Jan 18, 2010

So we have transfers here and i got kinda a surprise. I was planned to go to Assomada to serve which is a really cool area, but the president switched everything two days before the transfers so i got changed. Now I am just in a different area in Praia and I am Zone leader. It was kinda disappointing to stay here in Praia but oh well, it happens. My companion is elder wardell from bountiful, finally an American!! And I already know our area almost perfectly cause i live there. I wont even switch apartments, i just go from my old room to the other door. Its cool though cause after this area i wont have to worry about coming back to praia, i will for sure get transferred to a new island and hopefully fogo! The work will be really good in this area though. I was excited for assomada though just cause its so different, its really green and lots of trees, and during the winter (this time) it actually gets really cold, its also surrounded by mountain peaks... it would have been awesome but i still have plenty more time. Praia is starting to get really hot again though, our winter is over. It was always hot during the winter too, but now its just getting worse. So not a whole lot is new though, just the same old stuff. We had a baptism last week from one of our nigerians which was good... my old area should be getting a lot more this transfer too. Besides that i cant really think of any good news.

New Year- Jan 4, 2010

Hey everyone happy 2010! How was it? It was quite the party here! The 31st we know that it would be impossible for the people to keep their appointments because people have hard times as it is... so we didnt even bother marking any that afternoon on. Instead we played to just do contacts in an area where we never work... up on the Plateua which is where all the city building and apartments are. So we went and did that and it went really well, we taught a couple really good lessons just with some random people and lots of others told us to come back. The missionaries never really work there because they like the poor areas better because the people are more humble and willing to accept it... but we decided the other people needed a chance too and our president was thinking we should do that too after we talked about it in our interviews. We are starting to kinda switch our teaching up to there now just cause we are getting more references and stuff up there. We taught some more people there this weekend and on Friday night, taught a 22 year old guy that is a soldier up inside the base. It was kinda different teaching with all the other soldiers hanging out around us but it was really cool. We are working hard on finding new people to teach cause some of our other investigators are kinda being lazy and not showing up to our appointments and church and stuff. Dí, (the rapper) was doing so good until his baptismal interview came and all the sudden he just fell off the face of the earth and didnt even show up. We havent seen him for a couple days, and some others are having those same types of problems.
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> So anyways back to New Years, after contacting we had to be back at our house at 7. So once we got there we just hang out and made homemade pizza and stuff (thats kinda my specialty now). Then i just laid in bed that night until about 11:50, then went out to our main room to watch the clock strike 2010. I didnt know exactly when it would be because my clocks not exactly on, but all the sudden out of no where every single person in praia just started screaming and honking and everything, so it wasnt to hard to tell. Me and my companion hurried and ran up on top of our roof and we had a perfect view of the fire works they had.. and to my surprise they were amazing! They celebrate it way more here then at home, i was so surpised. The whole city was just out in the streets screaming till about 12:30, then i finally went to bed and fell asleep and woke back up at 6:30 to start the day, and nothing had even changed! Music was still blasted up, cars still honking, people still screaming! It went on until about 11 in the morning, it was so loud that i couldnt even concentrate studying. So then we went out and worked during the day and all the sudden it got really quite, everyone just fell asleep cause they were so tired from partying! Its like the whole town just died, it was funny though cause everyone was just out sleeping wherever they wanted... out on the sidewalks and just outside their houses and everything. It was kinda hard to find people to teach cause half the people were hung over, but we were able to get some good lessons in. Then that night, it all started back up again, everyone just started partying like they were the night before... it lasted the whole weekend until sunday! These people like their parties. But so that was my new years here, it was pretty different. Everything is going good here though. I will make sure to write you guys again to let you know what else is happening

Dec 29, 2009- Feliz Natal

I was thinking that Christmas wasnt going to be very fun out here away from you guys, but it actually was really fun. It was really different spending it in 80 degree weather without a cloud in the sky and the only thing you see when you look of the balcony of the mission home is the ocean in front of you, but it was really relaxing and really fun. The food was good and we had some programs and it was fun being with the Presidents family. Our president is really fun, he is only like 40 so he acts really young and likes to be involved. We play soccer every monday morning at 6 and today and the last week he came and played with his... its cool how he gets involved. He played for a club here when he was younger so he is really good.... and they take soccer seriously here with all these people and the brazilian elders, but us americans are picking it up and getting pretty good. So not a whole lot is new here, the investigators are still going about the same but they are kinda slacking... the one thats doing best is dí, that rapper... he does everything we ask and he will be baptized the 9th. We are starting to try to find lots of new people to teach too and doing more contacts and stuff so i will let you know how this week goes. We cant work new years eve night though cuase there will be lots of stuff going on out here so we just stay inside. Hope you guys have a good new years though, let me know how it goes. Thanks again for everything!

Dec 14, 2009

> Hey everyone whats up?
I have to send all of the numbers to the mission home and it took forever for me to figure out how to do it but I know how now so I wont have anymore problems. So this week has been pretty good though, we worked really hard so it flew by. I dont really relate to my companion all that much... he doesnt speak any english and he is a 25 year old nurse. He is also really proper with everything and really clean, but I cant complain cause our house is always clean. He also works hard so its pretty fun, we are having a lot more lessons now and finding lots of new people to teach. We have a couple baptisms coming up not this week but the next too and hopefully we will have a bunch more in January. That rapper (Dí) is progressing better than any other investigator of ours. We talked with him about the word of wisdom and he said he had a huge coffee problem, but ever since we talked about it he hasnt touched it and is still coming to church and everything. He will be baptized at the start of January but he is really cool. We also had an interesting lesson yesterday... it was just out on the street with this lady we have been talking with a little bit. But during the lesson this really old lady came up to us and kneeled down right in front of me and started asking me for money. I told her I didnt have any but she just stayed there anyways asking but she wasnt making any sense at all and she kept calling me "papa" and telling me that she needed money to take a ship to Angola Africa but after that she started saying she needed tobaccoo. Well we just ignored her and kept teaching but after a little while she started cleaning my pants with her hands while saying "Papa, I need 10 escudos (8 cents) to buy tobaccoo for my mouth. I kept saying that I wasnt papa and i didnt have money but she kept saying "no, you are papa and you have money. It was really strange but kinda funny at the same time, the member that was teaching with us was just laughing the whole time and i was just trying to ignore her but it was hard not to laugh. I think this is the only mission in the world where we have distractions like that during our lessons, but we just kept on teaching anyways. There are lots of cooky people here but it makes life interesting and funny. Yesterday there was also a really big bull right next to the main street eating trash and roaming around. All the animals here eat trash, and then I eat the animals so I guess you could say I am literally eating junk food. Things are still going really good here and time is passing by way fast. I am pretty much accustomed to life here and it just feels like this is normal life for me now.

Dec 7, 2009

Hey everyone whats up! Well i am here on my 3rd transfer on the islands, i cant believe how fast time is going, it seems like this transfer didnt even happen it went so fast. So i am in the same area which is cool, i am glad i get to spend a little more time with the people here and have Christmas at the mission home, but at the same time after this transfer i will definitely be ready to get to another island. So i was really used to just having older companions and sending them home cause thats what happened with the last two, but this transfer is the very opposite. My new companion is E. Rodrigues, he is from Brasil and this is only the second transfer of his mission so he is younger. He also doesnt speak a lick of english and he is kinda different... he is 25 and kinda a nerdy little guy, but he seems like a hard worker so it will all be good. we arent very similar at all, but at the same time some other elders arrived in Praia that im way good friends with and my next door neighbors are the same elders too so i have plenty of guys i can talk with. E. Olson is from my district in the mtc and from Logan, and he is now in my district here so it will be fun having him and his companion from brasil is really cool too. My district now has a cabo verdean sister, brasilian sister, e. olson and his brasilian and then me and my brasilian. I am the district leader too so we will see how that goes too, but this transfer will be fun. I am getting we excited for christmas too and even the Cabo Verdeans are starting to get in the christmas spirit. The main place of town up on the Plateua where all the stores are have christmas lights and stuff, but its still nothing like back at home. Nobody has a whole lot of money here so christmas isnt like it is back at home. We will be going to the mission home here though and just eating and playing games and stuff for the day. Not a whole lot has happened this week, just same ole same ole besides the transfers. The wheather is getting better though, we have had cool breezes and some clouds lately and now for the most part the weather is perfect. We also got water in our house all day everyday so that was like the greatest blessing ive had in a long time, its not clean but its water. I have some blank cd´s now though so i think im going to put my pictures on and send them to you guys along with other things. There is a guy that lives right by us that is a less active member but he has a computer and everything so he would be able to do it for me, he even put a bunch of christmas music and more church songs on my ipod so that was cool. So sorry if this e mail is kinda all over the place but ive just been running around all over the place today with transfers and stuff but hopefully things calm down more next week and i have some stories to tell. Well thanks for everything and i will talk to you guys next week! thanks for the e mails too.