Hey Everyone!
Sorry about not explaining the pictures. I was
short on time and I forgot. The bug is a huge centipede that we found in the
stairwell of our appartment. As you can see, it was huge!! That´s the only one
I´ve ever seen though. Usually we just find cockroaches and flies. Although the
cockroaches have been declining lately. Which is good. I have no idea what kind
of trees those are. The one that we climbed is the only one there and it is
gigantic!! It reminded me of the trees in Avatar. The people here call it Polon,
not sure what that means, but thats all I know.
So this week wasn´t super exciting. We are
actually kind of in the process of finding new people so our teaching pool
isn´t very big. We have a couple people with baptism dates but they still
haven´t come to church and we don´t know what to do with them. We spent a lot
of time this week teaching members in order to get references and we actually
got quite a few references which was good. The next step is to set up
appointments with these people and the members so that we can start teaching
them. We´ve really been having a problem with church attendance though.
Yesterday we had 4 people come to church and none of them are our progressing
investigators with a baptismal date. So we´ve been really focusing on that.
We´ve also been having problems getting our investigators to keep our
appointments. These past couple days we have been spending a lot of time
walking through the streets, trying to find someone to teach. It´s been kind of
frustrating and we are considering going to some different areas that we
haven´t been yet that are further away. We´ll have to see though.
However, it wasn´t a bad week. And I´m still
learning a lot. It is amazing to see the Lord´s hand in everything that we do.
I´m beginning to recognize it more and more every day and it truly is a
blessing to be able to serve here. This week I was studying in Alma 26, where
Ammon is rejoicing in the success they had with the Lamanites. There are two
things that I really like about that chapter that I´ve been thinking a lot
about lately. The first is how much we rely on the Lord in our lives.
Especially now as a missionary, I wouldn´t be able to help any of these people
if I didn´t have the Spirit with me. I´m sure we could convince some people
through scriptures, but they would never be truly converted. Without the
Spirit, I would be wasting my time here. The other thing is how much the Lord
trusts us. There is a couple parts in Alma 26 where Ammon talks about becoming
"instruments in the hands of the Lord." This is so true. Everything
that is done in the mission field, is directed by the Lord. Missionaries are
just the tools He uses to accomplish his work. As missionaries, and as members,
we need to allow ourselves to be directed by the Lord so that we can help His
children come unto Christ. It's something I´ve been really trying to work on
since getting here and I have seen the blessings that come of it every day.
I don´t really have much to write this week.
Elder Bunderson received a Valentines Day package from his family with those
Betty Crocker sugar cookie mixes and icing so we decorated Valentines Day
cookies on Tuesday. Every once in awhile the power goes out and last night we
ended up planning in candlelight again so we took some pictures. Just little
reminders of life here in Cape Verde as a missionary. I´m still having a lot of
fun and I´m really looking forward to what is going to happen. I talked to
Brodie this week, he was in Praia waiting for his new companion to come from
the MTC. He's doing really well and is in Fogo right now, training again. It
was weird to think that we were on the same island for a couple days. It´s
really cool to think how different it is out here. I´m out in the middle of the
Atlantic Ocean on a tiny island that hardly anyone has ever heard of. Even the
sky is different! The moon is upside down and looks like the smiling face of
the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland some nights. It´s really cool.
Anyways, it´s good to hear that everything is going well at home. Good luck to
Shane in Zones. Have a good week!!
