:( September 22

You guys I'm SOOOO SAD! I'm so so so so so so so sad  I can't even express how sad I am to be leaving Cape Verde. I tried my very very best to push myself and keep working but it's been 3 weeks now and it's been HARD. Harder than teaching with the parasite in my gut haha. I kept telling Sister Mathews that I was getting better (and I have been) but not good enough. I think the main issue is that none of the best doctors in Cabo Verde know what the heck is going on. And it's worrying everybody.

I'm tired of my investigators not getting taught, and I'm sick of being sick. So the Mission Prez decided that it's best if I go home and get this whole thing figured out. Apparently it's definitely not anemia and I've never actually had it soooo pregnant lady pills aren't helping me out.

I have no idea what day I'm coming home or how long I'm gonna be home for but I don't plan on staying long. I'm gonna try to come back out as soon as I can! Even if that means getting reassigned in the states (They have TONS of Cabo Verdeans in Boston).

This week has been super interesting hanging out with my old comp in my old area here in Praia. It's been raining cats and dogs lately! And the rivers in the streets...let's just say that we missionaries will work in sun, rain, and poop hahahaha. Everybody was having such a party in the rua, shouting *TXUBA TXUBA* and cheering for us sisters and taking showers and pushing each other down in the nasty poo trash water.

A member felt really bad for us yesterday because we were soaked head to toe and so she made us eat her cooked chicken guts. With rice. Yup. That was....painful hahahahaha. And then afterwards some crazy man was chasing us in the street yelling *JESUS SAID NO!* in English. Oh how I've missed Praia.

I pray that I ll come back to Cabo Verde.

You would'n't want to go swimming in that lake

Me and the Pitts on our old stomping grounds

Still Sick- Sep 15

Sooooo I'm in currently in Brava again but I spent this entire past week in Sao Filipe (Fogo) in and out of the hospital (which isn't like a hospital AT ALL) and I had my blood tested a whole bunch and they're saying that #1 it's not anemia and #2 that there is nothing wrong with me at all. And yet I can hardly walk to a nearby store without getting tired and dizzy. I've been pushing myself these past few weeks teaching and trying to be a missionary to see if it was something that would pass and it's not passing.

So I've made it a matter of prayer and I've been having an internal struggle with this all week (stay in Brava and try to tough it out some more or go somewhere else and get better) and I decided to tell Sister Mathews that something more needs to be done. So I'm probably going to go back to Praia this week and get a few more tests done but Sister Mathews says there's a good chance they might send me home to America cause there's only so much Cape Verde can do for me and that as soon as I get all patched up again they will either send me back to CV or I'll serve stateside depending on my health situation.

I just know that God is proud of me and the work I'm doing because all the Lord asks is that we give our best, and I know that that's exactly what I've been doing. We'll see what happens this week!

Love you all!

6 MONTHS!- Sep 8

Just celebrated 6 months on the mission! I cant believe I'm already a third of the way done!!!!! AHHHHH OH GOSH

So....this week I passed out during Zone Conference in Fogo. Yeah, the boat ride was brutal. So I just laid in the back with my head on Sister Matthew's lap (mission president's wife) the whole time. And not only that but my anemia is coming back too, its not just the boat, so I passed out yesterday in church too. And we had to take the boat back to Fogo AGAIN this morning cause we have a Zone Meeting tomorrow. Apparently going to Fogo every week is a normal thing. Yikes.

I should probably maybe go to the hospital but to be honest Id rather die in the comforts of my own home. Ive heard WAY too many horror stories about the hospitals here. But its okay, I won't die cause I'm getting my looovely pre-natal vitamins soon yayuh! And those helped a lot last time I was hit hard with anemia.

4) my puppies (don't worry we found them new homes) Bartok and ªThe Cute Oneª

3) PACKAGEEEE oh man those catholicy pictures of christ really work!

5) they followed me during proselyting hours haha

2)RIGHT before I passed out in church. haha. we had 70 people in church that day! usually its like 50! oh we were so happy

1)Fogo veggieeessss

baby chicks

pulling water out of a systern for some members 

2)Jimmy Jackson. Hes obssessed with hello kitty

3) Zone Conference lunch. I was just trying not to pass out the whole time

1) this is how we celebrated my 6 months. hot chocolate!

LEO!: Sep 1

So a week ago we had a brand new investigator, Leo, having doubts about his baptism. So basically what happened was we followed the Spirit and just let him do his thing and alllllll of Leo's doubts were resolved so we invited him to be baptized the next Saturday and he accepted! And alllll week we hiked down to Santa Barbara and back up to teach him all the lessons and man, he was so excited. He was counting down the hours until his baptism. And his girlfriend was all for it and she wants to start taking lessons too! Man. What blessings. Leo's such a good guy. He accepted all the commandments like a champ. I'm so excited for him! I can't even imagine how excited the Lord is for him too!

Random things:

- I fell really hard TWICE this week. Yaaaa mission battle scars. My body still hurts

- All the houses here are super chici cause all the men here are architects

- Was walking the other day and I SWEAR I smelled In-N-Out. I nearly cried

- I was asked to give a talk. Wrote it all Sunday morning and didn't end up giving it cause we ran out of time. The other speaker only got 10 minutes hahahahaha

- I've been getting better at Crioulo! Ung podi papia Crioulo! Oldja pa mi. Ami é bon fos.

Tchau! Fica fixe

limaria

had a picnic here today!

MATA. the top of Brava

being zen

our lil missionary. Liandra's the classiest 8 year old of all time

picnic!

LEO! I love his Jonsi eyes

my favorite tree

his family came!

helping a member out.

Brava: Aug 25

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

TRANSFERENCIAAAAAAAASS: Aug 18

Transferencias last night. I'm going to be serving on the island of BRAVA! And I'm going to be companions with Sister Barbosa! All I know about her is that she's gorgeous and she has a BEAUTIFUL accent (because she's from Portugal) and she's so dang sweet.

I'm not gonnna lie, while I'm excited to serve in Brava, I'm really sad to leave Praia and Sister Pitts and the Zone and the awesome members and GOLDEN investigators and families that we found last week (not to mention a washing machine and warm showers). Dag nabbit. Oh man, I'm going to miss so many people. So many! Especially my comp Sista Pizza. We have gone through TXEU (a lot) together and shes so stinkin' amazing. But it's okay cause I'll deffs be seeing her after the mission and I will for certain return to Cape Verde one day. It's just hard to leave an area when you've poured your heart and soul and a particularly large amount of sweat into it for 3 months. But like I said, I'm excited for this new adventure! I heard that Praia and Brava are complete opposites sooooooo we'll see! I'll fill you in on that one next week....

Let's see, what happened this week?

« I taught a lesson in English for the first time (so weird and strangely nice)

» Ate a bowl of cereal infested with ants and pretended like they were little chocolate chips

» It RAINED oh my gosh the rainy season is coming

» I learned that Cape Verdeans don't kill lizards because their tails are the keys to the windows of heaven

» Some of my favorite investigators have been progressing so much and their getting close to their baptisms! I'm so happy for them! Just sad that I won't be there to see it

» I accidentally accepted a proposal this week. Whoops! Awkward miscommunications 

Random Last Transfer Facts

» I've been on 12 divisions total for this transfer. TWELVE in 6 weeks!!! Usually sisters only go on like 4 or 6 their whole mission.

» I've given about 6 trainings. Not sure if I ever mentioned that I was a Sister Training Leaders comp

Well, I'm off to the boat for Brava in a few hours. Wish me luck! Pray that I don't lose my lunch!

Hangin out on Fogo, waitin for mah boat with Sister Valenzuela (my replacement in Praia)

Last week. Church with Jape (our boss ward mission leader) I'm gonna miss those two so much!!!

​tchau sista pitts

Frutos dos Nossos Labores: Aug 11

AAAHHHHHH OH MY gooodnessss Cleinita and Zé were baptiiiiiised yup yup yup. Holy smokies what a week of milagressssss ohhhhhhhh I love them so much! We found Cleinita working at a little teeny ghetto store and sat outside and taught her and she has just grabbed ahold of the gospel and has loved it ever since! I thought modesty was going to be a huge issue for her (it is for members too) but wowee! After teaching her about every commandment, she would go above and beyond to keep it! She went out shopping after we taught her about the law of chastity and modesty and she bought a bunch of modest blouses and knee length skirts. She's so classy oh my gosh it almost hurts. Who does that in Cape Verde? WHO? And she came to church every Sunday (even though she had work) and would ask tooonns of questions and she became friends with everyone immediately. She was so nervous before her interview but she kicked it out of the ball park like a boss. Man, I'm so proud of her, and I know that God is too.

Oh! And an update from my favorite recent convert in Relva, Tchitchi! According to the sisters who are there right now, he goes out and teaches with the sisters EVERY DAY sem falta and he's walking around wearing buttoned up shirts (as opposed to no shirts) and he's always on time to church (that's a really rare thing for most people here hahaha) and oh my goodness gracious he is an inspiration to me.

I don't have a lot of time so I'm just gonna bear my testimony.

Eu sei que esta igreja é verdadeira. Eu sei que nosso propósito aqui na terra é para aprender como nós podemos ser como Cristo é, seguir o exemplo dele, fazer as ordenanças sagradas nos templos, e ganhar vida eterna. Eu sei que nosso Pai Celestial quer ajudar cada um de nos com isso, e podemos ter um relacionamento com ele por meio da oração. Tudo é posível com Deus, Cristo, e O Espírito Santo. Sou grata por eles, e deixo esse testemunho em nome de Jesus Cristo, Amém.

My comp got a camera!!!! Hurray!

Cleinita and Zéeeee

Conferencia da Zonaaaa. my hair is getting long

walk by this trippy wall art every day

autocarro

Cleinita is so dang classy

Irmã Agustas birthday! She didn't want to smile cause she has no teeth but those EYES! so green.

random girls in a lesson

they're everywhere