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