Week 86

This week was good at first, but it went downhill fast. It started out with a division with Elder Burch, I went over to his area to work and we had a good talk about our plans after the mission. I've actualy been feeling for a while that I shouldn't be welding after the mission and that I need to go back to college. The entire time Burch was trying to convince me to go to Utah State (he's been trying to convince me for like a year now). I want to be an architect. I just want to do something hands-on that doesn't destroy my body, and so far what God has told me is that I need to study hard for the first time in my life and get a really good education.

Sadly, Ivanildo was not baptized. He was being sent to a rehabilitation center in another city nearby because of past problems with drugs and his parents really wanted him to go for like 3 months. He almost had them convinced that he doesn't have to go but it was already too late for his baptism. We will try to get him baptized this Saturday, though.

Sosa and I... we get along great and all, but not as well as I got along with Mortensen. I'm still getting used to the way he teaches. Oh and it rained on us again -.-'

Week 85

Hi! My birthday was pretty dope! It didn't rain during the day, only very early in the morning. It's been pretty sunny all week long, and super humid. So now, because of our house with leaks EVERYWHERE, all of my clothes are growing mold. It's super disgusting and it already ruined 3 ties, my backpack, and my suit. I called Sister Mathews (mission president's wife) and she told me to wipe everything down with vinegar... I just haven't done it yet because vinegar smells bad.

Elder Mortensen was still able to make me my cake, it got destroyed on one side but he did a good job, lol. I'm going to miss Morty, he was one of my favorite comps right after Burch and Welch. Elder Sosa and I get along pretty good, much better than at the MTC.  The first few days were a bit frustrating because I'm not used to his teaching style, but I'm getting him into shape haha. 

Morty and I said goodbye to a ton of people we met together and members that helped us out a lot this week, it was sad but at least I'm still here. 

This is Ivanildo. He is getting baptized this Saturday and he is one of my favorite people in the entire world. Morty and I were having a tough day, we had been walking for a long time and all the people we talked to on the street were blowing us off and stuff. I was frustrated, so as we came around a corner I told Morty "Alright, I'm going to contact the very next person I see and he is going to get baptized" and as we turned the corner, I saw Ivanildo in front of his house pulling water out of a well. I went up to him and invited him to sit with us. I could tell he didn't want to talk to us, but we insisted and he told us to come back later. So we did, and we had the most powerful 1st Lesson of our entire missions. At the end he just cracked open and confessed to us how he had been drinking and using drugs and how it was destroying his parent's hearts. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted. Every time I see him now it just seems like he's brighter and happier. He's really excited for this Saturday, it's just a little sad that Mortensen won't be here to see it happen.

His parents are really well off, but both from different religions. His dad is Catholic and his mom attends a church called "Templo Mayor" both are super active members of their churches, but Ivanildo was never interested in religion. He is 27 years old and spent 2 years at a university in Bolivia, that's where he learned Spanish. He learned English by himself from books and movies and is very fluent... every lesson that we've taught him has been in English because he likes practicing. He's super smart, he is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, English, and a little French. When we found him he was working on getting his driver's license, which he finally got this past week. He is now looking for a job but nothing specific, he just wants to help his parents out. 

His mom cares about him a lot, it's a little sad to see how worried she was. Once we went over for a lesson and he wasn't there, but his mom answered the door and she called him like 10 times in a row and when she finally got a hold of him she got after him and told him to get home right away so we could talk to him. We tried to tell her it was ok and we could come back later and she said "If I couldn't get him to go to church, I'm praying that you two do, I just want him to change." We are going to make sure both parents can go to the baptism, maybe we can convert the whole family, fingers crossed! 

Week 84, 14th Transfer

Hey!!! Man this past week was sweet! I mean, nothing crazy weird happened but we just had a lot of success. So Mortensen got transferred! I am now serving with my MTC comp. Elder Sosa is here as the 2nd Zone Leader now, I'm excited for this next transfer, we should have a ton of success.
So me and Mortensen took a picture to put in the house of a member family that is super tight with us. Here it is, they said they would keep that picture forever, lol. He's still here, he will leave in 3 days, so he can make my cake, lol. And also Burch is in my zone now! It was nice seeing him today. He is going to die in an area called Pedra Bedejo close to Assomada. What's crazy is that I'll be home 3 months after he is, I think I will know my homecoming information next transfer. It's getting soooo close, it's way weird. After Burch leaves, there won't by anybody left that's older than me. I have no clue how time went by so fast, I feel like I just got here.

I'm also in the middle of a flipping hurricane!! It's raining super hard right now. God is just giving me the opportunity to email right now because the power has been going out all day. 

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 82

The pictures you sent made me trunky for carpet like you have no idea, lol. One of the first things I'll do when I get home is just lay on the floor for like an hour enjoying carpet.
Anyways, this week was sweet, it felt very long but it was still really good. We had some divisions with the APs before Zone Conference and it was awesome. I didn't work with Burch, I was with his comp Elder Lopes, who is also a boss so it was okay.
Afterwards it was sick talking to Burch about all of the stuff we went through in Ribeira Grande. We talked about our recent converts and all the comps we've served with since then. Also all the songs we used to sing while we were walking in between areas. And about how much we hate girls since we both got Dear Johned around the same time, lol.
The rest of the week was normal, same old work over and over again, but with different people.

A few weeks ago you said that the pictures I sent you sometimes scared you. Well, this morning I was able to climb the famous Assomada Big Tree. It was way fun but super hard getting up there. Only Elder Masubelele and I could climb all the way up. Our whole district went.

It was a sick view from up there, but I couldn't climb with the camera in my pocket or it would have gotten destroyed. Sister Miller took a video, I'll show it to you when I go back home. It wasn't scary, just really hard and it tired me out like crazy. 

So here's my current district. From left to right: 

Elder Masubelele from South Africa

Elder Layton from Peru

Sister Hanzel from Utah (I think)

Sister Cardoso from Cabo Verde

Sister Fernandez from Portugal

Sister Miller from somewhere in the U.S. 

and then Mortensen and myself

Week 81

My week was very interesting and busy. On Tuesday was Council day, we had to wake up at 5AM to catch an hour-long ride to Praia, but I woke up at 2 in the morning because of a HUGE roach crawling on my face. I don't know if I told you, but our house is INFESTED with roaches. I have never seen so many in my life. But yeah, I felt something on my face, woke up and slapped it away and it landed on my pillow. Then I realized it was a roach so I grunted "freaking roaches" and slapped my whole pillow off my bed, but it landed on Mortensen and woke him up, lol. Then we kept trying to kill it and it kept running back and forth between our beds, so I lost a good 45 minutes of sleep there.
But the actual Council itself was awesome, it really opened my eyes to how much planning and stuff goes on behind the scenes. It was awesome seeing people again, especially Elder Young and Romano and Burch. We got back to Assomada around 8:30ish at night so we were exhausted by then. Wednesday was a normal day, except we stayed up late finishing up all our plans and trainings for the next day, which made us lose a few more hours of sleep.
Zone Meeting was sweet! Or at least it was for me, lol. Everyone seemed to like it, and it was nice seeing everybody from the Zone again.
Right after Zone Meeting I left on a division with Elder Sosa to a city called Calheta, he's still soft lol but it was way cool being able to serve with him again.
I didn't get back until Friday, when I came home to see that our apartment had been sprayed with poison for the roaches. There were THOUSANDS of baby roaches all dead throughout the kitchen. I thought that was going to end the roach problem, but I think it just made it worse. Now they moved out of the kitchen and into the rest of the house. So now there's even more roaches in the bathroom, study room, closets, EVERYWHERE. I hate this house, lol.
Yesterday was awesome, the zone all came together and more than doubled the number of investigators in Sacrament Meeting. Two Sundays ago the number was 13 (I know, super low) and yesterday as a zone we had 27 (more than we have had in 3 months) so I'm super excited for Zone Conference in 2 days, we are going to keep pumping up the zone so we can keep improving.
Also, Burch and Elder Lopez (the APs) are coming over tomorrow for a division, so that should be fun.

Random Pics: Elder Mortensen still doesn't smile, haha.

Week 80

I'm sorry I didn't email mom and dad, I read their email twice and I thought I had responded but I guess I really didn't... brain fart.
Guys I don't need clothes for the cold, but the socks will actually come in very handy since most.... all of my socks have holes in them, but don't go overboard because my luggage is super heavy now. I really don't want anything... maybe just some stretch bands so I can work out. It's hard to get in shape when my only two choices are push ups and sit ups.

So this week was very tiring, we have been preparing for Zone Meeting which will be on Thursday and Zone Conference which is in 10 days. Both days we will be presenting zone plans and goals for the month of August and we will also be preparing trainings to go along with those plans. I was never exactly "gifted" when it comes to talking in front of people, so it should be interesting, lol. All week we have been praying, fasting, and studying to know what plans we can do to help out getting investigators to church.
Also, tomorrow will be council, which is in Praia. All the Zone Leaders and the 2 AP's go to a meeting with President Matthews to follow up on last month's goals and talk about next months' plans and stuff. It will be my first one and I'll get to see Elder Burch for the first time in about a year, and others more than that, so I'm pretty excited for that. I'm also a bit nervous because everyone at council is like the "top dogs" in the mission, everyone is smart lol. I feel like I was made ZL because I work hard, not because of my brains haha.