Elder Chase Herrmann: 9/26/16 - Enjoying the work

PORTUGAL!!! Wow, I love it here! This week was crazy and a lot happened but it went by so quickly! I learned so much and truly did witness miracles! I am pretty sure every person in this country knows I am Americano because whenever I say, "Hello, good morning," in Portuguese on the streets I get a very recited, "Hello, how are you," in some very bad English... haha but it makes me laugh so it’s okay! Another thing that I learned is that gypsies DO NOT like missionaries. One night we were walking through their neighborhood to get to our casa and we saw 4 ten and eleven year olds playing oujia boards and SMOKING in front of their parents. We couldn’t believe their parents just watched! Another time we were walking through and this little gypsy boy came up to us and said, "I wish I had a pistol so I could shoot you in the face," and then just ran off. I love the gypsies even though they don’t love us. Another thing I learned is that there are 3 different types of Portuguese, 1. Brazilian Portuguese 2. Young people’s Portugal Portuguese and 3. Old people’s Portuguese. Brazilian is the easiest to understand, next easiest is young people Portuguese which is very clear and understandable. Then there is old person Portuguese where I have NO idea what they are saying. They don’t have teeth and it sounds like they have peanut butter in their mouths--hopefully I can understand the older generation soon!

I love the PASTRIES here, holy cow I can get enough of the pastels da nata! I also love how there are soccer courts everywhere! Every time I see people playing soccer I want to play so bad but I can’t because there is a mission rule that you can’t play contact sports! Another thing I really love here are all the Africans. They are either from Cape Verde, Angola, or Mozambique!! In general they are so kind, open to everything, and so outgoing!

I think the language is coming along! We had zone conference this week and I had to bear my testimony and I don’t even know what happened. I was just speaking from the heart in Portuguese and it went really well! A lot of missionaries came up and said I am learning Portuguese fast! I also had an interview this week with President Tavares and he is the BEST! He said the same thing about my language which really boosted my confidence for the field and street contacts! It’s good to have others perspective instead of just my point of view.

I am really learning to love personal study in the morning. I read the end of Mosiah this week in the Book of Mormon and love the story of Alma the younger! The thing I got out of it was that no matter what you have done or how deep your sins are--you can always change through the atonement! I also learned that we have to be constantly working to bring souls unto Christ, mission or no mission. My mission quote is from Parley P. Pratt, "I have all eternity to enjoy myself, as for now, Get to work!"

Last week I was feeling discouraged because we were working so hard and getting no results and the language was difficult. My family gave me great advice telling me to enjoy “doing the work" and the rest will all come! So I looked at this week with a different attitude and really tried to "have fun doing the work". Whenever we would get yelled at or a door slammed in our face, my comp and I would look at each other and say, "He wasn’t ready anyways!" and laugh and go to the next door! The Portuguese people are rather closed off, opinionated, and blunt. They are hard to love at first but I have learned that the easiest way to love someone is to serve them! By serving and thinking of them 24/7 I am really starting to love these people so much! I know that my job is to love them and then the Lord can work miracles. For example, this week we had zero lessons, they all fell through and it was really hard. I had to remember to keep a good attitude. On Sunday during lunch we got a call from a member in the ward saying that her boyfriend wanted to hear a lesson. I saw her boyfriend at church the last 2 weeks and thought he was a member. We went over there and at the beginning I said, "I know my Portuguese isn’t good but I want to speak when I get prompted by the Spirit even though it might not sound good, so bear with me!" We had such a great lesson and at the end he said he wanted to get baptized!!!!! Out of nowhere! So my very first lesson I got a commitment for a baptismal date! Crazy how the Lord works! I want to work even harder now!

I love this gospel and missionary work so much! Have a great week! Fica Bem!

Elder Herrmann

Rua Jorge Barradas No. 14C
1500-370 Lisboa