2016.11.1- New Year, and many firsts.

#IgotTransfered

and with this transfer, I experienced many new firsts on my mission. First time out of the Coimbra Zone. First time being with a comp for 1 transfer. First time being in an area for 3 transfers. First time being in an 4 elder house. First time that my comp is taller than me since my trainer. First time being in a district instead of a stake. First time opening an area. First time... well I cant remember any more.

I got transfered to Tomar B. And we are opening this area. Tomar used to have just 2 elders, but now they have 4! So that means I am doing a white-wash again! YA!! It has been a crazy week. I am servnig with Elder Crist from Las Vegas. I still havent served with a "nerdy-Mormon" kid from Utah. Elder Sutton doesnt count. And neither does Elder Puriri because he is from New Zealand. He grew up in St. George, but moved to New Zealand in high school. #besttrainer!

So transfers. Here in the Portugal Porto Mission, transfers work like this. Sunday night (normally) we got a call. It is one of our superiors. ZL if you are a DL, and DL if you are in a normal companionship. And then Monday is the day for moving around. No transfer meeting. Never had, and never will. Anyway, when we had President Fluckiger, we would also receive travel plans with our transfers. Not the case with President Amorim. We get the call, and then we have to figure out how to get there. So, in our case we got the callTuesday morning, and then I had pack my bags, and leave. I also had to talk with my new comp, Elder Crist, who was in Coimbra. So the morning of tuesday was a lot of planning. When the dust settled, we were going to arrive in Tomar an hour apart from each other, him first, then me. One problem, the Elders in Tomar were leaving. One got transfered to Amial (Porto), and the other Elder da Silva, was going to train, so he also had to go to Porto. So there would not be any Elders in Tomar to show us the house/let us in. I talked with Elder da Silva, and he gave me the address, and he said he would leave a key under the doormat for us. We just had to get a taxi, and we should be alright.

So we finally get to Tomar. We find a taxi, and get to the house ok. The key is there. Sweet. We get in. Oh yeah, it was raining the whole day (we are still on Tuesday). There is no food. When transfer arent on Sunday night/Monday morning, no one buys food usually cause, well, no else in the mission is buying food. One just buys it when they get there. But there was a enought to last us the night. There was only one extra bed, and a couch. The Elders in Tomar figured out that there would be a new area in Tomar the same time we did. But, we slept on their beds, because they werent in the house. Wednesday. We need food. So somehow find Continente (Portugal's walmart) and we get some food. It was like a 10 min walk. Oh yeah, it was still raining. And did I mention we didnt have a phone! Haha, this was quite the adventure.

Fast-forward to today. We have a phone. But not another bed/study area/a few other things we need. I feel like rug just got pulled out from under me, but I have enjoyed it so far. It has been crazy, and it reminds me about the begginnning of my mission, just that I can understand the people, and I know what I am doing.

In the regard to investigators, well I dont got much. We have one in potential that lives in a city close by called Entroncamento. Her name is Nadia, but we have only talked to her on the phone. She seems pretty interested, so we will visit her this week. Things are pretty cool here in Tomar. It has a bunch of history, and deep ties with the Templars. Like the Templar's Knights. Look it up. It has to do with the Crusades (unfortunately, not with the game, "Assassins Creed," but I know the Templars in that game are loosely based of the before spoken Templars). More History will come in future weeks :) Needless to say, Tomar has tons of history that I will soak in these next couple of weeks!

Roomates: Elder da Silva and Elder Holdsworth (greenie!). Elder da Silva is from Capo Verde, and actually knew Elder de Andrade (my last comp) before the mission. Elder Holdsworth is from Lehi, Utah. He is still soaking it in. Haha, it is funny watching him. It looks all too familiar!

Keep on keeping on everybody! Love you all! Have fun and enjoy the next week.

p.s.- Elder McColley, my first Zone Leader back in the begginning of my mission is now an AP. Haha, I knew it was going to happen, and I have been telling him for a while now! :)

Just me and my comp