December 14, 2009

I finally got transferred! I got moved to an area called Costa da Caparica. It is south of Lisbon on the other side of the river. Supposedly it is sort of a big vacation spot, because its just a huge beach. But right now, in the winter time, its pretty dead. The area is pretty cool. We are right across the river from Lisbon. It is seriously right on the other side of the huge bridge. We can see the brigde and a lot of Lisbon from our area. There is a big monument on our side of the river called "o Cristo Rei" which means "the Christ King." We can also see that from our area. We got the transfer calls on Monday and I was out of there the next day. I had to say goodbye to some people and it was pretty sad. I was really close to some of the recent converts. Especially Colombo. I have 2 companions! We are in a "tripla." My new comps are Elder Ronson and Elder Lobo. The reason there are 3 of us is because Elder Lobo is going home about 4 weeks early so he can get back in time for school. So he leaves next Tuesday. And then it will be just me and Elder Ronson. Elder Ronson was already in Costa da Caparica, and Elder Lobo was in Monte da Caparica, a litte further South. They used to be 2 areas, but they were combined this transfer, so we have a big area now. We actually live in Monte da Caparica. I like the area so far, but still like my last area a lot better. I just have to get used to living here. My comps are way awesome. They are way cool and funny. Elder Lobo is from Oregon. His dad is actually from Brazil. Lobo means wolf in Portuguese. I found out he is cousins with the Murrays in Mapleton. Golden Murray is Elder Lobo's mom's brother. Small world. Elder Lobo speaks the language really well. He is cool and funny. He is a bit lazy. I think that he thinks, since he is going home, he doesn't really need to work as hard. He gets up late, and doesn't really study. It is kind of hard to work with 2 other Elders. It is hard to be as unified. Especially with an Elder that doesn't work as hard. I don't really know, but it seems like he and his last companion didn't do a whole lot of work, because when I got here we didn't have one single investigator. So this whole week has been finding time. We have knocked a ton of doors. Elder Ronson is way cool and funny too. He is from Cedar Hills, Utah. He is actually younger than me by about 2 months, but will hit his year mark on the mission this month. So this is my new area. I already miss Sacavém. There are a lot less African people here. Almost none in the ward. It's actually a ward here and not a branch. They seem to be really cool people, and it is going to be a lot different working more with Portuguese people. It is also a little hard to understand. I am used to the African accent, and haven't really dealt much with native Portuguese speakers. It seems to be a good area. Hopefully we start teaching lessons! I don't really know what else to write. This week was pretty crazy. Mostly just knocking doors. We even went caroling. That was a failure. We were completely rejected almost everytime. The ward had their Christmas party on Saturday. We sang Angels We Have Heard On High in Portuguese. And then they wanted us to doing something less spiritual, so we sang Feliz Navidade, which is Spanish and English, not Portuguese. We put it together in about 2 minutes so it was bad. But we danced around and they all laughed really hard so it was good. I am hoping this next week is better. On the 23rd, the entire mission is meeting for one big Christmas themed Zone Conference. It will be really cool. Every missionary in the mission will be there, except for the missionaries in the Azores. Well, I'm glad everything is going well at home. I'm sorry to hear about Grandpa. It seems like there is always some new health problem that comes up with him. I hope he is OK. How is everyone else doing? Is everyone going to be home for Christmas this year? Are you all going to go to the cabin at all? Are Tracy and Chris going to be there? Well, I don't know what else to write. I love you all. Have a good week. You're in my prayers. I still don't really know anything about calling home. For sure I will let you know next week. I think we actually just call from our cell phones. I dont know though. It's soon though. I am excited. I love you all. Tchau!
Elder Walker