Week 75

I had some sucky nights this week. First of all, the lights went out on Monday night, and we couldn't open any of the windows because there are swarms of mosquitoes during the night here in Chao Bom. I was literally sweating all night long and couldn't fall asleep to save my life. THEN on Tuesday I made pizza, and I found a very sketchy piece of ham at a Chinese store here, it wasn't refrigerated or anything, but I thought it would be good putting it on the pizza.... WRONG!!! It is the sickest I have been in years, the rest of the day I was very miserable but I managed to work, but when I got back home I started shivering and shaking like crazy, I was freezing but burning up at the same time. I asked my comp for a blessing and I managed to fall asleep, then I woke up at 1:00 in the morning to rush to the toilet. Worst diarrhea I have had in my entire life. I literally did not sleep all night because I was still burning up and had to rush to the restroom every 30 minutes. By the time the sun came up I was completely dehydrated. My entire body was in pain and I still couldn't sleep. It sucked big time.
But... enough of that, I still managed to work for a few hours on Wednesday and then got back to work all day Thursday. Simonica got baptized on Saturday, and she wanted me to do the baptism, I felt super happy to do it. She went through a lot to be baptized, now part of her family hates her for joining another church, but I have never seen her happier now that she's been confirmed as a member.

So this morning we went exploring in some super cool tunnels near Chao Bom. We went in one end and 2 hours later, came out in a city called "Ribera Esprata". It was pitch black in there so we took flashlights. Some parts of the tunnel were super tight and we had to crouch and squeeze to get to the other parts.

We came out onto the beach at the other end, so we stayed for a few minutes. I tried climbing a palm tree but broke gravity instead, lol. 

Week 70

This past week was sweet at some parts and not so sweet at others. We were busy the entire week, and taught more lessons than ever, a total of 43. It's more than double of what I used to teach in Sal or Sao Vincent. We have a lot of investigators that have the desire to get baptized. We were supposed to have a baptism this past Saturday, but she literally ran away from her baptismal interview. She's not answering the phone and we don't know why. We heaven't even seen her in 5 days. It felt like she stabbed us in the back since we have been teaching her 4 times a week for the past month.
It was a rough weekend for me, I didn't understand (and still don't) why a lot of things happened. We had a good attendance in sacrament meeting, 48, but only 2 of the 26 investigators we have showed up. I was pretty bummed out for a bit, but whatever, we will do better next week.

So on p-days we usually spend the day in Vila, a city 10 minutes from Chao Bom, because it's a lot prettier and you can actually shop for food haha. We went to check out the beach a couple of hours ago, it looks pretty. I have never wanted to go swimming so badly.

And we made pizza during the week. Nothing like Chao Bom pizza... #theresnocheeseinthistown

Alright I have to go now, I'll talk to you later!! 

Love you, bye.

Week 68

[VERY SHORT EMAIL BECAUSE HE JUST SKYPED HOME YESTERDAY]

Lol, energizer bunny? I'm not gonna lie, that's a pretty accurate way to describe him [his companion, Elder Barros] lol. He works nonstop all day, but I love him. I had trouble keeping up the first week but now I'm used to it and I love coming home tired.
I'm the senior companion, but I see Elder Barros as a future leader, he is humble, unlike some other missionaries.
I do miss home a lot, but talking to you guys yesterday made me want to stay here. The only times I ever want to go him is to make sure that everyone's ok and stuff like that, but seeing everyone yesterday was relieving. I thought about coming home last night and I got depressed.

Also, I'm getting used to the wildlife here. There are sooo many animals everywhere that I ended up trying to contact them:

Week 67, Now In Chao Bom!

Chao Bom has been quite the little adventure. First of all, I arrived in Praia on Monday night, around 10ish, and they stuck me and another 2 Elders who were also traveling in a house with only one extra mattress. You can do the math and use your imagination lol. It was SOOO HOT sharing a tiny mattress, so I just threw my pillow on the tiled floor and slept there.
The Southern islands are VERY different, the culture changed like crazy. I couldn't understand the Creole here to save my life for the first few days, but now I get most of it. On Tuesday morning I got on a car at 11ish and took a 2 hour car ride to get to my area. I couldn't take pictures in the car because they crammed 20 people into a small van and I didn't want to get robbed or something. I told the hiace driver to drop me off at the church building, but there was nobody there when I arrived and it was locked up. I had no idea where to go, so I just stood outside with my two suitcases talking to people on the street. After about an hour, one of the people I talked to had a friend who was a church member, so he went and got him. I then used the member's cellphone to contact the elder in this area, who, it turns out, was waiting for me at the next city away from here.
I am way in the ghetto side of Cape Verde, everyone is poor and Chao Bom is super undeveloped. There are no paved roads, only the main one to get here. There are pigs running around everywhere and everything smells like poop lol. But I still love this place.

Here is my last picture with Chevy, btw. I have another one with McMullin, but he was in a rather compromising position so I'm not going to send it.

My new comp is Elder Barros, he is way cool and a super hard worker. We taught 36 lessons in less than 6 days, I'm excited to serve with him, we are gonna destroy this area. Here he is next to a cow.

This is the view from our balcony, if you zoom in you'll find a pig lol.

And you were right about the packages, I do get them a lot sooner. You sent a ton of granola haha thank you sooo much! I'm gonna enjoy this next month diarrhea-free! And gosh dang it I have never laughed so hard reading a letter. That Nacho Libre pic made me crack up for a good 5 minutes and my comp had no idea why I was laughing lol. 

I also got a package from mom and dad. Dad apparently sent me Sponge Bob pajamas, here is me rocking them lol. 

So remember how I had that rule about food, that if I can't pronounce it's name by the third try I won't eat it?? Well, I broke the rule today.... and it was the worst decsicion....dessestion....decition.....choice I've ever made. I helped a member make "Borrorre" which is a vegetarian dish from Senegal. It was fun helping her make it, my comp took a video of it but it took me a lot of tries to say it. When it was time to eat, it was probably the hardest thing I have ever tried to put down lol. Never again. I can't pronounce any of the ingredients lol and it looks good, but it has a super salty weird taste. I don't know how to describe it, but here is no way I'm ever going to be vegeterian lol. 

So I'll be using Skype to call this Sunday at 7ish over here, which would be at 2 in the afternoon over there. What's your Skype name again? Mine is christian.zuniga81.

I gotta go now, talk to you Sunday!

Week 66, Fourth Area!

I got transferred!!!!!! I'm going to San Tiago, to an area called Chao Bom. I'm leaving in a few hours, I hate saying good bye to people, I fell in love with this branch :(
I'll arrive tomorrow, it is a one hour car ride from the city of Praia. My new companion will be Elder Barrus, he is Cape Verdian from Fogo but I've never met him. Should be fun though, I'm excited :)