Várzea week 3

And another week passes by. This morning we played beach volleyball with the other Elders from our zone and it was a fun time. It was very tempting to go for a swim though. This last weekend was the festival of São João batista. It was a bunch of Apostacy, profanity, sin, and confusion. All supposedly in the name of God. The center of it was right in our area. We tried to stay away from it as much as possible, but the work was still rough. We have a lot of iniquity in our area which means we have a lot of former members or members who come up to us drunk on the street and saying that they were members and want to change their lives for the better. The problem is that they only say this when they are drunk. We had the baptisms of Melani, Wilma, and Alaine this last saturday. Everything ran well, and they are now members of the church. This Sunday I learned a lot about ministering and I know that if the members in Cabo Verde will minister in the Saviors way that the population of members here will grow dramatically. Even to the point where half the population of Cabo Verde could be Members. I am grateful for this opportunity to help that happen.

Várzea week 2

This week sees an improvement in the BedBugs. We cleaned our apartment and sprayed them down with poison. I used a lot and I am not sure how good that is for my health. I have finally got a hang of the Kriolo here and I am trying to speak it more. Of the couples we are working with only one will be married on the 12th of July, but they are commited to it. We went with them to mark the day of marriage in the city place, but they were all booked up so we then had to go to a vila a little outside of Praia to mark the wedding. Wilma, Meleni, and nelaine are prapared to be baptised so things are going well. I cannot wait till it starts raining here so I can cool off. Here is a picture of Elder Price, someone from my MTC group, and me in front of a restaurant that we eat at.

Várzea week 1

Well things are still going well here in Praia. I am focusing on exterminating bedbugs from our house right now and I hope that I can avoid these things in the future. Other than that this area is really cool. It is right in the busy part of the city but we mostly talk to people in the shanty towns all around. The members are cool and we are preparing two couples for marriage on the 12th of july. It was three but one couple will not because they are trying to go to America and marrying would complicate visa stuff. We have a cool family preparing for baptism on the 23rd. I am excited for the rest of this transfer. The summer here is hot but I will get through it. They are starting to sell mangos now on the streets. Elder Gricius is a great missionary and he is ending his mission here in a few weeks. I learned this week from a talk that sometimes we need the faith NOT to be healed, or given a miracle.

Week 5 ASF, Last Week

Well now I am fully convinced that you cannot predict transfers. I will be leaving Achada São Felipe and be going to another area in Praia called Várzia. It is right in the city and is kind of a ghetto. I met a man from the US this week and he has a friend from Highlands Ranch who is coming as well. This last week in Achada São Felipe was good because we found many people who are prepared to be baptised. It is too bad that I will not be there to see it. One lady said that she prayed to recieve the light of God and right after that we showed up. I will miss all the good members here and I wish that I could have stayed longer, but that is life. Today to celebrate the transfers we went to a buffet place. I feel sick now. We finally got our water back but we went without it for a week and a half. My next companion will be Elder Gricius and he will end his mission this next transfer. Should be fun.
Yeah we were playing with this monkey at a members house.

Week 4 ASF

The word Achada means desert place, or the place where you put your trash. There are a lot of places named Achada here in Praia. The main thing that happened this week was that we lost our running water on Thursday and we still do not have it back. Today we will have to do something about it. We have a 2000 liter water barrel but it is already low. It makes me realize that serving in the US would have its´ benefits. Besides that we had a good week in that we visited many people and got to know some more places. We went to São Domingos, which is a zone that is technically part of our área but is way out in the interior so we do not go there very much. It is a cool place and we talked to some members there. I learned from a talk by Elder Bednar that we should pray that we will be strengthened in our trials instead of just praying that our trials will be taken away. It is very true. I love you all and wish you a good week. The pictures below are from São Domingos.

Achada São Felipe week 3

Hello again. Since this a five week transfer I only have two weeks left until next transfer. Wilson was baptised this last Saturday. I had the oportunity to perform the baptism. A lot of other people were baptised then because our chapel has a nice fonte to baptise people in so other Elders brought their baptisms here. After we had an integration night with the new converts in the chapel. We played games and ate popcorn. It is getting hotter but is still a little cooler than normal. This week we had a challenge to get 10 new investigators so we worked hard to get that. On Sunday we found 4 new people. We are trying to help this couple, Leny and Austelino, get married. They are all ready they just need to go to a place to mark a date for it. The other day we talked to this guy who lived in a cool house that looked like an island paradise. We are having good experiences and I am growing spiritually just a little bit each day. Have a good week and know that God speaks to us. He is still there.

Achada São Felipe week 2

Well after this week I feel a lot more used to Praia, and it is starting to get hotter already. Of the three date marks we had for the 19th, one remains who is ready for baptism. The other two did not go to the stake conference this Sunday so they will have to wait. Wilson, the one that will be baptised is 11 years old. We normally try not to teach young kids alone but the Sisters left him for us and he has a lot of desire. He lives above a bar that his dad owns and his aunt is a member. We taught him to not drink coffee and later he told his friends that they should not be drinking coffee. Today we played some soccer with our zone of 16 Elders which was awesome, but I am very sore now. We found a restaurant near us that sells good food and sells it cheap so we will eat there now. We also had a zone conference and I learned a lot about praying with faith. I know that prayer is a power that helps us day by day.