What´s up everyone?
Thanks for the birthday greetings!! This week was pretty nuts but the day of my birthday was pretty cool. It´s weird to think that I´m actually 20... my mission is going by way too fast. My new area is pretty awesome! Right now it´s hotter than Praia is but luckily it´s winter season so it´s bearable. Apparently São Filipe is the hottest area in the mission. Yikes!! The people here seem really friendly and the only difference I´ve really noticed is their accent. The Crioulo isn´t that different but the accent is more drawn out. It´s kind of cool... The city is right by the ocean and everything is cobblestone. There are a lot more trees here than in Praia and when the sun is out it´s beautiful.
Unfortunately I didn´t get to spend a whole lot of time in my area as we had to go back to Praia for zone leaders council. Zone leaders council was amazing!! Although, we missed the first day because of TACV, the airlines. We were supposed to go to Praia on Wednesday at 5 but we got a call around 1:20 that the flight had been moved to 1:35. So we quickly got all of our stuff packed and we jumped in a taxi with just enough time to watch the plane leave. We did manage to get a flight on Thursday but we didn´t land until the first day of the council was already over. We were supposed to return to Fogo on Saturday but the first flight was changed to later in the afternoon and the afternoon flight had no space. So we FINALLY got back to Fogo around 6 on Sunday after a ton a problems. The zone leaders from Mindelo also had troubles getting back so there were a lot of zone leaders in Praia for the weekend.
We set the new mission goal for next year!! Probably one of the coolest things we could have done on my birthday. It was amazing! The Spirit was so strong and we all broke off into zones, prayed, analyzed last years numbers along with the potential of each area and each branch. It was such an amazing experience and something that I will never forget. We´ve got a lot of work to do. That was like a once in a lifetime opportunity there and I am so glad that I got to be a part of it. We truly received revelation from Heavenly Father and this mission is going to keep on growing.
Christmas is definitely coming and you find the occasional Christmas tree in people´s houses. It´s called Natal in Portuguese although I don´t know how you could change the name. We´re gonna have an amazing transfer and I hope to stay in this area for a long time. I hope everyone enjoys the Christmas season and I´ll talk to you all soon!
