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 69

I just had one of the most successful weeks out of my entire mission. This week was awesome, we taught non-stop and the sacrament meeting attendance has been going up bit by but in the past 3 weeks. Yesterday it was 51... still needs to grow more but it's good progress. Last transfer the average was like 38. God is blessing us so much in this area, and we should have a baptism this Saturday. 

So this is a picture of my district, it's super diverse. From left to right: 

Elder Barros - From Cape Verde

Elder Kabanako - From Kongo 

Elder Dominguez - Republica Dominicana

Elder Stone - Utah of course

Elder Cassule - From Angola

Me - From South Texas/Northern Mexico haha!

Also, we got fed Cachupa yesterday and I took this picture and was shocked by how freaking big my mouth is lol. Everyone has always told me that I have a huge smile but for some reason it stood out to me a lot here. 

I still call McMullin every once in a while, the family that him and I were preparing to baptize back in Santa Maria was baptized yesterday! I was super happy for them. 

Oh and so I ate a new fruit! It's called pinhao. It's sooo weird, it's a mix between a mango, pineapple, and a pear. It tastes super acidic but I liked it a lot. 

And a funny story: Yesterday we were teaching an investigator and his drunk uncle cam in halfway through and sat down. We were teaching the Plan of Salvation, about the 3 kingdoms of glory and we compared them to the sun, moon, and star. And at the end my comp asks them "In which kingdom would you be the happiest?" and the drunk uncle is like "I don't want to go to the sun, it's going to be too hot". Lol drunk people say the stupidest things sometimes. 

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 :)

Week 65

Psh, I don't know what this whole "adult" thing is you are talking about, but if it doesn't include Dragon Ball Z, then I'm not doing it.
Anyways, Hi! This past week was great, I even walked around with my camera and took a bunch of pictures to send you, but then I got here to the internet cyber, and the owner apparently downloaded some sort of other internet program and DOESN'T allow you to send pics.
But back to my great week; the work is going a lot better now, we had been struggling for a few weeks. We are teaching a few families that are super cool, and we had 10 investigators at church yesterday.
Also, the Chapel is almost done! So we have had the chance to do activities every Saturday again, but this time us missionaries are in charge, at least for the next few weeks. This past Saturday we had like 30 people there and it was super fun, everyone loved it. I definitely feel loved here, I love the members and it honestly makes me not miss home.

Oh Yessss! I figured it out! lol turns out I CAN send pictures from here.

This was this past Saturday, this is the Sacrament room.

Also, we visited a zone a 20 minute car ride away called "Palha Verde" and we took some members with us. We have an inactive family there that nobody visited for a while, they were happy to talk to us. 

It's in the middle of nowhere though, and there is NOTHING out there lol. 

And I'm not sure if I ever told you, but our Branch President is in a wheelchair. He had an accident a few years ago and can't walk, but he always stands up for a couple of hours a day because he's been able to take a few steps and believes he can walk again someday. I hope he gets there!

So these are the April Fool's pictures of the Saran-wrapped toilet.

Week 64

    Well, my week was great! We almost doubled our Sacrament attendance from last week. It was 37 last Sunday and 61 yesterday. It was way awesome seeing the chapel that packed with people. We had been struggling for a while, I don't know why but it happens. They weren't all investigators, a lot of them are less actives that we have been working with and they are coming back strong. It's going to help this area tons, we literally only have 4 worthy priesthood holders besides the missionaries in the entire city. This branch is super new, only about a year and 10 months.
    We also had interviews with President Matthews again. It was pretty good but nothing crazy special. He always starts the same way, "Are you obedient?" then it goes on from there. He is really into obedience. It's crazy though, I never really talk to him much about how I feel, but during the interview he said "I know after spending so much time in Ribeira Grande you didn't feel like you were progressing or becoming a better missionary, but I've seen you progress a lot here in the past few months." Which is completely true, it was definitely the spirit that told him cuz I have never told anybody that. I definitely feel like a much more powerful teacher now. It's nice to have someone to talk to about everything that's not your comp (nothing against McMullin, I love that kid).
     Oh and speaking of McMulling, some guy totally punched him in the chest this past week, lol. They guy is mentally ill so he didn't really know what he was doing. He is always walking around the streets. We walked past him and I heard a super loud smack, so I turned and McMullin had the most confused look on his face lol.
    I forgot my camera this week, so I'll send pics next week! (sorry) Also, I'll be Skyping home on Mother's Day next month, Elder Gooch was nice enough to give me his web cam before he left.