August 27

Another week gone but no transfers have not happened yet. We still have another two weeks left in the transfer so I am still with Elder Hill. I don’t really want to get transferred but I also don’t really have a say in that. Whatever happens, happens, and I’ll go where I’m needed most. It’s actually been raining off and on all week, although that just means it is super humid. It hasn’t been too bad though. Things are going pretty good though.

This week we had two baptisms, D and F. Both super prepared by Heavenly Father and, as a result, I don’t feel like we really did much. We taught them what they needed to know, they accepted and the Spirit did the rest. We are finding more and more people like this and it really makes missionary work fun. It’s a blessing though and I feel like I am slowly figuring things out. I still have a lot to learn but thankfully, I still have over a year! Our two baptisms this week were pretty sweet though. D may be the funniest guy I have ever met here. But also, one of the most prepared. He had talked to missionaries a couple years ago but didn’t have much interest. We baptized one of his friends though and something just struck a spark in him. Sunday after his baptism, he showed up for church in a shirt and tie with a less active member at his side!! This guy is AWESOME!!! F is pretty cool and is now helping us with her family. Her brother is preparing to get baptized at the end of the transfer and we are going to start working with her parents. She kind of just came out of nowhere though. Her member friend came up to us one day and told us that she had a friend who wanted to go to church. So, she brought her to church. We started teaching her, and two weeks later she was baptized. So all in all, a pretty good weekend.

Other than that, we have been finding a lot of sweet new investigators. At the moment we have five people preparing for baptism on September 8 and a bunch of new people to start working with for next transfer. The family that we have been working with since last transfer FINALLY came to church together!!! This has been the biggest hurdle for this family. They both have strong testimonies and are both progressing well. The only problem is they have been doing it separately!! It doesn’t work that way!! So we have really been focusing on working together as a family and things are going a lot better because of that.

That’s about it though. Things are going pretty good but not too much out of the ordinary has happened. Too bad you have to go back to school already. Time goes by way too fast! It’s like someone put the world on fast-forward. Crazy. Anyways, enjoy the first week of school!

We também is poor...

Hey family!

So this week was pretty good. No we did not get robbed again. Already learned that lesson and we will no longer be leaving the balcony door open at night. I haven’t heard from the new Canadian since he left two weeks ago. They don’t waste any time getting them to their new area although I’m sure he’s doing well. I did hear that he had an unfortunate experience with the Fast Ferry though... I hope I never have to take that boat. If I do, it won’t be for a long time because I don’t feel like I’m gonna be leaving this island any time soon.

So not much to report this week. We had zone conference on Wednesday which was AWESOME!!! President Oliveira is an inspired man called of God and he knows EXACTLY what the Lord wants us to do. All we have to do is do it. We are putting a lot of focus on learning the basic doctrines taught in Preach My Gospel and as a result, President challenged us to memorize 30 scriptures from PMG in the next two transfers. Elder Hill and I decided that we wanted to up the challenge so we are going to memorize a scripture a day from now until the deadline. I am not going to be familiar with my English scriptures when I get home. But that’s ok! I’m really seeing an improvement in my teaching because of this and I know that it’s only going to get better. Also we gave a training in Zone Conference on the role of the Spirit in Conversion. 

So unfortunately, our wedding may have to be postponed for a bit. We are having trouble finding a time when we can go to the registry with them and we have been feeling that they need a bit more time. It WILL happen though, but maybe not till next transfer. Other than that though, things are looking good. We have four people preparing for baptism for this upcoming week and have been finding some awesome new investigators. Two of the four for this week are going solid but the other two don’t have permission from their parents yet. BUT that will all change tonight. We both feel like things are going to go well and tonight we are going to talk to their parents again. We had a really good lesson with them last night and the Spirit really touched their mom. So our lack of baptisms is going to end this week and we are really feeling good about the end of the transfer. We are receiving a lot of help from the members and Heavenly Father keeps sending us His prepared children.

Not much else to report. I can’t believe you guys go back to school already!! Craziness... enjoy the end of summer and have a good week!

Elder Dola

Chuva já bem!

What’s up!!

So it does rain in Cape Verde. Not very often but when it does, it just comes all at once. Wednesday we were out teaching in the morning and it started raining just a tiny bit. We finished eating lunch at a member’s house and then we went home to study some more. It slowly started raining harder and harder and before our lunch break finished, it was pouring! The thing about this country is it is so dry that the ground doesn’t soak up the water. That with the fact that there are no sewer systems means that the roads were like rivers. However, there are people we need to teach so at 3:00 we left the house into the rain. We were soaked within two minutes and everyone thought we were crazy. We had a really good lesson though and by the time it was over, the rain had stopped. THEN it gets hot! But the people were pretty happy; they were getting pretty freaked out because the rain was so late apparently. They still need more though...

Well... another week gone and we are almost half way done this transfer. We had a pretty successful week and the only thing that we were missing was a baptism. Things are really starting to fall into place and we are slowly figuring things out. The best part about the week though is... PEOPLE CAME TO CHURCH!!! We had 8 people in church yesterday! After three weeks in a row with just one, we finally found some people who want to come to church. Plus they loved it! We’ve really been working hard and have changed a lot. We’ve kind of slowed things down and as a result, are finding awesome investigators who want to do stuff!  It makes our job way easier and, even though we have so much more work to do, this transfer is looking good.

Good news, we have a family who is going to get married!! We have been working a lot with these two, V and N, and they are the sweetest family ever!!  We started getting all the documents ready and we are going to finish off everything by tomorrow. As long as the regsito works with us, they will be married on August 31 and baptized on September 1.  V told us that once he started talking to us and preparing for baptism, he just felt like he needed to make changes in his life and as a result, quit drinking three weeks ago. The Spirit is working so hard with this family and they are changing fast!

Not much else to report though. We’ve got a lot of people progressing for baptism. The members are awesome and are helping so much! That’s definitely something that I didn’t understand before my mission. Missionary work is so much easier with members! Anyways, hope everything keeps going well, enjoy the last two weeks of summer holidays and have a good week!

Love, Elder Dola

Well... Can't win em all...

So... it's already August. This week was kind of crazy. The best part though is that G WAS BAPTIZED!!! This is the "gangster" that I wrote about a while ago and he's pretty much just awesome. He gave up drugs and everything and is super excited. He's been reading the Book of Mormon like a machine and has completely changed his life around. It wasn't easy but he made it and was pretty darn happy. I had the opportunity to perform the baptism and it was so awesome to see how happy he was after it was over. He received the priesthood on Sunday after church and is really excited for his "new" life. Unfortunately I am in some Chinese Internet place today and I can't send any pictures. So I'll try to send them another day... if I remember. Not making any promises. 

So ya as Zone Leader we have to monitor the zone, we give trainings if we feel that something needs to be improved or fixed, and we are in charge of giving the numbers to the assistants at the end of the week. The biggest thing is we are here to lead the zone through our example and make sure everything is running smoothly. However, as zone leaders in Praia we have some extra duties during transfer week. Mostly just donating our house to the missionaries who are passing through Praia on their way to the other islands. We also housed the new missionaries on Tuesday, which was pretty sweet. The Canadian stayed in our house Tuesday night and he's pretty sweet. He went to LCI. I didn't know him before though because turns out he plays every sport that I don't play. He's pretty excited though and is gonna be a great missionary. He's going to Fogo so has already been on more islands than I have. We also housed two new missionaries from Portugal and man, they are kind of freaked out! They got into Praia super late at night and were dropped off at our house. Unfortunately, we had no running water for the first half of the week so they were all worried that they were never going to have running water. They had so many questions and I'm pretty sure they are a bit homesick.  But they'll be fine and they seem like nice guys. 

We're still having troubles getting people to come to church and I don't know what to do!!! We have a bunch of sweet families though that are getting ready to be married so we are hoping to have a couple marriages as well as baptisms this transfer. How sweet is that?? 

Praia is pretty sweet and there are a lot of people who are receptive to the gospel. There are just so many more people that sometimes it is a little harder to find them. I really like it here and the people are awesome, even though it is so dang hot all the time!! The work is going good though and we have Zone Leaders Council tomorrow. I'm so excited!!! 

So other than that, not much else is new. Other than we got robbed Monday night... not cool. We have a balcony with a door that we open up when we are in the house because it lets some air in. But we ALWAYS close it before we leave or before we go to bed. The one night we forgot, somebody came in and took a bunch of stuff. I only lost 2 000$00 but we also lost our phone, Brodie's camera and his iPod. We were pretty ticked off but it was entirely our fault. I did get my package though. It came really fast. Thanks! Anyways, enjoy what’s left of your holidays. Have a good week!

Elder Dola

A bô ê ka di Praia, Kala Boca!!

 Man, sounds like you guys all had an awesome week! I wish I could have been there but I´ve got work to do!! So transfers happened and, as has been the trend for me during my mission, I didn´t get a call. Elder Hill and I are staying together for at least another 6 weeks. But that´s good because we have a lot of work to do. I feel like I learned a lot this last transfer but we didn´t baptize like we should have and we need to fix that. Bunch of slackers!! Seriously... but not really. This transfer is gonna be way better and we´re gonna throw some marriages in there for good measure. We´ve got two couples who we are trying to prepare for marriage. We´ve still got some work to do but they are pretty awesome!

Also, the new missionaries come in tomorrow which means the Canadian comes!!! He´s from Lethbridge and we have arranged for him to stay in our house on his first night. Just imagine, you go half way across the world to serve your mission in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and you spend the first night with two guys from Medicine Hat. SWEET!! I´m super pumped. He´s gonna be an awesome missionary because he´s from Canada!!

As for buying stuff, there is a place calles Sucupira that has a bunch of stuff from America and China. There was a razor in Calu and Angela´s, the grocery store we go to, but it was about 33$000 (or $400). So I figured that was just a tad bit ridiculous. It would almost be cheaper for dad to fly here and give me one in person. But you can find all sorts of random stuff here.

Our week was pretty good. No baptism though... G, our gangster friend, has gone two weeks without using drugs and is psyched out of his mind to be baptized next week! We´ve been working a lot with these families and are kind of in the process of finding new investigators. Not too much really happened. We´re pretty pumped for this new transfer and a chance to redeem ourselves. It´s gonna be pure awesome!!! Anyways, have a good week and enjoy the rest of summer!

Love, Elder Dola