This afternoon we were to Fridays we sightsee and this week we decided to go back to Belem again. Belem is at the mouth of the Tagus River a very short ride from Lisbon. We went several weeks ago, but after we saw the museums our time was up. This Friday we took a sister visiting the hall from New Zealand. She came for a wedding and decided to stay about 6 weeks to explore. When she leaves Lisbon she is the going to Thailand for 10 months to work where the need is great. The place she is going doesn't have a English congregation. When she arrives she is starting Thai language classes.
In Belem this week we saw more of the towns and some monuments. The enclosed picture of the small castle structure was the entry port of Lisbon and served as defense of city. It was built in the early 1500s, I think. The other monument is for the explorers who started from Portugal. It begins with Portuguese expansion to Madeira in 1418. At the foot of the monument there is a wind rose in mosaics which includes a map of the world. Very interesting things to see and Belem is a must see here in Portugal.
Saturday was meeting and service. The KH has a major roof problem and we are going to have to move to another hall for a time. The hall is in an historic part of the city and there are such restricrions on all you can do there. A new hall would be good, but there is no land. Not sure how they will proceed.
Sunday we had a lazy day with a little laundry to hang on the line. I think I will put up a clothes line at home! The clothes smell so fresh.
We walked around the city and then caught the metro to Columbo mall and had burritos at Guacamole. It's the only Mexican restaurant we have found and, YOU KNOW, somerimes a person needs the spice of Mexican.
Mon and Tues were service days. I was able to speak to some teen age girls on the metro. They seem at first to be so disconnected, but everytime I have endeavored to talk to young people they have been very nice and respectful. I invited them to the convention so you never know. Today I was with Andre on his bible study with a Nepali man. It is so humbling to see this beautiful young servant of Jehovah learn English to help this congregation. Then he has learned Nepali so he can help these in their mother tongue. The student, Ramtel, has come here to make a better life for his family still in Nepal. He is struggling because he had yet to find a job so Andre searches Portuguese web sites to help him find work. He found some but it might mean Ramtel would miss meetings so he chose not to accept those. This is rare for Nepali because they usually have only money concern over spiritual. I really enjoyed our time with him. This afternoon I was with Beatrice and we were to have a bible study with a young girl from Ghana. Beatrice rushed to be there on time between her morning job and her evening job and then Sophia wasn't home. She said this is quite typical with those from Africa. All in all another beautiful day in Portugal
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