HOME

Elder Dola returned home November 8, 2013!!

Ja´n sta quazi na fim!

Well I got transferred.  See you Friday!

É CAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!

Hey everyone!

So this week was pretty good and attendance shot up to 67!! Our branch president organized the primary presidency and this week President Oliveira is going to come to organize the Elder’s Quorum. All of the men that received the priesthood last week were at church in a white shirt and tie, participating in the sacrament. It was an amazing sight to see. The branch has come so far since I got here and it is going to be a blessing to see the organization of the elder’s quorum. There is still a lot of work to do but Heavenly Father has blessed us a ton and it is growing faster than you can believe. It definitely keeps us busy though so that is good.

Today is the start of the new transfer so we will be going out to the airport to get Elder Young’s new companion. Elder Christensen, my old comp, will be going to open up the island of Maio next week so now there is only one island without missionaries. The Lord’s work continues to move forward and we’ve just got to be ready to do our part. We’ve got another busy week ahead of us and I don’t fly to Praia until Wednesday morning next week. I love you all and hope you have a good week!

SUCCESS!!!

Hey!

So... I get to stay in Boa Vista for another week!!! I’m pretty excited because I don’t want to leave here yet. This is the last week of the transfer though so my companion will know who is going to serve with him after I leave. Time is going by too fast though and I really wish that it would just slow down.

We had a pretty good week and attendance at church went back up to 60 for the first time since the beginning of the transfer. 8 men also received the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday and next time President Oliveira comes to Boa Vista we will be able to organize an elders quorum and a few more of the members will receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. The branch is growing super fast and is becoming more and more united every week. Lot’s of work still to do and we are going to be super busy the next couple of weeks. I’m glad everyone is doing well at home and hope you have a good week!

Happy Thanksgiving...??

So I definitely didn’t know that this weekend was Thanksgiving... I don’t know anything anymore. We had a pretty good week but once again, it flew by so fast. We went to Sal for zone conference, my last one as a missionary, and we talked a lot about how we can work more with the members. We have incredible members here in Boa Vista and the branch just keeps getting stronger and stronger every day. It was the first time in over two months that I have left the island to which I was banished and seen other missionaries other than my companion. There are so many new missionaries! President made at least four comments about me going home soon during conference... it seems like everyone but me is counting down the days. Oh well, it’s going to happen eventually.

Life’s good though and we’ve got even more work to do now that it’s just me and Elder Young. We have an inventory of 50 and not enough hours in the day to see them all. Heavenly Father is helping us out tons though and the work just keeps growing. I love you all and Happy Thanksgiving! 

Só areia ku bananas!

Hey everyone!

So General Conference was a success here in Boa Vista. Lots of people came and we were able to watch all of the sessions except for Elder Nelson’s talk at the end, (the internet decided it needed a break and turned off...) It was all in Portuguese again and at times it was difficult to understand because of the echo. We still don’t have any divisions in the chapel and it echoes a lot. I really enjoyed it though and we will most likely download it in English and listen to it at home later.

Things are going really good here and this week we are going to Sal for zone conference. I haven’t left the island since I got here so it’s going to be nice to see the other missionaries again. We are also losing our two extra companions as they have both received their visas and will be flying to Brazil this week to start their own missions. We’re going to have a ton of work to do without them but I know that the Lord will bless us and the branch is going to continue growing.

We went to the Viana Desert today and jumped in the sand dunes, which was pretty fun. I’d send pictures but if I do I won’t have enough money to eat so it’ll just have to wait until I get home. This is definitely the strangest island that I’ve been on so far but I really love it here. Not too much else to report. Time continues to disappear and it always seems that we don’t have enough of it to get everything done. It’s a good thing that we don’t have to do everything alone because it would be impossible if we did. I love you all and hope you have a good week!

Kel barcu ja sta mortu!!

What´s up!

Another week of awesomeness and a lot of work. We have been teaching so many people lately and I’m not exactly sure what we are going to do next week when our two visa waiters go to Brazil on their missions... The Lord will provide a way though and everything will work out. Attendance was 59 this week, a little less than the last week but still really good. The cool thing about everything is that there are so many families in church! I love teaching families; they just make missionary work so much better!

So I have no idea how many missionaries we have in our mission, more than 120 I think. I haven’t seen or heard hardly anything since I came to Boa Vista but I know that the last two transfers more than 20 missionaries arrived. We just got a lot of rain from the hurricane and the ocean has been really rough lately. Nothing too major here though. There are two big resorts from a company called Riu. One is called the Tourareg and the other Karamboa. They come from one of the best resort companies in the world and from what I have heard they are pretty nice. I’m definitely going to stay in one of them one day when I come back here. But ya most of the tourists are Europeans. Lots of Germans, Italians and French people. Txeu brancus!!

This week is going to fly by faster than a jet plane! We have a wedding planned for Friday, the baptism on Saturday and General Conference Saturday and Sunday. Lots of work to do! It’s going to be sweet though and I’m super excited.

I love you all and I hope for the best throughout the week. Enjoy General Conference; it is such a huge blessing in our lives to have a prophet to guide us. TXAU!

Oh nha mãe!!!

HEY!

The week is over. It was pretty good. The sisters are all moved in but they still don’t have beds because the boat hasn’t come yet. Something to do with all the rain and the hurricane that formed on the west coast of the islands. They are super excited to be here though and they are going to be a huge help to our little branch. There are now six missionaries here, for the next two weeks. We have two pre-MTC missionaries that are just waiting for their visas. They will leave before October 10. We all basically just share the city of Sal Rei but there is one area that only the elders go into, Barraka. Our week was a little crazy with a lot of extra things to do but everything seemed to just work out perfectly and things are slowly going back to normal.

Frequency in church shot through the roof with 63 people showing up this week! We almost don’t have enough chairs right now but it’s just going to keep growing. Hopefully they can get us some chairs fast. Lots of teaching and training to help our investigators and the members so we have been pretty busy. President and Sister Oliveira were here this weekend as well and we learned a lot from them. They were in church on Sunday and the members were really excited.

Other than that, life’s still good. Elder Young is awesome and has gotten the hang of things really fast. It will be easier when it’s just the two of us but for now we are just going to try and get as much work done as possible with the extra help. I love you all and I hope you have a good week!

O Fim sa ta txiga faxi!

Hey everyone!

Well I’m glad to hear that mom is doing all right and I hope everything keeps improving. I kind of figured that mom would need help, which is one of the reasons I decided not to extend my mission. This was the last week of the transfer and it was a pretty good week. We finished the last preparations for the sisters who are going to be coming to work in Boa Vista and then we were also busy teaching. There is water everywhere and lakes have formed on top of the salt mines. A few days passed without any rain but it was super hot and today it started raining again.

Elder Moreira, an Area Seventy, came to visit this week and he did a fireside with the people here in Sal Rei. It was really last minute notice but we still had 40 people in attendance, mostly families and investigators! It was a big success and the people really liked it.

So I am starting my last transfer. It’s kind of weird to think of how little time I’ve got left here but we’ve got a ton of work to do. Elder G was transferred to Mindelo and I will be receiving a new companion, Elder Y. He’s from the US somewhere and is a very good missionary. We are also going to be spending the next three weeks with two mini-missionaries, which will make things interesting. We will be able to get a lot of work done but my comp is going to have to learn the area and get to know the people super fast. There is a lot of work ahead of us and I think I’m going to be running around right until the end. To top everything off, Elder Y and I are going to be district leaders so that gives us a bit more to deal with. It’s going to be a lot of fun though and I’m really excited.

Well, that’s all I have for now. Don’t worry mom, I have to find someone to marry first before I can get engaged. Have a good week and I love you all!

Chuba ja txiga!

Well we woke up to a nice surprise this morning... RAIN! It poured all morning and unfortunately it rained inside of our house as well. Because everything here is sand, there are huge puddles of water everywhere and the roads are all blocked leading out of the city. Elder and Sister Benedict, the senior missionary couple from Sal, have been here for the last couple days to work with the members. They are supposed to go back to Sal tomorrow but I don’t think they will. People can’t come home from or go to work in the hotels and it is very hot and humid. It’s also the last week of the transfer and it’s looking to be a good one!

We had a good week last week but we were busy with a ton of other things. We have been getting things organized to rent a house here so that the sisters can have a place to live next week and that took some time but everything is organized now and they should be able to move in as soon as they arrive, assuming they can actually get here from the airport. Attendance on Sunday went up to 46 and we had 14 investigators in church! We also have a wedding marked for General Conference weekend so that is going to be exciting! Lots of work to do and not enough time to do it all but the Lord is providing a way and we are seeing a lot of progress.

I don’t really have a preference of what you make when I come home, surprise me. I’m still not too picky with what I eat so whatever you make will be good. This week an area Seventy is going to be here in Boa Vista and is going to do a fireside with the members so that is going to be exciting. Good luck with the surgery, I pray that everything will go well. Have a good week! Love you all!

Tempo sa ta voa manente!

Hello!

Well it’s still hot but it’s cooled off a bit. It rained a bit yesterday so maybe we will actually get rain here this year. They say that if it rains September 1, it will rain the entire month so we’ll see. We had another good week with another 35 lessons being taught. We found another 14 new investigators again and we literally do not have time to teach them all. The transfer ends in two weeks and we will be receiving sisters next transfer, so that is going to speed up the work a ton here. For now, we are just going to have to trust in the Lord and do all that we can to take care of all these people.

Church was good yesterday, frequency went up to 41, and the members are growing and maturing fast. Fast and testimony meeting is always special here in Cape Verde but it is even more special here in Boa Vista. So many young, new members with such strong testimonies. The Lord is definitely in control here and we are seeing miracles like crazy. We are so blessed to have the gospel and it is amazing to see the way that it changes the lives of these people.

I love you all! Have a good week!

-- 

Festival ta straga tudu!

Hey!

So this week was pretty good. We were super busy teaching and Heavenly Father seems to have left the windows of heaven open to us because we found some amazing people this week. We taught 34 lessons and found 16 new investigators with five new families! We ended the week with a baptism so you really can’t ask for much more than that. Church was low on attendance this week because of the music festival that was happening on one of the beaches all weekend. It seems like everyone and their dog went! Things are going really good here though and we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us with all of these families.

This week wasn’t quite as hot and hopefully things will start to cool down as we enter into September. It’s weird to think that I’ve been here for a month already. Time just doesn’t want to slow down.  I’m doing good though and I love Boa Vista. It’s still kind of weird at times to be surrounded by so many tourists but the people here are awesome. The branch is slowly growing though and Heavenly Father seems to be sending us the pieces that we need to strengthen it. We’ve got a few weddings planned for the next couple months and we are going to try to start organizing a few more with all of these new families that we found. Life’s good though and I hope you all enjoy the new school year. I love you all! Have a good week.

Calor ta Mata!

What’s up?

I’ll tell you what’s up... it’s hot. Super hot. Also, it’s humid... but mostly hot. Boa Vista is basically just a desert with sand dunes and beaches everywhere. But I love it here! Today we went with a family and helped them plant corn and beans. It was kind of weird as we planted it in the sand but they say that as long as it rains everything will grow just fine. It has yet to rain since I got here but there is still hope.

We’ve been teaching quite a lot lately but this week could be a bit of a struggle because of the music festival that will be happening. We are going to have to really focus on helping our members and investigators remember about church despite all that is going to be going on here. We’ve got a lot of people progressing for baptism though and we should have a few marriages here in a few weeks. We’re always busy though and the branch is growing bit by bit.

It’s kind of weird being so isolated at times. I went from knowing everything that was happening in the mission to not knowing anything. The only missionaries that I talk to are my zone leaders. We have a lot of time to just focus on our work and study. Elder G and I have been studying and discussing the Book of Mormon a ton and we are both learning so much! There is so much cool stuff there that I had never noticed! Life’s good though and hopefully the heat passes soon. Did I mention that it’s hot? I love you all and hope you have a good week!

É Modi!

Just another week in paradise. Serving here reminds me a lot of my time in Calheta. We’ve got a stronger member base here but we still have to do a lot of the work. I spoke in church yesterday on missionary work and we’re really working to strengthen the members that we have while at the same time focus on our investigators. It’s a lot of work and it makes the time fly like crazy but I love the people here already so it makes everything worth it. It’s a good thing that we have our branch president, a returned missionary from Fogo, because without him things would be even harder.

The branch is growing though and the Lord is blessing the people here. Boa Vista is so different from all of the other islands! Because of all the tourism there are a ton of huge hotels and resorts. This means that almost everyone has a job and at times it can be difficult to find people. The people here are so nice though and there are so many of them who are open to accepting the gospel. It keeps us busy though and there is almost always something to do.

There is no zone conference this month and from the sounds of it nobody is going to be visiting us here so we are one our own for the rest of the summer. Just me, my companion and a ton of work to do. I’m enjoying being out in the field so much again. It’s definitely a good way to end my mission. I love you all and hope you have a good week. Say hi to the family for me!

--

                                                                      

Li ka tem luz!

Well... life is a lot different as a normal missionary but I’m kind of enjoying it. All I have to worry about now is my area and my investigators. We’ve been teaching a ton and we’ve got a ton of families that are progressing right now. I love Boa Vista! This island is incredible and the Church is exploding here! People just come up to us all the time and ask to speak with us. Either they’ve had contact with the church on another island or they have never seen us before and just want to know more! We had 34 people in church on Sunday and had a really nice testimony meeting. There are some really strong members here and we have a really nice base to start really building the branch here. It’s definitely a good place to end my mission in.

Being here is kind of weird because we are literally the only missionaries on the island! My companion, Elder G, is from Angola and doesn’t really speak English that well so I only speak Portuguese. Also the Crioule is really mixed because there are so many people from other islands living here. It’s really hard to find someone who was born and raised in Boa Vista. Lots of tourists here from Europe and we talked to an Italian guy who was a reference from President Oliveira. He’s studied a lot of religions and is kind of confused on what he believes but we’re going to try and talk to him again. He lived in Calgary for a year, which was crazy to hear!

Not too much else has happened since I’ve got here. I’m feeling pretty comfortable in the area now and we’ve got some people getting ready for baptism in the next couple months.  Life’s good here though and it sounds like everyone is doing well at home. I love you all and hope you have a good week!

--

                                                                      

N´sta Li na Boa Vista

Hey family!  - July 29, 2013

So Brodie should be getting on the plane right now and soon he and Zach will be home. Time goes by way too fast and it was weird seeing Brodie for the last time yesterday. I have been transfered and I have taken Brodie´s place here in Boa Vista! I am serving with Elder G, from Angola, and for the first time since my second transfer I am just a normal missionary. I’m not gonna lie, it’s kinda weird but I’m so excited to be here and to continue the work that was started on this island. Yesterday President Oliveira organized the branch here and now it’s our job to build it up. I’ve got three months to perform what the Lord has prepared for me here and my last two transfers are going to be awesome! 

My last week as an assistant was busy as normal with last minute transfer preparations and a division out in Assomada. We had a baptism as well and overall things went really well. It was sad to leave my area and the people there. I’ve seen so many miracles in the last six months and the Lord has blessed me so much. There are people waiting for me in Boa Vista though and I know that this is where I am needed right now. 

Other than that though I don’t have very much to say. I just want you all to know how much I love you all and how grateful I am for the gospel in my life. Jesus lives and He is our Saviour. I know through Him our families can be eternal and we can one day return to live with our Father again. He loves all of His children, and I see the miracles that He does for them every day. Have a good week!

N ta sai kel semana li!

Dear Family:

This week is now over. It flew by super fast and the transfer is almost over. But, we had an amazing week and we saw a lot of miracles in our area. J, one of the most amazing investigators I have ever seen (she actually uses mormon.org and she knows everything), was baptized after almost four months of teaching her. She came up to me and Elder Hill once while we were sitting at the chapel waiting for someone and the first thing she did was ask for a Book of Mormon! She had some things to work out but everything ran smoothly and she is now a member of the church! She has been bringing her friend to church for the past couple weeks as well and this weekend the zone leaders will be baptizing her too! It´s amazing how much the Lord prepares His children for us when we are ready to help them. 

We went on divisions with the zone leaders in Praia this week and I went back to Achadinha, my old area. I saw a lot of people that I worked with and a lot of them are still strong and active. It was kind of weird being back there but we had a really good day. We also had an amazing experience last night as we taught this guy who contacted us in the street earlier in the week, (that seems to happen a lot here, people just come up to you!) We only taught him for about 20 minutes but the Spirit in the lesson hit him strongly. He was asking a lot about why we are here and why we leave our families and everything to teach the gospel. We just bore our testimonies of the Atonement and of how much the gospel has blessed our lives and the lives of our families. Then our recent convert, C, bore his testimony and this guy was almost in tears! He told us that he just wants to straighten his life out and make things right with God. We marked him with a baptism date and he is super excited to start learning. The Lord is watching over His children and He will literally send them to you if you are ready and willing to help them.

Other than that, we’ve just been getting stuff ready for transfers. Elder Hill is causing a lot of craziness because he leaves a week early so there will be some early changes this weekend before the actual transfer, which doesn’t take place till next week. Not too much else is new here though. We are going to Assomada this week to work with the zone leaders there and we’ve got a ton of work to do for transfers and in our area. A lot of work to do and this week is probably going to pass by just as fast as the last one. Have a good week! 

Tudu na Brun Brun??

Hello! 

Well... summer has officially arrived and it is scorching hot out again! It wasn’t too bad for awhile there but once we got back from our trip we really started to feel the heat. This week was pretty crazy and we once again did not spend very much time in our area. Monday night we flew out to Mindelo to spend a day with the zone leaders there and from Wednesday to Friday we were in Santo Antão with to do the same thing with the other zone leaders. Txeu trabaju! But it was a really good week and we are really excited with what we saw in both zones. 

Our flight back from Mindelo was pretty interesting though. It started off by being two hours late, then we took an unexpected pit stop in Boa Vista to pick up some more passengers. Definitely not originally on the plan but it happened. It took our pilot two tries to finally land the plane because the first time he came in way too fast and had to take off instantly and try again. We got a really nice view of Boa Vista though as we circled around and it is really a beautiful island. The beaches are huge and they looked very inviting. I don’t know if I’ll ever serve there but at least I got to see it! 

As for the work, being away from your area for so long definitely takes its tolls and we’ve got some work to do these next couple weeks. We aren’t going to be travelling until the first week of August now so we’ve got some time to strengthen our area again and get our investigators back on track. We have quite a few people preparing for baptism but we haven’t been able to teach them as much as we would have liked. Heavenly Father has been watching over them though and this week is going to be a good one. We’ve got a lot of work to do though because we are going to be starting transfer prep this week. 

President just got back from his tour of the mission, visiting all of the islands to do interviews. This week he is going to be doing interviews here in Praia and then Assomada and then he will be done. We have had a few changes because one missionary finished his mission and another one went home early due to sickness but other than that things have been pretty calm. We do receive another 14 missionaries in the first week of August though so that will be exciting. Other than that, we have just been really focused on our area and on strengthening the zone leaders. It’s kept us busy but I’ve learned a lot and seen some amazing things. 

I hope you all have a good week. Enjoy the summer holidays! Love you all!

Ayum...

Hey everyone!

I don’t really have a lot of time to write today. We are getting ready to go out and teach right now before we jump on a plane to Mindelo. We will be spending tomorrow in Mindelo and then on Wednesday we will be going to Santo Antão for two days to do divisions with the zone leaders. We had a bunch of work to do today so we haven’t had much time to sit down and use email. However, things are going really well here and we had another really good week. 

This past week we went and spent two days in Sal with the zone leaders there. It was my first time in Sal and it was definitely a different experience. All of the islands I have seen have been covered in mountains but Sal is super flat. There are a few small hills but that’s about it. It’s a very beautiful island though and I really enjoyed my stay there. It’s really cool to go out and work with all of the zone leaders and be able to help them with their work. It’s very tiring though with all of the travelling we do but it’s worth it. 

Sounds like life is pretty exciting at home. Boa Vista is doing really well and the church is growing really fast there. There are a ton of members there who were inactive simply because there was no church so Brodie and his companion have been busy reactivating people. From the sounds of it they have seen a ton of miracles during their time there. There are still two islands without missionaries, Maio and São Nicolau, and I don’t think I will be here when they receive missionaries. The church is growing here really fast though and we are almost ready to organize another district that would include the branches in Sal and Boa Vista.

Praia is still hot but I am pretty used to it. I think I may freeze to death when I come home though... I haven’t really experienced cold in a long time. Everything is going well here and we are always super busy. It amazes me how much we get done and how everything just falls into place when we need it to. Heavenly Father has blessed us so much and we would be lost without Him. I love you all and I hope you have a good week!

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!

This year’s Canada Day wasn’t quite as exciting as last years since I didn't have a Canadian companion, but that’s okay. Tomorrow is mission leadership council so all of the zone leaders are flying in to Praia and we have been making trips to the airport to pick them up as well as getting things ready for tomorrow. There is always something to do, even on p-day. We also had to bring four missionaries to the airport that are going home today... it’s always sad to send missionaries home and it makes me dread the day when it happens to me more and more each time I see it. Brodie and Zach will be going home at the end of July and then it’s just me and Chris left from our group. 

Last week was nuts and we did not get a single minute to rest. It was transfer week and there were quite a few changes in the mission to accommodate for the sixteen new missionaries that we received. We were blessed though and we were able to do divisions with the travelling missionaries all week. It allowed us to work in our area every day, even when we had other things to do, and we found some amazing new investigators. We are going to be travelling every week this month and visiting all of the islands to do divisions. This week we are going to Sal so we needed things to be prepared so that the work in our area doesn’t stop. We have been very blessed by Heavenly Father and despite all of our absences we are seeing a lot of miracles. 

Sounds like the work is going pretty well in our ward at home as well. Have there been a lot of baptisms these past two years? The church is growing all over the world and apparently there are more than 70 000 missionaries throughout the world now. It´s amazing to see the way the Lord works. Every mission is different but they all have the same purpose. I love you all and hope everything goes well this week. 

A mi é Boss, Boss Presidente!!

Why is it that the place that needs no more rain, gets too much of it and the place that really needs rain, doesn’t get any?!? Que tristeza... That’s really sad about all of the flooding going on right now. A lot of people without homes and a lot of problems... Here it has still yet to rain and the days just keep getting hotter. Rainy season doesn’t start for about another month though so there is still hope. Today is transfer day, which means I spend almost all day in the hiace, driving missionaries around. That is until you go to the airport and come out only to find that another hiace has parked right behind you and for some reason his front tire is at a 45º angle with the ground! There was literally no way we could get out of there so we took a taxi and we’re going to have to go back here in a bit. Wouldn’t be transfer day if something weird didn’t happen!

 We had a pretty good week though and we were quite busy. Lots of last minute preparations to do before the transfer and it was hard to be in our area at times but the Lord helped us out and everything went well. It’s amazing to me how blessed we are and how well our area does because we are gone so much!! This next transfer we are going to be travelling every single week to work with the zone leaders. We are going to all six zones to do divisions and we still have to maintain our area! It’s a good thing the Lord is so merciful and has blessed us with the best member support system in the country. As long as we do our part to prepare our investigators and train the members, I know that everything will be all right. 

We had a baptism this weekend and I think he was the happiest man in the world that day. His name is J and he has been preparing to be baptized for a couple months now. He had to fight through some problems with alcohol and smoking but he never gave up and it made his baptism day that much more special. I missed the actual ordinance because I was in a baptismal interview that took a long time but I was told that he came up out of the water just beaming. He has made some big changes in his life and he is a completely different person now than when I first met him. It’s such a blessing to see the way that the gospel changes lives so fast, as long as we have the faith to follow. 

 That’s about it for this week. Tomorrow we receive 12 missionaries from the USA and Thursday we receive the missionaries from Brazil. This transfer is going to fly by so fast because we have so much to do these next couple of weeks. I’m loving it though and I’m looking forward to everything that the Lord has planned for me. Have a good week and I hope the flooding problems start getting better!

N´Sta Txeu Feliz! Bô Txeka?

Well hello there! 

Best weekend of my mission? I think so! I can’t believe that Connor is home already. We are all dying off rather fast... At least Ryan is finally on his mission though. I don’t know what I would have done if I had to wait over a year, 2 months was long enough. He’s gonna do awesome though. This is the last week of transfers and that means we have a ton of work to do. However, I am still AP for at least one more transfer and I will be staying with Elder C. I’m pretty excited because this area is incredible!

So we have a new ward mission leader and he is going to change the way our ward does missionary work like crazy. He’s already working with the priesthood and other leaders of the church to make sure that investigators are integrated as soon as the step foot in the chapel. Yesterday we had a meeting with him and a bunch of the youth and he is basically looking to create his own army of ward missionaries, one companionship in each zone of the ward. He is getting everyone super excited about missionary work and we are receiving more help than ever from the members! This man is inspiring and it has made me realize how much of an impact the members can have on missionary work if they are motivated. 

So this weekend we baptized a family of eight! It was easily one of the happiest days of my mission! We have been working with this family for that past month and with the help of the members and the Lord we were able to help them prepare for baptism. This family is incredible and they were prepared to receive the gospel way before we ever met them. There are three sisters and their children and the best part is there are still more members to this family that we haven’t even met yet! The son of one of the sisters had a lot of influence from another church but once he received a testimony from the Spirit, he didn’t look back. The Spirit is so strong every time we enter into that house and I leave happy and excited every time, no matter what has happened that day. It was a huge blessing to us from Heavenly Father and I am so grateful to have been given the privilege of helping this family find the truth. 

Well, other than that, life is pretty much the same. It’s still hot here and the work is still going strong. Our zone had 18 baptisms this past Saturday so there was a lot of white in the church. Next week we receive 17 new missionaries and that along with all of the transfers is going to keep us really busy. I love you all and hope you have a good week!

P.S. Our ward is having a Cultural Activity at the beginning of July. Is there any sort of cultural thing from Canada that they would like here? 

Assomada, ASSOMADA! Un Bez bai!!!

É Módi?

The time passes by so fast out here. Months seem like weeks and weeks seem like days. Especially when you are constantly travelling! This week we went to Assomada!! It was the first time I have been back there in over a year, since I was transferred to Praia. A lot has changed but I was able to see a few of my recent converts and a lot of the members who helped us when I was there. I don’t know what it is about Assomada but it is definitely one of my favorite areas. I would love to serve there again but I don’t think that is going to happen anytime soon. 

Our week was pretty busy, as we have to start transfer preparations. We did have some time to work in our area though and things are going really good. Our ward is seriously exploding and the members are getting super excited. Between us and the other set of elders in our ward we had 26 investigators at church yesterday. Principles of the Gospel class is always packed and the chapel becomes more and more full every Sunday. We have a new ward mission leader and he is incredible! He had this vision of where he wants the ward to be as far as missionary work and he is going to work with all of the quorum and auxiliary leaders to make sure it happens. We have a family that is preparing to be baptized this upcoming Saturday and the ward is helping us out a ton.  It’s going to be a good week and it’s going to be kind of nice to stay in my area for a while, at least until next transfer that is. 

I don’t really know what else to write. Life in Cape Verde is pretty awesome. It’s super hot out right now but that doesn’t even really bother me anymore. We’ve got a lot of work to do this week to prepare this family for baptism and to help the rest of our investigators prepare themselves. Hope everything is going well in Canada. I love you all and hope you have a good week|

--

P.S. Here are some pictures from my trip to Mindelo and Santo Antão. Some are from the boat and some are in the mountains in Ribeira Grande. They don’t really do justice to what I saw though.