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