É Segunda-Feira YA!

Hello everybody!

I can’t believe you guys are almost done school already. Time is going by TOO FAST!!!! I definitely want OKC to win, although it’s not Orlando so I guess it doesn’t matter. They are just waiting till I get back and then they’ll start playing good again. The weather is a bit hotter in Calheta during the day but at night it really cools down because of the breeze from the ocean. Yes the water is quite warm, and salty. The tide is actually quite low, which is kind of weird, but the only thing that makes the baptisms a bit difficult is the waves. I did get my package and it was AWESOME!!! We went and played basketball this morning and I am awful. I am going to have to spend a week in the gym when I come home. Man... but thanks a lot, and tell grandma and grandpa thanks as well. No rain yet but it has been cloudy lately... who knows what will happen in this place.

So, our three baptisms fell this week sadly... one of them got sick and didn’t make it to church, one drank and the other one dropped off the face of the earth. Seriously... but the first two are going good and should be baptized this week, the other one we have yet to find. We’re having some troubles getting people to come to church. Calheta is full of Catholics and everyone is talking about those who come to church with us. So a lot of people become ashamed or embarrassed or something like that and don’t come. We’ve been teaching Lehi´s dream though and how they didn’t pay any attention to the people in the Big and Spacious building, so we’re hoping to solve that problem.

Well, it’s transfer time again and sadly, my time in Calheta is being cut short. I’m kind of sad to leave there so soon as I am being transferred to Praia to serve as Zone Leader there. That means I am getting a new companion as well... who just so happens to be from the Medicine Hat 5th Ward as well. I’m serving with Brodie!!!!!!!!!! It’s nuts man!!!! I got the call last night and I couldn’t believe it. I truly never believed that we would serve together but now we are! Man, it’s gonna be crazy sweet. I’m in Praia now and we’re slowly getting things settled. Man, I’m mind blown right now. It’s gonna be SWEET!!!!!!!!!!

Well, that’s all the news from me today. New area, new comp, new zone and a lot of work to do. I’m pretty excited! Hope everything goes well with finishing up school and say hi to grandma and grandpa for me.

Love, Elder Dola

June 11, 2012

Hello Family,

Sounds like everything is going good way on the other side of the world. To answer your question, no we don’t get to drive the vehicles, they are hired drivers and that is their job. We just get in the vehicle that is going where we need to go. 

The Thunder are in the Finals?!? That is so SWEET!! I hope they beat the Heat. That would be pretty darn awesome. Who won the Stanley Cup? It's crazy to think you guys are almost done school.  Weather and everything kind of stays the same here so it doesn’t seem like summer is coming. Everyday is summer here. This week was a busy one though and kind of crazy but it ended very well and everything that we went through was definitely worth it.

So we had two baptisms this week, M and E, and they made us work for it. They started working a lot this week and are always tired when they come home. So unfortunately that meant that they missed some of their appointments with us. We barely got everything taught but they were both interviewed Saturday morning and baptized Saturday afternoon. We had a very nice baptismal service and some of the members from Assomada came with Bishop S to attend the service. Our good friend G, the old Ward Mission Leader in Assomada, returned from his trip in São Tomé and came to visit us. He’s kind of funny and talks about 1000 miles an hour but I was definitely missing him. Kind of weird but he’s going to come teach with us this week. He’s planning on getting married to N, one of my recent converts, in a year so that they can go to the temple. But the baptismal service was very nice and the waves weren’t so harsh this time. Elder F baptized E and I baptized M and it was another really good day. On Sunday we had the first sacrament meeting here in Calheta and Bishop S came and organized the Calheta Group. We are still part of the Assomada Ward until we have enough members and priesthood holders to make a branch. M was called as Group Leader and he’ll be the bishop’s mouthpiece here to help organize everything. Unfortunately we didn’t have as many people there as we were hoping, apparently there was some sort of Catholic party going on, but it was still a really good meeting and another step towards establishing a ward here.

It’s really neat to see the way Heavenly Father prepares these people to accept the gospel. We met a man who received a "Principles of the Gospel" book from a member in Assomada a couple years ago and has been studying it since. His only questions were about baptisms for the dead and temple marriage. He’s already married and we are going to work with him to help him strengthen his testimony and prepare for baptism. He could very well be the first branch president here in Calheta. I’m pretty excited to continue working here and I hope I get to stay for a long time. Transfers are already here and we’ll know who is going where by Saturday this week. I really hope I get to stay here in Calheta but you never know what is going to happen. Whatever does though, I know that I’ll go where I am needed most.

Other than that not much else is new. We’ve been super busy everyday and still have more people to talk to than we have hours in the day. It’s a great time to be here in Cape Verde with all the miracles that are happening. It is kind of neat to see how every mission is so different, even just from reading my friends letters I see the great differences in every part of the world. Wherever we are though, it is the same work and Heavenly Father will continue to guide it in every step. Have a great week and enjoy the end of school. 

Love, Elder Dola

Waves Galore!

Hey!

Well another day in history has just happened... THE FIRST BAPTISM IN CALHETA!! So the other two fell because we didn´t have a chance to teach them everything they needed before baptism, so they´ll be baptized next week. But the other one, J, was baptized on Saturday!!! I don´t have a lot of pictures because Sister O has them but she said she´d send them to me this week. So hopefully next week I will have them to send to you. But, I had the priviledge of performing the baptism, in the ocean!! So we had this place picked out that would have been perfect, but since it was Saturday afternoon, there were a bunch of people swimming there. So we went to the other side of the rocks to this place and the waves were HUGE!! It was very difficult to stand in the same place for very long since we were constantly being beaten by the waves. But J was baptized, with a little help from the ocean, and it was a very special experience. J has a lot of faith and really proved it this past weekend. Just entering to the ocean required faith. He bore his testimony on Sunday after being confirmed and the Spirit was really strong as he was doing it. This is exactly what this place needs, someone with strong faith that can help establish the church. I feel pretty blessed for the opportunity I had to work with this man and I´m excited for the things that are going to come in the future. President and Sister Oliveira as well as the Stake President were there. We also had quite a few investigators show up. It was a very good weekend. 

Other than that not much else is going on. Yesterday was the last day we will be going to Assomada for church. They got approval to start a group here in Calheta and we are slowly aquiring all the materials that we need so we will be ready to start having church here in Calheta next Sunday. I´m gonna miss Assomada and the people there but I know that I am needed here now in Calheta and I´m going to keep serving where ever I am called. We normally take a Hiace or a Toyota Hilux, both which would be illegal in Canada. Especially the Hiace. Yikes... the drivers may or not be partially insane but it gets us where we need to go. It´s only a half-hour drive to Assomada, so it wasn´t that bad, but we will have way more people in attendance at church here. Lots of good stuff happening here in Calheta and in the mission. I love this place and I couldn´t imagine serving anywhere else. 

I don´t really have much else to write. We are super busy every day and I get home exhausted. It makes it really easy to fall asleep at night though so that is good. Apparently we are coming to the end of the hot season and coming into the rainy season. We´ll see I guess but I hope we get a lot of rain. Hope everything keeps going good and I love you all!