Hello Family....Well. I'm a little frazzled today because transfers came! I was so sure I was staying in Praia 2 (wishful thinking I guess) but they finally kicked me off the island! I'm going to SAL!! (My flight's in a couple hours.) Look it up on the map. I'm going to be serving with Sister Walker who was Sister Turnbow's companion in the MTC which means it's going to be AWESOME! I'm really excited, but I'm also SO sad to leave Praia. It actually hasn't really sunk in yet. But yesterday I had to say goodbye and it was really hard. I've been serving in this branch for three months but I've known almost everyone for about 10 months! Agh. So hard. But Sal is going to be great.
Hmm...I had to say good-bye to Denilson earlier in the week because he went to Portugal to study. That was hard. Man, we taught a lot of lessons in that house. But as long as he gets in contact with the church there, it's all good. Just one more person I'm going to miss for the rest of my life.
Also we had a great lesson with Andre and Maisa about eternal marriage. Oh goodness, it was funny. Andre asked if you could still have a honeymoon with an eternal marriage and Maisa made reference to the fact that we don't have padres at our weddings like those "false churches." I was just laughing the whole time.
Oh, and Andre's little sister came home from the hospital. I didn't actually understand what they said about her little bump (my medical Portuguese vocab isn't great) but she's absolutely adorable with an extra little lump at the base of her neck. We were able to give her this really cute baby blanket that the mission nurse had received to give out. Oh man, I like babies.
We've been talking to Helder more about serving a mission and had a really good lesson with him this week--and we set goals with him, things he can be doing now to prepare. He went to Institute on Thursday and then during church on Sunday, I was sitting at the piano and I looked over when the door opened and in he walked, in a white shirt and tie! I think I started crying right there on the piano bench, I was so happy. Anyway, that was about the best way to end a week.
Uh...so I talked a LOT about Sunhana last week...haha. I think maybe I jinxed things. We were having a great week, teaching him every day, he was reading the Book of Mormon every day and then we reviewed the baptismal interview questions with him and there were...issues. It was just one of the absolutely horrible moments where you wonder just what exactly you did wrong, but...yeah. So we had to schedule an interview with President and we went to the church and waited...and waited...and waited. And Sunhana never showed up. So we went looking for him, couldn't find him. Yup. So Saturday came around (day of his baptism) and we went by early so he could still have time for an interview if it was at all possible and they told us he was in Tarrafal (other side of the island) and he'd be there all week for work! Stab in the heart. So we really have no idea what happened, but when he gets back, I'll make sure the new sisters in this area teach him. It was really disappointing though. And really confusing and there were a whole lot of new things that I've never had to deal with until this point in my mission. But I did gain an even greater testimony of the atonement and its cleansing power and the importance and blessing of baptism.
Hmm...we made pepperoni pizza this week (and by pepperoni pizza, I mean sliced linguica pizza). But it was good. And I've also introduced ranch pizza to Africa. We also celebrated Sister Lord's birthday and said good-bye to her and our district leader Elder Rodrigues who are both heading home. Needless to say, we finished the transfer of cake with more cake.
Okay, well I've got to hurry so I can eat at Segunda's one last time. Hopefully I can get a picture with her. Oh man! I love Praia! But I'm excited for Sal and I'll tell you all about it next week!
Love you all!
-Sister Brooks
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