SURVIVING HURRICANE ALEX

Hey everyone!

Well as many of you have probably heard, the Eastern Atlantic Ocean was hit by a hurricane this past week and they named it "Hurricane Alex" as it was the first hurricane of the year. According to the radars, it was going to hit the Azore islands straight on and all of the Portuguese people were freaking out making a huge deal out of the situation. The island was in a red zone meaning nobody was supposed to go outside due to the strong winds and intense rain. The hurricane wasn´t supposed to hit until 4 am so we didn´t really get to see how strong the winds really were but it was really windy that night. When we woke up in the morning it was pouring rain and the wind made the rain seem like it was falling completely sideways. It was crazy! But then at about noon the rain stopped and the sun started coming out. Turns out that the hurricane hit about 20km away from the island so we just got some wind and rain, nothing too bad. But it was my first time being in a Hurricane! 

This past week we started seeing some sucess. We got a ride out to a small city named Lajes which is about 5 miles away from Praia. We had been planning on going out there to visit this girl but couldnt because of the rain and our lack of a car. But we got a ride from some senior missionaries serving in Angra. We walked out there once and it was a longggg ways! Anyways, this girl is named Soraiah. She had been taught by the missionaries in the past and had been to church many times. She wanted to get baptized but since she was only 17, her parents wouldn't give her prermission. She then moved to the island of Pico for work for the next two years and lost contact with the elders. well she came back! She let us in on our first visit and we got to know her a little and asked about what the missionaries taught her in the past. She said she really liked the Church of Jesus Christ because she felt the spirit here and she felt like it was one big family. We then started talking about baptism and that now that shes 19, she can choose to be baptized on her own. We marked her for baptism this sunday, Jan 24th and she told us she would come to church with us yesterday but unfortunately she didnt show up and didnt answer our calls. So we will see. We are going to pass by her house tomorrow again and see what happened. She can still be baptized this sunday!! We are praying a lot for her. Shes awesome! 

This week I will be flying back to Lisbon on the 20th to receive my recidency card to be legal here, and I will be seeing everyone from the MTC who came out with me! I then fly back to the Azores on the 21st. Then on the 26th we have zone conf. which is on another island so my comp and I will be flying to the island of São Miguel for that. A lot of flying in the next week! Im not too excited for that lol.

Since we have an American member in our branch, he doesnt understand any Portuguese, so we translate for him the same way we do in the states, except the headsets are way more cool here. But my comp. plays the piano for sacrament mtg. so i am the one translating for him. Its really fun and its a really good practice for me! carrying on my dads tradition of translating haha. 

Well, thats about it for the week. It was a fun quick week! 

Hope you are all doing good. Thanks for all the emails and support! Eu vos amo! 

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Élder Brandon Michael Haroldsen

Missão Portugal Lisboa 

Rua Jorge Barradas Nº 14C

1500-370 Benfica, Lisboa

Portugal