Started from the bottom now we´re here!

Olá meus amigos e família! 

How was everybody´s week? 

Our´s was a pretty awesome, spiritual week. As many of you remember, last week I was kind of dissapointed because our super elect baptism fell and we were basically out of investigators and people to teach.

Welllll, this week we did a lot of tracting: Street contacts, door knocking, passing by everyone we had taught before.. Aka the hard part about missionary work. I probably walked close to 40 miles this past week because of all the tracting we did. BUT we found some elects! 

These people were a PROCESS to find. haha. Basically we did a contact, the guy gave us his address, we passed by, he wasn´t home.. we went by a couple of days later, nothing. After knocking his door at 8:30pmand after a long day of walking and no success, I was pretty discouraged. Then we saw a kid walking by himself around a corner. The adversity told me not to talk to him, but as consecrated missionaries, we talk to everyone. So we did. We asked him his name, he said his name was Daniel. He is 21 years old. We introduced ourselves and told him we are Representatives of The Lord Jesus Christ, here with a message about how families can be together forever. We asked if he had 15-20 min to talk to us and he said sure! And took us to his house around the corner. We taught him the 2nd lesson, the Plan of Salvation, and he told us his dad had past away a few years ago. WOW the spirit was strong that lesson. We taught so clearly with the spirit and Daniel accepted to read and pray. We marked him for baptism for the 19th of March and then he prayed and gave a wonderful prayer! As we walked out Elder Foutz and I were like,"The Lord is answering our prayers." The Lord works in mysterious ways! 

We went back two days later and Daniels Mom was there, Maria Josê. She was going to leave the lesson and just have us talk to Daniel and he was like, "no mom, stay.. this message is important for you too." So we taught them both the 1st lesson, the Restoration, and marked them both for the 19th. Daniel helped his mom with the closing prayer. He is already gaining his own testimony! He told us he prayed about the Book of Mormon and felt that it was true and he also prayed to see if he should be baptized by proper authority and he said he felt the spirit confirm to him that he should. We have been back like 4 times to talk to them and I have felt the spirit there more than any other investigator I have had. Daniel is going to be the future of this Branch. 

Unfortunately, we have a District Conference for the Azore islands this weekend and Daniel works this sunday, and since they haven´t been to church yet, we are going to have to move their baptismal date to the 27th according to our Zone Leaders. We haven´t told talked to them to tell them yet, but we have a family home evening with them tonight so we are excited! 

We also have other huge potentials: Sandra, her son Vitor, Tina, and Maria Dos Santos. So we are going to work a lot for them to prepare them for baptism too! There is a lot of potential here in Praia and we working hard to find them! 

I´m so very grateful for your prayers. I really feel the power of prayer and The Lord is blessing me and strengthening me every day out here. 

Muito obrigado por tudo que fazem para mim. Vocês são os melhores! Os amo muito! Espero que tenham uma boa semana e que sempre se lembram a seguir em frente com fé no senhor Jesus Cristo.  

Com muito carinho,

Elder Brandon Haroldsen 

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Élder Brandon Michael Haroldsen

Missão Portugal Lisboa 

Rua Jorge Barradas Nº 14C

1500-370 Benfica, Lisboa

Portugal 

LEAD DAY ON P-DAY

Hello Friends and Family,

Well... this week was tough. My comp. got strep throat and I ended up getting a cold so we lost two days of our work going to the doctors and trying to feel better. It´s so difficult just sitting in the apartment w/ no entertainment and nobody to talk to. We just put on church videos such as "The Testaments" and "Finding Faith in Christ". I still have a sore throat but I´m feeling much better.

We started the week off hot by finding a new investigator last monday night and we really got to know her. Her name is Sandra. She is really struggling w/ her problems in life right now. We taught her the Restoration and taught a little differently than normal. The spirit was SUPER STRONG. We both received promptings and impressions on what to say. Sandra told us she felt this burning feeling in her heart that was bringing peace to her. We testified that this was the Holy Ghost confirming that what we were saying was true. She told us that sometimes she goes and sits in her car on the beach crying and pouring her heart out to Heavenly Father asking him to send her a light so that she may know that he is there and if he loves her. She told us she feels in her heart that we were that light. What better thing can a person tell us than that? She accepted the Book of Mormon and the invitation to read and pray about it. She even told us she would read and pray that night for an answer because that´s how bad she needs help. Upon leaving the house, I told Foutz that I believe she was a Tender Mercy sent from the Lord. Elder Foutz told me that that was the most powerful 1st lesson him and his comp. had ever presented to anyone these past 19 months of his mission. We had also marked her for baptism the 6th of March. Unfortunately, we haven´t been able to get ahold of her since we first talked to her. It´s so hard because you find these people who are SO elect and prepared for the gospel in their lives and then Satan tries all he can to change their mind when it matters most. 

Speaking of the Law of Opposition, as all of you know and have asked me, we had our investigatior Bruno marked for baptism this past saturday. We tried to meet w/ him throughout the week but it became difficult once we became sick. Eventually, I got ahold of him on the phone and we marked an appointment w/ him friday afternoon at 2pmto plan out his baptism. Well, long story short, he didn´t show up to the church at 2. We called and called and no answer like always. Since his baptism was the next day, we really needed to talk to him. We decided to trek up the mtn. up to his house to see if he was home. Turns out he was, and he was with a girl. When he opened the door he instantly started yelling at us asking why we showed up at his house and why we were calling him so much. He was like you know I have a life? This kinda made me mad. We told him we were just there to plan out his baptism, something he wanted for himself, for the following day. We told him since he had combined an appointment with us at 2 and didn´t show up and wouldnt answer, we thought maybe something had happened to him and that´s why we were there. He then said that we were pushing him too much and that he has a life to live. This was him yelling at us still. We were like okay, we will talk to you later then. I think he was mostly embarassed that we had knocked on his door and caught him with his jeans in his hands. So basically that was the end of that convo. He ended up all mad at us for no reason and we ended up really dissapointed in him. We tried calling and texting him the next day to tell him we wouldn´t be able to do the baptism but that we wanted to talk and clarify some things but he didnt answer. Foutz and I both decided that we didn´t believe he was coming to church for the right reasons either. So yeah. I was pretty sad walking back down to Praia after that convo with Bruno.

But then this week I was reading the Portuguese liahona from nov. 2015, the conf. talks, and I came across the talk by Henty B. Eyring titled," You are not alone in the work", from the Priesthood session. In this talk he says that he went to a stake conf. in which they called out more than 40 young men to be sustained to the office of Elder. He came to find almost all of these young men were less actives that were brought back to church by their Elder´s Quorum President. Elder Eyring spoke to this young man and asked him how he did this great work? Basically the yound man says, "I know all the less active guys in this city. Most of them have trucks, and so do I. We wash our trucks at the same car washes and, with time, we become friends. Then I wait for something bad to occur in their lives, which always does. They tell me about it and I listen and don´t accuse them of anything. Then, when they say,"There is something wrong w/ my life...there simply has to be something better than this." I tell them what is missing and where they can find it. Sometimes they believe in me, and when they do, I bring them with me." 

I really like this story because it basically says we cannot force people to change their lives and be baptized and partake of the happiness this gospel brings, but they have to choose to change it themselves. We as missionaries are just here to present the gospel, and present the Holy Ghost so that the people can feel it is true. We cannot convince people it is true no matter how good of a missionary we are. 

So basically, Foutz and I both decided that it simply wasn´t Bruno´s time yet. Something will eventually happen in his life in which he will realize he needs this gospel because it is the only soultion, but this time hasn´t happened yet. Although we didn´t baptize Bruno, I believe we were sucessful because we presented the Gospel w/ the spirit and planted a seed for Bruno´s future when he realizes he needs it. 

What is important is that we grew and we learned from this experience and will apply it in our seek for true elects prepared by the Lord. Although times like this can be frustrating, I have faith in the Lord. He promises that with obedience we will find sucess and I know that because he always keeps his promises. 

Im so grateful for all of your prayers and love and support and for all of those who write me while I am out here. You trult help me keep moving forward and I am glad to know I have so many people who love and support me.

Keep being strong and keep striving to be the best you can be and the Lord will mold you into the person you want to become.

Hope you all have a great week!

Love, 

Elder Haroldsen 

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Élder Brandon Michael Haroldsen

Missão Portugal Lisboa 

Rua Jorge Barradas Nº 14C

1500-370 Benfica, Lisboa

Portugal 

OS MILAGRES

Hey everyone! 

I hope you all had a great week! February is almost over and it seems like 2016 just started! 

Well, let me just start out by saying that this week I really learned to understand two different things: The Law of Opposition is real, and exact obedience brings miracles. 

My letter for this week will be centered on these two things because this was the main focus of the week.

My new companion, Elder Foutz, is awesomeee. Him and I really get along and we are really good friends already! He is a strong missionary and is working my butt off but this week it payed off. 

As I said last week, we had Bruno marked for baptism this past sunday and we were really worried that we wern´t going to have enough time to teach him everything by that day. Monday morning last week Elder Puertas got dropped off at the airport so I was on a division with the missionaries on the other side of the island. I called Bruno a ton of times to try to schedule something for tuesday but he didnt answer on monday at all so I decided I would try the next morning again. Tuesday rolls around and I called him about 5 times before he picked up. He has a problem with not answering his phone lol! But anyways, he says we can meet with him at the church at 2 that afternoon, which worked out perfect because we were picking Foutz up at 12:30. So Foutz gets here and we were all excited for the lesson. We head over to the church at 2 and we sat there waiting for him...10 min goes by, we call him.. no answer, then again 10 min. later.. nothing. We waited there for like 30 min. and he finally answers and said he is stuck at work and he couldn´t meet that day, maybe tomorrow, wed. at 3. We were dissapointed. But I had written some other plans down which included walking about 4 miles up to the top of the mountain neighborhood. So we head on up there and we were contacting everyone on the way. We finally get up there and we stop to talk to this lady when suddenly I see someone wave at us in the background and I realized it was Bruno! We finished the contact and walked up to him as he was talking to some of his buddies who were working the field. We were like what are you doing up here?! I didnt know this was where you worked? He told us he was just checking on the field and said we could meet with him forsure tomorrow, which was wed. at 3.  So we were like okay thats fine. MIRACLE #1 (Meeting him up in sta. Rita). Wednesday comes and we go to the church and he didnt show again. I was like come on man! You literally just told us you still wanted to be baptized last night and here you dont show up? I was confused. So we call and call and finally he answers and said hes stuck at work again, but if we could meet him back at the same spot up the mountain at 5 later that afternoon that he would be there. So we dropped all of our plans and headed up there to find out he wasnt there. He didnt answer either. 

The next morning I was already thinking that he wasnt going to be baptized this sunday because we had only taught him the 2nd discussion and here it was thursday already. Elder Foutz said a prayer that morning and said in that prayer that we know that he wants Bruno to be baptized this sunday but that Satan was working hard against him doing that. It was a powerful prayer. He then asked that we would be able to meet up with him today and teach him what he needs in order to be baptized. We called him again and no answer. But I never lost faith. as soon as we walked out of our apartment, guess who we see?? Yep, Bruno was walking on the street right by our house. We talked to him and he was all cool with us still saying he was just so busy so we asked if we could drag him to the church to teach him a little more. We taught him the third lesson and he still wanted to be baptized on sunday so we told him these next days we were going to have to teach him some commandments and have a baptismal interview. MIRACLE #2 (Meeting him by our house).

So what we lacked were teaching the first and fourth lessons. We had schedules for meeting with him friday at 3 again at the church and we already figured he would be late so we waited about 30 min before we called and no answer like always. We waited all the way until 4 and then Foutz decides we need to head out and leave the church but before walking out we said a prayer asking that somehow we would run into Bruno and be able to come back to the church and teach him what he lacks. Again, another powerful prayer. As soon as we walk out and lock the church door, we hear his motorcycle pulling into the parking lot.. Foutz and I look at eachother and both said no way. We were so excited. We taught him everything he lacked, he accepted, and we planned out his baptismal interview on saturday. He showed up late for it as always but he passed and he was really excited for his baptism. He told me he would like me to baptize him so I have the priviledge of doing that! MIRACLE #3! (The Lord answering our prayers when we were about to give up).

Sunday morning we get a text from him saying he has a bad fever and that he is really sick in bed. We were like what? So we called him and he told us he wasnt trying to avoid his baptism but that he was truly sick and that he wanted to reschedule for this coming saturday. We tried to explain that this was that law of opposition we had talked about and he got kinda annoyed that we were pushing him so much so we were like okay next sat. it is then. We are still super excited but it was kinda dissapointing because we already had everything prepared for him, but oh well he is still being baptized! 

So yeah, I saw how exact obedience brings miracles this week. The Lord put us exactly where we needed to be in order to meet up with Bruno which was crazy. I learned to trust that with this obedience we will find sucess even if we cant always see it.

So next week should be the baptism pics. Thank you all for the prayers and the support! Hope you have a great week.

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Élder Brandon Michael Haroldsen

Missão Portugal Lisboa 

Rua Jorge Barradas Nº 14C

1500-370 Benfica, Lisboa

Portugal 

Transfer 5/16

Another transfer flown by! Dang!

Well we got transfer calls last night. I will be staying in Praia and serving with Elder Foutz. He was my zone leader this last transfer so he will be able to teach me how to be a leader. Elder Puertas took his place as zone leader so he flew out for São Miguel island this morning. Im excited to serve with Foutz this transfer! Hopefully he is a cool guy!

This week we talked to the lady we had marked for baptism this past sunday, Margarita, and we found out that unfortunately she isnt married and that she lives with the guy. This is one of the most frustrating things that can happen for missionaries: a person who has the desire to be baptized because they feel that the church is true but they cannot because it is a process to be married. We have had this happen to two people so far and they are just complicated situations. We will do everything we can to push for their marriage but sadly thats the reason she wasnt baptized this past week. 

BUT!!! This week we talked to Bruno, the investigator that showed up at church on his own. He is straight up a tender mercy sent from the Lord. Elect as they come!! We taught him the Plan of Salvation because he expressed that he really loves his kids and I felt the spirit super super strong. We also talked about baptism and he told us he had been baptized as a baby in the Catholic church but he doesn´t remember at all. He believes that it should be the persons choice wether they want to be baptized, which isnt possible as a baby, and then we also explained the purpose of baptism which is for the remission of sins. A baby is innocent and he completely agreed. I then held up the picture of Christ being baptized and asked him,"Bruno, will you be baptized by someone who holds this proper authority..?" His answer is one of the best answers a missionary loves to hear..."I can be baptized again?!" We told him that he definately could and that we would be holding a baptismal service the 21st of Feb. We then asked him,"Will you prepare yourself to be baptized on this day?" His answer was yes. He has been to church three times already and he told us he really likes this church. He said he hopes to come to this church forever. 

I am beyond excited for him. He is such a stud and he will become a great priesthood leader in this branch, I know that. I cannot wait until sunday! 

Two days ago, we were last getting home because we were visiting a recent convert a long ways away from home. When we were about 2 miles from the apartment, Puertas decides that we should run to not be as late. It was already 9:50 and we had already texted the zone leaders saying we were going to be late. So, of course, my answer to him was, "Dude, we are already going to be late either way.. I dont want to tear up my shoes and get all sweaty in my formal clothes" (Yeah typical lazy guy haha) Anyways he convices me to run and so I started running on the edge of the road and the curb. I started getting tired when suddenly I stepped on this 1" curb that is on  roads to create a parking spot for cars against the main curb. I rolled my ankle and it hurt really bad. I couldnt walk for a couple of minutes but then I walked it off and it stopped hurting so Puertas convinced me to run again. I have a huge bruse on my foot now but it is getting better. Nothing to worry about! First time that has ever happened to me though! 

Hope you all have a great week. I will let you know how the baptism went and will send all the pictures next week! Hard work pays off.. especially in Portugal!! 

Love you all! 

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Élder Brandon Michael Haroldsen

Missão Portugal Lisboa 

Rua Jorge Barradas Nº 14C

1500-370 Benfica, Lisboa

Portugal 

Tenho família nos Açores (Quase)

Orale!!! That was spanish btw :)

Como estão meus queridos amigos? Outra semana já passou tão rápido! Its already the last week of the transfer! Crazy!! I predict that I will be staying out here in Praia and I think Elder Puertas will be staying with me out here also. I hope so because we have a tonnnn of potential and a lot of work to bring them into the waters of baptism! 

This week was pretty good! On Tuesday we had district mtg. in Angra and after we had the opportunity to visit my uncle Jason´s aunt and uncle! Their names are Josê Carlos and Filomena Brasil. My aunt Heather had sent me their address and home phone number last week so I called them and told them I am Jason´s nephew and they said we could come on over! So we did. They are awesome people. Super nice! It was also cool seeing all the pics of heather jason and their family. They fed us some really good lunch and Josê showed us around his little farm and property he has behind his home. They told us we can come back whenever we want so we told them maybe in two weeks. My comp. is really excited to go back haha.

We have a bunch of new investigators we found this week that have a lot of potential. One is named Marta. She is dating a member in our branch who is awesome.. but he works on sundays unfortunately. He has this next sunday off so they should come to church. Big baptismal candidate right there. They want to get married in the temple! 

Then we have Bruno. He showed up to church on his own two weeks in a row already and he is showing a lot of intrest. I talked to him yesterday and he told me where he lives so we should be passing by this week.

 We also met up with a lady named Fatima and her goddaughter Liliana. She is a little old lady that is super nice and she has a lot of faith. We will hopefully find her a ride and get her to church this coming sunday. She lives on the top of this mountain so it is a long ways for us to walk to her house. That is the biggest problem of this area, its such a huge area and we dont have transportation! 

Tonight we are going to pass by Margarita´s house, the lady we have marked for baptism this sunday. Hopefully she is home and lets us share a message with her. This week is going to take a lot of work in order for her to be baptized sunday!!

As for today, we went to a famous restaurant on the island called "Quinta Dos Açores". They have really good food and especially really good ice cream. They have a lot of different flavors but the best flavor is the "São Jorge Cheese" flavor. They say that São Jorge cheese is super super good. I haven´t had it because it is extremely expensive.. Anyways, the ice cream flavor doesn´t sound that appealing, but ohmygosh it is!! Super good! I can now say that I have eaten cheese flavored ice cream haha. 

Last week I said that the day where they throw water for carnival was last tuesday, but it is actually tomorrow!! I am excited but nervous at the same time lol. We shall see what happens! I see a big target on our chest as missionaries with white shirts and ties! 

Well, thats about it for this week. Life is awesome as a missionary. Im out here livin it up serving the Lord! No better life! 

Hope you are all doing awesome. If anybody needs anything or somebody to talk to, feel free to send me an email.

Fica bem meus amigos. Eu vos-amo!! Tenham uma boa semana!! 

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Élder Brandon Michael Haroldsen

Missão Portugal Lisboa 

Rua Jorge Barradas Nº 14C

1500-370 Benfica, Lisboa

Portugal 

CARNAVAL COMEÇOU!

WHAT UP FAM!!!

Feliz semana do Carnaval!! The world famous Azore Carnaval has officially started. :)

I am really excited to see all the dancing they do this week and especially the water fights on the streets on wednesday! We are already buying water balloons to hit some people from off our balcony. it is going to be legit!

This past week we had the Azores zone conference in São Miguel. We had to fly on a plane in order to get over there. It was only a 30 min flight, but the hardest part was that we had to wake up at 5 am in order to catch our plane at 7. The conf. was awesome! We learned a lot of new things that we already started to apply into our teaching and it is really helping. My mission president is sooo awesome. He really shows his love for us missionaries and he feels like a father out here. 

We wern´t able to get in contact with Soraiah this week because she hasnt answered our calls and she wasnt home the two times we visited her, so we decided that she is ignoring us and moved on. It is a sad thing but it has to be done in order to save our time for someone who wants to hear our message. 

BUT this week we did find somebody who wanted our message. Her name is Margarita. We went over to her house for the first time and started to get to know her. She told us her daughter is a member in Angra and that she herself was born catholic and was never changing religions. Me and Puertas were thinking, "aw man.." But we kept talking to her. She told us she had been to our church before and then she started telling us all the things she realized were not correct about the catholic teachings that were different with our church. She said that when she went to our church she felt something way different than any other church and she felt a happy feeling inside that she couldnt describe. Instantly the spirit filled the room and we testified to her that that was the Holy Ghost speaking to her telling her that this church is true. We then moved on to the topic of baptism. The spirit was still very strong and I asked her, "If you come to church with us again, and you get these same feelings, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized that same day after church?" She replied.. yes. She told us she was going to be working the next two sundays because of the carnival but she would come to church with us on the 14th of feb. We marked her for baptism that day and I know she will feel the same spirit as she felt before. We are super excited for her. It will be so awesome seeing her in all white!! 

As for today, we got a tour of the main attractions of the island. We went to an area called Biscoitos which is in our area but extremely far away. It is located right by the ocean and it was beyond amazing. It was the bluest water I have ever seen in my life! The whole time I was just wishing my family could be there to see it. We also went to an area that looks like the redwood forest in Cali. we took a bunch of pics by this pond. I loved it :)

Anyways.. I hope you are all doing well. Hope you have a great week!!

Eu vos-amo! Espero que fiquem bem e que tenham uma boa semana. 

Com muito carinho,

Elder Harry :) 

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Élder Brandon Michael Haroldsen

Missão Portugal Lisboa 

Rua Jorge Barradas Nº 14C

1500-370 Benfica, Lisboa

Portugal 

SIX MONTHS COME AND GONE

Oi! Come que vocês estão? Tudo Bem?

This week went reallyyy fast because of the fact that I flew to Lisbon for my residency. I flew back on the two hr flight all by myself again. After 6 months of being with a comp. at all times, it is the weirdest feeling being alone. The office elders dropped me off at the airport a little early the next day because they had an appointment and so I was in the airport all alone for about 2 hrs. I ate some McDonalds and walked around the stores to pass the time. It was kinda scary to be honest haha.

On thursday we had the worldwide missionary broadcast. It was a really good broadcast!! The theme was "Teach repentance and baptize converts" I really felt the spirit during it. They really emphasized that as a missionary you are a tool to invite the Holy Ghost to convert the people. We cannot force the people to feel the spirit. 

Then Friday I hit my 6 month mark! I burned a tie in celebration and it was really fun. It is so unbelieveable how fast the time has gone. Half a year already! It seems like yesterday I was graduating from high school. As of right now I have 17 months left on my mission total. That is a scary thought because I dont want to go home. I love it here! There is no greater work than this work, serving Heavenly Father. It is a weird feeling telling people that I am 18 years old and already have 6 months in the mission field. Time really flies when you are having fun.

We went by our investigator Soriah´s house on saturday night because it was her birthday. We took her cookies and everything! She was so happy and she told us she was sorry for not going to church with us last week because she didnt have a ride and she told us she was going this sunday (yesterday) as long as she had a ride. She told us if she didnt have a ride that she would call us. So sunday comes around and she wasn´t answering our calls and didnt show up for church unfortunately. She has a great desire to be baptized but she told us she is moving to canada in Feb. So we were going to try to baptize her after church if she came. I have no idea what happened. She is super elect and likes us a lot! We have a week to teach her and get her baptized before she leaves. Hopefully we can witness a miracle this week! 

We also got to witness the Priesthood Power and Authority that we have as representatives of Jesus Christ this week. It is a sacred story that I will remember for the rest of my life. 

After being on my mission for the past 6 months, I have learned a lot. 

I learned of the true love our Heavenly Father has for each one of us. He truly loves us. He blesses us if we follow the commandments and strive to be better each and every day. He has blessed me with sooo many things and I am so grateful for that. One of the greatest blessings he gave us was his only begotten son, Jesus Christ. He sent his son to be the perfect example for us and ultimately sacrifice himself for us. Jesus Christ and God the Father live. They are waiting to bless us and help us if we just reach out for their love. If we follow and have faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, we will have all the power to combat satan´s powerful forces. I have seen this on my mission and I know it is real.

Always remember who you are. You are royalty, literally the son or daughter of a Heavenly King. 

I promise you that this is true. I know it is. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints is the one and only true church on the face of the earth. And I know this because I asked God and he answered me. 

I love you all and I hope you have an awesome week!! 

Fica fixe meus queridos amigos!! 

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Élder Brandon Michael Haroldsen

Missão Portugal Lisboa 

Rua Jorge Barradas Nº 14C

1500-370 Benfica, Lisboa

Portugal