August 5, 2009

Então Família! Como estão?! Há transferências esta semana! Its crazy! 6 weeks is already up and transfers are tomorrow! Elder Markarian is leaving to be Zone Leader in Oeiras and I am staying here in Sacavém! I havent met my new companion yet, but I think his name is Elder Dean. I dont know anything about him. Hopefully he speaks the language well. Its gonna be really hard if he doesnt. Im basically going to be in charge of getting us around to all of the areas and remembering everyone we are teaching. I am probably going to have to do a lot more talking too. Its gonna be really hard but I suppose its meant to be. I will probably learn a lot this transfer. Transfers are a lot different this time, according to everyone that has been here longer than I have. I got here when our new Mission President got here, so nothing is new to me. But supposedly he has changed a lot of things. He is really awesome though, everyone loves him. How do we know him again? Didnt you say Uncle Richard knows him mom? I cant remember. Anyways, tomorrow I meet my new comp and then come back here and immediately start working. Its gonna be tough. As usual, the language still seems to be a big barrier. It has still been a little hard for me to be outgoing as well. Thats going to have to stop. Especially since my new companion wont know anybody here. This morning, I studied about the parable of the talents in Matthew, and then I also studied in D&C. God has given me talents. He has given me the ability to be able to speak well. But I havent opened my mouth. He says that if I dont use my talents, he will take away what I have. But if I use them, he will give me more. Im going to try really hard to speak a lot this transfer and be "greg"arious. I know the Lord will give me the Gift of the Interpretation of Tongues if I use what he has already given me. Everything has been going awesome though. About 2 weeks ago, we contacted this man on the street named Steven. He started speaking in English, saying he didnt speak Portuguese. So we started talking to him, and he said he is from Nigeria. So we got his number, and told him we wanted to meet him. We met him a couple times, but he didnt have enough time to hear our message both times. We met him again, and he told us he had some people he wanted us to meet. So we met these to women, Donya and Sahar. Donya is Sahar's mom. They told us they are from Iran, and neither of them speak Portuguese. Sahar speaks a little English, and Donya only speaks Persian. We knew they were Muslim, so we didnt want to teach them (we are not allowed to.) So we just showed them around our chapel and told them why we are here. They told us they are trying to get to Canada. But we didnt really know why they were here. So a couple days later, we met up with them again, and this time with Donya's husband, Sahar's dad Morteza. He told us all about why they are here. Supposedly the Iranian government is really bad right now, and they had thrown him in prison a couple times. He eventually ran from the government, not knowing where to go and eventually ended up here in Portugal with little money, not speaking a word of Portuguese. They are trying to get to Canada, where their son lives, but cant get their documents from Iran. They cant return there. We decided we can teach them, because they cant ever go back to Iran. They are all Muslim, but none of them like their religion. They are really interested in learning about Jesus Christ and they even came to church on Sunday. Both me and Elder Markarian have a feeling that they came here for a reason. They are really awesome people. Its hard to teach them. Morteza speaks very well but its hard for him to understand the gospel vocab. Plus, they have to translate to Donya. Hopefully, we can get them some things in their own language. Also, our investigator Colombo is progressing really well. We taught him the Word of Wisdom the other day, and he told us that he smoked. He doesnt smoke a lot, but I think he is addicted. Anyways, he has so much faith, and no doubt that he can quit, and that the Lord will bless him. He told us he was going to stop that day. Awesome guy. Very humble. He is marked to be baptized August 29th. So cool. This area is really awesome. I am glad I am staying. Im sad Elder Markarian is leaving. He has been an awesome influence for all these people. Also we are way good friends now. Things have been awesome lately. I learned so much this transfer from him. He is awesome. Things are awesome here. I love being on my mission. Obrigado todos!!!
Elder Walker

P.S. I finally sent some pictures. They are attached to the email. If you can figure it out mom, you should post some on my blog. You'll have to save them onto the computer and then post a new blog. There should be some button you can click to upload photos.

P.P.S. How are the wedding plans going?