10-11 Letter Home

Its crazy to think that one more week has passed, it has been going by really quick! They say that the last half of the mission goes even faster and it looks like thats true. So hopefully the picture i sent to you guys works... thats what the sentapedes look like here. They are about 10 in. long and way thick and they hiss at you! I havent been bit yet but my companion has twice and a few other missionaries have too. We were walking last night with a member down a trail and one slithered up on a member that was with us foot but he just kicked it off! They are vemonous though so it keeps life pretty exciting and you have to go to the hospital if you get bit. Luckily our house is in an area that isnt really trashy so i dont think we have too many there.

Besides that not too much crazy stuff is going on. We had our division to Santo Antao with the elders out there this last week and it was really fun. Porto Novo is the only city that has elders there so far but its really different from here or praia, its a lot more calm, i really like it! The power went out while we were walking that night and it was really cool, it was nice and peaceful and you could see all the stars and everything! I went out and walked with Elder Smith from Ceder City and he is a cool guy, i always learn a lot on the divisions. Thats the plus side of being the zone leader. The down side has having to deal with all the problems in the zone instead of just concentrating on our own area.

As for our area its going really well. We always have a lot of people to teach and we have 2 girls that are getting baptized this week. The only thing that could be better in our area is that we need more familys and guys here that can get the priesthood. This branch is bigger than my last one but it still needs more guys that could help with the leadership and also guys that could go serve missions. Its kinda sad cause a lot of people here dont realize the importance of things especielly the younger people. There are quite a few young guys here in the branch but most of them dont care about doing things like passing the sacrament or even being worthy to do it. Lots of people think that they dont need to worry about living the commandments but then when the consequences come they just complain and wonder why all that stuff is happening with them. I just want to say to them, "I told you so!" But we cant force people to listen to us... we just lay it out for them and they have to decide for themselves if they will follow it or not.

I cant remember if i told you of that investigator of my last area, Patricia, lately but she is doing awesome! She just finished the book of mormon after only like 3 and a half weeks of reading! She has a way strong testimony and is going to be baptized at the start of November along with her kids! She is probably one of the best things that has happened in my mission so far, its stories like that that make it worth being out here! The work is still progressing here!

Thats too bad that you guys didnt see a whole lot of elk on the hunts but thats way cool about the bears! I cant wait for next years elk hunt! Thats good that byu is picking it back up too. Im sitting right next to Elder Rogers right now and he said he just got an e mail from bronco mendehall that has the update on everything going on. He says that the only have one freshman reciever thats doing really anything so they ran the ball more last game... and also that poppinga is running the defense. Hopefully that gets things going better. I like hearing about these football updates cause all i hear about from the people here is about soccer!

Well i cant really think of anything else going on thats new. This next week we will have a general authority coming to talk with us... his name is Shutz or something like that and he is from germany. It will be cool to hear from him.

10-04 Letter Home

Well one thing that I am definitely learning on the mission is pacients... especially today. The light has been out all day so we have just been waiting to use internet, and then once we found a place it wouldnt open my e mails! My p day is now almost over and i am just barely being able to get this off to you guys. Its going to be weird to get back home and have light 24/7 and have everything work how it should, im not going to know what to do! But everything is going good now and Im doing alright.

This week was a good one but way different, i havent even worked since thursday. Friday was our zone leaders counsel in Praia and this weekend was conference that we were able to watch all of, it was awesome! Conference has a whole knew meaning to me now that I am on the mission, i love it! We watched all of all 4 sessions and we were even able to watch priesthood session and relief society session on sunday morning before we watched the others. Us that wanted to watch them in english went over to the Goff´s house which is the missionary couple here in Mindelo. I dont know if i told you guys about them but they are from Pleasant Grove and live in Orem now right by the post office, i think its called like garden village so you probably deliver their mail dad. They were really nice and it was nice being able to watch in english. The chapel just right down the street had it in portuguese and it was for all the members of all 4 branches to go to it. Not all the members took advantage of it though and there was only about the size of one full branch that went to watch... i think a lot of the members just took it as a break from church for a week and didnt go. Its kinda sad but the truth is that these people are definitely not ready to have a stake, let alone a temple here! They have a lot to do before that! Even some of the branch leadership doesnt know exactly whats going on here at all times. An example of this is one day at the end of sacrament meeting, our branch president was closing it and to end he wished everyone a good time at the festival at the beach that the island would have. They have festivals here that are just full of iniquity and everyone just goes and gets drunk, so it wasnt the best thing that our PRESIDENT was telling people to have a good time. Thats about the equivelant of the bishop of our home ward ending sacrament meeting by saying "Thanks for coming to church and we wish all of you a great time at the ozzy osborne concert tonight!" There are lots of little things like that that kinda make the missionary work a little more challanging. We teach our investigators one day about keeping the sabath day holy and the next sunday they see half the members doing crazy thinks that day and then the invest. ask us why they are doing that if its not allowed. I guess the church is still young here though and things will become stronger with time. The people that went to conference though really liked it and i loved the talks. The last talk of the last session was probably one of my favorites... M Russell Ballard was speaking my language on that one with the fly fishing examples! Uchtdorfs talk was way cool too and I learned a lot with all of them!

Praia was a pretty fun trip too. We got there early friday morning so me and my companion had time to go visit some of the people we know. We got to see Gilmara and her kids and they are still doing way good and i got to see some of the other ones we baptized! Its good to see them staying strong still! My companion and i are getting along just fine too. Its funny cause this last week we were talking and he was telling me how where he lives (Portugual) they had to travel to Madrid to go to the temple, but that they were putting in a new metro system from Port. to Madrid that would make the trip quicker and he was excited about it. Imagine how excited he is now that they are getting one right there! We are watching the announcements with a sister from Portugual that was born in the church too and when they announced it she couldnt stop crying! It will help out those strong members here too cause its a lot closer than going to brazil like they had too. My comp is actually a convert to the church of three years and he is already 26, but he is way strong and a way funny kid. He is way chill and easy to get along with and he works hard. My new house is also a mansion compared to what it used to be... its way to big for us though! Its three stories high! Its actually a little too big and i would like one a little smaller but i cant complain. The area is going really good too, we have tons of people to teach and tons of investigators that are getting ready to get baptized. Our branch is a lot stronger too and gets about 100 people in church each week (they say, i still havent had church meeting).

So yeah everything here is going pretty good. My testimony is growing a ton out here and i am learning a lot of stuff that i wouldnt have been able to if i didnt come out here. I actually got sick this week but everything is better now. Congratulations on the deer shane... Its not as big as anything i would have shot but it still sounds respectable. And also a big congratulations to utah state for making byu´s problems even worse... it sounds like they are falling apart. They better get things back together so that they can be solid for next season. Sorry if i forgot to respond back to anyone elses questions or anything, with the internet problems today i was kinda rushed. I guess i will just sum it up by telling everyone thanks for everything! Have a good week and i will talk to ya guys next Monday!

9/27 Letter Home

Well this last week was the last week of the transfers and i got switched. It was actually kinda surprising cause i thought i would be staying maybe one more in my last area but president called me up on Saturday and said I would be transferred. Im still here in Mindelo though, it was just a little switch to the other zone on the north side. My new companion is Elder Fernandes from Portugual... he is a way cool guy and speaks english perfectly. The most surprising thing is that i am now zone leader of this zone.... i thought for sure I would be taken out of zone leader once i got changed. This will be my 7th transfer which is a way long time... i must still have something to learn as zone leader or something i guess. The most i have ever heard of someone being zone leader in this mission is 7 and it was my first companion of the mission so its looking like i might beat that, we will have to see though. I am ready to be taken out though and just be normal. Speaking of my first companion, he is in this branch that i will be serving in now so he will be helping us out a ton, he was excited once he found out i would be headed there. This branch and area will definitely be different though, it looks like its a lot stronger. They say that the members help a ton, there are a lot more people in church every week, and the area is going really good. We have a lot of people to teach it sounds like. Even though my last area was a little more difficult i am still going to miss it too, especially a few of our investigators and some of the members. I dont know if I ever told you about Patricia but her and her kids were amazing. She is just 27 and her husban is more like 45 (we never were able to teach him) and she has a 17 year old adopted daughter, a nine year old girl, and 6 year old boy. At the first she told us that she didnt really want to have anything to do with any church just cause they never practice what they teach, but she has completely changed with us. She told us that she doesnt know how we are doing it but we are converting her and that she wants to follow the church. I know how though, its because of the book of mormon. She reads like 20 chapters a week and takes notes of the things she learns. It is responding to all of her doubts! We told her that we would teach about baptism the next visit and she came straight out and said she is against baptism, especially because she doesnt think kids need to be baptized cause they dont have sin. So we left her with Moroni 8 to read which pretty much bashes on young kids being baptized and it completely changed her mind, her testimony grew even more with that! She told us that she heard bad things about the book of mormon before she started talking with us but after reading it that has all changed! We were also preparing the family of To and Paula for baptism. Paula and her daughter are excited but To still has some doubts. He is a stud though and he is progressing a ton and we are getting rid of those doubts. They are super nice and always give us a bunch of fruit that they get sent from fogo. Nothing is better than fruit from Fogo! Im excited for the new area though and i will let you know how everything goes. Im also way excited for general conference! We will be watching it in the couple's house thats here live so that will be cool, we will just have to miss priesthood session cause its so late out here. So how about the hunts... are you guys doing spike only this year? You guys will have to let me know about everything that goes on. Good luck with everything and sorry if i didnt really have time to respond to anyone of you guys... time was a little bit less cause i tried to get some pictures off to you guys. Let me know if they go through and i will send you some more next week. I will also make sure to send off some individual e mails next time too to respond back to everyone! By the way whats up with byu? They better get it going! I am sitting right next to Elder Rogers right now, the one that played there, and he is pretty disappointed hearing about all this! Well have a good week and thanks for all the support and e mails! Ill talk to ya guys next week.

9/20- One Year in Cabo Verde!!!

Well I wont lie i am extremely tired, we had quite the day today. All of our district headed out this morning and took a boat over to Santo Antão to spend the day there. The boat on the way out there was pretty small and the waves were pretty big.... people were throwing up all over the place on the way over and by the end it smelled really bad! My stomach is to strong for that though, dont worry. It was cool though, on the way over we had a group of dolphins that swam up to the side of us for a little bit and there were also a bunch of flying fish. Once we got over there we headed up into the mountains and it was amazing, i almost wanted to cry it was so nice! I felt like i was back in utah... it was really grean everywhere and we were clear up in the clouds, it was definitely really different from being down at sea level where its extremely hot all day long! We hiked up in there though and had a good time, i took a lot of pictures that i will send next time when i have time to download them. Santo Antao is the coolest island that i have been to yet though and right now only has two missionaries at the bottom, but i think it would be awesome to open up an area up higher in the mountains sometime. The people that live up there are literally in the middle of no where, most of them dont have any electricity or anything! They are really nice though and grow tons of fruits up there and gave us some today. I also so some cows which was pretty amazing... the only cows i had ever seen before here were in praia and they eat the trash on the streets but these cows were actually eating green grass up in the meadows! It was a fun p day though and tiring, i actually didnt have time to use internet until tonight because by the time our boat got back in it was time to go out and teach so we just had a little time between lessons and going home. This week we also went out to sal and did our division with the zone leaders there. We got to see the coolest beach i have ever seen there and we also went and taught in an area where every single house is made out of tin and cardboard and are about the size of one bedroom. It was really sad how they live there but they are really humble. I never believed before that people would be able to live in a place like that before the mission. I have a couple pictures though so i will send them to you guys. Other than that it was a decent week but full of challanges! Nobody really wants to really do anything here and we werent able to get anyone in church this week. All the missionaries in this area are having challenges but we will get things changed... Its a fight out here but we´ll win it. We still have a few really cool investigators so thats why im a little bit confused on why they didnt show up... i think the rain might have had part to do with it though. We are getting a lot of rain right now so its nice and cool here a lot of the time, besides when the sun comes out. Then it gets really humid and hot enough to split a rock! Its always hotter the day after a rain storm. But i am hoping that this week will go better. That family of Tó and Paula are still really cool and we have set a date for them to be baptized and they all seemed really excited. I will let you guys know how everyone does this week. I guess its good to have all of these challanges... im learning a lot and my testimony is getting a lot stronger. I guess it will help me out for things after the mission and i will be stronger from it.

9/13 Letter Home

If you happen to get the other pictures of the baptisms, those would be from this week and last week... its daniela and luis. The baptism went all well so that was cool! We also had a pretty good week with our investigators, we still have some that are progressing really well. We are teaching the family of Tó and Paula right now and there kids. Tó is from here but Paula is from Fogo, and that creolo is a lot more like praia so its cool being able to listen to her and talk with her. They are a way cool family and even though we only started teaching them about a week and a half ago they are progressing a ton. Tó has the coolest job in the world, he is a fisherman here! They go out for a couple days each time and usually go off of Santa Luzia which is the only that doesnt have any people. They catch all types of sweet fish and he always has cool stories for me... i tell him one day im gonna come back and go fishing with him after the mission. So he had work yesterday but Paula came to church along with the kids which was really cool. We actually had quite a few people in church this week, about 60 which is about 20 more than usual. We got some investigators there and some less actives too. One of Paula´s kid´s dad is actually living in america now so he goes there quite a bit to visit. It was really funny, i guess he went out there once for about a year and when he came back he was a lot fatter. They are always talking with us about how everyone likes to eat junk food there and i guess its kinda true. The kid is 7 years old and he always likes to talk to me about mcdonalds and how much he misses it... they dont know what that is out here. They do eat a lot healthier here and everyone has to walk everywhere instead of driving, so there are a lot less overweight people. Dont ask me how i put on so much weight cause i dont know! But so yeah thats our week for ya, not too much out of the ordinary. We will be having transfers in 2 weeks and im not sure if i will be staying or leaving and if i leave i have no idea to where, i will just have to wait and see. It doesnt really matter to me what happens, all i know is that i want to serve on Fogo for quite a while! I wouldnt mind staying here another one though cause there are cool people we teach and i want to stay with them and hopefully see them get baptized.

So this next week should be pretty busy. We will have to keep the work going in our area and we are also going to be going to sal on wednesday and thursday to stay with the elders there. Im pretty excited to go back there, its a way weird along.... its flat and really small. It has really cool beaches though so i think during lunch we will go to it and take some pictures. We are also going to santo antao next week as a zone activity which i am way excited for! That is the island we can see from here, and we will have to take a boat ride to get there. Once we get there we will be taking one of those hiaces (those van things) up into the mountains and doing some hiking. Those mountains get really high and green so it will be liking being in utah almost. But the boat wont be getting back until 6 that evening and then we have lessons after that... so im not exactly sure when i will be able to write back, it might just be a day late or something.

9/13 Pics

9/6 letter home

Man thats crazy about all the news that is going on, its crazy to think that fall is actually here! It was nice to get all that football news though and im glad to hear that byu got a win to start out the year. Im looking forward to getting more of these updates and im excited to hear about all the hunting stories too. Sounds like this week was the week of picnics too... i remember going to that park you guys went to everyonce in a while, its pretty nice. I was actually thinking you guys were going to yellowstone this week but i guess that will be the next? Well either way it sounds like everything is going good back at home.

Everything out here is really about the same. We had our first baptism in this area in a while this last saturday and it was actually the best i have ever seen here. It started on time and was well organized which is something that doesnt happen here, ever. Their culture is a little different here and even things of the church never go as planned so it was nice that this all went well. We are going to be having another baptism this week so for the meantime things are going pretty well. It will be Daniella, a 17 year old girl that we teach. At first she didnt seem to interested and she didnt really care to go to church or anything, but this last month she totally switched everything around. She started coming to church every week and completely changed and now she is really excited about her baptism. Cabo Verde had EFY out here like they do back at home, and this was the first one they had ever had. All the youth went down to the island of santiago from all of the different islands and stayed there for a week, and daniella went to it even though she wasnt a member yet. That helped her out even more and got her super excited for the baptism on saturday. We have also been teaching 3 new families, all of which promised to show up in church this sunday ( and if they do it will double our normal attendance) One of the girls of the families at first said she doesnt like anything to do with churches because there are tons of churches here that just say things to get your money and trick people, but once we explained a little bit about our message she kinda changed and that 2nd time we taught her she was telling us she wanted to come to ours. We also had to 20 year old guys that showed up to church yesterday and are doing way good.

I went down to praia for the counsel again this week and this time i had a little extra time to go see people. I got to go see gilmara and her kids and also a few other cool families i knew there, it was way cool! Well i cant really think of anything else that is new. Sorry that this e mail is kinda short but thanks for all the e mails from you guys, i loved reading them. You guys have a good week and ill talk to ya later! Its crazy to think that there are only 10 more months left! Love ya guys