Hey everyone!!
All right so this past week was kind of an up
and down week. The beginning was really good and we had a lot of lessons with
our investigators. However, we are really having some troubles getting them to
keep their commitments. This makes it hard to progress with them because we
have to keep going over stuff again. We have one guy though who I think is
really close to baptism. He is Nigerian and speaks English. We’ve been teaching
him quite a bit and he comes to church all the time. On Saturday we had a
really good lesson with him about the importance of baptism and the blessings
that come because of it. We had a recent convert who bore really strong
testimony of why he was baptized and the difference he’s seen in his life. It
was so good! Now we are just waiting for him to pray to get and answer. He hasn’t
done it yet but I think he’s really taking it seriously because he says he
needs to make some time so he can really pray and search for an answer. He’s so
close though!!!!!
Yesterday in the evening we contacted this one
girl who seemed really interested. We taught the Restoration and she asked a
lot of questions about why we are out here and stuff like that. She said that
some missionaries talked to her family when she was a kid but she didn’t really
pay attention and she didn’t remember anything. Unfortunately, she leaves in
two weeks for Brazil for school. We’re hoping to teach her a few more times and
then get her information so we can send it to the missionaries in Brazil.
Other than that though we knock a lot of doors and are really trying to help
some of our current investigators to keep their commitments so we can teach
some more stuff.
Cape Verde is super awesome though!! There have
only been two days where it was hot. Not even that hot though. Apparently I am
in the coldest part of the country right now during winter. It’s rather windy
here and it hasn’t been too bad temperature wise. Not sure how long that
will last though. It gets cold at night!! The people are really nice and almost always will let you in to talk. The people here are pretty short, although
there are some tall people, just not very many. Crioulo is still very confusing
for me. I have been mostly working on improving my Portuguese and I still can’t
understand them when they start rambling in Crioulo. I’m sure it will come
though. Someday. I’ve seen my mission president twice now since my first day.
Although I think that is rare. He travels a lot. He came on Sunday with his
wife for a house inspection and then he was here the week before for a baptism.
Tomorrow we have a Zone Conference in Praia so I don’t know if I’ll see him
there or not.
Today hasn’t been the most exciting p-day. We have to de-contaminate our kitchen because the cupboards are
disgusting and we had an infestation of cockroaches. NASTY!! Apparently the
house was even worse when my companion first moved in but we are almost done.
We do have a fridge and we found some boxed milk last week. We probably won’t
get it that often though because it is more expensive. I like my companion. He’s helped me a lot and he understands Crioulo so that also is good.
We get along really well, and right now we are trying to change our teaching
approach in order to find more interested people.
I just got my
first Cape Verde haircut and I’ve never had my hair this short. But I don’t
have to do anything to it so it will be a bit easier to keep. Other than that I’m
doing good. Just trying to learn the language, study hard and help as many
people as I can. I still miss everyone and want you to know how much I
love you all. I know this church is true. There is no other reason on earth
that I would be here if it wasn’t. I’m so excited to serve and help the people here learn about the gospel. I hope everyone is doing well and I enjoy hearing
what is going on at home.
Love, Brandon
PS I sent a letter last week. Let me know when
it gets there so I can see how long it takes to send mail.
