Go Have an Adventure

Hello!!!! That's about as creative as I get with subjects...

Goooooooood afternoon! Or morning. Or evening.

How are y’all? We're good over here in Regua! Just dying of heatstroke. Just kidding, but it's 100 outside today. It's a minimum of 90 everyday. I'm dying every night because my companion won't let me leave the windows open because he can't sleep if there’s any light. So I'm just suffocating every night :P I think I'll go buy him a night shade.

Welp, this week's been good :) Why? I dunno. I just love this work. I love getting to meet so many different people. To learn to love them. To try and be as Christ-like as I can. This work is truly a prep for life. I'm never gonna forget one second.

I'm having an adventure. Are you? Did you put the shoe on the same foot you always start with this morning? Go have an adventure my friends. That's what life is about! Learn, grow, and gain experience! Become a little bit better each day!

I miss you all very much. I hope you're doing well. It's nice to receive updates from time to time or a little note. So thank you for those :)

I'm well. We've been working hard. We had 3 people we were teaching come to church yesterday! They all loved it and they are making friends with the members :)

There's a guy here that knows we're Americans and every time we walk by he's like "dollar, dollar!" Yeah he's nuts. 

We get a new president this week! So that'll be a change!

I hope y’all have a good week :) 

Abraço,
Elder Buchanan

PS picture of me in a sweet old school car

MISSÃO PORTUGAL PORTO

Bom Dia a todos!

I apologize, but last Monday I moved! I left Abrantes in order to come up north, don't envy me, it was 9 hours of travel. :P But now I'm here and settled and have a week in a new town under my belt. Also, as many of you know, I was called to serve in the Portugal, Lisbon Mission. But as of July 1st the mission (previously all of Portugal) will split into The Lisbon and Porto Missions, and I will stay in the Porto Mission! Cool huh?

I am currently living in Peso da Régua. For those of you who don't speak Portuguese, that means Weight of the Ruler, but not Ruler like king…Ruler as in, the measuring tool. haha It's named after a really old Catholic church that's here with two statues that have a ruler and scales. Now you can see how original it is.

This is Wine country up here, so it's very beautiful and green. This actually was the city where they would gather in all the wine from the vineyards and the surrounding areas and then ship it down the River Douro to Porto. The river Douro is the only river in Portugal that’s deep enough to hold a boat.

I'm here with Elder Gilbert who's from Utah and a pretty cool guy. American. So yep I get to speak English again, hope my Portuguese doesn't fade. I'll have to work harder now.

I am also now what's called a District leader, meaning I'm responsible for a group of missionaries. I help them and train them and send information up and down the line with them.

We have a group here in Régua, which means we're not very big. Yesterday we had 16 people in sacrament, with 2 being Elder Gilbert and I and 3 visitors from another branch. But we'll be getting bigger; I'm excited :)

So people have been wondering about food. There’s something really awesome up here in the north called a Franciscana. It's a piece of bread, several kinds of meat with cheese, another piece of bread, tons of cheese melted over the top, and a fried egg, with a special sauce that’s kind of spicy. I'm dying to try it and will in the next week or so. I'll let you know :)

But generally I eat rice and meat, spaghetti...we're planning to make pancakes this week. Yep...it's like college. Today we have like...spaghetti pizza. It was pretty good. We might go back and try another pizza I dunno.

Miss you all! Have a fantastic week!

Abraço,

Elder Buchanan 

jfhusdghskj

Yeah I'm too lazy for a subject this week. Also, pressed for time :) enough of this line *enter*

Haha! A new line! Hello!!! Bom Dia todos!!!

This week has been incredible. I've gotten to know quite a few new, crazy people! And I got to participate in the baptism of Otilia!

The crowning point of this week was getting to see my friend, someone we'd come to love, make the first step towards her Father in Heaven. Otilia was baptized yesterday!! It was such a powerful experience :) We started and ended in the chapel, but we went down to the river for the actual baptism. She had asked me to baptize her! She has a strong belief in this gospel and it's inspiring.

This week we also had two divisions (when you switch companions with another set of missionaries for a day) with Portalegre elders who came and stayed in our house and we divided our area, and with our Zone Leaders from Santarem, who also stayed and showed up the day that Portalegre left. haha Portalgre ate EVERTHING. Not really but those two can put it away. We had two loaves of bread that were GONE that night haha and then our zone leaders bought food and we ate like kings but destroyed the kitchen. It was weird. With Portalgre we had three English speakers and one Portuguese speaker and then when the zone leaders came we had three Portuguese speakers and one English speaker (me) it was kinda funny. We had a Brazil meal called Churasco, which is good. I made the rice. I'm a killer rice maker now. It's rice, salad and then pork meat that you eat on a roll or bread in general. It's good. The kitchen like I said was destroyed.

Elder Arnold, Muniz, Ogles, and Tobler
Elder Buchanan, DaSilva, DaSilva and Sister DaSilva

I'm learning this language fast. English is becoming Latin to me. I'll write and read in it but if I don't start speaking and hearing it more, I'm gonna forget haha :) It's cool. I've been dreaming in Portuguese and even thinking. It's not me translating in my head anymore it's me just speaking. It's awesome!!! My grammar is still not perfect and I'm still trying to learn as many words as I can but hey! People understand me, and I'm not frustrated quite as often. Elder Da Silva understands what I mean to say most of the time, so he can help me out if people don't understand me.

The mission will divide at the end of this transfer, the end of next week. And we'll find out if I'll stay in the Lisbon mission or go to the Porto mission! It'll be cool.

I'm helping arrange the choir of missionaries in our zone for a fireside that is next week with the Mission President. So that's fun. I've missed choir.

Have a good week all!

Abraço,

Elder Buchanan

Also…

I was sad to hear about grandma, but I overall felt happy for her. I always felt sad whenever I saw her. I truly am glad for the Plan of Salvation and that I know that death isn't the end. Please give everyone a hug from me.