Sweet is the Work

 Sweet is the Work

(Doce é o Trabalho)

Today I thought I'd tell about the real reason we came to Portugal - to serve in the temple. (I know) At this time the Lisbon Temple is only open four days a week - Wednesday morning, Thursday and Friday afternoon, and all day Saturday. Endowment sessions run on the hour. Endowments, baptisms, sealings, and initiatories are all done by appointments. As temple missionaries, we do it all. We officiate, hand out clothing, help fold the laundry, greet, become patrons, you name it - all in Portuguese. We are still wearing masks, but hope to see them disappear soon. The government has given the okay. Now they are waiting for SLC to say yes. Next month the temple will open up to 75% capacity per session and in June we will be at 100%.

Our apartment is a 20 minute walk down the hill to the temple - through the park or through the neighborhood. 

We work with some wonderful people who don't seem to mind that I am killing their language. They are very kind, in fact.

One of our favorite couples is the Mouras - Leonel and Fátima. They serve faithfully in the temple almost every day. In fact, he is one of our sealers. Their conversion story is so cute. In a nut shell - their twelve year old daughter invited the missionaries in to teach her mother and her. Leonel was working on a cruise ship at the time. He actually received a Book of Mormon from a passenger about this time but it was in English. He just tucked it away with his stuff because he didn't speak English. Mother and daughter joined the church. Dad joined a bit later. He stopped doing the cruise ship. Opened a little 'fast food' place in Lisbon - which is now a real restaurant. Got sealed in the Swiss Temple. Raised two wonderful children. Served for six years in the Madrid Temple. And now...they are leaving next week to serve as MLS missionaries in Barcelona, Spain, for a year. We will miss them so much, but know what a great job they are going to do there. Not only that, but Leonel is a professional Fado singer. (Fado is the folk music of Portugal.)

For spring break, about 20 youth and 6 adults traveled from the Azores to spend five days in the temple doing baptisms and other ordinances. 

This was a really big deal.

Most had not even been off their island (Terceira or São Miguel) - even some adults! This opportunity was made possible by a generous American church member who visited the Azores and fell in love with the faithful saints in such a remote area of the world. Before he left, he gave the District President money to be used to one day take the youth to the temple. The kids prepared for a year finding family names. They had hundreds! And before they knew it they were in Lisbon!! 

They stayed in a hostel nearby, we senior missionaries in Lisbon furnished their evening meals in the church next door to the temple, and after full days in the temple they were able to even see some of the sites of their nation's capital. 

They were darling kids and so very grateful for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for some of them. 

In other temple news, our fellow missionaries - Sonja and Wilson Duffle - have a beautiful daughter who will be getting sealed in the Lisbon Temple next week. 

She is a doctor in Vienna, Austria. Her husband works in international law enforcement in Europe. So we send our love to Ester and Chris.

This is a rather odd angle of the church, but...

A ward is called an Ala.

A stake is an estaca.

At this time there are 6 stakes, 4 districts, 32 wards, and 35 branches in Portugal. There are 45,576 members, making it the third largest body of LDS Church members in Europe behind the United Kingdom and Spain. (In 1975, the membership in Portugal was only 91.) All of Portugal is one mission.

We are members of the Lisbon Stake. Our stake president is President Moura. (Yes, those are his parents mentioned above.)

We belong to the Sacavém Ward. Our bishop is from Brazil. Our Relief Society President is from Cabo Verde. The ward is very eclectic. Many dialects of Portuguese are spoken. I guess you could say that anything goes.

The ward is small but very enthusiastic. 

The most recent Relief Society activity.

                      

Two wards meet in our building. We go at 9:30.

So there you have it. We don't just do the 'missioncation' thing. We actually do some work! We feel so blessed to be here. But, can I just say - we sure do miss our family and friends back home. You are constantly in our thoughts and prayers.

💜💜💜💜