Crash course in Portuguese

It has been interesting that since coming to the UK I have had the opportunity to meet and work with people from many different nationalities.  This weekend I had a crash course in Portuguese. 

In our ward we have a little Portuguese family.  The grandmother has lived here in the UK for about a year and is struggling to learn to speak English.  She is very sweet, but tends to be by herself because she can't communicate with people.  So trying to reach out, my friends who always invite me to go with them to the temple invited this sweet sister to join us this week.  We left Friday afternoon, stayed the night in the temple accommodations and then came back Saturday afternoon. So Maria and I shared a room Friday night.  We got in and set up and I sat down to read.  She came over with her phrase book and had me read things to her.  After trying to help her with her English, she then had me read the Portuguese.  It is close enough to Spanish that I got it mostly right.  She would correct and have me do it again and she lit up and got really excited.  She started to teach me basic things in Portuguese.  We headed down to the kitchen to join the others for dinner.  She started looking to me to interpret what she was saying.  We used the phrase book and had very simple and broken conversations. 

Later that evening after our temple session, she and I sat down and had a nice conversation. Between her book, a sheet of paper, family photos, and google translate on my phone we chatted  for over an hour.  I learned about her as well as vocabulary in Portuguese.  Some of the words are the same or similar to Spanish, others are very different.  She would start to talk and get faster and lose me then ended with "no sabe".  I said "un pequeno".  Saturday afternoon she would rattle something off to me and I would then try to interpret for the others the idea she was trying to communicate.  I was wishing I could remember the vocabulary better.  Spanish words I haven't thought of in years would come to mind and even some German ones.... and I would sort through for the one I wanted. Sometimes successfully, and sometimes not.   

Today when I sat down in Sunday school, Maria instead of her sitting on the very back row by herself, came up and sat next to me.  I tried desperately to get my tablet to put the lesson in Portuguese for her, but the website was down.... :/  I guess it wasn't much different for her than any other week, but at least she was with people and felt like she had a friend.  I've thought a lot about how lonely it would be only being able to talk with her daughter and son in law.  I've been in situations where everyone around me is speaking a language I didn't know and when they would reach out to me, even simply was fabulous.  I could feel her loneliness and wished I could learn faster, but she seem grateful for what I did learn and the effort I made to chat with her and show her that I cared about her.  

I guess while I'm studying languages, I need to add Portuguese.  I have several other friends who are Portuguese speaking, so better late than never.  Maria I can tell is depending on me to be one more person who can help to bridge the communication gap.  Watching her face light up when she could make herself understood was priceless.  Helping her to know she has friends that care enough to communicate with her is now an added goal.  So as usual, I am keeping way too busy, but loving the associations that are being  built.  If anyone knows a good Portuguese crash course, I think I need it.