him Saturday morning.  A treasure time for us. Ponta Delgada Branch on the island of Sao Miguel and the Branch below is on the Island of Terceira.    Patriarch Jose Carlos Ferreira has great faith and his experiences are inspiring. He came to give blessings and we saw a miracle in the lives of a family that we love.  It was so enjoyable for me to visit with Patriarch Ferreira's wife while he was giving blessings and while Grandpa was in meetings and scrambling to help set up the internet once again. The electrician...

At 2:14 (Idaho Time) and 8:14 (Azore Time) this morning,  we became Great Grandparents!!!  What in The World!!!   How fast life goes and how much it all means.    We are so excited for this new adventure in our lives!!! Our first great grandbaby!  A Boy! 7lbs.11 ounces. 21 inches long. We are excited for our District Conference this coming Sunday.  We printed 90 invitations.  As we were finding addresses last evening and giving out invitations in Ribeira Grande, we met a kind lady (she is a Portugese and English Teacher); she loved speaking English with us and as we gave her an invitation, her eyes smiled.  We asked her if she knew about our church.  She said that she thinks one of the people she works with at her school is a member. Now we are excited to talk to Celia (music teacher) about meeting her colege.    Our new friend offered to have us back for 'tea'. We asked if we could come back to share something t...

It was Mother's Day yesterday in America. I am forever grateful for my sweet Mother and her gracious and beautiful way. Thank you so much for your calls and notes! It made me think of the word 'Hesed' that Prophet Nelson introduced as he spoke about Heavenly Father's love a while back.  I looked up more about that word. John Oswalt, a theologian, described the word and my feelings this way: "Hesed is a completely undeserved kindness and generosity."  I am so humbled when I listen to the words of the song that Amy wrote just for me (music, voice, video, lyrics and all)  (The four-daughter-zoom because you all wanted to share her video with me together was such a wonderful surprise!) I had to use my dress hem to wipe away my tears last night.  Thank you.  I am adding her lyrics here so I will have them recorded forever.  I will use them as a pattern to follow and someday I will be more like the person you believe I can be.  We all have  a few days h...

                                        Highlights that we want to remember from this week. *The sweet Importance the sisters here put on the role of Mothers in their lives.  * Before each youth or branch activity, the first part is always a Spiritual Lesson for about half an hour followed by the activity...whether going to a movie, playing basketball, or games or going on a hike.  Mariah is a new member and she was giving the spiritual thought about the Book of Mormon and Missionary work before the activity that she had prepared.  *We had a very great outpouring of love and inspiration in a Devotional given by our area seventy, Elder and Sister Engbjerg from Denmark.  Their lives are blessing so many other lives.  *Carlos' Mother invited us for his Birthday lunch and she made everything so special for us.  His brother was there as well. What a swee...

Words cannot even weakly describe a week of a Mission.  The ups and downs and wonderment and gratitude and lessons that fill our minds and change our plans. Time is not sufficient either to record more than a skimming off the top of all that lands in our hearts.   Our visit with Carlos was definitely a highlight this week.  He was just called a Branch Missionary and wanted to know all about his calling.  Talk about animated!  He is ready to go and when we arrived, he had already read all about his assignment on the Church website and had profound questions and took voracious notes!  He showed us his thoughts on ways he thought he could best serve,  Including a project for the community and showed us his paperwork.  At one point, he was reading off his responsibilities and wanted to make sure he understood each one.  When he read,"strengthen the new members"  Grandpa laughed with him, "That means you as well, since you are a new memb...