Luz Ka Sta... Again...

Hey Everyone!

Sorry about the lateness. Apparently Calheta has this tradition where the power goes out Monday morning and NEVER returns. Maybe not but it’s a bit ridiculous. Last week I was so late because the power didn’t come back until 5:00. Yesterday the power was gone until around 7:00 so we couldn’t use Internet until today. Water comes and goes as it pleases as well so yesterday we didn’t do a whole lot of anything. I did read a lot in "Jesus the Christ" though. Really good book, although it is very hard to read. James E. Talmage uses some pretty intense language that is a little more difficult to understand. But I guess when it comes to writing about the Savior, nothing else would really do it justice. I really learned a lot though and I wish I had more time to study it. Time... man we need more time here. EVERYONE and their goat wants to talk to us but we just don’t have enough hours in the day. We are going to start a “Principles of the Gospel” class every Tuesday and Thursday night at the church here and we should have really good attendance to that. Last week we taught a lesson at the church with 17 PEOPLE!!! Holy smokes! Seriously though, we’ve never done a door contact and yet we have over 60 people that we have taught at least once. It’s pretty amazing to be a part of this. We will be having 3 baptisms this weekend, the first three people to be baptized in Calheta. It’s gonna be a very special week. President Oliveira and a bunch of the leaders from the stake will be there. We’ve got a lot of work to do though because our goal is to open up a branch here soon. We’re still going to Assomada for church because of lack of materials but we’re hoping to start here, maybe this week.

Saturday we cleaned the beach behind out house. We had a bunch of members from Praia and Assomada, the missionaries from Assomada and some of our investigators come out to clean the beach. One of our investigators, who works at the Government Building, organized everything for us and it turned out really good. The only thing was we used brooms to clean it. Like the brooms you would use to sweep the garage or something like that. Who would have guessed that you could clean a beach with a broom? Certainly not me but it worked and it looks a lot better. We also cleaned the area that we will use as the baptismal font... IN THE OCEAN!! It’s gonna be so cool! I’m pretty excited. Other than that though, not much is new. We’re working really hard and I am exhausted but things are slowly falling into order. We have to organize our time better so that we don’t keep moving back and forth between areas in the city... Calheta is huge! Everyone is getting super excited and I think I’ve given out more Book of Mormons these past two weeks than I have in my entire mission combined. It’s kind of cool seeing people walking down the streets, carrying a Book of Mormon.

Time really goes by too fast. When I think about it, I can’t believe I’ve been here for as long as I have. Yet, I’ve already seen so many miracles and so many amazing things. It’s a good thing I still have over a year to go. It’s a really good feeling to go back to Assomada on Sundays and see the people that I had been working with active in the church and going strong. Two of my recent converts gave talks in church and they both have really strong testimonies. This really confirms to me even more the power and blessings that come from the gospel of Christ. Also, Assomada is officially a ward now; they now have a bishop. Pretty cool stuff. Well, I can’t really think of anything else to write. I hope the end of school goes well. Love you all!

Elder Dola

I love the ocean!!

Olá!!

Well... you can´t say that mission life isn´t exciting. So Monday was just a normal p-day, not much really happened. We went on a division with some members so that we could attend two FHE´s. I went with President T, the branch president in Ribeirão Manel. As we were walking to the house, we were talking about his mission and the different islands he served on. I mentioned how I was still in my first area but I thought it would be my last transfer. I don´t know why but I just had a feeling that this would be my last in Assomada. They have been talking about opening a new area in Calheta and a lot of work has been done to make this happen. However, nobody knew when. President T then said that two missionaries would be going there on Wednesday and that he thought it was Elder F and I. I hadn´t heard anything about it and neither had Elder F so we didn´t really worry about it. Tuesday we went to Praia for Zone Leader´s Council, which was pretty darn amazing!! President O called us over at the end and told us that we were being transfered... TO CALHETA!!! Man, talk about out of nowhere. Probably the most surprising and abrupt transfer I will ever have, right during the middle of week 2. So Tuesday night we went on a division with the other elders in Assomada to show them some of our investigators with a baptismal date and I got to say goodbye to a few people, not all though unfortunately. Wednesday morning, bright and early, we moved everything to Calheta. It was quite the process and that washing machine is stinking heavy!! But we got everything downstairs from our appartment in Assomada, onto a truck and then headed off for Calheta. When we got there, we hauled all the stuff up into the new appartment, only to find out that it was the wrong one!!!! So we moved most of the stuff across the balcony to the other appartment but unfortunately had to take all the heavy stuff up two more flights of stairs, across the roof and down again. We were both exhausted but it is done and totally worth it. 

So Elder F and I are officially the first missionaries to teach here in Calheta. We have a book with more than 200 references from the YSA in Praia. They came here a couple weeks before and contacted a bunch of people telling them that the missionaries would be coming. So Wednesday was moving/cleaning day and Thursday was our offical first day of teaching. We´ve been contacting references and talking to people every day since and man, there are so many people here who want to talk to us!! We can hardly leave our house without people coming up to us. We´ve been giving out Book of Mormons and pamphlets like crazy!! I´ve met so many people the past four days that I´m having trouble remembering all of their names. It is truly a blessing to see all of the people who have been prepared by the Lord here in this city. We already have a couple baptisms marked for June 2 and a whole bunch of people that we need to mark with. We also have a ton of families to work with! Our job is to establish the church here in Calheta and all we really have to do is teach. Heavenly Father has already done everything else. For example, Thursday night as we were leaving for a lesson, two men contacted us in the street. We gave them each a Book of Mormon and marked to talk to them on Friday. So Friday as we were coming to the house for the appointment, there they were, sitting on the steps reading the Book of Mormon!! We had an incredible lesson with them and they already have a desire to share the gospel with other people. Our next appointment, Sunday night, they brought three more people with them!!! I´ve seen so many miracles in the past 4 days I don´t know where to begin. We´ve already met with one member from here, she was baptized in Praia, and we have been told about two or three others. This truly is going to be an amazing experience and I feel so blessed to have this opportunity. We´re going to see some amazing things happen here and we´ll have a branch started here in no time. 

So I was kind of sad to leave Assomada, especially so abruptly, but we went to church there on Sunday because everything isn´t set up yet here. The people who I´ve been working with for the past four and a half months are doing great and are going strong. It was good to see that and really confirmed that I did my job there. Calheta is beautiful!! I´ve decided that I am going to live by the ocean one day. We are right next to the ocean and it is amazing!! It is also quite a large area and we have more people right now than we have time to teach. This is truly going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity and I can´t belive I get to be here right now. So that´s about all... we´ve got a lot of work to do but everything is going to be great. Love you all!

Elder Dola

Assomada Está Quente!!

Hey Everyone!!

It was great talking to you last night. Glad to hear that everything is going good. So I don’t have very much to write today, just thought I’d write a little bit about what happened this last week for everyone else. Plus I didn’t really say last night either... Anyways, we had a baptism on Saturday; her name is D. She is only nine years old but she has a pretty strong testimony and is really smart. She always had really good questions and thinks really hard about what we taught. It was a bit of a different experience teaching someone so young but she is a really special child. Her parents are less active members so we are hoping to help the family return to the church. They all came to the baptism and seemed really excited. Her uncle is branch president in Ribeirão Manel and already served a mission. It should be good. The church really needs more families.

So I was pretty much flying solo for most of the week, which was kind of hard. I was supposed to have a mini-missionary but he decided he wanted to stay with his family because he will be leaving soon for his mission in Portugal and it was his birthday this week. So the only member that could stay with me was a man named C. C is a stud! He has a super strong testimony and a desire to share the gospel. The only problem is that he doesn’t know how to read and is a bit shy. He worked really hard though and everything went good. I definitely felt like something was missing though without my companion. We had a good week though and other than the crazy party all weekend, things ran fairly well.

Other than that though, not much is new that we didn’t talk about last night. It´s getting hotter every day here, which is kind of a bummer, but Elder Fonseca says that it is way hotter in Praia. So I’m glad to still be here. I love it here though and I’m super excited to continue serving. We’re gonna help this ward get back on it’s feet and hopefully we’ll have leaders this next Sunday. Hope everyone has a good week!

Love, Elder Dola

Macacos e Cabras e Cães, OPA!!

Hey family!!

So first things first, transfers happened this past weekend AND...... I´m going to stay here in Assomada!!! YES!! I´m super pumped. I love it here in Assomada and I don´t think I´m ready to leave yet. Elder Fonseca and I will be staying as Zone Leaders which will be pretty sweet. Other exciting news, Brodie is Zone Leader in Praia. This means I´ll probably see him at least once this transfer during Zone Leaders Council. It´s gonna be awesome!

So we had two baptisms this week, L and C. L is probably the most golden investigator I have ever seen, she´s the one that we helped carry water. She has such a strong testimony already and is going to be a strong member throughout her life. C, our other recent convert, is a stud!! He has been battling a smoking addiction for the past three months. Last week, we past him in the street and the first thing he said, in English, was "I quit smoking!" We were so pumped and he was so happy and excited all week! This guy should have been baptized months ago! He was basically a self-reference and has never missed a Sunday since he started. Plus he´s super smart and has an amazing testimony! We have been blessed this past transfer and this one coming up should be very successful. We already have two baptisms planned for the first week and a lot of strong investigators.

Other than that, not too much is new. It is getting hotter here, more and more every day. Even the evenings are getting warmer. But it´s still bearable. We have to wear our suits for church and special zone conferences, if a General Authority is there for example, and man, suits were not meant to be used in Cape Verde!! But it´s only once a week for three hours so it´s not that bad. This week, Elder F is going to Praia to train the new assistants. So I am going to be with Elder M, a mini-missionary. It´s gonna be pretty interesting but should be good. I already know him, as he is from Assomada which could make it a bit strange... especially since we are teaching his two brothers, but he's really cool and is getting ready to leave on his mission in Mozambique!

So Sunday we are going to try to use Skype. We are planning on calling around 6:00 PM our time, so roughly 1:00 your time. I have to try to remember my username and password. If Skype doesn´t work out we will just use the phone. So keep your Skype on and I will try to remember my info.

Time really does go by too fast... I´ve already been gone for six months!! CRAZY! But I still have a long ways to go and a lot of work to do. It´s gonna be exciting!  I love you all and will talk to you on Sunday!

P.S. The picture is my Zone from the last transfer