The Cat in the Bag

March 14, 2011

Bom dia!

It was another very quick week and transfers are upon us! Can you believe I've already had two whole transfers in Cabo Verde? It was a very anxious Saturday night for Sister Turnbow and me because neither of us really wanted to be transferred or have the other one leave! Well, miracles do happen! We get to stay another six weeks together! This is the first time Sister T's had a companion for more than one transfer so I'm going to be her favorite. :) But we really are excited. We had an amazing week and may or may not have set a record with lessons with members and had another miracle happen--six investigators at church! Our amazing Gila, our cute little family and another relative of the Brandaos. It was great too because we had District Conference and it was really, really good.

For District Conference I got to translate for Sister Adams in the Relief Society leadership training. It was only slightly terrifying. And by slightly, I mean extremely. But I cheated and mostly translated her talk before hand and then read it. But it was still scary.

But it was really awesome to see all the members on Sao Tiago together in our chapel. All the branches of Praia, Assomada and Tarrafal came! It was packed. And we got to hear the testimony of President Neves' son who just got back from his mission in Salt Lake City. We were all excited to meet him (and hear his English). Now, it's only a few months before the rest of the Neves finish their mission. :( What an amazing family.

We found this really sweet girl, Valdira that we started to teach. But the day of Carnival (Oh yeah! Carnival! I'll tell you about it in a second.) she wasn't at home for her appointment. We were a couple minutes early but I was a little disappointed and I told Sister Turnbow that we should just go--it wasn't like she was just going to magically appear at 5 o'clock. My words--falta da fe'! Well, luckily Sister Turnbow is more patient than I am so we hung around for a few minutes and, lo and behold, Valdira turns the corner--at what time? Five o'clock exactly. Sister Turnbow won't let me forget that one. :) And I was really happy that we got to teach her.

Carnival! It was beyond boring. We didn't go home early because we didn't need to. It was boring because NO ONE was home because they all went to Carnival (which is officially Satan's holiday) which wasn't in our area. So we didn't get to see much of the celebrations, which is probably good and the people who were home and not at Carnival are probably the most righteous people in Cabo Verde. :) The 9th was a holiday too--but I think people mostly just sleep off their drunkenness and then eat some weird food. I was highly disappointed that we didn't get invited for the holiday dinner which I heard from some other missionaries is disgusting.

I fell in the mud this week. It was a little bit embarrassing, but mostly just funny. I thought I could jump over the river (which is still flowing from the broken pipe) but instead I just slipped in the mud and fell on my...bum. (Can a missionary use that word?) But it was still a rather graceful fall and it was good fun. :)

Remember how I told you about the horrible yells of pigs dying? Well, Sister Turnbow got to experience it the other day. We were awoken at 5:30 in the morning by our neighbors making bacon--and this time we watched it from our balcony. I must confess, I couldn't watch. I made this horrible girlish gasp right as they raised the knife and ran back inside.

Zezito's baptism was great--he was baptized along with two others from our Ramo. It was a great day. It would've been really great to have Isa being baptized too, but she was there with Hugo. Zezito's a crazy guy--he's SO funny (he asked if we dyed a mechanic's outfit white for the baptism clothes) but he knew what he was doing and I know he's waited for this day for a long time.

But after that great night I saw one of the saddest things I've ever seen. As we were going to church on Sunday, we saw Zezito ahead of us--walking all alone because Isa didn't come to church with him. Not even to see his confirmation. I've never been sadder. We talked with her Sunday night and we just don't understand. She just doesn't seem to have the faith or the desire or something--we're not sure. Zezito looked so unhappy during our lesson. But we're not giving up hope. We'll still keep working with her and hopefully with Zezito's help, she'll understand how important this is soon.

Gila! Have I told you about Gila!? He's incredible. He came to the adult session (and part of the leadership training), stayed for the baptism and then came to all the general session of District Conference on Sunday! He was there longer than most of the members! He's such a cute little man--a fisherman--and his only problem right now is that his 'wife' doesn't want to get married! He's keeping all the other commandments and it was slightly heartbreaking hearing him pray for the Lord to be with his wife and help her change her mind. Man! They have four sons--the oldest is over 20 and she still doesn't want to get married! Argh!

The Brandaos got two little cute kitties. During our lesson on Sunday they both started playing in Sister Turnbow's bag. Which is probably the safest place to be because before that I saw Mane's niece get her hands on one of them and I don't think it was enjoying it too much.

Okay. I think that's about it. It was a great week. Something clicked inside me. I don't know what exactly but I'm afraid it means I'm not coming home. Sorry, family. You'll just have to come visit.

I still love you though! And I love this work!

Love,
Sister Brooks

Happy Saint Patrick's Day this week!

Bo e' Fixe

March 7, 2011

Ola Familia!

This week went so quickly that I don't even know what to talk about. To be honest, the work seemed a lot harder this week. We did SO many contacts and had SO many appointments fall through, but I guess 'Mama said there'd be days like this' (Sister Turnbow starts singing that every time we have something annoying happen.). We also picked one of our investigators up and walked all the way to church with him. Then, after Relief Society, we went to find him for Principios do Evangelho--fugiu! He'd run away. That was a bummer. But also very funny. Luckily we had our faithful Isa and Zezito there (and Hugo--I learned how to spell his name).

Speaking of I and Z, they had their baptismal interviews on Saturday! We were a little worried about Isa being prepared because of the whole tithing thing, and I think my heart actually stopped when she came out of her interview and said, 'Sisters, I'm not ready to be baptized.' Oh man! We were so scared! That she didn't have a testimony, that she didn't want to anymore. Well, turns out she was running late that morning and stopped at her mom's house for a cup of coffee. So she actually won't be getting baptized for a couple more weeks, but Zezito has been ready for ages! So he'll be baptized and then he can baptize Isa! And then we'll teach Isa's daughter and sooner than you know it, they'll have an eternal family!

Hmm...what else happened this week? Oh yeah. Background: one of our first weeks together, Sister T. and I were meeting a reference at this little park, but he wasn't showing up so we were starting to wonder if we were at the right park. So...Sister Turnbow walks up to this group of very scary men who are chillin' at the park to find out if there's another park nearby. Well, turns out the scariest of them spoke English. Very well. With a Newsies accent. Anyway, they were actually really helpful and every once in a while for the past several weeks we've seen him and said hi. Sister T. was convinced that he had this tear tattoo that's some mark of a really dangerous gang in USA (and Nene told us that that gang sends some of its 'people' here to Cabo Verde) so we were feeling pretty good to have a thug friend.

Anyway, we were doing contacts this week and knocked on the door of a woman who invited us in and we talked for a little bit but she was busy and we marked a day to come back. (I really wanted to teach her because she had this crazy looking animal skin rug on the floor.) Then we were walking up the street and talked to two young men (we always contact boys walking in twos--future missionaries!) and then another pair of young men. As we left, we noticed they were all going to that same house of the woman we had met. 'That's interesting,' Sister Brooks said to herself. Anyway...

So we returned the next day to the woman's house and who opens the door? Our English speaking thug friend! I think we were probably both standing with our mouths open, but we talked to him for a bit and turns out the woman we met was his wife. And she wasn't home but we marked another day to talk with them. So we figure he's the gang boss and all those boys we contacted work for him and we were going to meet them at the creepy park and teach them the gospel!

Pretty cool story, right? Well, none of them showed up for their appointments, so it's kind of anticlimatic, but we will always be able to say that we almost converted an entire gang.

I also saw a little boy this week with the exact same Ninja Turtle backpack that I have--you didn't donate it to a charity or something, did you? :) But seriously. I'm using that backpack when I get home.

It's Carnival here in Cabo Verde! A very confusing holiday. We've had little parades going past our house and all the little kids (and not so little kids) are dressing up in costumes and Mane said Carnival celebrates Cape Verde's independence from Portugal and they get like ten days off from school! So it's pretty exciting. I've decided it's Halloween, July 4th and some sort of African holiday all rolled into one!

Let's see...we ate at Sucupira today and they asked me how I wanted my egg (Sister Smith translated for me)--and at Denny's this means scrambled, fried, poached, sunny side up, etc--here, it means cooked or uncooked.

I got mine cooked.

Sister Turnbow and I continue to learn Portuguese and Creole and our favorite Creolese :) phrase for the week is Bo e' fixe. 'You are cool.' We also had a member translate our testimonies into Creole. A mim sabe ma igreja e verdadeira! Or something like that.

It's really great that you read D&C 135. I actually read it recently too and Sister Turnbow and I have been discussing it this week. We're asked to sacrifice so little--to go to church, to do what's right--but the Prophet Joseph gave his life to bring the restoration of the gospel to pass! There's a quote from one of the apostles that an evil man would not have said he had done all the things that Joseph Smith did and a good man would not have made it up. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church of Christ restored on the earth! Eu sei que o evangelho de Cristo e o unico caminho que vai levar-nos a vida eterna! Oh, be wise! What more can I say? :)

I love you all!! Be good, be safe and be happy!

Love,
Sister Brooks

The Bird on the String

February 28, 2011

Family (and friends)! I love you so much!

I just thought I'd mix things up and say that first. :) But it's true

OK. What a great week. Winter is over! (Not that it ever began here.) But I'm officially darker than some Caboverdians. Not that that's too hard. But don't worry, I still get called 'branca' plenty. But it's gotten hot! And it will keep getting hotter until around...September. :) Woo-hoo. But I've discovered that if we help people wash their clothes we can cool off a little since they don't have hot water and the wind sprays the water all over the place.

Let's see: Sister Turnbow and I found this great fruit store and bought some yellow plums. They were weird. They tasted like plums(ish) but were yellow. And little. We also found some good kiwis and little oranges. I wanted some peppers but they were really expensive.

We have a nice river running through our area. There's a big hole up in Inferno and a pipe broke. People are there for 18 hours a day, filling buckets of water, but there's still a huge runoff coming down the dirt road all the way past our house. We took a picture with a pig who was bathing in the gross, muddy water.

Speaking of animals, we've seen a lot of cute puppies. (Cabo Verde really doesn't need more dogs.) And I found a teeny tiny kitty that was SO adorable. The animals are only cute (and rabies-less) when they're small.

And speaking of small animals, we had another very interesting lesson. We were teaching a woman who had found us the week before and set a time for us. She was a little...drunk. We think. And there were two other men there that were under the influence of some substance. So we were sticking close to the door, but during the lesson we heard this weird squeaking sound from under the bed. I'm not sure if I expected a mouse or a toy, but all the sudden a man pulls on this length of string and a tiny bird hops out--attached to the line. The man then starts to throw the bird into the air and pull it back to entertain a poor, crying child. The boy continues to cry so the man just chucks the bird at him!

OK. So I'm pretty sure I spend all my time telling you the out-of-the-ordinary things and I forget the normal missionary stuff (or is it the other way around?). So here's a little bit about our District: We have the secretaries, the APs, our district leader and us. And we're all American except for our DL Elder Rodrigues, who is from Brazil and is awesome. We have a great district--they work hard and are super funny Elders (and we're pretty cool too). District meetings are great. I learn a ton from them every week.

So I learned that a 15-year-old boy who only speaks Creole can break your heart. We started teaching this boy Ailton a couple weeks ago and he's amazing! It seemed so random when we met him, but we taught him and things were going great and then he didn't come to church. We came back and he said he was so sorry and we taught him and he was reading the Book of Mormon and then he didn't come to church. And here, after two Sundays, we technically are supposed to drop him. Man. I never realized just how heartbreaking the mission is. That's only one example, but I really love that little guy. Anyway, I hope we still see him.

We did have a cool experience though: We contacted a woman Saturday night and she said we could teach her Sunday, but only in the morning. We told her we couldn't because we had church, but she could come to church with us. Miracles do happen: She came to church. She stayed the whole time. The members actually helped her and talked to her! It was great.

I had my first Zone Activity!! Woo-hoo. We went to Tarrafal. It's an area where only Elders work on the North side of the island. And just so you know, you can cross the whole (biggest) island in approximately one hour and 40 minutes. And while that's not really very long, when you're shoved into a 'yasse'--a weird, smallish van--with all the missionaries from Praia (both zones went) it's not a very enjoyable ride. Especially since the roads are just nauseating switchbacks up a mountain for 60 minutes. But don't worry, we all made it.

And Tarrafal is beautiful!! It's a lot cleaner and smaller than Praia and greener! It doesn't feel like Africa. I would have guessed Central America. But it's awesome. We walked through this super long cave/tunnel and everyone hit their heads and then we hung out on a black sands beach.

But it's amazing. The water is clear and incredible and the sand isn't covered in garbage and there are palm trees! Oh. And I touched the Atlantic Ocean! And held a tiny crab. And saw a really big, ugly crab. I wish I could send pictures, but it would be better if you just saved up your money and came to visit. :)

We also helped some guys pull in this gigantic net of fish. Literally, gigantic. It was huge. And fish still smell bad, but fishing is much more exciting that way.

I can't wait to see a picture of Marty! Which I'm sure I'll be receiving any day now...

Is the Spring Fling scheduled for Cabo Verde? I know some great China stores and African markets that the aunts could find some real deals at! And some of the products may or may not have been made in America!

Well, I hope everyone is doing great! I hope I remembered everything. You do realize that I do missionary work too, right? OK, I better tell you about one lesson: Isa and Zezito--I love them. They came to church again and we marked a baptism date and I love them! They have some financial problems (like everyone) and Isa's a little worried about tithing, but we've had some great lessons about faith and I know they'll be blessed. But we talked a little about the gospel (faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost and enduring to the end) with them and I just got really excited. I don't know, but I could definitely feel the Spirit bringing words to my mind. I didn't stumble with the language and I know it wasn't me. There's definitely an amazing amount of help that comes from the gospel--in so many different ways.

OK. I love you all! And it's almost March! Epa!

Love,
Sister Brooks

Oh, and I saw people riding donkeys up a mountain. For real.

Harry Potter and the Missionary of Cabo Verde

February 21, 2011

I hope everyone's doing well! This week went super fast--full of work and fun and the craziness of Cabo Verde!

Today we went for a LONG walk and saw some amazing views. And a giant cross and a statue of the Pope. We took a walk on the beach and on a really old dock that probably wasn't very safe to walk on. We also walked along the street where the foreign ambassadors live--that is nothing like the Cabo Verde we live in. Giant houses, cars--probably hot water. It was strange seeing the other extreme of living circumstances here.

Did you know that there are only 11 sisters serving here in Cabo Verde? That's not very many. We're getting two more from the states in a transfer or two though and President will probably be opening a new area, which is way exciting.

We taught an old woman this week who said she had died for three days but then had a vision and was told that her time wasn't up yet and she came back. Then she told us she was sure we'd find husbands here in Cape Verde and not want to return to the USA.

Oh, and she never learned to read because her parents didn't want her to be able to write letters to her boyfriends when she was older. Apparently that's quite common though.

Oh my goodness. We had possibly the funniest experience ever this week. We taught a woman the other day and scheduled a time to come back. But when we got there, her neighbor told us she was at her sister's house. So we went over to her sister's house and knocked on the door. Her sister answered and told us she wasn't there but at her own house. So...obviously, something wasn't exactly right. Sister Turnbow was sure she was there so asked if we could come in and talk with the sister. She said yes and we came in--no Rosilda (it's a one-room house). So we just taught her sister the first lesson instead. Forty-five minutes later we leave and Mane, the member with us, asked us if we saw Rosilda during the lesson. We said no, completely confused. WELL, apparently she was hiding under the bed the whole time! Ha-ha. Serves her right. :) We would have taught a longer lesson if we had known.

Our other great experience of the week: We taught wizards! A witch and a wizard, I guess. We walked by their house and the man started shouting at us in Creole. We sort of ignored him because he was wearing a bright green dress/robe and I didn't understand what he was saying. But Mane said he wanted us to come talk to him and his wife. So we started walking over to him. Sister Turnbow asked Mane if the man was Muslim, but Mane said no, he did magic. Huh? Apparently, they used to be rich, living in Portugal and France, doing magic. I don't really know what that means. They don't stop talking. BUT, they accepted baptism...we're trying to decide which lesson teaches 'thou shalt not practice witchcraft'.

For the record, I don't actually think they practice 'magic' anymore. But it's still funny.

Once again we walked all over our area, trying to get our investigators to church. Guess how many we found? NONE. But! When we finally got there, we found Isa and Zezito! (Who were married but then for some reason stopped coming to church the week before they were supposed to get baptized.) They haven't even had any lessons with us for weeks, but it was so great to see them (and my little Ugo) there. Hopefully we can help them start preparing for baptism again.

We've had some great lessons this week, especially with some of our recent converts. Sometimes I think I could spend all day learning from Mane and Nene. They are so great. Also, they help us a lot! Last week our district had 28 lessons with members. Sister Turnbow and I had 21. That's all thanks to Mane and Nene who are always willing to help us. They're amazing.

I love you all and hope you're well! Be good, go to church, read your scriptures!

The Missionary

February 14, 2011

So usually I save the really funny, random stories for last, but this one can't wait! We've been persecuted! Ha-ha. Not really. But yesterday this kid came up and asked us for money (which happens about eight times a day), but, obviously, we're not allowed to give out money, so I told him we didn't have anything to give. (For the record, there are a lot of POOR people here and this kid was not--he just saw two white girls in skirts and wanted to squeeze a few escudos out of us.) Then Sister Turnbow asked him if he had any money for us--I'm pretty sure she was joking. :) She was. Anyway, so we kept walking along to our next lesson and all the sudden a rock hits me in the back of the leg--hard! It really hurt. So yes, he chucked a rock at us. And now I have a nice bruise on my calf. You'll be proud to know that I did not chase after him. Or throw the rock back.

Sister Turnbow and I go running every morning! It's great. I wish you all could be here. Every day we turn the corner and we have this incredible view of the ocean, the ships near the shore and the lighthouse! As much as I miss my mountains, that's one thing I didn't see during my morning runs in Utah.

Sister Turnbow really is the greatest. She's helped me so much! She absolutely loves Disneyland and there's a lot of whistling and singing going on in our apartment. Unfortunately, we have a serious conflict that will never be resolved: She likes potato pearls. I know, I know. I'm working on forgiveness.

But besides the fake, toxic potato thing, she's great. She even cleaned out my toe after I sliced it on a rusty piece of metal. Now that's a good companion.

We knocked one door this week and the man said he couldn't talk to us because he was sick. (He smelled weird, but didn't look sick.) We asked if we could come back later in the week. He said he'd be sick the entire week. We said next week; he said he'd be sick the month of February and all of this year. Sister Turnbow said we'd see him in 2012.

We had several service opportunities this week. We got to de-pod some beans during a lesson and we got to help wash clothes. I'm actually learning to use a washboard. But the second time we washed clothes, we washed some baby clothes. Most people can't afford diapers here. I washed my hands well afterwards.

We got permission to have a nice lunch date with Sister Laimana and Sister Smith for Valentine's Day. We took them to Sucupira. I got the bife de vaca. Oh man. It's so good. I took a picture of it. Some day, I will show you, or better yet, you all can just come here and we'll have Segunda make lunch for us all, Elder and her family. :)

Everyone calls us Elder.

But just so you know, my lunch came with steak(ish), beans, rice, potatoes, french fries and a fried egg on top--and an orange soda. Yes, I'm going to get fat, but I'm using my money with sabedoria.

We had three investigators come to church, which was good but about a fourth of those who 'promised' they would come. But we'll definitely be focusing on the father and son who came and also Maria (the sister of Nene and Maria--yeah, every one's named Maria). We have a lot of new investigators that we need to teach and help them progress. There are always plenty who are willing and happy to listen to us but not always ready to act and do their part. It's a little frustrating but always great to see when people know it's true and are ready to do whatever it takes to follow it.

Here are a few facts that should not be forgotten:

I'm in Cabo Verde--an island--serving a mission.
I'm teaching the gospel every day to these people--in Portuguese.
I'm a missionary.

Cool, right?

Well, fica fixe. I love you all, hope you're well and miss you lots!

Sister luncheon

The Dust

So, apparently we're in the middle of our annual dust storm! A couple days this week we haven't even been able to see the city because of all the dust-smog. It's also super windy, so every day we come home covered in dust, and you could plant a garden in the dirt that's been pouring through our screen windows. BUT, it's supposedly the dust blowing all the way from the Sahara Desert, so it's okay. :)

It's been a busy week. We taught almost 40 lessons! Which is a lot. Sunday alone we taught eight lessons, and by Sunday night: we were pooped. Sister Turnbow is a great worker. But we've found out that when people see two white girls trying to speak Portuguese (to those who only speak Creole), they don't really try too hard to understand. We've decided that the people who are actually ready to hear the gospel are the ones who can focus long enough to try to understand us. And we've also realized the importance of having a member teach with us! We've been giving some members some great missionary experiences as they've helped 'translate' and explain principles with us.

Want to hear something depressing though? Out of the 30 lessons we taught to investigators, not a single person came to church. Phooey.

We have had some good lessons though. We've been teaching a member's brother, and as we were teaching, Sis. Turnbow asked if he believed Joseph Smith was a prophet and he pulled out his Book of Mormon and said (in Portuguese): 'I believe it. Because a man couldn't write a book like this.' That was awesome. Sis. Turnbow and I looked at each other and had to stop ourselves from breaking out into the "Hallelujah Chorus"!

Well, not really. But it was awesome.

Maria and Nene were baptized and confirmed on Saturday and Sunday! I can't even begin to describe how awesome it was. There wasn't water in the church again, so the the baptism was in the ocean! The waves were even crazier than last time, but it was such a great day for them.

Cape Verde just had its elections. In a few words that means: parties, really loud music, and lots of drunk people. But we got some free hats. That we can't actually wear in public. :)

Also this week, we found and bought a chocolate cake mix! A Betty Crocker cake mix! It was awesome. Well, actually Sister Turnbow found and bought it. And then we made it (Sister Turnbow made it). And then we ate it! I helped with this part. It was incredible. I love stolen American goods.

Kidding. I'm pretty sure it wasn't black market.

Today was sweet. We went to the lighthouse again and had some bread and Nusco (chocolate hazelnut spread), and then we spent most of the day at Sucupira (the Cabo Verde version of a mall).

And....! We ate there! It was so awesome. I think we're the first sisters to dare eat in one of the restaurants there. Totally worth it. A giant plate of rice, beans, chicken and fries and a cool-looking bottle of Sprite for 200 escuros. And a couple elders showed up too and couldn't believe we were eating there.

And then I bought some African fabric and they're going to make me a dress! I'm way excited.

Tried some kiwi ice cream--delicious. Not quite as good as the mint and chocolate, but still good.

Oh, and I gave a spiritual thought at our district meeting. There were five new elders there and they looked SO tired! It's hard to believe that just six weeks ago I arrived at 2 am after a very long trip. But they seem excited to be here. :)

Well, I guess that's about it. I'll teach you some of the Creole I'm learning. Sister Turnbow and I are going to learn it this transfer. And we plan on teaching tons of lessons this week, too!

Modi que bai bu skola hoje? = Como foi escola hoje? = How was school today?
A mi kre so bo. = I only want you. :) It's a song! I don't actually use that sentence.
Ka sta = Not here. We hear this a lot when people don't want to talk to us. :)

Allons-y!
Sister Brooks