Saturday, May 10, 2014
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2nd week in Sao Filipe
May 5, 2014
This week was tough. With all the partying, a lot of our appointments were falling through and we couldn't find anybody at home to teach and we don't really do a lot of street contacting because it's not as effective as referrals from members so we were going around asking all the members for referrals after giving them lessons and trying to get to know them better. But none of the members were giving us referrals either. Frustrating!
I was alright, kind of just trekking along, a little bit discouraged but still trying to be positive and hopeful and happy. Then on the last official night of the party we ran into this young man on our way home. We stopped to wish him a belated happy birthday because he had just turned 17. But then he started telling us he was leaving the church, giving up on it. We were like what?? When I met this guy he was bearing his testimony to me and telling me he couldn't wait to be able to serve a mission (side note: so many young men and women here are preparing to serve missions. A lot of them even have their calls and things and they are just waiting for their visas to Brazil or for their call dates to arrive and stuff. So great!). But anyways we stopped and talked to him for like 20 minutes (luckily it wasn't 9:30 yet). He told us he was too weak, that he had broken the word of wisdom and law of chastity at parties the last two nights. And he was on his way to the party again. So we tried really hard to convince him to turn around and go home. I showed him Ether 12:27 and told him that we are all weak but the Lord strengthens us. I also showed him Alma 41 where it says that wickedness never was happiness and told him that the party wasn't going to bring him happiness, but keeping the commandments would. I even started crying and bore my testimony but nothing worked. So it was a pretty sad night. I felt like God gave me a glimpse of the sorrow He feels when we blatantly disobey Him and break His commandments. But we can't force anyone to do what is right, just show them the way and hope they feel the Spirit.
Yeah it was a rough week and an especially difficult experience but I'm grateful to have had it because it just strengthens my testimony that this is God's work! And I am working on having faith and hope in God and in the people I am working with and in myself! We had a great district meeting on Saturday and a training about being happy so that was helpful. I'm so happy here. I love working hard and being tired each night because I know I'm giving my all. I love the feeling of having progressing investigators, even if we don't have as many as we'd like. We have one progressing family and they are absolutely the greatest. We taught them about the word of wisdom this week and they are so willing to give up coffee! It's so incredible. They know it's right. And they have the faith to do it. I am SO excited to see them get married and baptized!
Another great feeling was on Sunday when we had 137 people in church. That's right. The week before we only had 70. We almost doubled it! And it wasn't thanks to us at all, it was because of the members. A bunch of the youth went out on Saturday to do what they called a "mini MTC." They really just split into pairs dressed like missionaries and went out visiting less actives and finding new investigators or old investigators to invite to church. And then on Sunday morning they followed up and brought people to church with them. Oh man it was so helpful. I love helping the members feel the joy of missionary work because it really is such a joy and we missionaries really can't do it all on our own. So for those of you who are not on full time missions right now, help the missionaries! Give them referrals. Invite them to teach in your homes. It will bring blessings for everyone ;)
Okay so some random highlights were when I got to see a monkey! I also saw some really cute baby goats who were following me around haha. We said good afternoon to this one lady who crossed herself afterwards it was hilarious. And some people shut their windows and doors and hid inside their house when they saw us approach. We weren't going over to talk to them anyways though. And last but not least we were fasting but then we had been invited to a member and his less active wife's home that night and little did we know they made dinner for us! We felt so bad because they got all sad when we said we couldn't eat with them so we just ended our fast and re started it haha. We thought it was going to be super hard but it actually wasn't AND that night we went to this birthday party (which we weren’t even invited to haha) they loaded us up with pizza and snacks and cake to take home so we rushed home, broke our fast, and feasted while we planned the next day. Yummy!
I love you guys. I am going to try to send pictures now. Have a great week!
Love,
Sister Corbett
1st week in my 1st area
April 28, 2014
What up from Djhar Fogo! That's what they call this island of Fogo in Creole. Not sure why. So speaking of Creole I've been able to pick up a few words here because on this island they speak slower. Bo is you, Nhus is you all, Arriba is up. Cheu is a lot or very. Everything else is still a mystery.
So I've started my mission hitting the ground running. (Does that expression even make sense? I speak English a lot here because my companion and roommate are American but we speak a combination of English and Portuguese so I'm forgetting some things I feel like). Anyways we are working hard. Start the day off at 6:30 am running up and down the hills. Then study study study, make lunch, and then go out in the afternoon/evening and walk up and down the hills trying to find people that are home.
On Monday we had a great family home evening with a bunch of great young men who all bore their testimonies even though a lot of them are inactive. We teach investigators obviously but we also do a lot of teaching to inactives. It seems like everyone we meet and try to contact is like "Oh yeah I'm a baptized member of your church" and they are just inactive. Haha. So we have to save them.
I invited one of our new investigators to be baptized and he said yes so that was a great feeling but the problem is he sells grogo which is a type of alcohol and he doesn't have another job so we had an intense lesson with him and another investigator who also sells grogo and it was a little hard to know what to say but after some silence i just felt inspired to bear my testimony that baptism is the only way to eternal life and that the Lord provides a way to keep His commandments. It was a little better testimony than that but I'm short on time right now because the computer wasn’t working for like 20 minutes and that was the gist of it. The Spirit was strong though. We'll see what they decide to do.
The real highlight of the week though was when I invited one of our investigators to get married and she said yes. Her name is Ineida and she has been together her husband Fausto for like ten years and have 5 kids together but she was totally opposed to getting married to him so they couldn't get baptized. But we taught the gospel and I was persistent in inviting her and bearing my testimony and she changed her mind finally and said yes! I'm so excited. The date is set for May 23rd and May 24th (wedding and baptism, respectively).
In other news we saw a real life Cabo Verdean wedding procession and they were all honking their horns and waving. It was super cute. We ate at two member's houses which is a rarity because we usually cook ourselves.
This week is the Festa de Sao Filipe which is apparently the biggest party in all of Cabo Verde and its right here in my area! There is just all kinds of iniquity going on. Tons of drunk tourists speaking to us in English. I am lulled to sleep by the sweet sounds of club music and gently awakened by the sweet sounds of club music. Literally constant partying. So it's been hard but we'll get through it!
Oh also I have to play piano in sacrament meeting... yikes.
You all take care, have a great week, and keep writing me. …
Sis Corbett
Bem Vindo a Cabo Verde! (First E-mail from mission field)
Cape Verde is more wonderful and more beautiful than you can ever imagine! Only thing is, no one here speaks Portuguese... I am just as lost as I would be if I was in Hong Kong (if not more, because at least there I would have studied Chinese in the MTC and would expect to be hearing it). I definitely didn't learn any Creole in the MTC. Everyone keeps telling me it's super easy and I'll pick it up but so far, nada.
I arrived in Praia on Thursday night, just before midnight Cape Verdean time. My companions and I thought we would have to sleep in the airport because missionaries have to go to bed at 10:30 haha. But sure enough the AP's (assistants to the president) were there waiting for us. They were super nice and took us to our temporary house where five other sisters live, a duo and a trio. It was a little crowded but it was just for that night. The next day we met President and Sister Oliveira and they fed us meatloaf and we had interviews and orientation. It was a good time. One of the Elders here I found out went to SVU at the same time as me... small world. Elder Reid, he got reassigned here after being called to Brasil Florianopolis and serving in California Fresno.
Anyways my first area (where I'm "born" on the mission) is Sao Felipe 1 on the island of Fogo! Everyone has told me this is the best area in the whole mission. I'm so excited to serve here. Also my mom on the mission is Sister Biggs, who was my neighbor at SVU, and who I emailed when I got my call to ask her a bunch of stuff! She's the best, we're going to have so much fun. I only got here this morning because that was the first flight we could get here. This is the same island the volcano is on, and I think I can see it from outside my apartment. Unless that's just a big mountain but I'm pretty sure it's the volcano. And it's active! But the last time it erupted was the year I was born. Maybe this year I'll get lucky and it will erupt again.
So yeah, life here in Cape Verde is so real. It's hot and we sweat all day. But sometimes the water isn't running so we have to take bucket showers. Sometimes the power is out too, like now. We also have to cook all of our own meals for sanitation reasons. I'm about to come out of here a master chef, ma! The best part is all the hills we have to climb here in Sao Felipe. But I absolutely love it. In Praia there was a ton of wind and dirt roads so I would have to walk around with my eyes half-closed but here most of the streets are cobble stone. Que fixe (how cool)!
I love teaching the Gospel here. Everyone is so willing to listen to us we just need to motivate them to keep their commitments so they can find out the truth for themselves. People understand me with my Brazilian accent because they love to watch Globo Recor, Brazilian game shows and tv shows. The other day I was teaching the Restoration and was reciting the first vision in Portuguese for the first time and I messed up so I just told my companion to do it... but then we taught it again and I got it right that time. So that was good.
I love you all! Hope you had a happy Easter and a great week. . . .
Love,
Sister Corbett
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