Week 31

So this past week I didn't really email you much so I'll go over that too. It was probably the shortest week in my mission. We stayed in our area on Pday and Tuesday and then left on Wednesday right after lunch so we could get to Sao Vicente Thursday morning for Zone Conference. It was awesome getting all the trainings from President and seeing everyone else again since I've been stranded on this island for a while. So we were supposed to take a boat back to our area Friday morning, but apparently there was this huge party going on in Santo Antao so EVERYONE was traveling over there. Enough people to take up all the tickets for the next few rides. We didn't end up coming back to our area until Saturday night. A pretty cool thing about all this is that I got to chill and do splits with the Zone Leaders and another couple of Elders. So it was the end of transfers, and Elder Montes was told by the Mission President that he was leaving the island to go train on his last transfer. Ever since day one here in this Zone, Elder Montes has been my Zone Leader and a pretty awesome friend. Him and my trainer basically taught me everything I know. This was the last time I was with him, and now he is in San Tiago in the middle of nowhere training a brand new greenie haha. That's pretty awesome.

Our district all thought it was going to change a lot, that a lot of us were gonna get transferred and whatever, and everyone ended up staying together, haha. Our district is awesome, the sisters make good food and cake.

Speaking of transfers, I'm already at 5! It's still a super small number, I know, but compared to when I had only one planner, I've been here a while.

Also, I found this fluffy dog in Mindelo.

So this past Monday we celebrated the birthday of a member, her name is Julia. It wasn't a big thing, just a get-together with a bunch of crackers and stuff. It was way fun though, this branch reminds me of Port Isabel so much. We are all one big happy family. There's more pics of it but they are all on Elder Burch's camera. I'll forward them later. And well, I guess that just about sums it up for this week. We are working a lot on helping less active members become active again, I think that's what we are going to focus on more than baptizing this transfer.

Hey! Remember the lady that beat me with a stick??? She's the old one next to my comp in the last picture haha. She's super funny and everyone loves her, but she isn't afraid of hitting or slapping anyone in the face. One time we were eating at an activity and I was stuffed from eating so much, and she came up to me offering cake and I said no.... big mistake lol. She literally shoved the cake in my mouth haha. The same happened to Elder Burch. She's crazy but everyone loves her. Her name is Eugenia.

Well, that's it for this week, I love you!!! Bye!!!

Busy Week 30

Hey! Man, this week was way busy. I only worked 2 full days in my area. We left on Wednesday to Sao Vincent for zone conference and didnt come back until Saturday night. We got stranded over, with only 1 change of clothes so it wasnt very pretty. Apparently everyone was travelling cuz of parties everywhere, so the tickets were running out like crazy. Transfers were last night, and I didnt get transfered!!!! Me and Elder Burch are super happy we are sticking together another round. Hey i got your package this past week, you're the best!!!!! It felt like christmas morning opening up that box haha. its funny tho cuz I've never seen a basketball game in my life lol but still liked the shirt alot. And man you have a really good taste for ties, I gotta say. Kudos on the packing everything into that box and thanks for everything again!! chocolates were good!

Week 29

Man I have a ton of pics to send you. We had a baptism and since I haven't received the package with the SD card, I went ahead and bought my own. This past week was crazy, we were busy like non stop. And unfortunately, cuz time was so tight and just out of roder, Danielson wasn't baptized :/ I was super bummed out. But Izagi did get dunked.
So his name is actually spelled Hinzaguy but it's a lot easier to write and say iZagi. From Monday to Saturday morning he was in FSY, a huge youth activity here and over 200 youth were there. It literally changed his life. He came back with a very strong testimony of the gospel and even in love haha. He found a girl from Sao Vicente and apparently wants to marry her now haha. (which is super good since Cabo Verdeans have no desire to get married whatsoever) As soon as he got home, we went to look for him since he still needed his baptismal interview and the services were going to start at 10AM. So since our Zone Leaders are in Sao Vicente, the interview was through the phone. We left him alone in the room, and 20 minutes later he called my name and we heard something was up with his voice, so we hurried in and he was crying super hard. I got on the phone to talk to Elder Montes to see what happened and he said that everything was good, that he is ready and was just super emotional. There was something different about this guy. Elder Burch and I both felt it. He got up and hugged us and cried on our shoulders and said thank you for showing me this path and stuff like that. I felt a super strong love for him, like different than I've felt for other people here. I honestly feel like he was my friend even before this life, and that it was part of my mission to come here and find him. He's such a boss and he wants to serve a mission.

These are just a few pics of the baptism site. It was a different pool this time. This one was way deeper, the water was like to my armpits, but we didn't get in this time. We figured we could be witnesses from the outside.

So we actually had to go to FSY during the week and teach him tithing since we weren't gonna have time to teach him when he got back. Man, I felt like a Senior in high school again haha. Elder Burch and I were like rockstars, all the youth that we have already met in Sao Vicente came up to us and said hi and stuff, I didn't realize I had met so many people. And these are a few pics I took with Americo, our ward mission leader. He's like my best friend out here haha. 

You hold your hand like this, then put it on your forehead like this, then you scream "Woooooooh, Lamanites!!!" Haha during soccer, we would always play Nephites against Lamanites and I was a Lamanite (you know, cuz I'm mexican). And it's super funny watching Cabo Verdean's do it. 

Idk who made it up, it was before I got here haha. 

Week 28

Life is good, I had a great week. Remember how I said we got smitten last week at church?? Well this week we focused a lot on the work again and had a frequency of 36! And hardly any of them were little kids, they were all less actives and strong members. We had 2 investigators there, Danielson and Izagi. They both are getting baptized on August 9th, I'm super excited for them.

We had Zone Meeting back in Mindelo so I was able to receive a package but it wasn't yours, it was from Mom. It had some Spicy Ketchup, Old Spice, and some razors so I was a wayy happy guy. On the boat ride back from Mindelo I met a Seventy! His last name was Martino or something like that haha. They are having FSY here in Santo Anto this week and he's gonna be there to give a talk and stuff. It was awesome getting to know him and take a picture with him.

This week was way buys, every time we go to meetings in Mindelo we travel for 2 days and spend A LOT of money on the boat and car rides. In 2 weeks we are going back again for Zone Conference so we will be loosing another 2 days of work here -.- It's kinda annoying traveling that much but it gives us a chance to talk to our Mission President and Zone Leaders and other people, that's always nice.

So it's funny how you said in your dream that I owned a hole-in-the-wall store cuz that's how most stores are in Cabo Verde, basically just caves haha.
And man, I'm DONE with energy drinks for a while. I'll send a pic next week of our collection.

Oh I forgot! I walked in the rain for the first time on my mission! It's a saying we have, that every time a missionary walks and works in the rain, their future wife gets prettier. I had to hike up a freankn mountain while it was raining so My wife better have hips like Shakira :p
Most of the year is dry here, but during August and September its rainy season. And when it rains here, man it rains HARD. Yesterday wasn't much, just enough to soak us after a while. But when the real clouds come in, most of the roads will be flooded. That's why everyone builds their houses on mountains and stuff, to get on higher ground and avoid the floods.

I had already sent you this pic, but this is a different angle.

Sisters are tiny, lol. This is my district. From left to right there's Sisters Santos, Walker, Pina, and De Pina. Sister Santos is Brazilian, Walker is American, and the Pinas are both Cabo Verdeans from Ilha de Fogo. Then there's our area 70, me, and Elder Burch.