Update from the Lighthouse!

Hello Wonderful Family!!

Life is great in Portugal! So last Thursday, January 1, 2009 was my first transfer! Elder Prince and I took his luggage all the way to the office where he met up with his new companion (Elder Florence). I stayed at the office for several hours thinking my zone leaders were coming by to do their transfer and that I would go back to Corroios with them. But because of some kind of miscommunication, the zone leaders weren´t coming. However, I don´t need to complain, because I was able to find some mail for me, including a lovely package from John and Laura and their wonderful kids in Houston. Thank you very much! And please tell Caity I loved the drawings, they´re great! And of course, all´s well that ends well, and I finally met up with my new senior companion, Elder Corry from St. George, Utah. He also has a great sense of humor, and we´ve had a great first week working together.

I just want to pause real quick and thank Joy and Darrell and the boys for that great present package that I received last Wednesday (after the email time), John and Laura & kids for the package I received Thursday (again), Rob and Christa for the great little photo album that included some pictures from the Alaska cruise, and Uncle Kelly and Aunt Becky for the Christmas card, picture, and letter! Thank you soo much! I am so happy and grateful to have a wonderful family that loves me, supports me, prays for me, and even sends me stuff!

So yeah, it has been a great week. One man and his son, Osvaldo and Daniel, we had met Monday of last week, and taught them with Osvaldo´s girlfriend who is a member who lives outside of our area. Then Thursday Elder Corry and I went over and taught them the plan of salvation, with the help of laminated illustrations. They were really interested and went through the whole thing again when we were done to make sure they understood it all. We had also met an 18 year old young man named Pelópidas nearby where Osvaldo and Daniel live, and were able to teach him the first lesson and give him a Book of Mormon. We found out later that they actually know each other, which was cool.

Church went really well. Mafalda and Ruben were able to get a ride, Osvaldo and Daniel came each with their copy of the Book of Mormon, and Ana, a lady from Mozambique who is marked to be baptized on the 17, came for sacrament meeting. Osvaldo and Daniel were well greeted for their first time, and it was fast and testimony meeting to boot, so I think it went really well. We have also had a great time teaching Fátima, a lady from Cape Verde, reading Alma 32 with her and then going over the Restoration again when she expressed her doubt over being able to know which Church was right and not having heard anything about Joseph Smith before. Sunday night we also taught the ´Brasilian bunch´ - Rita & Nielson, married couple, and Denise and her daughter Andresa who live with them, and two of their friends who happened to be over, Anderson and Magilde. Magilde wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon at the end of our lesson, which we gave to her. Life is great as a missionary! Anyways, the Lord´s work goes on, and I am so happy to be a part of it!

Thanks again everyone for your love, support, emails, and prayers! Have a great week!
Love,
-- Elder Ellis V
CM&SBF&FDP