First thing's first, I did not puke my guts out on the boat. Wooohooo! Although we didn't end up getting home until like 11H30 at night hahaaaaaa traveling is so great. Okay, now that we've got that out of the way, BRAVA. My goodness. I had culture shock like no other.
This island is always in a cloud. Always. So it's cold and constantly damp and foggy and GREEN! That was the first thing I noticed. The second thing was the smell. This island smells like damp wood and fresh earth and flowers~! They don't call this place the "Ilha das Flores" for nothing. They're everywhere and their scent fills the air!
The people look just like the people from Fogo except they all have badly stained teeth (too much fluoride in their water). And a lot of them speak English with the most ghetto Boston accent ever I love it hahaaa. They even speak Portuguese and Crioulo with a Boston accent. It's really fun.
I counted the number of dogs I saw and I only saw like 8 dogs in an entire day! In Praia I counted 25 dogs in 5 minutes alone hahaa. And the dogs here are half decent looking, they don't have leprosy or nasty wounds or bleeding ears or anything. It's great!
I walk around on pretty cobblestone paths rather than rivers of trash and poo and the HOUSES! Oh man. I love them. There are big classy houses and little stone cottages. And they all smell like rotting wood and mold (but I like it). And because it's so damp, when we hang our clothes to dry, rather than it taking 5 to 6 hours to dry, it takes 4 to 5 DAYS. Yup, and they all smell super funky afterwards. I had to bater ropa for the first time ever (I've helped members bater ropa before but this was the first official time)! It was only fun for the first 20 minutes. After 2 hours my arms and back kinda broke. Not really but you know. Actually wait, no you don't. Whatever it was great! And we received a laundry machine the other day WOOOHOOOOO no more batering ropa!
Our house is real cute. I like it. All four of us sisters sleep in the living room. And we don't have a ton of cockroaches like in Relva, but the few that we do have are HUGE! And SO freaky ugh bleh halkjuuuuuggghhhhlll yuck. My comp is terrified of them.
Speaking of my comp, Sister Barbosa, she's AMAZING! She's so dang fun and friendly and she just makes everyone happy to be around her. And oh man, my Portuguese skills have already skyrocketed! She uses the "tu" form which is throwing me off a little. It's the first time I've ever heard anyone use it during my mission and now I hear it alllll day everyday. I'm gonna sound SO dang proper by the end of this transfer hahaha. Yup. And there's no language barrier or anything or anything between us. Language has never been a problem for me in the mission (besides the first few months obviously). And she says that my Portuguese is amazing. And I'm catching on to her GORGEOUS accent (yusssss) And I've been helping her with her English which is so much fun.
The members here are amazing! Especially the youth, and they LOVE sisters so it wasn't hard to form an immediate bond (that took a lot of time and effort in Praia) and the work here is soooo slow. Mainly because we have to hike like an hour from one house to another. But the work is good.
As amazing as Brava is, I've been in a funk this past week cause I don't know anyone or where anything is and I don't feel like I've been a great help to my companion. So I did as Lehi did in his dream when he was lost in the dark mist (I studied that the other morning) and I prayed and wow! I'll try to describe the feelings. I felt warmth and energy and renewed confidence in myself and the Lord and I know that He is so proud of me and the work I've been doing these past 6 months and wow. I miss my Father in Heaven. I can't wait to live with Him again.
I have soooooooo much more that I wanted to write but I'm out of time! I love you all. Thanks for all of your emails this week!
my comp and I helping a member move houses
Leandra and her baby brother and a friend. TOO CUTE
my friend and I
see that white house wwwwaaaaaayyyyy up on the top of that mountain? Yeah, our investigator Melissa lives there. And we hike up to that house like every few days or so.
the Praza
