Day 15: Remember that one time....

We survived the two week mark and we are all still alive and still happy to be here and still not wanting to murder each other! Three positives for the day right there. Today was actually an interestingly fun day that I am happy to have shared with my roomies. It started as usual- service at ten- only today Audry, Makenzie, Tenesha, and I decided to all go together and scope out the new assignment we were anticipating to get after meeting tonight. We set out with a plan and destination, but as the events of the day unraveled we never did complete the expected execution.

Bus route 736 was supposed to take us where we wanted to go. Six stops from the center point of Marques de Pombal was equivalent to about a fifteen minute bus ride, so we hopped on the bus and kept our eyes peeled for the name of the stop that we had been directed to go. Almost an hour later, we were beginning to realize that words in Portuguese sounded much different to English ears than they looked spelled to an English speaker's eyes. Somehow, we were at the end of the line- miles from home in an unfamiliar and slightly sketchy part of Portugal.

I recall laughing despite how terrified we felt the whole bus ride. The best part was spending all this time with a grumpy bus driver who kicked us off the bus at the end of the line and told us to wait at the bus stop around the corner for bus 736 going back to Marques de Pombal- when not two minutes later the same bus and the same bus driver pulled up to the bus stop across the street to pick us up after we had been ever so "kindly" escorted off the bus. He laughed when we got back on... Anyway, after about two hours of bus rides with crazy traffic and crazier drivers, we walked and talked to people on our way home. From shop owners to professors in the park, we scoped out anyone we could who shared our mother tongue, placing about two magazines in total. It doesn't sound like much, but it was something and we were all thankful for that.

Fast forward to six o'clock, at the kingdom hall. I remember getting there was such a challenge. We were all exhausted and the bus was so packed with people, we felt like sardines in a very small and fast moving can. I'm pretty sure we all got at least a little motion sick, but we made it to meeting and still managed to laugh the whole way there.

Stomachs sore from laughter, worn out from the days' journey, we managed to stay awake and participate in the meeting. Afterward came our own special meeting with an elder and Fabio, who had been coordinating a special assignment to try with those helping the congregation from foreign lands like ourselves. We have officially been assigned to work the university campuses! We have so much research ahead of us, mapping out the housing units and schedules of classes specifically designed for English speaking exchange students. Such exciting news for us, and it got even better from there! Our friend, Jonathan (he had been at the party last Sunday, visiting friends on his weekend as a Bethelite) had contacted us about possibly giving us a tour of Portugal's Bethel this Friday!!!! Of course, it is still only a possibility, but we all did a little jig at the bus stop after meeting. Oh, the post meeting bus stop.... that was interesting.

A lot can happen to you on a Saturday night in Europe when your bus is thirty minutes late. For example, a taxi could almost hit you as it whips up an alley at car chase worthy speeds- Ellie spoke very angry words in Portuguese to the driver in my behalf. Also, you can run into a guy who sat next to you at lunch and tried to strike conversation with you over a week ago- to which I promised Jehovah that if I see him a third time I will leave him with a tract. Or you could meet a sister from California who just so happens to be in Portugal for a few days and somehow she is at your very bus stop. After meeting this sister, you could also get approached by a very strange street vendor who tries to guess your nationality and insists on giving you a bracelet as a gift- didn't get any one of the six of us pegged. Something about Europe is just absolutely, fantastically, crazily wonderful. It's been a fun day, but I am ready to sleep in tomorrow and to eat French crêpes for breakfast, and just goof around with my friends. Day 16- I might sleep right through you.

Today's positives-

Saw most of Lisbon on a very scenic bus ride

Felt reassured, once again, that these next ten weeks are going to be amazing and that the girls who were so strangely thrown in this apartment together were brought together for a reason

I'm pretty sure I will come home with a six pack if I keep laughing so much

Makenzie got a return visit in a souvenir shop

We are all feeling excited to try the universities on Monday

Bethel tour is in the near future!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So many inside jokes were made that will last forever in our hearts and memories 

The sun was out, yet again, and the forecast for tomorrow is promising