HELLO FAMILY! Another exciting email from Sister Emma Brooks.
This week was pretty great. We celebrated the Fourth with a giant sugar cookie on which we painted an American flag (made with white and Kool-Aid dyed red frosting and blue sprinkles). Then on Cabo Verde's Independence Day (the 5th) everyone...sat at home! Apparently they don't really celebrate it. But they did get the day off from school, so that must have been fun.
We were also able to walk with Calu and Presidente Mendoca this week--our branch president and one of his counselors. They both served their missions here in Cabo Verde and were even companions at one point so I think they really enjoyed it. We were able to teach a few less-active members and then two of Augusto's daughters! It was so great--they teach SO well: so clearly and powerfully and you can really tell they love what they're teaching and who they're teaching. We got to hear some awesome Krioulu as well.
Our best lesson of the week was last Saturday night with Carla and Fofa and their family and Augusto and his daughters. Sister Laimana gave an amazing lesson about the importance of families in our lives and how the gospel will strengthen our families every day. It was so good to have everyone there and both Augusto and Carla bore their testimonies and it was so good! We know that when Carla gets baptized she really will be the anchor her family needs to stay active. And Augusto's just amazing. It's so sweet to see him there with his daughters.
Afterwards we played some classic Family Night games that everyone loves and guess what! They were really fun. We played Agua na Cara--let's just flash back to about six months ago when we played this with Isa and Zezito and I thought it must have been created just to make me miserable, but it was actually really fun.
And yes. I got some agua na minha cara.
Carla had made a ton of food and we brought brownies and it was just a good time. We had four members (two of whom are inactive) and six investigators but everyone was just talking and Augusto kept telling everyone that you can't be truly happy until you get baptized! It was awesome! I love those families!
But let's get to the best part: the next day. We're waiting (a little anxiously) at the chapel and then we see every single one of them turn the corner! Augusto and all of his daughters, Carla and her husband, Fofa and Sueli and Maria and Gina. All of them came to church! It was amazing. They took up an entire pew in Sacrament meeting!
And to make the day even better, Sofia and her three little ones came too! It was a little bitter-sweet though since Anildo's such a bum and decided to go 'ao interior' and so Sofia walked the entire way in the sun with her kids (all of them under eight). We don't even walk to the church. And her house is twice the distance from the chapel. She's amazing.
And then I sat by them in Sacrament meeting and being the exceptional missionary I am, spent a bit of time making the kids origami cranes...(which were very popular). But then Anildo Jr. starting flying them around with accompanying sound effects and Sofia had to tell us to be
quiet. :)
[Side note: we passed by during the week to say hi and I brought three neon-colored birds for them and Anilda told her dad that I'd been making them the whole time during church. Sofia and Anildo got a laugh out of that.]
So we're having another FHE tonight at the home and a less active family who lives near Augusto. And we're going to have a little dinner with chicken. So we went earlier today to help them prepare. The chicken. We went to help with the chicken. Get it? We went over there, Augusto handed me a rooster with its legs tied, I carried it over to Felismina's, we watched her son Paulo saw it's head off (I didn't watch the whole thing) and then we waited for it to stop moving (about five minutes) and then we took it into the kitchen, soaked it in boiling water, plucked all the feathers off and Felismina gave us a very thorough demonstration on how to chop it up into all the edible pieces! I'm about out of time, but I'm sure you don't really want the details anyway. :) I'll tell you how it tastes tonight.
Oh yeah! The Adam's daughter and her family are here visiting and I saw them and told Sister Laimana 'They're so white!' and she looked at me and said, 'Sister Brooks! You're that white.'
Sometimes I forget.
I love you all! Have a wonderful week and don't have too much fun without me.
Love,
Sister Brooks
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