Feb 15- Letter Home

Hey hey whats up?
> Well Im trying to think of the stuff that has happened this week but there hasnt been anything too exciting. I think the biggest thing going on right now is Carnival which is their biggest holiday they have here. I am hearing that the missionaries in brazil have to stay in their houses for a week it gets so bad, but im thinking it wont be that bad here. We are still working and everything, it will just be kinda hard to catch people in their houses and the streets are going to be packed with people. There were some things going on yesterday like parades and stuff but tomorrow is supposed to be their main day so we will see how it goes. Its like the maurdi grass of here.
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> Our investigators are doing alright but they are kinda progressing slowly. We came up with a brilliant idea of how we could help out our couples that are thinking about marriage. On Tuesday we gathered them all up and headed to the chapel and watched the movie charly. During the end of the film i looked back at them and they were all in tears. When the film ended it was just kinda quiet and one of the guys stood up and said "spectacular film elders". He might have just been saying that to make us think that we did a good job when in all reality they were just super depressed from it and wished they never came, but i think it got the job done. We had two couples there and both of them are in their mid 20's, and then just a few other guys that are members but it was sweet. Its kinda cool how we are able to get involved with our members so much and they are just like normal friends. One of those same guys that was at our movie came and played soccer with us at 6 in the morning and they are always inviting us to family activity and stuff. If all the investigators that played soccer with us would have the same dedication with half of our lessons, we would have a line going out of the doors of the chapel on saturday of people getting baptized. One of my old investigators from the last area was baptized yesterday though which was pretty cool. He has a fake leg on one side though cause he was in a car accident when he was young, so my last companion had some difficulties baptizing him but they got it done. He seemed to really like the part when we taught him about the ressurection and how our bodies will be restored perfectly... i think thats the part that sold him. Besides that i cant think of a whole lot that is going on with the work, its going pretty normal and we have our 2 guys that will be getting baptized in a couple weeks.
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> Well i will try to answer some questions that you guys asked... and if you really want to know more about this place you guys need to ask more questions cause there are things to tell but i always forget them when i get to internet. But so yeah valentines day is somewhat big here but not as big as home i dont think. For my valentines day i was teaching about marriage with one of those couples, hopefully it made their valentines day pretty good.

Feb 8 Letter Home

So yeah some other big news is that i had 5 people baptized this week. The first one is t-caixo (Di) the rapper. He is doing really good and will be a strong member in the church. He is from my old area but i was still able to watch the baptism and everything so it was sweet. I was with him from the day we contacted him up to his interview so we have quite a bit of time together. We also baptized a family that is way strong, its a mom and her three kids, i think i already told you guys a little about them. Its working out dang nicely for us though cause now they are inviting all their friends to hear about the church too so we should have lots of new investigators to teach. We are also already preparing the 2 guys to serve missions one day. Besides that the work is going about the same. We have a couple that is way cool that we are working on and i think they will be married pretty soon and then baptized. We are also teaching a 14 year old guy who is amazing. He looks like he is 18, talks like he is 20, and speaks 5 languages already. He is without a doubt the smartest person i have met here. We watched a church movie with him the other day, but instead of wasting our time putting it in port., we just watched it in english. He is also playing for a cabo verde team in soccer and has other coaches from all different countries that come to watch him play, and he is planning on going to play for one of them once he is old enough but doesnt know exactly where. He is pretty ligite though, he thinks he might play for someone like LA galaxy in the u.s.a. and then after head back and play for a big europe team. He already has a huge testimony, there is only one problem. Soccer takes up so much of his time that he has a hard time making it to church. He already has close to 1 year with the missionaries and he comes to church whenever he can, but lots of times he has training. We kinda dont know what to do but he has been to church these last 3 weeks and we are going to have a family home evening in his house to teach his family. I will let you know what goes down.
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> Well this p day has been pretty fun today too. We went up to the city of Assomada up in the high mountains with some of our zone and enjoyed the nice cool weather and green scenery. We went and hiked to the biggest tree in cabo verde too. It was depressing coming back to praia though cause its so hot and we cant even see the sun, there is a sand storm so its just smoggy. The place we are using for internet right now doesnt let us upload pics but next week i will go to the other place and get some pics sent to you guys.

Feb 1- Letter Home

So this week was pretty cool and the work is going good! I think I forgot to tell you guys last time but my first saturday in this area we had a baptism, but we got there and we could smell alcohol on the guys breathe so the president of the branch pulled him aside.... nobody really noticed it though right until they were getting into the water so we had already had the talks and everything. So the pres. pulled him aside and talked with him and then we did a little bit and he tried to deny it but it was kinda obvious . He was pretty upset though so he just left... but his family are all members and his dad is in the branch presidency so they were trying to help him out, but he is so ashamed of it he wont go back to his house and nobody had really seen him all week. We ran into him this morning on the road though and he seemed really cool, and we told him we would pass by his uncles house where he is staying later, i hope he changes though. He had been taught about everything and said he was willing to live it so it was sad when that happened.
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> We should be having a different outcome this next baptism though. We will have one on saturday of a mom and her 3 kids in their teens, its going to be awesome. They are already really strong in the church, they have their own family home evenings every week and come to all the other ones we have too. I am really excited for them and we will also be having T-caix´s baptism too (the rapper from my old area) so im glad i will be able to see that, he is doing really good too! We also marked 2 more guys to be baptized in a few more weeks and they are studs, they are cousins and one of them is from São Tomé, another island off of africa but closer to the ivory coast. They are really cool guys too and keeping all the commitments. We had 11 investigators in church this week too so that was awesome and they are all coming regularly! We have also been having lots of family home evenings which are my favorite... we had one last night with about 20 people. There are some really strong people here in the church so its really cool seeing that stuff go on! The ladies house we had it in is probably the strongest member i have ever seen in my life... she was living with her man and her kids but they werent married. The missionaries found her a long time ago and she wanted to be baptized for years, but her man she was living with refused to get married. He was providing all of the money for her and her kids, but she decided she needed to be baptized so after a few years she just left him with her kids and got baptized. She now just sells cookies on the road side and makes enough just to get by, but she hasnt missed church since she was baptized. Talk about a cool lady.
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> So yeah it sounds like byu is still getting the job done, it sounds like new mexico is really good so that loss shouldnt hurt them that bad! Keep me updated on it and the other sports too, but you guys are doing a really good job... especially you ashley and alyssa! Every once in a while people will watch the news here too and then tell us whats going on with haiti, it sounds like america is helping a ton! But the creolo they speak there isnt anything like here, creole just means a mix of different languages to make its home so lots of different places have creole, but Cabo Verde creolo is its own language. We actually have a bunch of creolo´s but the main types are budjo and são bajute depending if your in the north islands or south. Each island is still a different language though and even on this island people talk different depending on the city. So pretty much when i am transferred i will be learning another language, i love the creolo here though its hilarious. The way the language is everybody talks like they are young... you will have a 60 year old lady ask you if everything is cool and when we leave they will say things like "keep it real" or "keep everything on the downside". Thats just the lanuage is.
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> So you guys remember that girl from here that i met before my mission. Well we have e mailed a little bit and she gave me some family to talk too. Her family actually lives in praia so i think i will be talking with them this week, she gave me her dads number so that will be cool. I also have zone conference tomorrow so me and my companion have to give a 30 min presentation on getting members to help, it should be sweet!

Jan 25th Letter Home

Yeah but so sorry, i will tell you guys about whats going on here now. So this has been a pretty fun week getting to know the people in my new area and what not. To answer your question dad, we got about 30 lessons this week and is usually anywhere between 30 and 35 if you are working really hard here in Praia... although the number is higher in fogo and other places... people arent as receptive here in the big city as they are in other areas. So it was really cool getting new lessons with new people and our area is really cool. We have an awesome family of a mom, her two teenage sons and 11 year old daughter that will be baptized not this week but the next, but they are golden! We have another family that is close to baptism too and then a few couples that we are working with to get married. ~We have one young couple though that are really cool but the story with them is kinda sad. They arent married but are living together and they both want to be baptized, but now they are thinking they are going to just seperate instead of getting married and they have a kid and everything. We are trying to work with them still to get married cause they are way cool and we want them to stay together! Its kinda funny cause we actually have quite a few people like that, but its not easy work! Our area is really good though, we had 11 investigators in church and we are making some new contacts and getting lots of new people too.
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> So my favorite part about being zone leader is being able to do divisions with different missionaries and walk in their areas. This week we had our division with the assistents, so i headed over to their area and stayed with e. oliveira who is the assistent from here. There area is the really rich area of praia so it was really different teaching in a nice area! The zone leaders and assistents have to travel around the islands for divisions and conferences quite a bit in airplanes, but because i am zl in praia i dont really deal with that. This mission is so different though because of all the natives that are serving. The one i walked with (oliveira) is from fogo so he normally wouldnt be allowed to serve in an area in fogo.. but because he is ap he has to travel there to do conferences. He sayed that the house he stayed in was two houses down from his home with his family and he saw them like three times while driving past. He was also able to teach his mom when he was in Santo Antao because she was there visiting and she ended up being baptized from it. He also studied here in Praia for a couple years and his ex girlfriend from here lives in his area and he has to walk past her house everyday. That is pretty much like me being called to the provo mission, serving in American Fork and yet having rules where im not suppose to see you guys for 2 years! Talk about crazy huh but so yeah, there are all sorts of weird things in our mission like that that wouldnt really happen in a normal mission. Im loving it though and its a good experience... the time is flying be really fast still and it gets faster every transfer.
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> So i will try to answer some of your guys questions now. Yes it is really hot here, and cape verde is its own country. Zone leader isnt all that bad either, the main thing is just meeting with the president and assistents a lot more, zone conference which will be this next week me and my companion have to do a big presentation, and divisions and stuff. Other than that not a whole lot has changed... besides having an american companion i guess. We get tons of attention now because we are 2 white guys walking around... EVERYONE comes up and just starts talking to us. So yeah if you have more questions just ask.

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!