Figs.. dried OR fresh still yummy!

A Late Birthday gift from Antonio & Joanna.  Fresh Figs and a new variety of peach we haven't tried...YUM

 It is possible to get to the ripe old age of .... 68 and realize that you have never tasted a fresh fig!!
Elder Anderton has fallen in love with the dried figs he buys at the fresh food market every Saturday.
He has purchased so many that they gave him a nice cloth bag for being a loyal customer!  We LOVE dried figs so this was a real treat...  Fresh Figs are Yummy too!

Look at the shape of this peach.  I wish I could remember the name of it but take my word for it...  They are super sweet !

Happy Birthday Elder!!

68 years young!!  He looks good to me!  It was a fun celebration for an amazing man.  So blessed to have him as my "companion" for eternity!  Not sure I could get along without him.

 Elder Anderton's birthday and Maria Paulo's birthday are 4 days apart.  This is a joint celebration with lots of cake and singing happy birthday in both Portuguese and English!

Birthday Dinner at an Indian Restaurant for a change.... It was Yummy!

A 'toast' to health, happiness and success...  

Our complimentary Mango Smoothies... brought to us after we told him we didn't want the compoimentary little mugs of alcoholic cider..... Mango was a HIT!

We Work With a Lot of Missionaries...

 The only bad part about that is... most of them are LEAVING for home!  They are still wonderful to be with.  We learn something new each time we give a departing missionary training.

Elder Foutz is on his way home.  He has been serving in our ward for quite awhile.  These two Elders have eaten their weight in dinners at our house...It is nice to have someone who appreciates your cooking!!

EVERYONE in Portugal Goes on Holiday..

All of Portugal and probably most of Europe take at least a 2 week holiday sometime in the summer.  By law, Portuguese workers get 4 weeks of vacation every year.  I think the USA ought to look into that policy?!?  Antonio Paulo (our boss) invited us to dinner at the home where his family takes holiday.  It is by a beautiful lake that is filled and drained each day by the ocean.  It is a very unique spot.  Although the heat made you want to be in the water (but not enough to actually get in the water) so we just admired the view and sweated!

If you are on holiday.... a hard and fast rule is that you must grill your food.  This is the beginning of a fish gilled bonanza.  Elder Anderton brought a version of his famous BBQ ribs to go with it- a HIT!

This is part of the "river" between the ocean and the lake.  It flows into or out of the lake twice a day as the tide changes.

Benefitting from the Self Reliance Program

 This is a picture of the Self Reliance Initiative in action.  This is a very faithful, hardworking President of a small branch in the center of Portugal.  Although the area is growing, it is a struggle to keep the branch up and running and 'staffed'  I think he gives a talk in Sacrament meeting every week.  This good man is under employed and struggles to provide for his small family. Through the SR program he was going to take the "JOB SEARCH" course but then has decided to enroll in the EDUCATION FOR BETTER WORK group.  He is hoping to use the church's PEF program (which just became available here in Portugal) to get a degree in accounting.  We are helping to facilitate his group and will be praying for his acceptance into the program and his success in the future.

You Can Be Famous For Many Different Things

Elder Anderton's fame for making whole wheat bread has gone international!!!  Whenever we have people here to dinner (which is a lot :)  Elder Anderton usually whips up a batch of his homemade bread.  The word has spread and we now also take bread with us whenever we are invited to dinner at someone else' house.  The Elders are some of his most adoring fans. They have wonderful bread here in Portugal...but it is not soft, warm or melt in your mouth yummy (there is also very little whole wheat bread)  With Elder Foust getting ready to be released, he requested a bread-making lesson.  These boys look pretty fit and slim... but don't be fooled, they can do some serious EATING !

 OF COURSE, dinner was included along with the lesson.  It is fun for me to imagine that there were members who loved feeding "MY" missionaries when they were serving their missions.  It's kind of like pay back !

The bread turned out great !  I was a little worried that the Elders might 'founder' on it !?! (ok not sure of the spelling, but that thing that horses do when they get into too much grass?)  Good thing they are still young with Metabolism in tact !

Para Bens Portugal... European Futebol Champions!!!

OK, so I have been to a few soccer games in my life.  We had several children and multiple grandchildren play soccer.  I loved watching our kids compete in high school games and there were years when we were close to winning the championship.  I appreciate and love soccer.  That being said...the people of Portugal LOVE soccer (a.k.a. futebol) !  The soccer stars here are true celebrities and like in the States, make an unrealistic amount of money. 

The size of the stadiums here let you know they mean business!  During the regular season, the different clubs scattered around Portugal compete with each other for a country champion.  After the regular season this year, they brought all the best players together for an "all stars" team to compete in the European Cup.  Even Christian Renaldo (who is from Portugal but plays for Spain Real) plays on the Portugal 'All Star' team.

Our friend and worker at the PEF office got us tickets to an exhibition game with Iceland before the real playoff games began.  I must say, it was a wild time in the stadium and a lot of fun.  We figured along with the Neiswenders, we were making a lot of missionary contacts!!

This is Renaldo!!!  I hear he is the 2nd ranked soccer player in the world.  He seems to be a pretty nice guy, involved in helping others with his charity work and is fairly down to earth.

Inside the Stadium...pretty cool.

We got to watch a later playoff game at the home of Antonio Paulo ... that game ended in a tie but good enough to move them forward.

The final game was won over France, who was considered a clear favorite.  Renaldo had been out of the game due to injury before the beginning of the second half.  It was won in overtime 1-0.  This a FIRST championship for them!  Congratulations to this small country of Portugal with the BIG heart.  They partied into the next morning.  

I have come to know that the people of Portugal are filled with country pride and pride in their long and great history.  I am happy for them to be able to add this victory to their patriotic list of achievements. 

Happy Birthday America!!!

 Over the past few weeks, we have had a wonderful influx of American students attend our little Lapa Ward on Sundays.  It has taken our usual number of sacrament meeting attendance from around 15 to sometimes over 35 when you factor in other foreign vacationers who come to our ward.  Many of the American students are from BYU, but there are others from other universities here for a summer semester abroad.  It has been so fun to have the enthusiasm and boost in testimony and participation that they have brought with them.  In honor of them and to celebrate the birth of America, we sponsored a 4th of July cookout... complete with hamburgers, chips and watermelon. 

When there is no American Flag for sale...you have to get creative!

So surprised and pleased to find sparklers!!  They have no type of fireworks here, I think we found these two little boxes by accident!  When we went back for more....there were none to be found.  Stores saying, we don't sell them.  It is funny how exciting a little box of sparklers can be! 

 I think we sang the Star Spangled Banner three separate times....I must say it felt good!

We found a Home Depot look alike and bought this great little $20 grill to cook burgers for 25 people!  It worked great and Elder Anderton felt right at home!

After looking all over Lisbon- in every park we could find (and they have some nice ones) the only place that you are allowed to cook is in this park which is directly under the pillars of the Vasco da Gama Bridge. (2nd longest bridge in Europe) 

It was a much appreciated day of patriotism ... love where I am but LOVE where I'm from!

Picnics & Summer Go Together

Had to try out the new grill before our 4th of July cookout with the visiting America  students.  It worked pretty well.  Felt like home! 

Added and unexpected bonus... as we were preparing our dinner...we noticed that an airshow was taking place right above our heads!  (well not right above but we could see a lot of them and hear more that we could see)  We figured that these were probably from the US of A as Portugal probably does not have the type of airplanes we saw.  Made us feel like we were home watching the airshow from Hill Air Force Base.

We are begining to like grilled fish.... may not take over the hamburger or rib spot for Elder Anderton but some good eating with the right fish!

Another day...Another picnic.  This is a ward party we were invited too.  As you can see, where ever there is food (FREE FOOD) you will find missionaries!  OOPS, I guess that includes US!  Guilty as charged!

The pillars under this bridge have some great graffiti if you are  fond of BUGS!

After we ate- the ward had activities... including a ZUMBA class in the parking lot.  Elder Anderton and I had fun trying to keep up.  This is one of those times when you don't realize that it is a really bad idea  until you see the pictures later and then it is too late!

I think this is an original move by Elder Anderton...going for the "Karate Kid" look

Elder Neiswender and Elder Silva having a harmonica jam session

What is a great ward picnic without a grundle of BBQ sardines... not sure that is my idea of the 'right fish'!