Snelsons in Portugal: Kindness, Ziplines, and Baby Showers

Hi kids!

Before we left for Portugal, some friends came over to visit and gave us a card. Inside was some money, with a note telling us to spend it on someone, or something, needed on the mission. We decided to get groceries for the Ternova’s (Ukrainian family). So, we stopped at the grocery store on our way home from District meeting. We stocked up on necessities, plus got other things that they might not spend the money for, like shampoo & conditioner, baggies, foil, laundry soap, etc.

A funny thing happened at the store. The elders were standing with one cart, while I went to get a few more things. When I came back, a little Chinese boy - about 5 or 6 years old. - was standing next to them. Elder Wms said, “Sister Snelson, I think this little boy’s lost. He just came up and he’s been standing next to us.”

I tried to talk to him in English and Portuguese, but he didn’t say anything. So I told one of the workers, and she and I went looking for the mom. We found her checking all the aisles and took her to her son. He never cried, but when he saw her, he ran over and grabbed her leg. She patted his back and talked to him, and then off they went. I told the elders that I used to tell you guys that if you got lost, look for a store worker or a mom with kids. But I guess a couple of missionaries will do too. 😄

We dropped the groceries off at the Ternova’s house. I had texted Nadiia to see if we could stop by for a visit. She was still at work, but said the girls would be there. They were so surprised when they answered the door and Anastasia said “What is this? This is too much.” We explained that our friends at home had paid for it. It was fun - we kinda felt like Santa Claus.

While we were helping Anastasia put the groceries away, I asked her if she wanted some of the chicken to go in the fridge or all of it to go in the freezer. She said “Yes, we can put some in the refrigerator because today is a meat day.” I think that meant that they only have meat on certain days because it’s more expensive. :(

The missionaries shared the story of Levi’s dream and the iron rod. Maria read it from their Ukrainian Book of Mormon and we followed along with her.

Nadiia (the mom) doesn’t get home until 8-8:30 from work each day.

That night, I got this text from her:

$83 made a big difference for them…
The next day, we took off for a Young Adult conference about an hour and a half away, up high in the mountains. It was at this place called “Diverlanhoso” - loosely translated, it means “fun things to do”. They had over 200 YAs from all over Portugal. It was organized and run by two young married couples and YAs. They had classes in the morning, activities & free time in the afternoon, and a pool party or dance at night. Our three YAs were there, so we thought it’d be fun to go and help. They divided everyone up into “tribes” and you did the classes and activities with your tribe and one other tribe. It worked really well. Our main job was to visit with the shy ones and take lots of pictures of everybody. Our little group of 3:

Ziplining

Doing this kooky suspension obstacle course. The logs were worn smooth and slippery. I slipped off one of them and had to swing back onto it. Loved that harness…😳

This guy was our hero. He was in front of me and I guess I worried him cuz he would wait and make sure that I made it across one obstacle before he moved to the next one. Here’s he is helping dad up the boulder. Really, really nice guy. I suggested to Nuria that she get to know him. She just giggled and said, “Sister!”

A fireside with Elder Franco, the Area Seventy, for this area. He was interesting to talk to. Super smart, but animated and down to earth. Lots of good stories. Soon after college, he got a job offer in Portugal and moved here from Brazil. He’s a poly-technic chemist.

After he spoke, they had a glow stick dance by the pool.

We sat with these two girls one night. They both just graduated from high school last May. One girl was the only one from her little branch that was there. I told her that she was brave to come by herself. They were two of the youngest ones there. Portugal is similar to many countries in Europe that do internships for the last two or three years of night school. The girl across from me did an internship with a fashion designer and the girl across from dad did a pharmacy tech internship. Such a good idea - I wish the US did more of this in high school. The kids have a career started when they graduate. On the wall behind us are envelopes, with each person’s name on it, for people to leave notes for each other. It reminded me of “secret sister” at YW girls camp.

Dancing with the kids on Friday, the last night

Saturday night, we had a baby shower at the church for one of the gals in the branch. I made a chocolate cake. They went all out with the decorations. We weren’t sure if men were invited, so dad didn’t come. It was about half-and-half….some men came, and others didn’t. We’re never quite sure what the tradition or protocol is with activities. Sometimes we ask and other times we just wing it. Ha!

The mom, Bruna, who made her own invitations and two of the desserts, asked for a diaper shower, so she’s all stocked up now. We played games and one of them was guessing how big the mom was. But instead of having people guess, and then measuring the mom to see who was the closest, they passed around a spool of thread and you cut off how much you thought you needed. Then the mom went around to everybody and we put our thread around her and cut off the excess. (Are you following this??;) The person with the shortest thread won.
So Bruna had everybody measuring her tummy. 🤪

The shower committee:

The next day, Sunday, me and the two gals who practiced, were supposed to sing. But one of the women got cold feet and said that she didn’t want to sing, and then Ricardo Cardoso was sick, so we ended up not having a pianist anyway. Oh well. Baby steps. One of these times, we’ll have a musical number for Sacrament meeting.

We had the elders over for lunch before we headed our to our tiny (4 this week) branch an hour away.

Tuesday, the attorney that we met, Fernanda, came to English class. She’s super smart and sent the nicest text afterward, thanking me for the class. Dad and I are amazed by the number of people that moving here from Brazil. Some of them have college degrees and good jobs, but have to start all over working here in restaurants, or other service jobs, until they can get the necessary paperwork to get good jobs here in Portugal. They want to get away from the violence - it’s too dangerous there.

The next day, we visited the Ternova’s because it was Maria’s 9th birthday, We went for “bling” and gave her a sequined unicorn shirt and a deck of cards. She’s normally pretty shy, but when she saw the shirt, she looked up grinning.

The elders showed the video of Lehi’s Dream, that we had read with the girls last week. They changed the video to Russian, so they’d understand it better. The gospel library app is so incredible! We couldn’t do half the things we do here without it. We translate everything - the lessons, songs, videos, etc. into Portuguese. I can’t understand the scriptures in Portuguese, but there’s an app that has the English and Portuguese words side-by-side to read. We didn’t have an ipad with us, so they huddled around the phone.

The next day, we went to Irma Fernandez’ house for lunch. This was the first time the Elder Madrid had been there and the first time any of us had been since her husband’s funeral. It was kind of sad. :( But she was so happy to have a visit and she made a delicious meal of pork and roasted potatoes. We brought a veggie and ice cream. She made a melon/ kiwi/ prosciutto salad that was really different and yummy. Dad was thrilled there wasn’t any tuna fish.