Hey, you in the middle...

Hey Family!

I'm not sure what this means, but I'm getting much lazier in writing to you. I love reading your letters, but I get antsy hanging out at the internet place. We just have so much to do! But, I don't want Mom writing President, so I promise to keep writing until I come home. In May...

This week went really well. It's heating up every day. Goodness. And the hill seems to be getting steeper. Did I already tell you that our chapel is at the top of the mountain and our house is at the bottom, but you can actually see the other branch's chapel from our houses' balcony! Sister Laimana and I are learning to apply the 'island walk.' Nice and slow and easy. No need to take the hill at a run. Unless, like us you mark about six appointments within an hour and a half. But, hey, we're in Cabo Verde. What are the odds that people actually remember they marked a lesson with us? (Low.) We tend to overschedule ourselves because that's the only way to avoid doing contacts for half the day after people run away from us. But it was still a really good week.

We had Nelson's baptism. I already told you about him a bit, but he really is a good guy. A couple days before the baptism he explained to us that he was a little worried about talking to his dad about his decision because his parents are pretty Catholic (in theory) but he told us that it didn't matter because he had already chosen his path. He also told us that his boss is a Seventh Day Adventist, but he would still make sure to keep the (real) Sabbath Day holy. He's a good guy. He's going to be a good example for all the wishy-washy, could-be priesthood holders in the branch.

Speaking of wishy-washy, could-be priesthood holders in the branch, Sister Laimana and I decided to start of collection. Of earrings. I don't know how many young men, members, who come to church with earrings in. Or take them out for church and then put them in during the week. So, today, we saw Eddie. He's a pretty good guy, but we stopped and talked to him about his giant diamond earring and finally he's like, 'Okay, if you insist, I'll take it out.' And he did. Then I put it in my bag and we said good-bye and went on our way.

There will be a stake, full of worthy Melchisideque priesthood holders, in Fogo.

I'm not sure if Fogo is the craziest part of Cabo Verde, but we sure seem to have a lot of fun while preaching the gospel. This week while teaching Elvis and his mom, there was another earthquake and this time we felt it! It was about three seconds long and no one really seemed to think anything of it, but for me it was exciting. Maybe I'll get to see the Volcano erupt before coming home!

(We actually did find the museum here in Fogo and got to watch a short video of the volcanic eruption in the 90's. It was pretty cool.)

Let's see...Nelson's baptism was great. We found out about two hours before that Patrick wasn't getting baptized. He told us his mom wanted him to wait until next week. Hopefully he'll still be able to continue talking with us and his mom will let him get baptized. We talked with her a few times and she already gave her written permission, but we didn't want to push it. I'm pretty sure we were able to get her to agree to it because of the service we offered--cracking open about a hundred peanuts. I learned that a peanut has a belly, a head, and a bottom. I'm now a professional peanut opener. This woman opens hundreds of peanuts every day, makes them into a hard sugar candy and then walks around selling them all day. That's how they get their money.

Hmmm...we found a woman named Taissa this week. We were sort of hiking out in the middle of nowhere, getting our feet really dirty and then we stopped to talk to her. Turns out she's friends with about the best people in the branch--one family who's actually been sealed in the temple, another young amazing couple and a very strong recent convert. She lives with her father, taking care of him and her two little kids. She came to church and we're pretty excited about her. There's nothing better than having an investigator with friends.

We continue to be the most popular people in town, and as the hot Sao Filipe sun bleaches my hair I seem to attract more attention. Walking with Lu and Sister Laimana, I'm still very white and after church a guy selling fish yelled over to us 'Hey! That one in the middle, you! I like you.' Aren't I glad I understand Creole these days. Haha. Sister Laimana got a good laugh out of it.

There was a post carnival party on Sunday which kind of wiped out our investigator attendance in Sacrament Meeting, but we had a good day nonetheless.

Today we visited the Fogo salt beds. There's not much in the way of salt, but it's a very, very pretty area. There are these little caves/holes and the waves get into them and it acts like a sort of blow hole. It was awesome. Super windy and we were far enough away from Sao Filipe that it was pretty chilly. Of course as soon as we got back I stepped out of the Hiace and could feel my skin burning. But hey, it's not Africa if it's not hot!

Oh man. I like this place. It's completely out of control and I love it. I hope you're all doing well. I can't remember if there was anything important for me to tell you, so sorry. :) Love you all!

Get better Grandpa! I love you!

Love,

Sister Brooks