6/25/18 - The Blessings of Ice Cream & Soft Bread

What a great week! Catia was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was an amazing experience working with her and seeing her progress in the gospel. I SAW HOW REALLY APPLYING THE GOSPEL IN OUR LIVES CAUSES THE LIGHT OF CHRIST to grow more and more every day. When she came out of the water she was just smiling ear to ear—being part of it is the absolute best feeling ever. I love this work so much!

On Friday Elder Cicció and I were doing our weekly planning and when we finished the other Elders in the house asked us if we could go to the bread store in front of our house and buy some bread for our lunch. We agreed and while we were going down the stairs to leave the building Elder Cicció complained, "I don’t like the bread from the store in front of our house, I want soft bread." I replied, "Stop whining and let’s just get this bread, it’s close." He responded, " No, let’s go to the super market...Elder, if we go to the super market I will buy you ice cream." Elder Cicció knows that I love ice cream and it’s my weakness so I agreed and we headed to the super market. We got to the super market and had all of our things heading to the check out when we heard, "ELDERS WAIT!" We looked around and found a man whose name is Jorge. He had a kind of light about him and I instantly asked, “Are you a member?" He responded quickly, "No, but I want to be!" Elder Ciccio and I could not believe what we were hearing, so we just started talking to him.  He told us that he was born in Norway but his parents are Portuguese. He said that he was in the Special Forces for the United States Army but now is working as a construction manager. He then looked at us and with tears in his eyes said, “I know 2 things... first that Jesus is the Christ and the savior of the world, and second that JOSEPH SMITH WAS A PROPHET OF THE LORD WHO RESTORED THE TRUE CHURCH! We have a date for baptism planned and we are excited to see what happens. He is in Porto this whole week working and hope he will follow through! 

We found some more people that we are preparing for baptism and they are progressing really well. 

 So much is happening here and I have to go. The gospel is true and I am loving my time here!  Love you guys!

- Elder Herrmann

6/18/18 - 3 more weeks to baptize Ronaldo!

Wow weeks are just flying by now. Some good things—Catia, our investigator, stopped smoking and decided to live the commandments and is planning to be baptized this Saturday. Also, we have found some new people with great potential. We have been contacting anyone and everyone and I have learned a lot slang from Mozambique, Cape Verde, Angola, São Tomé, Ginne Bissau...I don’t feel like I am in Portugal at times. My companion says, "Man I was called to serve in Africa and it’s been a great experience so far!”

I had my exit interview with President Tavares this last week and it was hard...we talked for a good 45 mins about past experiences and what I need to do in my life going forward. I love him and Sister Tavares so much and will always be grateful for what they have done for me.  I know he is truly "a man of God" but I was pretty freaked out when he talked about finding the right wife and stuff...I’M NOT READY FOR THSI! 

Happy birthday to my Mom and thanks everyone for all for the birthday wishes! I can’t believe I’m 20! I don’t feel like I am 20!  Of course my birthday was on the same day as world cup game of PORTUGAL VS SPAIN!  Everyone was so pumped for the game...we had to go home or to the church by 6 pm before the game started because it would be dangerous—win or lose--to be on the streets. I saw Portugal flags everywhere.  A bunch of us missionaries went to the church and studied, talked, and ate birthday cake which was fun.  Every 10 minutes we would hear a huge roar from the whole city!!! When Ronaldo scored his 3 goals we thought there was an earthquake!!! Seriously, it was super cool experience! I am excited for the other games to see the reaction of the people! I still have 3 more weeks to try and baptize Ronaldo! ;)

Madalea was baptized!! It was great to go to Mem Martins and see all of the members. She was super excited when she saw me and I was so excited for her. For some reason the water was boiling hot but she still was baptized.  When she got out of the water I looked at her and said, "Did you know we filled the font with hot water on purpose to burn away all of your sins." She didn’t think it was funny.

I am loving learning more about Isaiah in the Book of Mormon. 2 Nephi is so sweet, it tells us exactly what will happen and I have just learned so much! Let’s get to work!

- Elder Herrmann

6/11/18 - Last & first transfer with Elder Cicció

Wow, what an incredible week!!!!  I picked up Elder Cicció from the mission office Wednesday morning. He is a stud.  He is from Torino, Italy and we are best buds already! He is really funny and we have the same taste in clothes, music and humor.  He reminds me of my brother, Spencer, because he does lots of flips--he was a parkour teacher in Italy! He is already doing so well and loves the challenges that I am giving him. His parents are from Buenos Aries, Argentina, but he lived his whole life in Italy and speaks Spanish, English, Italian, and a little Portuguese. His Portuguese is improving really really fast!

I wanted to end my last 6 weeks with a bang, so on the first day I looked at Elder Ciccio and said, “Elder, do you want to be a good missionary very fast or wait a little before you become great?” Of course he chose the first option. I said, “Okay, then let’s go!” So we have been talking to absolutely everyone and running from place to place.  We end every day drenched in sweat and have been waking up an hour earlier to have more time. We have been going really hard and it’s been great and we plan to keep it up! We are happy!!

Amadora is incredible! It’s one of the most populated places in Lisbon. If you were dropped into Amadora you would think you were in Africa. I have only seen a handful of white dudes this week.  We are learning creole (an African dialect) in Angolan, Mozambique, Cape Verde, São Tomé, Guienna Bissau. Our area is huge, about 6 stops on the metro and all day we are on the metro talking to people.

This week we arrived in a white wash area with no investigators.  We found this girl from Cape Verde through a recent convert and her name is Catia.  She is scheduled for baptism on June 23rd but is confronting some opposition! Please pray for her. We are finding new people every day and it’s been great!

We had a cool expectance where we were in a different area and I had plans for the whole day. But I had a feeling we needed to go to a road about 15 mins away on a train in a different area. I decided to follow the prompting and not follow my plans. We went to this road where we found this less active women and she looked super shocked when we knocked on her door. She said, “No way, I was praying earlier today that you guys would pass by. I have been going through difficulties and need your help.” WOW, it was amazing. The spirit always will lead us the right way and we need to follow His promptings!!!

I LOVE THE MISSION and am loving this time here in Amadora! Love you all.

-Elder Herrmann

Also, we baptized a guy named Joe! It’s a long story so I’ll tell you about it next week!!! It was great!

SaveSave