Prospero Ano Novo!

Hey Everyone! 

This week was probably one of the best weeks on my mission! CHRISTMAS!!

We had our division with the district leader on tuesday and I stayed with the district leader´s comp, Elder Petersen, here in VFX. It was such a blast!! We partied it up that night in the apartment haha. But on the division, a member in our ward really wanted to go christmas caroling and so she planned it out with us and we went with some of her friends from other wards. It was super fun!! We actually got a lot of people to open up to us and we got a lot of new people to pass this week. In total, we had made 71 contacts through singing in the streets!! Ut was intresting singing Christmas songs in Portuguese. My comp. Elder Hilton was happy he didnt have to sing with us lol.

Christmas Eve was wonderful. We took all day making cookies in the chapel and they came out pretty descent.. again haha. But we made them for the dinner we had that night. The same family we went caroling with invited us over to their house for Christmas Eve dinner. We had never been to their house yet because it is a 30 min bus ride up the mtn. and its super expensive to take the bus. Anyways. Its the família Gomes. They are from Angola, Africa, and they are some of the nicest people I have ever met. We went over there and they served us up with the typical Christmas Eve dinner that everyone in Portugal eats... Bacalhão, or salted codfish. MAN!! haha I hadent tried it yet on my mission and I was anticipating it lol. They served us some huge chunks of it and me and my comp. looked at each other and said,"you ready for this?" It was super funny. But we finished it. It definately wasnt my favorite Christmas Eve dinner but it was intresting trying something new.

Then Christmas was awesome. I opened my packages in the morning (thank you again to those who sent something) and I was super stoked to skype my parents and family but I had to wait until 8pm which was a long wait... but it was worth it. Talking to them made it seem like I picked right back up from the day I had got set apart. Lots of stories and laughs that made me super happy. They couldn´t understand Portuguese which was super funny. I was also able to speak to my uncle Jason who is fluent in Portuguese and I was super nervous because I knew he would test me but I passed and understood everything he said! I cant believe I have 18 months left on my mission. Time really flies when you´re having fun.

As for now, we are back on the grind! We are now in a tripanionship with an Elder who came out from the MTC with me but was in a different zone so I didn´t really get to know him in the MTC. But we are in a tripula until next wednesday which are transfers, meaning I will more than likely get transferred yet again for the 4th time in my fourth transfer. Since we each get 1.5hrs to email, we wouldn´t have had time to all do it in the church.. so we are using public computers here in the little downtown area. It´s been raining all day today!  

I forgot my camera at home once again so I will catch up on pics next week.

Hope you all had a super good Christmas and that you have a Great new Year. 

Love you all!! Fica Bem. Boa semana e Boas festas!!

Elder Haroldsen 

Élder Brandon Michael Haroldsen

Missão Portugal Lisboa 

Rua Jorge Barradas Nº 14C

1500-370 Benfica, Lisboa

Portugal 

FELIZ NATAL!!!!! 2015

Hello Friends and Family!! Merry Christmas!

This week flew by because it´s been really fun! 

We started off Tuesday with our mission Christmas Devotional in Oeiras. It was such a great time! It was in a huge chapel and it felt like we were back in the states and outside they had a cement soccer court just like Ecuador!! So I felt just at home. I got to see my homies from the MTC Elder Fletcher and Elder Solomon and my trainer Elder Lee. It was so awesome seeing those guys! Felt like it had been forever and we caught up on everything going on. 

At the conference we had a lot of spiritual things and a lot of skits by each zone and people singing. It was such a fun time! We also had a super good lunch and a gift exchange. I got a remote control car and so did my comp. lol

At the conference we talked to the Elders that are in our last area, Costa Da Caparica, and they were like, "You guys left your investigators Luis and Neusa superrrrr elect! They are getting baptized probably the Sunday after Christmas. We went over there and didn't even start teaching yet and they had already said they were going to get baptized" I was so pumped to hear that! I can´t wait to see pics of them in all white! The Lord works in mysterious ways!

Meanwhile, here in VFX, we had a pretty successful week too!

We met up with a guy we had met knocking doors and he was finally home and let us in. We taught the first lesson and it was really spiritual. He is a super nice guy. He is a singer and looks kinda like Usher haha. His name is Luis but his stage name is Axel. We talked to him about coming to church and he said he would try and we marked him for Baptism Dec.27.. but it´s going to be too complicated meeting with him since this is Christmas week so we are probably going to move his date to the 3rd of Jan.

Then, I was looking through the area book and found a guy named Bruno and called him up to see if we could meet with him. He said we could but then we had to cancel on him because we went to the hospital to give a lady a blessing. But he didn't answer anyways. Then two days later he calls us up and said he can meet at the park at 4h30.  So we were excited for that. He had spoken with the missionaries in the past but he had a huge problem with smoking and wasn´t quitting or keeping commitments so the sisters dropped him. We talked to him and he said he had quit smoking and he had been baptized in another church this past Sunday. We taught him about proper authority and why we need to be baptized by someone holding the Priesthood and asked him if he would read the Book Of Mormon and pray about baptism and he said he would! Then we marked him for baptism on January 3rd!! I´m super stoked for these guys!! I have been really praying to see a miracle happen with them. Hopefully they read and pray! 

We also have one more potential named Antonio. Hes never home and we only see him on the street sometimes but the other day he came up to us and said he wants to be baptized because he came to church once and he felt the Spirit super strong. He told us he smokes but he says he can force himself to quit. So we keep passing his house and we have gone by like 6 times this week but he was never home :( Hopefully wee can meet up with him this week and mark him for baptism too!

As for Christmas, Thanks to all who sent me packages or mail. Its such a wonderful feeling to get mail as a missionary because it reminds you that you have people rooting you on at home. 

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas with your families. Remember the reason for the Season!! Read Luke 2!

I´m so grateful for this time of year in which we have to celebrate the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for him. Because of him, we are able to live as a family for eternity and be made clean again!! How awesome is that?

I love him. He is my friend. He is my Savior and my Redeemer. I am so grateful for the love he has for me and for the opportunity I have to represent him and share of his love with the people out here in Portugal.

Love you all. Feliz Natal!. Até proxima semana.  

Com Amor,

Elder B. Haroldsen 

Élder Brandon Michael Haroldsen

Missão Portugal Lisboa 

Rua Jorge Barradas Nº 14C

1500-370 Benfica, Lisboa

Portugal 

11 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS

Queridos amigos e família!

Hello everybody! Another week closer to Christmas! It seems like December is just flying by! 

This week was a pretty slow week. We tried marking a lot of appointments and almost all fell. We were unable to meet up with our investigators Agosto and Vanda even though we had marked two appointments with them. We talked to them on Saturday nightand they promised us they would come to church the following day and then they didn't show up. We were sad because we both were giving talks this past Sunday and we really wanted them to be there for it. But we are going to meet with them hopefully this Thursday if everything works out. 

This week we met a new investigator that doesn't speak Portuguese! His name is sam and he is friends with a girl in the branch. He is Australian and lives here in Portugal with his Grandma. She doesn't speak English and he doesn't speak Portuguese so he likes to talk to us to be able to speak some English together haha. we met up with him in the chapel and taught him the first lesson. he already knew most of it as he had been taught in the past. We we gave him the baptismal commit (soft commit.."when the Lord God answers your prayers about the Book of Mormon, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by being Baptized by someone who holds the proper priesthood Authority?) He said, "of course I would.. is there really people who say no to that?" We said unfortunately yes.. We really enforced reading and praying and he said he would! He just left for a trip to France and another country and he said he will be back after Christmas and will meet with us again. So we are excited about him. A lot of potential right there. 

This week we also hiked to the top of the tallest mtn here. I didn't even think we could make it up there, but we did! The view was amazing. The only problem was after hiking and coming allll the way down the steep trail, i realized i had forgotten my planner clear at the top. So we did it twice. It was so hard lol. But at least we got to see the view during the day and at night :) 

Tomorrow we have a mission Christmas conference. We are also having a gift exchange. I get to see all my friends, specifically the ones from the MTC!! Im super stoked for that!

Well hope you all have a great week.

Love you all and always remember the Lord loves you!! 

Com amor,

Elder Haroldsen 

Élder Brandon Michael Haroldsen

Missão Portugal Lisboa 

Rua Jorge Barradas Nº 14C

1500-370 Benfica, Lisboa

Portugal 

LISBON TEMPLE

Hello Homies! 

Wow, Another week already? Where has the time gone!?

This week was a good one! We met up with some solid investigators named Augosto and Vanda. They are from Brazil and they have a son named Daniel. Their other kids still live back in Brazil. They own a Hair salon in VFX and they are super nice people. We attempted to make "American" Chocolate chip cookies for them this week and we had to go to the church to use the oven because for some reason our house doesnt have one lol. They loved them! This week we had two lessons with them and he really just wanted to study the bible and the Book Of Mormon and how they both relate and talk about each other... so we started off in John 10:16where Christ says "Other Sheep I have which are not of this Fold..." and linked it to 3rd Nephi 15:16-17,21 where Christ explains that the Nephites are the other sheep. 

Augosto was shocked. He was like,"Wow, this really explains the Bible. They really work together.. interesting" so we invited them to keep reading the BOM and keep praying. They promised us they would come to church next Sunday. We are praying for them a lot so we will see!

This Saturday I got to see something I have never gotten to see before.. the groundbreaking ceremony of the Portugal Lisbon Temple! We had to go to another chapel to watch it over broadcast and it was really spiritual and really awesome. My mission president and his wife were there and got to participate so it was awesome seeing them there. They are saying it will take about 2-3 years to build, so I am really excited to watch the progress! Ill have to come back after my mission to see it completely finished! 

Thats about it for the week.

As for today, we ate at a Rodizio restaurant which is just like Toucanos back at home. So good! Ill have to take my family there someday.

Have a good week everyone! Countdown to Christmas!! Sorry no pics this week because I forgot my camera at home :(

Love, Elder Haroldsen 

Élder Brandon Michael Haroldsen

Missão Portugal Lisboa 

Rua Jorge Barradas Nº 14C

1500-370 Benfica, Lisboa

Portugal 

From the warm coast to the freezing Mtns week 19/102

Whats up everyone!

Another blur of a week down! First week of the transfer gone! 

Vila Franca de Xira is an awesome place to serve! We have mountains here and then the rio tejo, which connects to the ocean. It is such a difference here from Costa though! It is freezzinngg here! At night it gets probably below freezing. My big coat isn't enough and I end up shivering knocking doors until we have to walk haha. We live at the top of the mountain. There are a bunch of apartment complex´s next to the house so we work there a lot, but the main downtown part is way down the hill, about a 2 mile walk! But downtown is beautiful. I finally feel like I am in Europe  here! The streets are small and the buildings look like they are fake, like something you would see in NewYork, NewYork in Vegas. They put up a bunch of Christmas lights around the city and they have these speakers all around the city at the top of the buildings that they play American Christmas music from. It feels like its Christmas already walking around there every night lol. 

Thanksgiving was pretty cool. We got together as a district in the chapel in Alverça and everyone brought a bunch of homemade food. It was actually really good! It made it easier being away from home, but I was fine. It honestly didn't even seem like it was really thanksgiving because of course it isn't celebrated here... they didn't even do black Friday! 

We had our first Sunday here in the branch. They are all really nice! There were about 12 people that came to church total this week, but at least we have a branch president and leadership here. But we are hoping to help this branch grow!

This week my comp was looking through the area book and the potential investigator list the Elders left from the past because we are literally starting from scratch here in this whitewash. They left us no investigators to work with so it makes things hard. 

Anyways the first name he writes down was a man named Oscar. So he calls him and hes like, "Yeah i talked to the Missionaries in the past and they marked an appointment with me like last month but never showed up!" 

so he kept talking and hes like okay well we can see if we can meet up with you soon. and he goes yeah we are American... are you from here in Portugal originally?.. and he goes no im Ecuadorian! And Hilton gets a big smile and hes all my comp is Ecuadorian! Do you want to talk to him? 

So i did, in spanish haha! He is from Otavalo also known as "Utahvalo" in Ecuador because of the abundance of LDS members there., and I was like," oh wow then you're a descendant of the laminates!" He didn't know what that is of course lol but I told him that the indigenous people from Otavalo are laminates from the Book of Mormon and hes all oh! Yeah im an indian! So I tried to mark an appointment with him but unfortunately he works 7 days a week from 10 am to 8-9pm and hes going back to Ecuador on Dec. 27! So I asked if there's any way he can go in to work a little bit later on Sundays so he can make it to church and he said he will try. So we are praying for him and we are going to fast for him. Who knows, maybe that's the reason we got transferred here? 

Today we spent all day in Belem. My comp had a doctors appointment for his shoulder so we were in the hospital for like 3 hrs. But we got to eat lunch in this 50´s American Diner!! It was so good! Reminded me of Red Robin. And i also had my first Oreo milkshake in 4 months!! 

Hope you all have a great week. Love and miss you all and I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Also, shoutout to my friend from High School, Alfredo Frausto! He´s getting baptized this Friday! 

Thats so awesome bro!! I wish I could be there to see it. 

Com amor,

Elder B. Haroldsen 

Address: 

Élder Brandon Michael Haroldsen

Missão Portugal Lisboa 

Rua Jorge Barradas Nº 14C

1500-370 Benfica, Lisboa

Portugal 

TRANSFERS TRANSFERS TRANSFERS

Olá meus queridos amigos e minha querida familia!!

Another week down, another transfer in the books!!! This past transfer seemed like a breeze! I cant believe how fast it flew by.

Well, I got transferred again! But before that let me tell you about the week. 

Well last Monday started off pretty rough. We almost ended up in a brawl with three punks on our way home at night. We had passed these three guys on the street earlier and they were saying bad jokes about us and making fun of the church and stuff so we basically ignored them. So we were walking home at around 9:30 and we see them on the street that we needed to take to get home. They were about 27 years old each. So we walk by them and they said something to Hilton and he got mad so he goes up to them and we talked and they were smoking weed and still acting dumb and he like poked Hilton super hard in the chest and Hilton`s like don´t touch me. and we were like whatever so Hilton like pats his shoulder and says okay bud, we are leaving and he pushes Hilton and says don´t touch me! So Hilton pushed him back super hard and I started to jump in just in case he punched Hilton and the guy backs up and hes all ready to fight and Hilton says lucky for you i cant fight or ill get sent home. And the guy was like yeah you`re lucky because if we fought these guys would jump in and kill you guys. Man oh man my heart was pounding and the spirit was saying to leave so we did. Hilton said he felt the spirit the same so luckily we obeyed and didn`t get our butts kicked. We saw those guys three times after that night driving around and they yelled at us so i think its a good thing we got transferred. 

So we taught Luis and Neusa again, and invited them to schedule a day for their baptism/wedding. She said she had prayed about the Book of Mormon and felt a different feeling and we kept testifying that that was the holy ghost. So Luis said he will get married but he has to settle some things and he will be ready for marriage in 15-30 days.. so we were like perfect! We can do it on Christmas or something! So we were all excited about that. Then we taught another girl we found knocking and she really accepted our message and was all excited about reading and praying. So we were like yeah!!! Three solid baptisms right there!!!

Then on Tuesday we get a call from the mission president, President Tavares, and he asks us about Luis and Neusa and how they are doing. He said that he felt inspired to call us and tell us to read more of the BOM with them. We got our confidence built up! And we were thinking now forsure we wouldnt get transferred. 

Well, come saturday night we get an early call saying that costa da caparica would be whitewashed(Both missionaries leave the area) they kept saying dont worry it was nothing you guys did the Lord just has other plans for you. So we were all bummed out wondering where we would go and who we would be spending christmas and new years with as we had to clean out house in prep for the other elders coming in. Then sunday after church we get a call from President again. He told us that this was a special phone call. We would be staying together as a companionship and we would be going to a small branch in Vila Franca de Xira to a new stake we are opening up called lisbon west. He said that we are going to baptize a ton in this area. he said that he had prayed about us and this area in specific and that the area is very prepared for baptisms, and that we are going to take care of it. We were like wow!!! Because staying together for a whitewash is rare. So we are really excited as we get to spend christmas and new years together! 

So far this area seems pretty nice! Its kinda in the mountains so its reallyyy cold right now. Ive only been here for a couple hours but im already liking it. Except for the fact that the nearest supermarket is about 3 miles downhill from out house and so we had to walk 3 miles uphill with 20 lbs of food to get back which was tough!! So looks like this transfer ill be getting in shape! haha 

I was also surprised that ive seen a couple Ecuadorians today! They were Otavalenios from Otavalo, Ecuador, so they has the long indian ponytail. I had a lot of fun talking to them in spanish and telling them about my family in Quito! It was really cool to see them. 

We are starting off from scratch here, so we are going to need to work hard and talk with everybody! Im really excited to see what the Lord has in store for us though. 

Have a great week everyone. Ill give you the update about this area next week.

love you all. Fica fixe! 

Élder Brandon Michael Haroldsen

Missão Portugal Lisboa 

Rua Jorge Barradas Nº 14C

1500-370 Benfica, Lisboa

Portugal 

Week 18/102

Hello friends and family!

How are you all? Another week has come and gone. One more week left in the transfer!! I hope I stay here in Costa. We still have a lot of work to do here with a lot of potential. The chance of me getting transferred is pretty small though. Hopefully my comp Hilton stays too so we can spend Christmas on the beach! That would be fun.

This week we found a couple of news to teach and a couple more potentials. We met up with Luis and Neuza at the beginning of the week and we get there and they are straight up arguing yelling at each other. So we had to calm them down and finally taught them a lesson. So that day was rough. But we taught them again yesterday and they were much better. They said they feel like they should be baptized but still havent received an answer. So when they do we will marry them and baptize them right after. I pray for them day and night. Hopefully they are going to keep their commitments!

Earlier this week we went out on the beach when we first left the house just to see the beach and take a few pics and as soon as we started walking we hear, " Hey Elders!" It ends up being a member from Germany that is a pilot and stayed the week here in Portugal. He started asking about the mission and our investigators and I was like just a question, what is your calling? He says stake president and I was like i knew it! Haha that guy was awesome!! He sounded just like uchdorf. And he really emphasized,"Remeber who you are, you are disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. He will always help you." This really hit home to me and i was feeling the spirit super strong through him. Its so crazy how the Lord puts people in your path to help you and motivate you. The guys name was Mark Hart. 

It was super sad hearing about the tradigy in Paris. I dont really know how I ended up hearing about it but somehow i did from investigators or something. But my heart goes out to those people. We were sitting at Luis and Neuzas house and they were talking about it on the news and showing what happened. It was scary! 

Nothing is happening here in Portugal as in safety measures. Everything is still the same. But now with this whole situation, people always ask us," If God loves all his children, Why does he let these things happen?" And we simply answer: God loves us so much. He loves us enough to give us our own agency, or the freedom to choose between right or wrong. Whatever people do is based on their own agency. Satan is real, and he knows God´s plan. He knows he can tempt us and influence us and this is what he does all day long every single day. And this is why evil things happen in this world, because God´s plan is centered around agency and he will never take that away from us. There will always be those good people who use their agency to do good things and follow God´s plan, and there will always be evil people who have fallen to the temptations of the enemy. Therefore, just because bad things happen, it doesnt mean God doesnt love us.

Today for pday we went across the river to "Torre de Belém" which is a famous statue in the river. It was pretty cool! But the main reason why we went there is to meet up with a bunchhhhh of elders to play a game of tackle football! A bunch of people are dying this transfer (Term for finishing their missions) so they wanted to play a game of tackle football together. So we did. It starts just like your typical turkey bowl football game with about 20 people on each team. We went and grabbed some food while they started playing and came back and played. They wanted me to play quarterback because they saw me throw the football and they couldnt really i guess. So here we go, playing full out tackel football with no pads or anything. It was awesome!! I got rocked a couple of times haha because we were playing with a bunch of beasts. I feel kinda sore now but we will see tomorrow. 

Anyways. Thats about it for my week. Still working hard! Slowly but surely seeing success!

But always trusting in the Lord. 

I love and miss all of you. Nobody needs to worry about me because I am doing just fine. Im exactly where the Lord needs me, and he will always help me. Ill be home in no time. 

Always remember who you are. A child of God, Our Heavenly Father. He wants you to succeed. He wants you to be happy. We need to always remember what is truly important in this life- striving to be better every day by keeping the commandments and loving/ serving one another. Bad things will always happen to good people, I can promise you that, because it always seems to happen to me. But these bad things will make you better. They will strengthen you for even greater things. The most important thing you need to do is trust in your Heavenly Father. He will always be there for you, I promise. As a representative of Jesus Christ, I testify that he lives and loves you. I know that. or else I wouldn´t be out here to share this with the people of Portugal. 

Alma 26:12 

que tenham uma boa semana! 

Élder Brandon Michael Haroldsen

Missão Portugal Lisboa 

Rua Jorge Barradas Nº 14C

1500-370 Benfica, Lisboa

Portugal 

Como que é meus amigos?!

How was this week? I heard Cali finally got some rain and Utah got some snow! Thats good!! Meanwhile the weather here really changes. Some days storms roll in and the beaches are empty while some days its 75 and sunny and the beaches are packed! I love the sunny days!

This week was hard finding people to teach. A lot of the days our appointments were dropped and we had nothing to do but contact people. But we were able to meet up with our investigators Luiz and Neuza.. They are really cool and they always feed us when we get there haha. When we show up hes always watching some different youtube video or the simpsons or a movie and this time it was hunting in portugal. I was like what?! I didnt think they even had guns in Portugal? And he said basically they are smuggled in.. But they were hunting javelina pigs and i was like where is this? He said up in the north. But he showed me videos of javelina in Setubal which is like 30 min away!!! Thise pigs were huge! and they werent even afraid of people. I was all pumped lol But these people are awesome!! We basically had them marked for baptism but came to find out they arent married :(

So we explained the Law of Chastity and told them they can be married at the chapel by the bishop for free. They had huge smiles on their faces and said they will have to talk and get some clothes. I told him he can use one of my suits haha so im excited for that!! Hopefully it happens.

This week my comp had to go back to the hospital because his shoulder got hurt a couple weeks ago.. so we went to lisbon across the river and went to the American store! They have a ton of american foods that they dont have in Portugal!! I got some dr peppers, cherry coke, root beer, kettle corn, and candy. It was so nice having dp again!! 

Last night we got invited to eat dinner with the bishop of our ward and his house was so nice!! He had invited one of the members who had just moved here from canada because her son is playing soccer here in portugal and is hoping to go pro. Anyways she was asking us where we are from and i said Im from cali but i have a mom from Ecuador and shes like IM FROM ECUADOR!!! She had only lived in canada for 8 years and shes been here in portugal for 4 months. She only spoke to bishops wife in english so i spoke spanish to here and i had thought i wouldnt be able to but i still can luckily!! But she said she cant speak portuguese even after 4 months of language classes here. So i had to translate for her from portuguese to spanish haha. She was shocked i have only been in portugal for 2.5 months... The gift of toungues is real!! This experience really helped build up my confidence and reminded me of my fam back home. The lady was just like Liz! :) 

This week we got a letter from the AP´s and i really liked it:

"There was a wise man who was walking down the beach one day. In the distance, he saw what looked like somone who was dancing in the waves out in the distance. As he got closer, he saw a young man who was grabbing starfish from the sand and throwing them into the waves.

"What are you doing?" The man asked.

"The sun is coming up, and the tide is going out. If I dont throw the starfish back into the water, they will dry out and die."

"But kid, there are hundreds of miles along this beach that are covered in starfish. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE"

After the old man said this, the young man grabbed another starfish and threw it into the waves... "But it makes a difference for that ONE" "

In life and on our missions ,we feel like we are small. We are just one person and theres billions of people on the earth. How can i possibly make a difference??

We have the ability to bring to help and bring souls to salvation. But we have to work at it. We have to try with all our might to help others come unto christ. 

D&C 18:16 

eu os amo!! Espero que fiquem bem e sempre sejam melhor cada dia. Tenham uma boa semana meus amados amigos! 

Com amor,

Élder Brandon Haroldsen 

The address to write him letter: 

Élder Brandon Michael Haroldsen

Missão Portugal Lisboa 

Rua Jorge Barradas Nº 14C

1500-370 Benfica, Lisboa

Portugal 

Photos: 

Almost Four Months Out!

Meus amigos!!!

Tudo fixe? Como estão todos?

How is everyone? Did you have a good halloween? Its already November!!! Thats crazy!!

This week went by reallyyyyy fast.. again. We had zone conference this week in a city called Barreiro and we had to take a couple different trains to get there. We had to wake up at 5:30 to catch the first bus to take us to the train and that was rough! It was a really good conference though. President Tavares is such a wonderful mission president!!! I love that guy. 

Halloween is way different here than in the states. There was literally only like 5 kids trick or treating. I was like what the heck!? I bet people thought we were supposed to be dressed up as missionaries haha...

Then this sunday Sister Tavares wanted to try something new for "O Dia Dos Almas" 

So we went to the local cemetary because thats the day all the Portuguese go there to spend some time with desceased loved ones. Well we had no idea how to get to the cemetary because we had to go to one outside our area and the Elders in that area were still in a lesson after church. So basically we had to wait for them then walk like 3 miles until we finally got there and by that time it was 4:30 and the place closed at 5. All the people were walking out already.. so we didnt get to do much sadly. But their cemetaries are way different!!! They have a ton of dirt mounds so i dont know if they actually bury the people deep down or not. It was really creepy lol

We found a new kid this week named Leonardo. His mom is portuguese and his dad lives in England so he speaks english better but speaks really British. It feels so weird teaching in english!!! I feel like its not as easy/simple. Anyways, hes 14 years old and he is super nice. He has a lot of potential I think and we are going back to visit with him this week. So we shall see! We have a couple others too that we are going to pass by this week. Hopefully we can get some marked for baptism soon! 

Today was a super legit pday. We went to columbo which is across the bay from where we serve. We all went as a district to go the the hugeee mall they have there and then to go bowling! It was so much fun! I always feel like im back in the US when i do fun things like that. We were jammin out to music they played over the speakers and it was an awesome time. Then we ate some burger king and came back to the church to email. 

Looking back on the past feels like a blink of an eye and looking forward to the future seems like I got forever to go on my mission, but Its honestly going super fast! I hit 4 months this month! I cant believe that haha But i totally love my mission. I love Lisbon and being by the ocean. Im super grateful for everyone who writes me every week!! 

Hope you all have a great week. Love and miss you all!!!

Lisbon!!!( across the bay from costa da caparica)

Moon pic of the full moon

Lisboa!!

Lisbon Temple Plan

Élder Brandon Michael Haroldsen

A Igreja De Jesus Cristo Dos Santos Dos Últimos Dias 

Missão Portugal Lisboa 

Rua Jorge Barradas Nº 14C

1500-370 Benfica, Lisboa

Portugal 

Costa da Caparica, Portugal!

Olá meus queridos amigos e querida família, 

Another week down!! The time flies when you are busy each and every day! This week has basically been just like any other week. We have been struggling finding people to teach in Costa da Caparica, and all of our investigators are in Monte da Caparica, about 30 minutes away. Its harder here because the church is in Costa and the investigators find it hard to travel 30 minutes to get to church. 

The ward we are in is about 40 members and we have a couple stud returned missionaries that have really started to help us out this week. We went with one of them yesterday, sunday, to visit this investigator named Jannette. She is 17 and shes from somewhere in Africa. We have been over there a couple times and her younger brothers go crazy so its hard to teach and the mom is never there. This sunday the mom was there and Francisco helped out with the younger boys by playing with them in their room. Anyways, we taught the third lesson, The Gospel of Jesus Christ and really emphasized baptism. I told her all things we accomplish are accomplished by setting goals so we tried to mark her for baptism on November 22. She said she would keep praying, but she doesnt feel like shes received an answer yet. Her mom promised to come to church along with jannette this sunday so Im excited about that! We are going to help them paint the inside of their apartment after church haha so im excited about that too.

This sunday the bishop came up to us and asked if we could speak 5 min before church starts and we were like ummmm shoot! So we got up there and shared a scripture and bore our testimonies. Somehow I was able to wing out a 7 minute talk all in portuguese out of the top of my head! I surprised myself lol.

I forgot to mention last week, but they announced the Cornerstone laying on the Portugal, Lisbon temple on sat. Dec 5th!! I think we are going to get to go!!! Its across the river(the bay) and it going to be such a cool experience! They are saying the Lisbon Temple is going to be the second most expensive to build temple in the world! Its going to be so awesome to be able to see that temple from across the bay when it is finished! I am super excited for this great blessing for the people of Portugal! 

Today was a pretty fun pday as usual. We spent the night as a district in Almada and hung out last night then woke up this morning to go out and play some volleyball/ go to the mall again. There is a store here that is exactly like best buy at the mall and they have all the new electronics and games and stuff. Its crazy looking at all the new iphones, tvs and games that have come out recently. Then we went to the pizza hut buffet where we always have a competition to see who can eat the most pizzas. I was only able to eat 10 and Hilton ate 13.. But the record in the mission is 42!!! I dont know how thats possible because I almost threw up with just 10 haha. 

This week was pretty good but this next week should be better. ALways looking forward to improve!! I strive to be better each and every day no matter how hard it is. 

I am so glad for my great calling as a missionary for the Lord Jesus Christ. All I have to worry about is serving others and helping them come unto Christ!! But to be a missionary you dont need a white shirt and plaque. Every single one of you can be a missionary. It wasnt until I got out here that I realized how important members are for missionaries and accomplishing the Lords work. When we go out with the missionaries, the investigator already has a friend and someone they can look up to in the church. This is why member missionary work is so important, because the members in the individual wards are what keep everything going! The missionaries will everntually leave the area and the investigator needs a friend at church! So be a missionary! Serve others! Open your mouths and share this wonderful gospel with everyone you know! 

I hope you all have a great week and have a great halloween with your families! Eat lots of good American candy for me!!! :) 

Eu os amo a cada um de vocês! Tenham uma boa semana!! Sejam melhor cada dia! 

-- 

Élder Brandon Michael Haroldsen

A Igreja De Jesus Cristo Dos Santos Dos Últimos Dias 

Missão Portugal Lisboa 

Rua Jorge Barradas Nº 14C

1500-370 Benfica, Lisboa

Portugal 

YO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Olá meus queridos amigos e família!,

Como vai? Tudo bem?

Whats up y'all? How are you all doing? I am doing pretty good! We had a chill week this week. My comp. had an ingrown townail that he had to get operated on so he went to the hospital and then stayed at the mission home.. meanwhile I went on a split with another Elder. He worked the heck out of me! haha But on that split we were able to mark a lady for baptism and after we did the elder was like how did we do that!? we have been trying to mark her forever! I was feeling the spirit strong!

After that day, we went back to our apartment and just basically hung out while my comp rested his foot. He can barely walk! So I just wrote letters and layed down lol Im ready to get back out and work!

The weather here is still beautiful! Its such a nice area. We have a couple of people we are starting to teach and hopefully they begin progressing this week!! Im excited to see the fruites of our labors!

On the way back home from the mission home, the AP's gave us a ride in their car. It was their p-day (they have pday on fridays) and they were like..., "You know president Tavares was allowed to listen to regular music on his pdays on his mission just to pump the elders up for the rest of the week?.. i was like oh really? hes lucky! well they were like hes allowing us to do the same! as long as it doesnt have a bad message or bad words we can listen to any songs on pday." So they turned on taylor swift and they were all amazed at the song shake it off because they had never heard it before the mish haha Im super stoked at this new rule though! And nobody knows yet but us and the AP,s...

Today was a fun pday. We went to the mall and its just like the mall in the US. Its super huge!!!! And it has alot of the same stores. I was missing good old cali! We also got to eat mcdonalds and it tasted exactly the same as the States!!! bomb.com

We walked out on the beach today to take some cool pics with our nametags. Its so nice out there!!!

Well thats about all we did this week. Hopefully this week picks up and gets busy. 

Always remember who you are and try your best in no matter what you do. I love and miss you all. Have a great week!!! 

Fica fixe meus amigos e sempre seja melhor cada dia!!! 

-- 

Élder Brandon Michael Haroldsen

A Igreja De Jesus Cristo Dos Santos Dos Últimos Dias 

Transfer day is here!

Hello everybody! I am emailing a little bit later today because today starts the first day of my second transfer.. and I got transferred to the Lisbon area!! Its called Costa de Caprica and its across the bay from Lisbon. I was really nervous to find out where I was going last night and all this morning because I had no idea what it was going to be like... but it is BEAUTIFUL!!! I took the two hour bus ride with Elder Lee to meet up with my new trainer and Elder Fletcher. Fletch is getting trained in Évora now!! I got to see him and it was so awesome!

My new companion is named Elder Brett Hilton.. hes a Utah boy and this is his 6th transfer on the mish so hes not far in either. This guy is so awesome though. Hes super hilarious and I can tell we are going to have a great time together.

This new area is huge!!! We took a 35 min bus ride from one side to the other just now. We have to get a bus pass as we will be using it alot. way different than evora!!We are at the church right now and this church i guess used to be a mansion house that the church bought. its two stories and its hugeeeee!!!! Its so different from the U.S.

I just got done dropping my bags off at the apartment and my comp was like... you want to see the beach? we walk out, walk to the back of the house, up a hill and bam its the beach... its like a 10 second walk!!! The beach reminds me of pismo beach. Its super pretty. We then walked 10 min down the beach to get to church to email. The weather is perfect.. I am in paradise!!!

This past week has been stormy weather and back in Évora last monday Elder Lee and I got caught in the biggest rainstorm of my life!!! We were like 2 miles from our house and it starts sprinkling and we were like oh its fine, we can go visit this lady really quick.. then the drops started getting bigger and falling faster. Next thing you know we were stuck in the rain with nowhere to go. The wind picked up and the streets were flooding super fast. We were soaked to the bone!!! We ran to a ladys hopuse in water up to my ankles just to find she wasnt home, just her 13yr old daughter... i felt like i was standing in the shower with all my clothes!! haha it was a rough day. 

This week we got moved from the Hobbit house that was 500 years old with no lights to a brand new apartment. It was super nice having places to sit to study and not having to study on a stool with no table to eat or study. now we got our own study desk each and a huge table for all 4 of us. It was super nice and i unpacked just to repack lol

Hawerth dissapeared again. It was sad. But we planted a seed. He really felt the spirit but he just never accepted to follow the promptings. Hopefully he gets baptized there soon!!!

We shall see how this week goes. Ill keep you all posted next week.

Once again, thank you for all your love, support, and prayers. I am having the time of my life here on the Lord's errand. 

Fica fixe amigos

-- 

Elder Brandon Michael Haroldsen

A Igreja De Jesus Cristo Dos Santos Dos Ultimos Dias