Week 90, Transfer 15

Hey you!! Sorry last week the power went out in the city so we couldn't do internet again. 

Today has been a bit stressful because transfers were yesterday. Sosa and I are staying together for another 6 weeks, which was a bit of a surprise to be honest because we both go home on the same day and 2 Zone Leaders can't leave at the same time because the next Zone Leaders would be completely out of it. So one of us might be finishing the mission as a ZL. 

I have a lot of pics to send, I just hugged Burch goodbye! He's done!! It was kind of depressing, he's definitely one of the best friends I've ever made. I think we are going to be roommates for college, that's the plan so far at least, haha. This is our last picture together, I was so sad. 

 

Mission council was great, I enjoyed it a lot. We had our Zone meeting and it was dope! This is our whole Zone. 

And like every week... we got soaked again -.-' I hate rain now...

Everything in Assomada is turning super green because of the rain. There's tons of mosquitoes at night, so we bought those mosquito repellent things that you burn so we don't get eaten alive in our sleep. 

Week 83

Hey I just got online, I'm emailing president but here in a few minutes I can start telling you how I've been soaking wet for the past 3 days....

So this morning we played some intense soccer in the rain, it was super sweet!! But I'm worn out now. It's been raining a lot in Assomada, and the zone is so spread out that it hasn't even rained in Chao Bom. This week was sweet, it really felt like hard work paid off. We had 8 investigators at church and 7 of them have baptism dates marked for sometime in September. Having 8 investigators is this zone's top, since it's super hard getting people to come to church.
Other than that I really don't have much to say for this week.
Oh! I got your birthday package 2 days ago! I opened it already and yes, I'll make Morty make the cake for me lol. Thank you soooo much for the socks, they have gotten soaked every time I've worn them, but at least they don't have holes so they feel a lot better.

Week 79

One of my biggest fears in life is having my testimony become weaker after my mission and go inactive. I know I was never really "spiritual" back home, I never studied, and I hardly ever prayed, but my mission has opened my eyes to life. One of the most sacred things to me right now is the Book of Mormon, it literally changed my heart. Boyd K. Packer said that "true doctrine, understood, changes attitude and behavior". 

 When President Matthews called me to be Zone Leader he told me that I need to inspire the missionaries here to be obedient and serve not only with might and strength, but also with heart and mind. It's been a tough first week, I felt like a huge load of responsibility was dropped on my shoulders.
Getting sick didn't help, I had a really bad stomach virus for 5 days, but I'm doing better now. I have no idea what I ate, but it was BAD. I joined the club.
Being a Zone Leader is tough sometimes, but at least I have a boss of a companion who helps me out a ton. Here are some pictures of us, we climbed a small mountain this morning.
Assomada is sick! Sooo much better than Chao Bom, lol. This city is always way colder than other cities in the island because it's so high up.

They are starting the construction of a chapel here, that's the sign we are standing in front of. It will be done in 14 months, sadly I'll be home by then. 

So here I am standing on a cliff with 150+ foot drop on the other side. It was scary standing there because there was a lot of wind. 

Also, you made it on my planner. I need more family pictures, I'm running out because I keep putting them on my planners. I've been studying a lot about Peter, he's like my favorite missionary ever because he matured and changed so much. He even walked on water, a miracle that a lot of people only ever remember Jesus doing. 

I hit my Sister Mission this past week! 18 months! I celebrated with shawarma and a Monster. 

Week 78: Thirteenth Transfer, Fifth Area, & Zone Leader

Yes, so I got transferred and I am now a Zone Leader. I am currently in Assomada, which is like 45 minutes away from Chao Bom. I feel nervous, to be honest, but it'll work out. I'm serving with Elder Mortensen, who is on his 9th transfer, way younger than me but he is a total boss. He is actually one of the people in the mission that I have always wanted to serve it.
So I left Chao Bom and Elder Barros to Elder Santiago, from Mozambique. I first met him in the beginning of my 3rd transfer, when I got called to be district leader for the first time. Everyone in the district was way older than me so I was always super nervous to give trainings and stuff. He would give me so much attitude for everything, basically saying how he could have done better than me giving trainings. Elder Barros is a hard worker, but he is also super humble, so I hope that it works out between them.
So I took some pictures of the members I really liked, plus I finally threw out my Easter egg "contact cases".

This is my favorite family, the dad's name is Nito and he is one of the most converted people I have ever met. He got married a couple of years ago with another member, Sylvania. Now they are working to go to the temple and get sealed sometime towards the end of this year. 

Week 72, Transfer 12

So transfers were yesterday, nothing happened in our district, only Elder Dominguez left and Elder Ayala from El Salvador was sent here. Remember Elder Burch? He got called as the new AP. Nobody in the mission was expecting it, especially him.
We had an awesome last week of transfer. We had a baptism!! We have been working with Sofia for about a month, she is 19 and has 2 kids from different men who both left her. Her life is rough at the moment, but she's becoming a whole different person now. Remember the story about the drunk guy saying he didn't want to live in the Celestial Kingdom because the sun is too hot? Well he is her uncle and he has been doing some crazy changes as well.
He had dreadlocks like Bob Marley, and a pretty big beard. We showed up to teach him one day and he cut off his dreadlocks and has a nice, clean shave. He looks completely different now. We are trying to help him with alcohol, he still drinks very often, but he is starting to change. He showed up to church two weeks in a row now.
So at the baptism I gave my camera to a member to take pictures... he took like 20 of them and they all came out blurry lol.

I'm glad we are finally able to see our work pay off. We have another baptism for this weekend and another for the 27th. 

So here's a picture we took at the last Zone Conference in Assomada. Assomada is like 45 minutes from here. Chao Bom is a part of the Assomada zone. 

The place where we baptize here is really pretty. Here are some blurry, dark pictures.