July 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

This past 4 days have been busy as usual.  Thurs I was in the ministry
With a young sister named No emi.  In US we would call her Naomi, but the name pronunciations are totally different.  We have an Agnes in the comg, but the pronunciation for her name is I neesh.  It has taken me some time to get used to pronouncimg Portuguese names.  I am better now, I THINK.
After service we had lunch with Reuben, Marieka, and his mom.  We were discussing our immigration appt.  We knew we needed proof of address but thought we could just get a letter from them to show we lived here.  No!  We had to get offficial documents authorized and notarized.  So, Maria, Reubens mom, took us to the city hall and we had all we needed.  But, they said we could pick up the document on Monday.  We said our appt with immigration is tomorrow.  They said okay, pick up the documents at 9:30 on Fri.  We said our appt is 9:15.
There was all this Portuguese going rapid fire back and forth. When all was said and done they said come back at 4 and we could have our document.  Whew!
Friday we go to immigration and are probably seen by 9:30 and by 10:15 we had our visa extention. This is totally unheard of in Portugal.  Everyone we spoke to said plan on 3 visits at least.  Jehovah blessed our efforts.  I had prayed that if Jehovah wanted me to stay the full 6 months then we would get the visa.  ANSWER!  We took our young Portuguese sister to translate for us.  She said the immigration official said it was easy because we had all our paperwork in order...she didn't count on our having Jehovah's help.
After our visit we went to Orient station on the metro.   This was all part of expo 1998.  The buildings were beautiful, different than old Lisbon.  Our friend Janille went with us and we all went on a gondola ride and at lunch at the river.
Sat my service partner was Andre and we witnessed in the train station. We met a young Nepalise man that Andre has quite a visit with.  It is interesting to watch his face and see it go from "what do you want from me", to "oh, he knows nepali and that took alot of effort on his part to be able to speak to me in my language."  Had meeting in the evening, of course.
Sunday we went to Sintra.  It is about a 30 minute train ride outside of Lisbon and is on the ocean.  It was much cooler there and in the morning there was some fog, but later in the day it cleared and it was beautiful.  We visited 2 palaces and a Moorish castle.  It was quite a climb but the views were breathtaking.  Janille went with us again. ..she has such a short time in Portugal,  with so much to see.  It was a long day, but I really enjoyed it.
Today, Monday, I preached with Tiago (James) at the cruise line.  It is usually an easier day of service if you can find shade.  We did and I was able to leave some magazines with crew members.  They come from all over the world, but they speak english and like the magazines in English.
All in all another beautiful day in Portugal?