Week 39

This was an interesting week, way better than the last. First of all, the Thompsons, who are the humanitarian missionary couple for Cape Verde, visited us and asked us to take them to some schools in the area so they could find a school that needs help with money and stuff. We visited a tiny school in Figueral which had about 75 students in only 3 really small classrooms with not much in them, just old chairs and tables. It was awesome talking to the little kids, especially this one kid with the Dragon Ball Z bag!! I just had to take a picture with it, the kid was like wtf?

So I had a crappy week last week but this one was tons better, we got so much work done and were working a lot with this one girl who is super special. We talked to her only 3 times and she's already asking when she can serve a mission lol. We actually found her randomly at the house of one of our investigators, she was just hanging out when we knocked on the door. we taught her super fast for like 10 minutes since they were both heading out. At the start of our next visit she pulled out a poem she wrote saying how she's been searching for God for a long time and never found Him until she heard a knock at the door. We invited her to pray and stuff and she said that night after praying she felt the biggest peace and happiness she has ever felt. She's getting baptized the 1st of November.

Week 26, 6 Months Out!

Ughh... I'm pissed. Something happened to my SD card and ALL my pics are deleted or something -.- Like they are obviously still there cuz the card is almost completely full, but they won't appear anywhere. Ughh... so anyways about last week's baptism:
The part where we are standing is super shallow, but the part where Danildo was standing is pretty deep, it was up to his waist and he's taller than me. Man I'm super bummed out, I had like 300 pics there.
Alright well about this past week, it was great. Elder Burch and I got tons of work done. We made a pact with each other that we were gonna try to be as obedient and diligent as possible so we could be blessed with 40 people in sacrament meeting this past Sunday. It wore me out so much. I mean, I'm already super obedient compared to other missionaries in the mission, but I never realized how much I slack off sometimes lol. Little things like getting out of bed at 6:30 and not just lay there 30 minutes after the alarm goes off, staying focused on our studies and small things like that. Yesterday we had 36 people at church. It was a big improvement, but we didn't hit our goal. Even though we were short 4 people, we were still super happy seeing some people there for the first time and others who haven't been there in months. This one kid named Danielson was there, he's 22 and has a baptism date marked for the 2nd of August. He's progressing a lot and already has the desire to get baptized.
Yesterday we hiked up one of the mountain zones called "Figueral". It's like a good mile of a steady (not too steep) incline. We had a member invite us to eat cachupa like around 7:15 so we stopped by and ate quickly because the cars stop driving down the main road back to our house like at 8PM. We had to sprint down Figueral when it was pitch black so we could make it back to the main road on time. We got there like at 8:15, it was super dark and there wasn't a car in sight... like completely deserted. We knew there was absolutely no way we would make it back home in time (since we live like 4 miles away) so we decided to say a prayer. Like 3 minutes after we said it some guy drove by in his car and gave us a ride. Apparently he was heading out to some party in a city close to ours. It's amazing how our Heavenly Father is always willing to help us out, all we have to do is ask. (Hitchhiking is a common form of transportation for us because there's no buses on this island).
And let's see... this past week this old lady beat me with a stick lol. She's a member but she's super mean and strict. She was telling me to sit down and I didn't want to so she got a stick and hit me with it until I sat down lol. Elder Burch has part of it on camera. We were at some church activity and everyone was running around and having a good time and apparently we were about to start with a prayer but I was the first she picked to sit down so I didn't really know what was going on and then she started hitting me with this 3 foot long stick and it hurt lol.
Well today I feel accomplished for writing so much, thanks for the packages and stuff, I'll be waiting for them. I love you!! Buh bye!

-Elder Zuniga

Week 21, Emergency Transfer to Santo Antao!

Lol gosh dang your emails are always my favorite to see on P-Days! The gif worked here and I just cracked up about the basketball one in the middle of a tiny internet shop packed with a ton of people.
And man I had the craziest week! I got emergency transferred to the middle of nowhere! It's a super beautiful island called "Santo Antao" (Saint Anthony). I got a call Tuesday morning around 12ish telling me I was going on an emergency transfer, so I went home and packed and got a call at 2:55 that my boat was leaving at 3! I was in such a hurry but I somehow managed to get there on time. I was super sad to leave all my investigators :( but still very excited to work here, not a lot of missionaries get a chance to serve on this island. To get to my area (Ribera Grande) you drive down this road that looks like a desert for about an hour; it just keeps going and going for eternity. Not really, just an hour, but yeah, a very long time. This area is sooo beautiful, these pics can't really compare to real life, especially since I suck at taking pics.

There's mountains all around my area; these pics were taken from our window in our house. The branch here is actually pretty dang small. This Sunday the attendance was only 36, but without a doubt it will start growing.

This area is gorgeous, it's called "Figueral." It's basically a trail up the side of a mountain, it kills your legs soo bad tho haha. It's a good workout.
Well I g2g or else I won't have time to email mom lol. And send more spicy ketchup! I finished it all, lol.
Thanks for everything you do, you're the best!! Love you!! Bye

-Elder Zuniga