Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Tarrafal is a great place to grow

Being branch secretary is quite easy. There is nothing especially challenging about it except for the fact that the computer at the chapel is way jumbled up with all sorts of viruses and no sound, but nothing we can't handle.

We found some other kids from the local school to play football with. Pillow was with us and he liked it a lot. It made me very happy because he is less active, and he's enjoying the time with us. I think it is giving him encouragement to come back to church. He did this Sunday, and I was so happy to see that.

So now that Elder Fonseca is the new Branch President, we're getting stuff done. He works really hard, and has a genuine care for the members, which is good. We helped this one woman, Julia today. She came to meet us and we bought a bag of 25KG of rice for her. She lost her job and had nothing to eat. Tomorrow we're going to go into the mountains and get corn for her, too. She is wonderful, and she is also coming back to church.

Last Sunday was the best church I have had here in Tarrafal. ALL the less actives came and as well as an investigator, whom we are working with and is progressing towards baptism very well. His name is Steven and he is 16. We marked a date with him yesterday, and he said that he could feel the spirit at church.

Yes, I did go to Assomada last week. President Neves was there and gave us the training. It was pretty good, and we have some more guidance to help us find people here. He's very loving and helping toward the missionaries. We're working as much as we can to put his ideas in action.

I'm so grateful for Steven and my companion. I am very happy here, and the work is moving a long. Elder Fonseca said that Tarrafal is a great place to grow because of its difficulties, and I see now that that is true. I feel that I have grown a lot and that I am going to be a much better missionary because of the experiences here.

The best part about Tarrafal would have to be the members. They are the nicest people who're instantly your friends. They're warm and friendly. I have made strong friendships with several of them.

Again, I'm so grateful to be a missionary. I'm grateful for having the chance to be here, helping the people. They make life amazing anywhere you go. I have seen people’s lives change already including my own, and I know that it is all due to the beloved Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm grateful for his presence in my life and all the help that he gives me in finding his people to bring to him. I know he lives and I know that this gospel is true.

Elder Cuestas

Monday, February 14, 2011

Elder Fonseca is the new Branch President

I'll be going on an exchange in Assomada tonight. I will be there until Quarta Feria and then President Neves is coming to give us training.

Elder Fonseca got called as the new Branch President of the Tarrafal branch.

Life is getting better every day here. I'm still happy, and I'm still confident as a missionary. We have some investigators with some good potential. They're doing well and 2 came to church last week. That was pretty sweet.

Our apartment is pretty basic now. We do not have hot water and working toilets. We have to pour water down it to flush it. Oh well. Used to it already.

Still love being a missionary. I'm growing up really fast in Tarrafal. The Creole is getting better. My companion and I teach really well together. He's excellent to work with, and we listen to each other’s inputs very well. No arguments. Can’t ask for more.

He is also teaching me to cook some amazing stuff with rice, beans, and pasta.

Can you believe that in two months I will have already completed 1/4 of my mission? Seems like yesterday I was in the MTC. This is truly one of the best experiences I have ever had in my life.

Oh yeah. Elder Fonseca is the new Branch President, and I'm the branch secretary. Something that is awesome is that the members that are strong here are really cool, and I have made some really strong friendships with them.

So...the names here are quite different:

Toto
Chooka
Cuca
Pillow
Nice
Punda
Chuna
Mulato
Pululuca
Mae
Zeleche

Elder Cuestas

Monday, February 7, 2011

Learning Creole

Elder Rodriguez is now training another new missionary. His name is Elder Josephson. Elder Olson went to another Island called Santo Antão.

My companion, Elder Fonseca, is very nice and we get along great. He is teaching me a lot about the Creole, which I really need because no one speaks Portuguese here.

Tarrafal is like a rural city - maybe 20,000 people here. It is about 2 hours away from Praia, on the other side of the island. Because it is rural no one speaks Portuguese. At least, they understand when we speak to them because as a rule of the mission, we are not allowed to teach them in Creole.

The whole city is our area, and there are no other missionaries out here but us. The only time we get to see other missionaries is in Assomada for district meetings on Wednesdays. As a result, P day can be somewhat long. Nothing I cannot get used to however.

There are no busses here. We take a Toyota Hiace to Assomada, which is 45 minutes away.

We have some investigators, but we need more. We had a baptism this Saturday, although I only taught the investigator 2 times upon arriving in Tarrafal. He is really nice though.

Tarrafal is a lot quieter than Praia. There are maybe 10 roads in the whole city. We work one area on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and another area on the other days. To get to that other area, we have to take a pickup and ride in the back. They fill those with up to 12 people at times.

Life is pretty good; just have new adjustments to make. I miss getting to play soccer with the other Elders on Monday mornings. Something that is nice is that the members are pretty cool, and they go teaching with us all the time. We're trying to organize activities with them to maybe start playing soccer on P days.

Temperature doesn’t change much here. It’s always around 80 degrees give or take.

Life is well, and I'm constantly growing and learning from the experiences that I'm having here on my mission. I would not trade it in for anything else.

I know that this is going to bless me for the rest of my life. I know that I'm called to be out here and that I have a purpose. I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and that he loves the people out here in Cape Verde.

Elder Cuestas