Andrea Restrepo Lisbon Portugal Mission: Holy moly it´s hot!!

It is really hot here in Portugal and we walk all day, so if I don´t lose weight on this mission, I have no clue how to lose weight!

I am also convinced that all the people here in Portugal are either sick or late for something because every time we try to talk to someone on the street, they say they have an appointment or that they are in a hurry. Viva Portugal!!

Today we went to the city called Sintra! It is absolutely gorgeous and I would invite all of you to go there sometime in your life! It´s amazing! We went to a palace there and holy smokes it was beautiful! All the tourists go to Sintra!!! When you think of pictures of Portugal or Italy, that is exactly what Sintra looks like! It´s gorgeous!

Tuesday: We talked to a lady on the streets named, Patricia and invited her to come to church with us and she said yes! How crazy!! We also met this woman whose son is a member of our church and she has a really strong desire to join this church, but her situation is very complicated. I absolutely adore that family and want to help them, but our hands are a bit tied with this situation and it is just so sad to witness. Her name is Auta, and she is such a strong and faithful woman. We also met Mario, who is a really awesome guy! We have him marked to be baptized on the 30th of this month!! We were rejected lots of times, but we made cookies and put ice cream in the middle to feel better.

Wednesday: We were out 4 hours in the morning trying to find people that weren´t coming to church anymore and talking to people on the streets, but no one answered their doors or wanted to talk to us. We went home, ate, and went back out to be rejected some more, but met a super funny old woman named Amelia!!! It has been really hard here, we knock on doors and people don´t answer and we talk to people on the street and they say no, a lot. We ask people who clearly look like they need help to see if we can help them and they say no, Jehova´s Witness is a big thing here and a lot of people take their messages. It´s hard, but we are talking to people who are SUPER COOL and really want to learn more and are just amazing to be around, so I try and focus on that so I don´t get sad.

Thursday: We have several people that don´t want to talk to us anymore, but we are keeping our heads up!!!

Friday: We met an amazing Brazilian family!!!! They are so awesome!

Some facts about Portugal:

The geography: We walk everywhere here. Everything is uphill. It´s really exhausting, but it’s all part of the experience!!!!! YAY!!!

The weather: Deliciously fresh in the morning and at night, but during the day is so HOTTTTTTTTTTT!! I am in a puddle of sweat all day long, and I drink soooo much water.

The food: The food here is sooo delicious!!!!! The bread is to die for! We don’t eat out because it cost us money and we don’t want to spend when we can eat at home. We just got the dinner schedule where people from the church sign up to feed us, so I will tell you more about the food next week. I ATE OCTOPUSS in a member’s house!!!! She also added the whole shrimp, with eyes and everything!!!!

When I speak Portuguese, I have a Colombian accent and people here think I am from Spain!

Love you all!!!!!!