Normal transfer, eh?

Well... let’s just say this week wasn’t your average week as a missionary. My companion and I basically played the role of district leader, zone leader, assistant and a bit of mission president. However, it still ended up being a good week. It all started on Tuesday when President O and the assistants took a week long trip to Fogo. They left Elder S with us, who is waiting for his visa to go serve in England. So we were in a tripla for three days, which was ok because Elder S is awesome. Then, on Thursday, one of our district leaders went home because of health difficulties so we took his mini-missionary for a day until he caught a boat back to Fogo. So we now had two extra companions and we took control of that district. We had some other crazy things happen. 

We had a baptism and our zone all together had 10. We had a really cool zone meeting on Saturday and we read Alma 26 together. All these crazy things that have been happening have really opened our eyes to the miracles and blessings that we are receiving. Our zone is still baptizing, our missionaries are working super hard and the work hasn’t stopped. My testimony has really grown this past while and although I am exhausted, I’m super happy.

We went on a zone activity to Cidade Velha (Old City). It’s a historical site where the Portuguese used to house the slaves and fight off the pirates. There is a huge castle, that we were not allowed to enter because it wasn’t open yet, and cannons and everything. Also a lot of old Catholic churches and seminaries and stuff like that. It was a nice break and we had a good morning.

So last week of the transfer, don’t know if I’ll be staying or not but I’ll be happy with either one. We have two solid baptisms for this week and a third potential. Everything is going well now and things are slowly settling down. Hope everyone is doing well and talk to you next week!!

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189!!

Hello everyone!

So this week was pretty awesome. Just your typical week as zone leaders in Praia. I went back to the airport for the first time since arriving here in Cape Verde. Unfortunately it wasn’t to go to another island. The assistants were in Mindelo all week and a missionary had to go home on Wednesday. So that meant a lovely trip to the airport at 11:00 at night. And since he was still a missionary, we had to stay until he got on the plane. So we didn’t get home until roughly 1:30 in the morning and we were very tired the next day. So much fun! Not... 

Our week went good though. We didn’t have any baptisms unfortunately this week but there were 4 in the zone. That meant that the zone of Praia officially passed the yearly goal of 288 baptisms!!! We are right now at 289 and we are just going to keep going. The Church here in Praia is growing so darn fast and they are already talking about splitting three of the wards and turning the one branch into a ward. Craziness!! We have one baptism this week, her name is J and she is the sister of V, the husband of the family that we baptized last transfer. She is pretty solid and is getting really excited for her baptism. The missionaries in our zone are working really hard and great things are going to continue to happen here.

We found a new family last week and they are amazing!!! The father is less-active member and the mother just has this huge desire to go to church. They have two children, a 17-year-old girl and a 20-year-old boy. We’ve been working a lot with them this last week and yesterday the entire family came to church. They all loved it and are preparing for marriage on the 28 of December and baptism the day after. They’ve already started to gain a testimony and it doesn’t look like church is ever going to be a problem. They are being integrated in the ward and are a huge blessing to us at this time. We’ve got two weeks left in this transfer and I just hope I get to stay in Praia for one more. So many awesome people!!

                                                                                                                                                             

Hi, we´re missionaries... do you want something to read?

November 12, 2012

Hey Family!!

This week was pretty darn awesome!! So first off, Z was baptized! She is the aunt of B, the 16 year old that Elder Hill and I baptized at the end of our last transfer together. She has a super strong testimony and understands everything we teach her. I’m not quite sure how, but we ended up teaching her about the organization of the church and some crazy stuff. She just has such deep doctrine questions and just wants to know everything!! So she was baptized and now has decided that she wants to serve a mission in a year! It’s so amazing to see how the Spirit is preparing these people. She is going to be a strong member and is already sharing the gospel with other people.

So that happened on Saturday along with 10 other baptisms in our zone. We are 3 baptisms away from meeting our zone goal of 288!!! We are going to pass it this next week for sure and now we just need to keep working so that we finish the year off strong and start the New Year on a high note. The missionaries in our zone are working super hard and the Lord is blessing us so much because of it.

The other awesome thing this week was the two references that we received which turned into two golden families!! We’ve only taught each family one or two times but they have a really strong desire and are really excited to learn and receive a testimony. One of the families came to church this Sunday and just loved it! She talked about the difference she felt between our church and her old church and how she just felt so much happier there! Her husband is a less active member and they need to get married but they both came to church and both were very happy afterwards.

Other than that, not too much is new here. Our baptism for this week didn’t come to church because he had to stay at the baptism party for his sister’s kid. There was a huge baptism and confirmation in the Catholic Church this weekend. Only three weeks left in the transfer already!!

Not too much else to report. I hope everyone has a good week! Love you all!

                                                                          ComAmor:

Elder Brandon Dola

               Missão Cabo Verde Praia

P.S.  This picture is of  the water that one of our members brought back from one of the water places. Thank goodness for filters!!

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