Christmas Call

We had a one hour Skype call with Lucas on Christmas! It was so good to see him. He sounds good, looks good, is happy, and works very hard in the office as an executive secretary to the President.  He is training to take over for the head secretary. He leaves the office every day by 5:30  p.m. to go out and teach.  It was a little hectic with the echoes during the call and lots of people asking questions, but he seems very happy and it really made our Christmas Day!

Already Half Over?

Que estranho! I realized when I woke up in the morning yesterday that it was the day I went into the MTC. It was very strange. I can't believe that my mission is already half over. It's frightening and exciting. Frightening because of how fast it's gone by and exciting because of how much I still have to learn! I'm only half way! I still have plenty of time! :)

Sorry that the letter will be short this week, but I get to Skype with you next Friday :) For an hour!

Sounds like life is the usual Christmas business :) Making cookies, watching Christmas movies, raining like cats and dogs :) Fun stuff :) I miss that :) I haven't made my cookies yet, but I'll probably do that this week :) Seems like the Christmas season passes faster as a missionary. I love my 12 days of Christmas Nativity by the way :)

Thank you for the presents you sent me! I opened two just for fun :) The one that was obviously pringles :) My favorite flavor :) And two fabulous ties :)! Thank you :) I'm saving the rest for Christmas day :) Well, except one. That's for Christmas Eve :)

This week has been interesting. We had a really interesting lesson with an investigator names Flavio. He's a very intelligent guy and he's interested, but he ended up teaching us a little in the lesson! He told us we were being too stiff and that he wanted to see more of who we are. I thought that was interesting. Elder Hicks and I think that it was the Lord telling us that through an investigator! haha :)

We actually have been working without a car this week because one of the others got broken into and had a GPS stolen, so it's been an interesting time getting to our area by bus and such. A car certainly is a blessing.

Man...Star Wars. There's another one :) Gotta start writing things down on my trunky list (the list every missionary makes of cool things to check out after the mission) ‘Cuz I said I would never start one until I hit a year! I thought I never would reach a year in the mission. Crazy...

We went to Bolhão today, all the shops and such, window shopped. Bought a couple Christmas presents, had lunch at a really cool Asian food place called Wok to Walk. You choose your base, rice or noodles (and which kind) and then what you want in it and then your sauce. It was really good. Needed to be spicier though. :) Been a while since I had Chinese food that didn't make me sick.

I miss you lots! We just bought webcams for the office! :) I'm excited to see you :) I love you! Have a good week! Merry Christmas!!!!

Abraço,

Elder Buchanan

Only Two Years

(Lucas's work in the office sometimes keeps him from writing a lot on p-day. Here is a little from my letter this week.)

The Ashby's came in and showed me some crazy stuff that's been going on in Oregon lately! Holy cow! So much rain! I saw a video of Multnomah Falls gushing, it has a 3rd waterfall! Crazy! The Ashby's are really cool :) They told us the other day that they want us 4 to come over for Christmas Day dinner :) And we've got plans to sleep over at the assistant house on Christmas eve and have a little gift exchange in the morning :) But they do all of the celebrating on Christmas eve here, so we've got to find a good house to go to for dinner :) So Christmas'll be good :) Don't you worry :) Weird to think that it'll be my last Christmas as a missionary, even though I'll only hit my year mark on Thursday. I'll be home for Christmas next year :) I'll be singing that song next November. 

(I told Lucas how sad Adi was when I left after the baby's blessing)

You should definitely get Adi into drama classes :) She can be a little actor just like me! I miss acting. So much. I miss a lot of things. I found out that so many of my favorite bands have all now released new albums :( Sad day...But I'll live :) Only two years right?

Hey, I'm gonna wrap it up here :/ Sorry mumma! I'll try to be better on Friday! But then the next Friday will be Christmas! Yay! 

Have a great week!

Abraço,

Elder Buchanan

P-day?

Yeah...that doesn't happen sometimes...

But today was still fun! We ran around, I got my haircut, we had lunch...same old same old :P

There is honestly not too much to see here in Porto, and it takes forever to get anywhere by Metro (‘cuz we can't use cars on P-day) But maybe next week we can go do something fun (hahaha :))

We had EDP - a power company, go and shut off the power in one of the missionary houses today. He just knocked, walked in, turned off the power and then walked out. Kinda funny, but still not good! SO there was dealing with that today.

This week has been good. It's been a lot of working hard in the office and then cut and run to go work in the field and find people to teach and help. My new area is 20 minutes away by car, so it's a little more difficult to invite people to church because they have less ability to get to the chapel! But Elder Hicks and I are working hard. We work very well together. It's weird..he's the first comp I've ever had that I knew before I actually had him as a comp. He's a very funny guy :) I remember when we first got acquainted in the mission, I told him, "Man, if we were ever comps I'm not sure we'd ever stop laughing." It's been pretty darn funny ever since.

We made an awesome Christmas CD for our car and we chill and listen to the tunes on the way to our area.

On Tuesday, we had a great zone meeting, Elder McGhie did great, especially because he's one Zone leader (and AP) by himself supporting the responsibilities of two. I felt very animated after the meeting.

We discussed an event coming up and how it's gonna be crazy awesome! We have 7 wards in the Porto area in on it, we've got a plan to get members fully involved, President will be the keynote, we're putting together a choir, and our goal is 600 people in that chapel, 300 of which are people who are not members of the church. It's going to be very special. Our goal is to give out 15.000 invites with names and contact information. It's nuts! But awesome. "Go Big or Go Home!" was the challenge Presidente Amorim gave to us awhile back when it came to events. And Elder McGhie said "Bem, não vamos para casa!" "Well, we're not going home!"

This week that's coming looks bright and fun and crazy! Especially as we get closer to the Christmas and New Years! Holy Cow...that's crazy. Getting close to being out here for a year already...that's nuts!

Have an awesome week! Miss you all! Merry Christmas! :)

Abraço,

Elder Buchanan