Chapter 31 - Terceira Ilha

Boas! How is everyone? This week was awesome. I almost died more times this week than in the rest of my mission. The Azores are awesome.

We flew out Tuesday morning and at 11h30 we arrived in Terceira Ilha (which literally just means "third island" since it´s the third island in the chain). This gave us plenty of time to work, so we jumped right in to it. I didn't get to see much of the island the first day, since it was super foggy, raining like crazy, and the wind was blowing so hard we could hardly walk against it. It got bad enough that the zone leaders called to check on us ("Hey, is it raining where you guys are?" "Yeah, it´s pouring!" "Okay, just keep up the good work and try to warm up when you get back home tonight!"). But then, the second day was as clear as it could be, and I learned very quickly that this island is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. I think I took a total of two pictures, it´s so beautiful (yeah, sorry. I´ll take some more today). So I´m loving it.

As for almost dying, the number one danger here is dogs. Big ones. And they bite (or at least they bite normal people. I´m convinced that we have angels gaurding us because these monstrous, bear sized dogs will come right up to us, looking ready to rip us to shreds, and then back away suddenly like something scared them. It´s super cool.) A lot of houses have "Beware of Dog" signs, so when they don´t, we just walk right up, and sometimes the lack of signage doesn´t accuratly reflect the lack of dog. One lady even protected us with her car to stop a huge dog from running us down. It was pretty cool. But I have complete confidence that God is not going to let me get eaten by hounds, especially when I´m facing them to try and share the Gospel.

One of the best things about Terceira Ilha is the other missionaries. I´m once again in a house with four Elders, and it´s so much better than just two. I´ve liked all my companions so far, but it´s just nice to have a mix of different personalities. And all three of the others have special gifts that are really helping me. Last transfer was a hard one for me in terms of stress management, and God has answered my prayers with these three elders. My companion, Elder Tanner, is super chill, and really similar to me in personality, and so we get along great. One of the best things for my stress before the mission was running, but until now, no one wanted to go running. But Elder Anderson loves it like nothing else, and so now I get to go running every day! It´s awesome, and I´m feeling way better. And the last elder, Elder Payne, is one of the funniest people I have ever met. He remindes me a lot of Tyson Jones, if you know him. I can´t pass five minutes with him without laughing.

Anyway, this transfer looks like it´s going to be a good one, and I´m super excited to keep learning and working.

Wow, this email was nearly normal. I talked about what happened during the week and everything. Oh, yeah, we almost had to walk 2 1/2 hours to get home (we missed the bus) but then a less active member found us and gave us a lift (more blessings!). As for cool doctrine, I can´t think of anything this week. I´ll study some more and try to send something cool next week.

I love y´all!

Elder Lofthouse​