Paige's Portugal Papers: Week 4 in Portimão

Hey ya'll! This week has been an adventure for sure. We had some really good days and some really rough days. Our president came to visit our area and interview the missionaries in our district. I was really nervous but we had a really great talk and he had nothing but compliments and advice for us. He warned us about a lot adversary this week because the Algarve will turn into a stake soon, they're building a temple in Lisbon, and Ulisses S Soares is going to be visiting the mission. I was kinda of like yeah yeah... but it the law of opposition is real.

We had some real progress with some of our investigators this week. One, Flavio, finally accepted a baptism date after months and months of meeting with the sisters. We also finally got one of our investigators to agree to stop smoking and give us his tobacco.... but then we found out that he had a big old stash that we didn't know about. The little turd bucket.... Haha.

We went to Lisbon this week to take care of my residency!! Now I'm an official resident of Portugal! Does that mean that I still have to tell people I'm American? Haha!

We have also been challenged by mission president to read the whole Book of Mormon in less than three weeks. I decided to try to read it in Portuguese! It has been a lot easier to read in Portuguese than I thought! I've only had to look up a few words in English but I've been able to keep up, understand, and mark it thoroughly as well. I think it's about time to understand most everything. It's only been 7 months! I have absolutely loved to read the Book of Mormon in Portuguese. Every day i feel like I have a special extra strength, a brighter smile, and a little more endurance for the hard things.

This week I've been studying 3 Nephi which has a lot of really great scriptures and doctrine.

24 Therefore, whoso heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, who built his house upon a rock—

25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.

26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand—

27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell, and great was the fall of it.

I've been thinking a lot about a foundations and how the help us when things get hard. This little scripture talks about building a foundation in the words of Christ.