Because He Lives

In his letter to me this week he said...

"There's gonna be a new video for Easter this year. It goes live March 27th :) I'm excited to see it! I loved the last one!"

Lucas was very excited for this new Easter video to come out and I'm sure he'd want to make sure everyone sees it.

I can't wait to hear what he thinks of it in his letter next week.

The Power of Prayer

Hello good people!

I honestly thought of a really good subject this week. But for the life of me I can't remember...sorry!

Sorry also for the lack of email last week. Time was short and I had my parents as priority :) But here we are once again and I have your ear...err...eye.

I won't make this long because even as a missionary I don't really enjoy missionary emails...oops.

I have grown a lot this last week. It was an experience saying goodbye to Elder Cluff as he went home and bringing back a new companion, Elder Da Silva who didn't speak English and didn't know our area. I can honestly say that I have a strong testimony of the power of personal prayer. I know without a doubt that our Father in Heaven is constantly mindful of us and can give us the strength we lack. I'm so glad I'm here on my mission.

We have a really cool investigator, José Batista who is going to be baptized who went from 10-15 cigarettes per day to 2 the day after we taught the word of wisdom. It was so cool to see. I've honestly seen his change in demeanor already. He's coming closer to his Father in Heaven.

One last cool experience for you all is also about prayer. One night, we were out of plans, out of people to see. We didn't know what to do. So we stopped and said a prayer there on the sidewalk and asked to be able to find someone who we could teach the gospel to. I don't know if our footsteps were guided to a building whose door was open or if the door was open for the very reason we prayed, but in that building we met Racardo. A youth who said he would love to hear our message. I know God answers prayers!

Boa semana for you all! Remember that I and our Heavenly Father love you and I miss you all!

Love,

Elder Buchanan

He is Brazilian

A short email for Lucas this week:

I'm doing well. I'm in Tomar with my Zone leaders today for transfers. So I might not be on here as long. 

So, my new companion is an Elder Da Silva (now we have two of those in Abrantes :) ) They closed the other area and made it one again. So I am in just a two Elder house again. It was sad to say goodbye to Elder Cluff. He's an awesome guy and a good friend. But it's ok :) Elder Da Silva will be a good companion, from what Elder Domingos said. And I'm sure to get a lot better this transfer at speaking and understanding Portuguese.  Why?! Because Elder Da Silva is Brazilian! :)  I'm doing lots better already. Everybody always says I speak well for 6 weeks in Portugal. Plus, Brazilians are a bit easier to understand. Jake will be happy I'm serving with a Brazilian.

That was nice of Erik to wish me a happy birthday :) I got done emailing the other week and I thought SHOOT! It was Erik's birthday! haha :) 

I love you lots! Have a good week!

Love,

Elder Buchanan

P.S. No pictures this week because Elder Cluff took his cord with him and mines in the box down in Lisbon haha :)

Very Missionary Like

Boa Tarde! Or I guess in most of your cases Bom Dia!

Hope things are well for you all, they're very missionary like for me :)

Please excuse spelling errors, this thing tells me all my English is incorrect because it thinks in Portuguese and on top of that, my dang keybord has keys that don't always work! So that being said, lets move ahead :)

Saturday was an awesome day for the Santarem Zone because we dedicated the Santarem meeting house! It was such a cool experience :) It was defintitely smaller than some of the small meeting houses in the states but it was a MEETING HOUSE! So cool :) We had a TON of people there, which was awesome.

It's crazy that Elder Cluff's last week in the mission is this week. But he says it's ok, cuz its never gonna come, he's never going home haha :) He's been a great companion, I'm excited to meet my next one though.

A funny story from Saturday: The 4 of us (The Abrantes Elders) had to take the train home, but it was a long way from the meeting house, So President and Sister Fluckiger (our mission president and his wife) gave us a ride there. Santarem has a McDonalds there. And missionaries go there after every zone meeting. We're driving by and Sister Fluckiger, the angel she is, says "Are you Elders hungry? Did you eat?" And we were ALL silent. None of us wanted to say we hadn't. We sat there for a minute and then she asked again, "Do you want a hamburger?" To which immediately president responds, "Sister Fluckiger, what planet are you on? Are you really asking if MISSIOARIES want a hamburger?!" Man that was Hilarious! haha :) Long story short, President bought us dinner :) It was awesome :)

We've met some awesome people, but nothing too major to report. But I'll include the picture of Roqui's baptism and one of me in front of the new chapel.

I'm loving it out here :) I miss you all!
Elder Buchanan

Insert Title Here

Ok, sorry for the Subject, but I just get really tired of trying to figure out something clever haha :) I guess you could just go with my old and favorite standby (since I've always been terrible with clever names) "(Insert Title Here)" That was actually the name of a blog I started and then let die within the course of a week :) I have a small attention span when it comes to a lot of things haha :)

Anyway, to things of importance!

We had a baptism this week! Which was super cool :) Even if it was a "freebee". She's 8 and has been coming with her aunt's family for more than a year, but since her mom's not a member she counts as a convert baptism. Roqui. She was so excited :) one of the sweetest little girls ever. I'd send pictures but I'm a dunce and forgot my camera today. Ah well. Next week :)

The work is going...tough spot. But we're praying to come across a family and we have several people lined up to teach this week. I'm excited :) The people we meet can either be really mean or super, super awesome. And we've met some awesome people :)

We played Futebol (real) today as a district. We're one of the larger districts, with 8 missionaries and 2 couples. We also have our Zone Leaders as 2 of those 8. We're pretty awesome :)

It's mostly crazy how much time flies. Seems like I only just got here. CRAZY!  Can't believe that it's almost a month in Portugal (Wednesday) And so close to 3 months on the mission (end of this transfer). Crazy! Time flies :) and apparently it gets faster!

Oh! Also we get to go to Santarém this Saturday for the dedication of their chapel since it's our zone :) So that's awesome :) It'll be cool to be in a church building for the first time in a while. 

The language is going well. I'm getting better and understand a little more each time. The Lord's been blessing me :) I think He'll keep doing so if I just open my mouth and trust :)

Sorry, not a super long letter this week. I'll try to give ya more substance next time!

Miss you people! Hope you're doing well :)

Elder Buchanan