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
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!
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