Week 13: November 13, 2017 (first week in Portugal)

Olá Família!

Hope you all are doing well! Yes, first week in Portugal! Crazy! I cant believe all that is happening! It still feels like a dream to be honest! Im so sorry about the cut off on the phone. I probably left you clueless! Its nothing too crazy. Ill for sure have to tell you some other time! So, Ill continue where I left off with you. So we got on the plane like right after. We landed in minneapolis and got to our next gate to fly to Amsterdam. When we got to the gate, I saw Elder Mortensen and Elder White! It was so crazy! My heart started pounding so hard I was getting so excited! We got on a huge plane! Seriously! Huge! We flew for a long time as you might guess. We got to talk to a man named Mr. Beggs. He was super nice and we were able to teach him the whole restoration on teh flight and give him a Book of Mormon! He even started reading it on the plane! I was so happy! I was able to pass out for a little bit and was then woken up by a stewardess last second after all the calls had been made to push up your chair and push in your table. It was awkward and pretty funny! I looked out the window of the plan and saw Europe with my own eyes for the first time. My chest started to tense up a little and I remember thinking, man, I am a long ways from home. That was the furthest I had ever been from home before. That was weird. But, I learned to just enjoy it and press forward. I really liked the style of the Amsterdam airport! All the people were speaking different languages! It was crazy! We met with a bunch of people from our zone at the MTC! It was weird seeing them again. They all looked great though! We got on the next plane to Portugal. I remember sitting on the plane and taking off and just feeling so good inside. I knew that I was supposed to be in Portugal. We landed and manourvered around until we met our president, President Tavares, and his wife and some of the office missionaries. They were all super nice! I remember walking down the walk way to where the whole group was waiting for us adn seeing President Tavares be the first one to come out and greet us. He walked towards us up the walkway to shake our hands and hug us. I learned so much about our president just from that greeting. We sorted our stuff in a big van and took a taxi down to the mission home. It was amazing! The ride over was beautiful and the mission home is amazing! We got setteled and started to meet and greet a little bit. President and Sister Tavares are some of the nicest people I have met! I feel so much love and support from them! I found out my first area I am serving in too... Linda-a-Velha! With Elder Barrios! We slept at the mission home and got to sleep for a long time. That whole day felt like a dream, sort of like the first day at the MTC. Then, we got up to go to a conference. oh ya, one interesting thing, President and Sister Tavares dont speak any English! Another crazy thing, neither does my companion! I met him at the conference, and he speaks no english what so ever! He is from Paraguay and speaks spanish brazilian portuguese! He is so funny! I remember tons of people telling me Boa Sorte! They were all joking, but Elder Barrios has so much energy! He is so funny and speaks so fast! He is an amazing missionary! When we got to our apartment, I dropped my stuff off and we were off. our apartment is super nice and has tons of room! I think its nicer than the one I hade in Boise! Tons of space and there is only two of us this time! It is the weirdest thing not being able to communicate with  the person I live with in Portuguese. I think God needs me to learn the language super fast! We are able to communicate, but sometimes, we have to communicate in a made up sign language with our hands or though sound effects! Haha! He has so much energy and is all about attitude. I love that about him. I feel the spirit so strong from him! We were able to go to a bunch of houses and say hello. We also got to go teach someone at their house! I could understand bits and pieces and give a response, but Im sure I sounded so American and was hard to understand at parts. We were able to share a good message though with the person we taught. Most of the time here, I watch Elder Barrios talk to the person and nod my head like I am totally part of the conversation. Ive learned the art of reading facial expressions a lot here! haha! We actually got to confirm this person we taught at church yesterday! She was just baptized last week by Elder Barrios. It was super neat to be a part of that. Weve had to walk a lot too! There is a lot of walking in Portugal. I actually dont mind it at all. I like to go on those long runs and feel like I am doing something. It also helps me think, so I love it. Elder Barrios also does another thing that I really like. He walks with a purpose. He walks super fast from point a to point b. I really like that. I can see a lot of differences between these two missions too. There is a different way that things are run here in Portugal. Its interesting to compare and see what comes or came from each. Weve mostly walked and gone to different houses and talked to people. Ill say what I can, but I am mostly pretty quite. Elder Barrios is really good with people and loves telling stories. Ive been able to actually have some conversations wiht people, but they are very simple. Ive also been able to be with Elder Barrios when we do contacts. Ill try to testify when I can, but most people dont have time, so when I try to talk fast to them or think of something, it either comes out as jibberish or its too late. Its been a little bit of a struggle, but I know that I just need to be patient and keep getting back up. Ive been able to have some thoughts while walking and thinking about the gospel. one that I thought of is that when we are in eternity, we want to be happy. But, in eternity, we will not have things of the world. In other words, we need to find things that will make us happy for eternity. That is why service and missionary work is so important because that is what will last and that is how we can truly be happy in the eternities. I actually sort of got to share that when I bore my testimony at church. Its funny, most of the thoughts I have, I get to share later on. I love it here in Portugal and love you all! I keep you in my prayers every day! 

Love,

Elder Barton

Info:

pday is on monday

Letters:

Apartado 40054
1500 Lisbon
Portugal

Packages:

Rua Jorge Barradas 14C
1500-370 Lisboa
Portugal

us at a ward meal! the ward is super small! not even 20 people! love them all! they are super nice!

A little boy took my camera and took some pictures of the people

My companion making curry for us! so good!

us on the drive to the mission home

us reuniting at the amsterdam airport 

picture of us still at Minneapolis in the plane

ward mission leader brother Baker in boise