A Much Appreciated 'P' Day

   After a weekend filled with training seminars, and attending multiple SR devotionals...it was decided that Monday would be our 'Preparation Day.'  We used the morning to catch up on some laundry, grocery shopping and then took the metro to catch one of the Lisbon tour buses.  We had seen them around town everyday...the typical double-decker, open top bus with headphones and tour information in 7 languanges. (yeah English!)  What struck me most was the contrast between the OLD and NEW.  The differences in this city make it beautiful and interesting.

He may look warm but with the wind in our faces, we were frozen by the time it was over!!!

Some of the older abandoned buildings here are preserved just because of the grafiti

!

This is a ancient 'look-out' post that stands at the head of the river.  It was filled with army to defend the city from invasion.

Some things never change....I'm still feeding people even in Portugal!

Yesterday, Saturday, we had a nationwide Stake Self Reliance specialists training.  It was held here in the center.  Antonio has been preparing for it for a long time.  It was kind of a big deal.  Some had to travel by plane from surrounding islands to attend.  Elder Anderton was in charge of a section of the training and seemed to do very well.  He is getting more comfortable with the language everyday.  I volunteered to be in charge of the food.  I was so nervous that something would go wrong.  It turned out OK and everyone seemed to like it, I am just glad I didn't poison anyone and glad it's over!  The meeting lasted 5 hours including breaks for snacks and a lunch.  Immediately afterwards, we had to rush to a nearby ward for a My Path devotional that lasted 2 hours.  Ric was asked to conduct that meeting at the last minute.  I've am learning that you have to be ready for anything at all times!  Needless to say, our weekends are not really that relaxing!

This is just the snack table... You can always count on me to over estimate the food needed- just ask my kids!  My motto is 'my food may not be the best, but there is always plenty of it?!?'  Didn't get a pic of the lunch...I was daring and cooked something sort of non traditional for them.  I put a pork roast in the slow cooker and then had to look all over creation for BBQ sauce to make pulled pork sandwiches.  They seemed to love it! That along with their 'batatas fritas' (potato chips)...they really do love them!

You'd think I was feeding the Portuguese army!!

Ric was also in charge of all the video and media presentations.  That little projector the kids gave him sure came in handy!

Sunday after church there was a baptism in our ward.  Everyone stayed to support this new member...it was awesome.  The bishop also asked us to speak next week!!  Should have been expecting it.  With only 30 people on a good day we will probably be speaking every other month!  Sure hope all who attend are blessed with the gift of tongues!

Let the missionaries try it ..."They'll eat anything!!"

 We fed the missionaries last Wednesday.  It was an experiment.  I am still trying to figure out my oven.  It is very tiny and the settings are not in degrees that I understand...I attempted chocolate chip cookies the night before and I seemed to be able to overcook every pan full.  The next day I decided to attempt French bread.  It took awhile, but we were finally able to find yeast at the store.  The bread turned out OK.   They said they loved it but as everyone knows "missionaries will eat anything!"  It was fun to get to know them- they are all hard workers and love Portugal, love the people and Love the Lord.

They look like babies- I will always have a soft spot in my heart for missionaries because I prayed so hard that someone else was taking care of MY missionaries when they were so far from home.  And in the not too distant future, it will be MY grandchildren who will be in the care of others, especially Heavenly Father's.

Con Amo para Portugal

Another week has almost flown by and it has been another week of learning, feelings of being overwhelmed and even a first hand experience with the police here!  One of the highlights of last week was meeting with Elder Thomas King the Europe Self Reliance Manager who flew here from Germany.  He is a very warm and friendly man who speaks English with a pronounced Australian accent.  On Thursday we attended a video conference (which seems to be a very common event here...it seems that there is always a video conference with someone!)  During this meeting we also met the area 70 over the Europe area.  I can tell you it very humbling and somewhat intimidating to be in these meetings with these men who have devoted so much of their lives to serving our Father in Heaven. 

 One of the benefits of tagging along with Antonio Paulo (our SR manager) is that we are included many times on lunch breaks etc that come from the church budget.  We have tried to be self reliant and pay our way but alas, we are getting used to being fed when on work assignments!  

Friday afternoon we traveled by car with Antonio and Brother King north to the town of Porto.  It is over 3 hours away.  We left on Friday in order to be in the town and ready for a northern conference of Stake Presidents and the Porto Mission mission president, Saturday morning.  The drive was great as we were able to see the different areas as we passed, from industrial to rural.  We made a brief stop on the way in the city where Antonio's parents live.  It is called 'Fatima'  This city is famous to Catholics and a mecca for devout members. The story is that  Mary, the mother of the Savior, visited 3 small children there in the 1800's.  There is a huge square for thousands people to gather and also a 'shrine' built over the area of the appearance.  Brother Paulo suggested that we remove our missionary badges as we toured the area out of respect and to avoid problems.  That seemed a little strange to me but we followed his suggestion.  Porto is another very beautiful and interesting city with a mixture of old and new, and we finally got to be by thge ocean!  There were ancient church buildings on almost every block.  One highlight of the trip for Bro Paulo was to introduce us to a food called Franeszinas.  It is only served in Porto......basically a 'heart attack on a plate'  It makes a double whopper with cheese seem like health food.  I opted for a salad but tasted Ric's and it was better than it looked.  It is built like a hot sandwhich with layers of bread, cheese, ham, sausage, turkey or beef another bread, more cheese and topped with a fried egg....oh, and some sauce!  A real weight watchers delight!!

   After getting home late Saturday night, Bro Paulo let us take the 'pool car' back to out apartment so we could drive ourselves to church the next morning.  I had offered to play the piano for Sacrament meeting hymns and was in hurry to get there early to practice.  With the help of Garmin, we made it and I had Ric drop me off while he parked.  Long story short, after church Ric was telling one of the brethren how hard it was to find a place to park and he had parked on a road with tracks running through it.  There had been 2 other cars parked there and someone on the sidewalk had told Ric that he doesn't remember a trolley ever coming down that street.  The church member got a sick look on his face and said Ric better go check and see if the car was still there....So we hurried up the hill and sure enough....NO CAR  - it had been towed away!!!   It was a big lesson in humility to go back down the hill to tell Brother Paulo that the church owned car had been towed away):  Luckily there is the kindest man you have ever met (who looks just like you picture a Sleek European gentleman to look) who took pity on us and offered to drive us to find the car.  Almost two hours later and looking in 2 wrong police car lots, we found the car and they were kind enough to let us have it back for a mere $140.00!!!   Insult to injury, they wouldn't accept Ric's American debit card so Brother Jose Seborras had to pay with his money.  ouch!  what a crazy day we both wanted to cry but it has been a funny story to tell since then. 

   I started this on Monday and it is now Friday.  It seems that time is flying....We are busy everyday but I couldn't exactly tell what we accomplish in all those hours.  Thursday for example it took us over 40 minutes at the train station just to make sure we bought the right tickets to the right destination and that were standing in the right line to get on the right train....every new thing we try is at a snail's pace but we hope that will improve with time!  

   Sending our love to all and prayers for your health, happiness and protection.  May the Lord bless you.  
    Much Love,    Elder and Sister Anderton

 This is Fatima (the Catholic Mecca city)  

Notice in picture below, a woman in the bottom left corner is crawling on her knees along a LONG path to the top of the square- Antonio said this is either a request for blessings or a show of gratitude.  

 These last 2 pictures are view of the street both ways just outside our apartment door.

One Week Down...

We have now been here over 1 week!!  How time flies..it doesn't seem a minute over 6 & 3/4 days!!  We have been kept busy and that helps the time to go by quickly!  Our days are spent receiving instruction from President Paulo and then studying the new materials or the manuals.  He is slowing giving us responsibilities that we can accomplish on our own which will free up some time for him... He is a very busy man.  We asked him the other day, "Is it helpful to have us here or are we just adding to your work by having to spend so much time training us?"  He said, "Oh it's ok, it's always like this in the beginning." That is our daily prayer is that we will soon be able to pull our own weight!

Our first two days here were exciting...after picking us up at the airport and meeting the mission president (President Travares from Brazil who speaks no English!) we were brought to our new home.  Pres Paulo had stocked it with food so we wouldn't starve and beds were ready/we were ready for our bed!!!  The next day Pres Paulo had meetings in another city so we were left on our own.  After sleeping  in... We found our way to the nearest local store (in the basement of a bull fighting arena)  so I could buy shampoo.  We came back to shower and found that there was NO HOT water in the apartment!!!   We were desperate after a day and a half of traveling so we braved the frigid water only to discover that I had bought cream rinse instead of shampoo!!  Which means I had to rinse my head under ice cold water twice..once to try to get the cream rinse out and then again to use DISH SOAP to wash our hair.  It was pretty funny to look back on but not really that fun (:  

Last Friday night we were invited to have dinner with Antonio's family.  He has 3 daughters and his wife is an art teacher.  It was a great evening but we discovered that families here don't eat dinner until 8 or 9 pm sometimes later!!  We were yawning through dessert.

On Saturday we had the day off and traveled by subway to the center of Lisbon which is the old part of town.  It was very beautiful with the huge public squares, huge statues, fountains and inlaid stone streets & walkways.  There were outdoor cafes under big umbrellas and many many people.  The Paulo family met us and drove us up to a castle that overlooks the city but it was closed by the time we got there. 

Sunday we attended church in an old Palace that has been remodeled inside for meetings.  The ward is very small and Pres Paulo was asked by the stake to attend with his family for support.  They all seemed like very kind people but also very few children in the congregation.

We have traveled to the Mantegia office (over a big bridge that was patterned after the one in San Francisco) a couple of times to help with the PEF program.  That is the perpetual education fund which is headquartered here in Lisbon for all of Europe but the church here in Portugal has just barely been cleared to start using it in January.  

We are healthy and doing well, getting along fine with the food...haven't been too adventursome to try anything too wild...wildest new food we've tried is pumpkin jam- which is actually very tasty.  Also love the bread which is bad but since we don't  have a car maybe all the walking will make up for it!  Below are some new pics -there is a variety.  
         
Love to All, We miss you and pray for you always

Elder and Sister Anderton

Bull fighting arena/shopping center below

Arch at Square

Fountain at square

 Red roofs in old city

Fountain in plaza

 Stone pathways in central square

View toward river from castle wall with Christ statue on the horizon

(smaller, but similar to one in Rio)

 Night view of central plaza from near castle 

(really scary trip up winding staircase to get there!)

 Another view of city

 Church on Sunday!

Our Apartment

After what seemed days on the plane we got here safe and sound!  Elder Paulo picked us up at the airport. He works for the church over self reliance and is also a counselor to the mission president.  We also met him, the president,- a wonderful humble man from Brazil.  We know we will love working with these two awesome men!  The city looks big with a mixture of old and new buildings.  We found our way to a mall last night,  located in the bottom of a 'bull fighting' arena!  Our apt is on the 5th floor of a building- the layout is a little strange but it is nice... sending picture of our living room/dining room... pretty classy!!  

Send more later. 

Love to all,  Elder and Sister Anderton

On Our Way at Last!

Here are two of the greenest of green missionaries headed on their way to Lisbon Portugal.  We have no idea of what lies ahead for us but we are excited to finally be on our way!!  After a six month delay and a heart surgery for Elder Anderton we feel very blessed to be on this airplane headed to our calling as Self Reliance Missionaries in the Lisbon, Portugal Mission.  It has been a roller coaster ride of emotions.  The last minute discovery in May that Elder Anderton needed heart surgery was like a kick in the stomach and left both of us more than a little rattled!  His condition was discovered on the very day we should have been taking this same flight to Lisbon.  We were delayed due to visa problems and so testing was done on that day and one week later Elder Anderton was have quadruple heart bypass surgery.  There is a saying "it is hard to keep a good man down" which is certainly true of my companion.  He was devastated more by the fact that our mission had to be postponed than about having to have heart surgery!  He set his mind to recovering as quickly as possible and returning to his mission call.  The official recommendation of the church is that a heart patient must wait one year after surgery before leaving on a mission.  Elder Anderton was determined to break that rule!  He has worked very hard and his recovery has been fast.  He started contacting the church missionary office about 4 months after his surgery telling them how great he was feeling and that he was ready.  The short story is that I think he finally wore them down and with the OK from his doctors, he was cleared to leave just 6 months after his surgery.  What a wonderful blessing it has been that we were able to keep our oringinal mission call..Thank you Heavenly Father!

As if recovering from heart surgery wasn't enough... we also suffered the loss of dear, sweet Afton (Elder Anderton's mother) just a couple of weeks before our scheduled departure date of November 2nd.  It was sudden and unexpected even though she was 90 years old.  A fall that broke her ankle led to her passing away a week after she had surgery on it.  We had not even had time to tell her that we were leaving soon for Portugal.  It was her great desire for us to serve a mission and I know she will be there to encourage and help us through this challenge.  In all of the last minute packing and taking care of Mom's home and possessions before we left... we have not had time to grieve properly.  I will this 'other mother' of mine more that I can express.  I am sure she had no idea the impact she has had on me as I have looked to her as an example in so many areas of my life. 

Look out Portugal...  Here we come at LAST!