Week 12 and 13

Hello and I hope that all of you have a merry Christmas. It has gotten a lot cooler here these past couple of weeks and with the strong wind it has been in the sixties. We went on another division to Eribiera Grande this week and it was beautiful as always. We had to walk a short part of the way because road was under construction but it was kind of fun. We had the ward Christmas Party two days ago and I participated in the exchange of presents and someone gave me a Cape Verde Towel. I gave my person a cool hat for a soccer team in Portugal that I knew he liked. It is hard to find people to teach around the holidays here but we have been working hard. We are trying to mark a baptismal date with a girl named Marta. We need permission from her parents so it hasn´t been easy. My new companion is Elder Malula. He is from Utah but everyone around here thinks that he is from Cabo Verde so it is always funny to see people´s reactions when he tells them he is American. We get along great. He has 6 months left on the mission. Elder Cañizares was transfered to Assomada, São Tiago.
This Christmas day we will try to find service to do or maybe some lonely souls who need comfort at this time of the year. I am greatful to have this Christmas to serve and help others find Christ. Bom Natal para vocês.

Week 11

This week we had our Christmas party on São Vicente in the larger city of Mindelo. I took some pictures from the boat. The water here is so beautiful and clear. It is too bad that I can´t swim. Being with all of the other Elders from my district is super fun and they are really cool people. The Christmas Party was great though I forgot to take pictures. I went to a leadeship training before it with my companion though I am not a leader. I learned a lot about the responsabilities of a district leader and how we should minister and administer to our districts. For lunch they took us to a pizza restaurant and we ate a lot of pizza. It had the thinnest crust that you could ever imagine, but it was delicious. After we ate dessert which was brought by each district. We made brownies, which is always a good idea here in Cabo Verde. They were gone in a second. We are also promoting a church thing here called Seja a Luz do Mundo. We pass out cards and contact people through this. It feels like Christmas here in spirit though it is warm. This sunday was rough for investigators in church. We had Gilson because we passed by him before. We are going slow with him because his mind is never very clear. We are tryng to help him quit smoking. During our time in São Vicente we stayed with my grandpa, Elder De Jesus. He is from Brazil and he training my trainer, Elder Cañizares. He goes home this transfer. We have transfers next week so I will see what the Lord has in store for me but I will probably just stay here and recieve a new companion. I am almost done training and I know that the Lord turns our weaknesses into strengths if we just stay humble. Feliz Natal.

Week 10

Hello again. This week we had a zone conference in São Vicente, the island next to Santo Antão. It was great because a member of the seventy, Elder Johnson, came to talk to us. He did a whole tour of the mission. I included some pictures from the boat on the way back to Santo Antão. I had two divisions while I was there because we have to take a boat on tuesday and then stay til thursday and take another boat. The language in São Vicente differs from Santo Antão. It was interesting to teach and talk to different people. Interestingly enough, most of the people on São Vicente are from Santo Antão. At the conference we met lots of other missionaries because this conference included all of the northern islands. It was great to talk to them. With Christmas approaching the weather has cooled down to about 75 degrees. We had fast Sunday yesterday which was dificult but it payed off because we had six investigators in church. One lady, Ducha, came which was very suprising because she has a phobia of going outside here little shop that she runs. We are teaching a guy named Gilson who has a lot of desire but he smoked and drank a lot in the past and now his mind is a little broken. He is great and loves the peace he feels in the church. The other night my companion fed this cat that he found meowing because he likes cats a lot. The I made him put it outside. This week went by fast because of the conference, and soon I will be done training. I am excited to continue to progress.
My testimony on this mission is centered on Christ and at this time of the year we should learn a little more about him. Happy December.

Week 9

Óla, bzot dirét. That is a little bit of kriolo for you. I have really come to appreciate the langauge here in Cabo Verde as it is so unique and special. Many people will speak Portuguese to us here, but at the same time the language that everyone speaks in their houses, work, and recreation is Kriolo. A question like ´what is your name?` becomes ´qual é seu nome?` in Portuguese and ´mone ká bo nom` in Kriolo. We are not supposed to speak Kriolo though many missionaries here do. This week I was only able take a few pictures but I chose to try and capture some of the beautiful scenery. We can see the island next to us, São Vicente, pretty clearly. We went on slpits this week wit the Elders from Porto Novo North. It was interesting to see the other side of the city. We had a little thanksgiving lunch with those Elders. We made mashed potatoes and gravy and had some other stuff which was pretty good. Yesterday one of our investigators came to church after many months of difficulties. It is a miracle that she was able to come. She has had some bad experiences in the past with other members and missionaries. Her name is Leontina and we set a date for her baptism in december. I can say now with confidence that I love these people here in Porto Novo. I want their salvation and will continue to work hard every day. One more thing, my companion needs a root canal and they only have doctors who can do that in São Vicente. I am brushing my teeth more often now so that I do not need any sort of surgery or operation. Anyway everything is great and it is getting a little colder which is nice. When it hits 75 degrees people throw on the coats to keep warm.

Week 8

Hello again. This week I don´t have a lot of time to write but I would like to talk about some great things that happened. Salvador and Lenny were married. And then the next day they were baptised.
And then the next day they were confirmed and their little girl was given a baby blessing. It was overall an awesome experience, and it is what you live for as a missionary. I also included a picture from a family that we had family night with. They are all cool and it is fun to teach them and have a little fun. We can´t have dinner with anyone as most are too poor, but everyone is happy here. I realized that they don´t have a lot to worry about here. No storms, not much crime, it´s warm all year round, and they live by the ocean. Also everyone here is related to each other. Well that´s all I have time for. I love all of you and am grateful for my Savior.

Week 7

Hello from Porto Novo, Cabo Verde again. This week was full of interesting experiences. First of all I included a picture of the empanaudas that we made a week ago and I hope they make you hungry. I am learning to cook a lot of different things. And it is all pretty good, but it is always eaten with rice and sometimes beans. In this mission we walk everywhere and there are plenty of hills so I have cooking with the mindset of one, staying within budget and two, giving myself calories to fuel me throughout the day. We take a lot of time for lunch and then don´t eat dinner except for small snacks on the road. This week we were contacting and we met this guy who seemed normal and receptive but in actuality wanted to argue with us about religion. He turned out to be a jehovah´s witness and he just wanted to prove to us that God was Jehovah and Adam was evil so we left as fast as possible. We had Stiven, our new investigator with us and he is normally really quiet but with this guy he just wanted to defend the truth which is great but in this situation would not have been productive. In the same day this mom of a girl we were teaching was mad at us because she said her daughter needed to study and didn´t have time for religion. I have a testimony that God blesses those who are obedient because of an experience I had yesterday. We really wanted to teach this girl Irina the first lesson but we did not have another man with us and she was alone in the house. So we followed the mission rules and went and grabbed the brother of a member who didn´t even know us and returned and taught her. After a little bit of time three other girls came and listened to our lesson and it was great. God blessed us for our obedience. I included a picture of a shirt that a member made for me. He is cool and that entire family is great actually. I included two pictures from the top of Santa Antão when we were helping the kids learn to brush their teeth. It was green and beautiful. Thanks to all at home who read this blog. Até mais.

Week 6

Òla, another week gone by. We are supposed to recieve our transfer calls today but I doubt me or Elder Cañizares will leave Porto Novo. Here is a picture of our district after a meeting. It´s all Elders now and it is fun to be with them. Sadly we only see the ones from Ribeira Grande once every two weeks for District meeting. On this day in the photo we made pizza and Calzones for lunch which was delicious. Today for P-day we made Empaladas. I made the dough and it was delicious so now I can make bread whenever I want. Not that I will its like ten cents per loaf here. The short Elder in the front went home to Mozambique today because he finish his mission. On Saturday we had the baptism of Stiven and it was an amazing. We made brownies for the members and they went crazy on them. The beach here is beautiful and I am so lucky to be serving here in Cabo Verde so close to it. Other than those things this week was pretty routine. I am now one transfer in and I am pretty used to the people, weather, and lifestyle. I love improving everyday with Portuguese.

week 5

Hello again,

This week was busy, and as with every week I am worn out. Every night I fall on my bed and sink into blissful sleep. My shower doesn´t work so every morning I wash under a cold stream from a faucet in the shower. My toilet also is broken so I have to fill a tub with water whenever I go to flush. But I don´t say these things to complain. I mean, for the first time in my life I have a bathroom to myself and there is a humanitarian couple on the island over who says they will try to get these things fixed. And really we missionaries have it much better than most of the people in our area. But by now I am used to the people here and I love them. We are taching this guy named Stiven who will be baptized this saturday. He is great and it is a great story because when I first got to Porto Novo we teaching him and he was homeless, and addicted to drugs, but he has come so far through the efforts of members and missionaries. We had a division with the zone leaders on wednesday which I was nervous for because I would have take the lead for the entire day. But it ended up being good, and we found 10 new investigators. I attached a picture of some bell peppers, onions, and tomatoes that I cut to show that unlike a lot other companionships here we eat other food besides rice and beans. It is fun and adds some spice to our day. We try to make icecream and it is good but not like in the USA. Just today the humanitarian couple took us with them to the top of the island to teach a school of kids how to brush their teeth. It was fun and cool to see the island from the top. We are teaching this couple who will be married on the 17th of November and then baptized on the 18th. Their names are Salvador and Lenny. The work here is good, but the temperature in Porto Novo is one of the hottest in all of Cabo Verde. There is this nice strong family of members by the name of Oliveira and they are nice to us and showed us this bird they have. Though a mission is not easy nor easily described, I will say that it is not something that I would miss out on for the world. I love my Savior.

Elder Gale

Week 4 in Porto Novo

Bom Dia, este é Elder Gale aqui and this week was good. Actually is was great. We started off going on a split with the Elders from Rebeira Grande in Rebeira Grande. It is on the other side of Santa Antão and it is beautiful. We were right by the ocean and the waves were gorgeous. Also it is very green there and moutainous. I found a frog but that wasn´t that interesting. Right after this picture it peed on my hand. One downside to Rebeira Grande is that they have giant cockroaches. Also the branch is very small and it is hard for people to come to church. Some nice lady gave us Cachupa the other day in Porto Novo. It is this delicious traditional dish of corn, beans, and something else. We added sausage and bread as well. Maybe one day I will learn how to make it. They also have Cus-cus here which is great. The work is moving along here and we have lots to do. The Sisters here were transfered randomly and now we have only Elders. I found this giant spider it was sweet. I love the gospel and testify that the Book of Mormon is true. I wish these people at this internet shack would let us stay on longer so I could write more.

Week 3 in Porto Novo

       This week was very busy, and I am happy to say that we had a baptism on Saturday for Davi. I did not Baptise him but it was great to teach him and talk to him. We didn't really have any problems with him and he flew through the lessons and next he will recieve the Priesthood. One interesting thing about Cabo Verde is that there are many poor people. There are almost no people here who are even middle class. It has really made me grateful for the things I have and had. We have another couple who lives together that we have taught all of the lessons to. They will be married in november and then baptised. Their names are Salvador and Lenny. Salvador works at a Barber shop and he will probably give me a haircut soon. They have a little baby and another one on the way. nobody is really married here because of the cost so that is always a challenge. One day we found one of our investigators drunk and he talked to us for a while and we brought him home and put him to bed. Tomorrow we go to Rebeira Grande, which is on the other side of Santa Antao to go on splits with the missionaries there. It is supposed to be more green there and cooler. Sometimes fog roles in and you can't see much. We generally try to do our missionary work in the late afternoon and evening because it is cooler and more people are home. One of my companions is going to his mission in Portugal today so soon I will be in a normal companionship. I ate some papaya last night that a member gave to me and I realized it's not good. Everything is going good and my Portuguese is improving. I know the church is true. Lastly sorry about no pictures but I think Elder Oliveira broke my usb converter.

Last Week of the MTC through week 2 in field

First of all sorry I was not able to wright like the last three weeks, though I doubt that it matters cause not too many people view this. Anyway the last week in the MTC was good, and I don´t remember too much about it except Elder Cook came to talk to us and I saw Kennedy and Daniel there. The traveling was exhausting and a new experience for me. On one of the plane flights I sat next to two Jehovah´s Witnesses who talked to me a lot. I shared my beliefs and they shareds there´s but it was obvious that we weren´t going to converting each other. We had a twelve hour layover in Lisbon which was rough but we got through it. We arrived in Cabo Verde at midnight on Wednesday the 27th. That night was so hot and humid because we slept at the mission home with the AP´s. I never thought I could sleep without a blanket but here you wouldn´t dare use one. The next day all 18 of us new missionaries drove to the office and were given instructions on all kind´s of stuff. We were placed with our companions and told where we will be serving. My compnion wasn´t even there because I am serving in the Porto Novo sul area on the island of Santo Antao. It is the most North West of the Islands. So then we had a delicious lunch in the mission presidents air conditioned home. Then I flew with one other missionary on a small plane to Sao Vincente because they don´t have planes to Santo Antao. I stayed with the Zone Leaders for the night and actually got to teach a lesson with them to a family who lived in one room. The next day I took a boat over to Porto Novo where I met my two companions. One of them is with us cause he is waiting for a visa for Portugal. They are good guys, the other one, my trainer, is from Ecuador, and he speaks pretty good English. They both actually want me to help them with English.Our apartment is not too small but we do have some Cockroaches which I am trying to crack down on every day. We have the south part of Porto Novo and the sisters have the north part. I think our part is poorer then theirs. I love teaching these people and improving in portuguese. Everyone is very nice and it is really easy to get new investigators. We have a chapel that is nice and I am beginning to get to know the members. People here will give you food but sometimes it is a little scary. Last night it was dark and this lady handed us a plate of these tasty fried things. It was fish which was good but I almost ate the heads. The weather is cooling down a little but it is still hot and humid. We had zone conference last week and the first night in sao vincente we had to go to the hospital for a guy who had Salmonela. Now we always wash our eggs and vegetables. The food is pretty normal here and I eat eggs, rice, chicken, cereal, fruit, bread, milk, and other stuff. For general conference I understood only a little of what they were saying because it was all in portuguese. We have a baptism this Saturday for a guy named Davi. He is a good man and we have others we want to baptise soon. The people here speak a lot of Creole which is difficult to understand, but people say after three months i will be good. I can tell that these next two years will be hard, but it is worth it if I grow and change to become more like the Savior.

MTC week 5

       So this week I made a goal to only speak English when necessary. I have done pretty well with it and it helps my language improve a lot. I bet I could get by speaking, reading, and writing Portuguese, but listening and understanding is muito dificil. We are done learning new grammar in our district, which is really fast compared to the others. Our teachers give us a lot of praise but maybe they say those things to everyone. Now we just review grammar and ask questions. We also are now teaching each other as investigators. I like to pretend to be an investigator and make things a little more interesting in the lesson. One day this week my companion and I were teaching the trio of sisters in our district. They were asking questions that led to repentance so I brought out a picture of Jesus holding a lamb and asked them who they thought the lamb was, or at least I hope I did. You never can tell with Portuguese. I know the spirit was there however because they all started crying, and my teacher who was standing in the hall outside started crying as well and she didn't know why, so she came in and just sat down and started reading her scriptures. My companion turns to me and says, " put that picture away its too powerful". I have loved the knowledge of having the spirit with me. Before I was never completely confident that the spirit was with me, but now I am. On Tuesday President Kearon of the seventy presidency spoke to us. He is the elder with the British accent that spoke about the refugees one general conference. He gave a great talk on not worrying so much in the mission. We got our flight plans this week which is exciting. We have a twelve hour layover in Lisbon before we go to Cabo Verde which will be a new experience. I am not allowed much weight in my two bags for the inter island flights. Our group of sixteen leaves Monday morning which is less than a week from now. I will get my haircut Friday and be packed by Sunday. Today we went to the temple for the last time. It will be two years before I can go again. Since I am district leader I go to branch council every Sunday morning. Our branch president was having me share something I learned in the white handbook when the mtc second councilor walking in. I had to finish for him and he liked what I said. The sisters made our district sing a song in Portuguese during sacrament. We didn't do so good because most of the elders were sick. I have really grown close to the guys in my district. On Sunday one of them got a bloody nose and it would not stop so he went to the front desk who sent him to the ER. They had to cauterize it and he is fine now. The weather has gotten a little colder which is nice, though hopefully it does not get too cold as i have no jackets besides my thin rain jacket. We did a Skype member lesson on Wednesday with some members in Texas who spoke Brazilian Portuguese. The one who was actually from Brazil was hard to understand but the American was easy to understand. We taught them about obeying the prophet and apostles. Next week I may not be able to post so I guess well will just have to see. Soon I will be in Cabo Verde.

MTC Week 4

   To start off we had a devotional Tuesday night by Elder Oaks. He is a great speaker and I love how he explains the doctrine of the church and the doctrine of Christ. We also had a speaker last night who was a former BYU tight-end. His name was Chad Lewis and he gave a great talk on the savior and his own football career and his mission. After the devotional last night we had to run over to another building to get a seat for a movie they were playing. They fill up fast so if you don't go you won't get in. The movie ended up being The Testaments which was great. Probably the most entertainment I've had since I have gotten here. Hosting on Wednesday went great. I was able to host two missionaries, one going to Salt Lake City and the other going to Japan. I felt awkward standing by their car while the family and missionary were bawling. Basically what I do with that is take the missionary and his luggage up from the underground parking garage and bring them to the main building to pickup some necessary stuff and then to their residence hall to drop their luggage off and then straight to their classroom to see their teacher, and district. I tried my best to talk words of comfort and encouragement to them. So far being District leader is going well, I have whipped my group of men and women into shape in the past week. Just kidding they are already pretty good. Since I have been here I have had to give or participate in four priesthood blessings. People either are sick, in pain, or just need comfort. I have been sick the past two weeks though not very bad and no where near needing a blessing. Just a sore throat and stuffy nose. Some people get stomach problems from the food here. And because of that we had to evacuate our classroom for an hour one day. Our teacher was laughing so hard she started crying. We could see the BYU football stadium from the the top of one of the buildings. You could hear the crowd screaming on Saturday night. My Portuguese is constantly getting better and it really is a joy. Even when others are discouraged I still try to keep positive because that is the only way to improve. Our teaching skills are improving as well. This week we taught district meeting about study habits, and on Tuesday we taught some volunteers. One guy we taught had just returned home three weeks prior from Cabo Verde. It was great to talk about what it was like and he even took our picture to send to our moms. He said that the Creole we have to learn is no big deal because they speak a lazy Portuguese where there is no conjugating verbs which sounds easy. We don't need to speak creole just understand it. He loved it in Cabo Verde and I'm sure I will too when I go. It has been nice to have a chance to simplify the gospel and in reality the gospel is very simple. Everything we do in the church can be related back to Christ, and his resurrection. I love being around the great guys whom I have come to call my friends. I know my savior lives and loves me. And he loves all of you guys too.