Fruit Market (Mom)
So we
decided to take one of our investigators to a huge fruit market in Boston. Which is always an adventure anyway because
of traffic but of course she knew where it was, sort of. She and her children an uncle and a cousin
came along. The market is crazy wonderful
all kinds of fruits and vegetables at great prices but the gas in and the cost
of parking negates it all but it is definitely worth the adventure once.
District Meeting Food (Mom)
So every
week at district and zone meetings we feed the zone. We there three senior couples and we take
turns. I did a potato bar, easy but
filling. This last week we had these
wonderful sandwiches called Hawaiian ham and cheese {aka tailgate sandwiches} I
got the recipe if you want it let me Know.
Proxy-Beep (Dad)
We decided
to start counting the really extreme driving or pedestrian events that occur
somewhat regularly here, just to get an idea of how regular they are. We didn’t count things like running solid red
lights, illegal U-turns, turning left in front of other cars going straight,
walking into traffic, pulling your car out into moving traffic to get them to
stop, etc. as these are too normal. We
reserved the counts for things like making a Y-turn in the middle of a busy
road, stopping traffic on both sides of the street or walking across the street
when your walk signal turns red and the cars stopping for you have a green
light – especially when there are a lot of cars trying to make it through the
intersection. So far, in the month of
June we have 97 extreme events and I’m sure we would make it to 100 but we
decided to stop counting. Today a kid
(14 or 15?) riding a bike, doing a wheelie, came across the street right in
front of the Suburban – the evil in me wanted to hit him, I have to admit – so I
hit the brake and waited to him to drop and get out of my way.
Ward Activity (Mom)
We had a great
ward activity last Saturday. Our ward is
so very diverse and friendly that the activity was awesome. Everyone is welcome, fun games of kick ball,
softball, balloons with and without water and huge sub sandwiches etc. That kind of activity is so great to bring
investigators to because everything is totally kick back and have fun. Dad and I brought three car loads of people
only one doesn’t count because it was full of missionaries.
Sister Gomez’ birthday (Mom)
Fun, we took
the four sisters in our area shopping at thrift stores. Then to a salad bar and to our apartment to
email etc. What she didn’t know is that
we had planned a surprise party at an investigators home that evening. Of course dad parked a mile away just in case
then carried everything that mile to the party.
It was a fun surprise.
Baptism (Dad)
So today we
had two baptisms in our little group. Oh, it officially got “Group” status today as
the stake president talked with Brother Aguilera about being the group leader! Anyway, Mom spoke in Portuguese on the Holy
Ghost and I spoke on Baptism. And, this
is cool, I was asked by one of the investigators to baptize him, so I got to
perform a baptism in Portuguese today.
That was sweet, until we started walking into the women’s changing area
by mistake (luckily no one was in there), that quickly brought me back down to
earth. It was a fun time, lots of food
afterward, etc.
Sister missionaries we work with, Nanda, Mom, Gastao (I baptized), Me, Br. Aguilera (new Group Leader, did the other baptism), Manuela and grandson (she got baptized, he didn't)
Walks in the park (Mom)
It is hard
to explain the spiritual uplift I get when we walk early in the morning at the
park. Perhaps these pictures will
help. We call it exercise but everything
is so beautiful we have to stop and take pictures. One time we didn’t take the camera and had to
go back the next morning to take pictures of all the beauty we saw. Franklin Park is a one square mile park about
ten minutes from our apartment. Emerson
lived in an old cabin in the park. We
are still looking for that spot. There
are tons of beautiful trails, lakes, tennis courts, ball diamonds, play
grounds, even a beautiful golf course.
St. Peter’s Celebration (Dad)
Every week
we help serve lunch at a center for elderly Cape Verdeans. It’s always enjoyable and most of them are
super kind. Many have learned to say “Thank
You” in English so they can tell us thanks, and it’s pretty tender. This last week when we arrived they said
lunch would be a little late because it was St. Peter’s Day and there would be
a celebration first. So we waited and
watched a loud and very fun celebration – consisting of three drums (the loud
part) and a lot of 60-yr-old++ dancing (the fun part)! I wish that I would have had my camera, but I
didn’t.
Martha’s Vineyard (Mom)
Kathy and
Pat were here, so Saturday we went with them to an Island near Cape Cod, we had such a wonderful time we rode the ferry
to Martha’s Vineyard, bought some wonderful homemade ice cream then rented
scooters and spent the entire day exploring the Island. It really was too fun. We went to the lake where they filmed
Jaws. The houses were so fun with trim
that looks like lace. The beaches are
lovely and the roads have canopy trees.
What shops we found were unique. A
pretty cool light house. We really enjoyed the time we spent together just a
bit of heaven.
This is Chappaquidick (sp) where Ted Kennedy killed a woman and got away with it - long before your time! :)
This is where JAWS was filmed. Now I have to watch the movie again...
Cool lighthouse - but it's named "Gay Head Light House", so it's destined to be destroyed :)
Cool looking houses in town.
Yours truly on our moped. It was a ton of fun...
Another walk in the park (Dad)
We have an
investigator that just doesn’t make time to see the sisters so they have
basically turned her over to us. She
likes to walk, so the other day we asked if we could come by and go walking
with her (so we could talk to her about the church in the walk). We ended up giving her a ride to another area
to pick up a suitcase she had left with a friend – over a year ago! J
Anyway, we went walking and found a monument on a hill where George
Washington beat the British for the first time.
We thought that was pretty cool.
Anyway, we got a couple pictures and we finally got the suitcase and
took her back home.
Random news (Mom)
One of our sisters
got hit by a car. Sliced her neck and
she got about twenty + stitches, broke her sinus cavity and is pretty bruised
up. It really is a miracle more of the
missionaries are not hit by cars even if they are in the right (too many people
run red lights, turn randomly in front of people and in general are crazy!) They were working like crazy and were having
great success and she goes home next transfer.
It is kind of a bummer – but we’ve learned that things happen for a
reason (or more than one).
Portuguese Progress (Mom)
Thank you
for your prayers for me. I know they are
helping. (Especially for the baptism
today.) My talk went well so thanks for
your prayers. Also great news, we were
officially made a group today and the stake called a group leader. We still have so much work to do before it
functions well but the group has wonderful people with wonderful hearts and we
love them.
Baptisms for Dead (Dad)
Last week one
of the ward members called and asked if we could take some kids to the youth
baptism trip to the temple and help officiate.
We ended up with only one boy (from the Dominican Republic), which wasn’t
that fun for him. Luckily, one of the
young men leaders took him home with some friends. I don’t think they really needed us, but
thought they might be short-handed so asked us to come. We always enjoy being at the temple and we
missed our usual Thursday assignment because we had to negotiate some travel for
baptismal interviews, etc. I did get
this good night shot of the Boston temple:
Final thoughts (Mom)
We are
learning so much and really wishing we had given more time to scripture study
throughout our lives. It really is so
important to your spiritual happiness. This week I had such a fun time I took the
topic of integrity and read about Job, Daniel and the lions, Shadrack Meshach
and Abednego, Paul before king Agrippa, Ester, Moroni, Joseph Smith etc. Amazing stories of faith and integrity that
make you want to be a better example of the believers.
The church
is true!
Love to all,
Mom and Dad
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