Cape Verde

This week was extremely busy. We taught 34 lessons. We have 10 new investigators and 4 came to church, which is a HUGE step towards baptism. It was so cool to see them there. Tereza was one of them. Toto is struggling. He says he doesn’t drink anymore yet we still smell alcohol on his breath.

As for the stores here, there is a Supermarket group called “Calu & Angelas” that is as close to an American store as it gets. It’s a little bigger than a Walgreens would be and offers everything we need. The other stores are all pretty much the same. All the stuff is thrown all over tables or stuffed in the shelves on the walls - nothing like any store in America.

We were extremely busy with some very promising investigators this week. Tereza is actually the mom of the second counselor of the branch presidency. He's very happy that we are teaching her and that she is moving along. We found Eduino last week, and he came to church yesterday as well as two other teenage girls. A less active member that we were working with came to church. The church was very welcoming and they were all very happy to be there. Of course, we were happier!!

Nevertheless this is a new area, so it may take some time to see progression of someone getting to baptism, but it will come. My faith is stronger than ever on the fact that I am called to be here.

Life is good. It’s tough but rewarding. I come home every day so happy to be a missionary. I love that I am making a difference in some of these peoples lives. Tereza really looks like she is going to make it to baptism. That makes me happier than anything.

Life here is great, and we are just working our 2 years away. I am joyful, and I am completely accustomed. I am busy, and I am more faithful in our Divine Savior than ever.

I know that this plan that I speak of every day is of a Loving Heavenly Father that is eager for each of his children to return to him. I know that our beloved prophet Thomas S. Monson was chosen of his divinity to serve this planet and call us as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ to help this people.

I testify that the Gospel is the only way to true happiness and that it is available to every one of God’s children including the people of Cape Verde, and I say that in the name of his grace, our master Jesus Christ.

Elder Cuestas

Achada de Santo Antonio - Cape Verde

I want to say that the accustomation period was a lot shorter than I thought it would be. I feel fully settled in and I am so happy right now. I am happy beyond belief, and I am so glad that I am serving here!

Ok so I am going to start by answering some of your questions. I am serving in the suburb of Achada de Santo Antonio. I live about 100 feet from the church. Achada is like the industrial area of Praia.

My companion is amazing. My Portuguese is good, and I only have trouble with the people when they begin to speak Creole...ha-ha. But I can still understand them. My companion and I teach in perfect unison. We have several investigators and 2 that have baptismal dates. I think we have like some 19 or 20 investigators right now.

P Day is pretty cool. We get up at 6 and take a taxi to Achadinha where my zone leaders are. We play soccer with the whole zone and usually a few local Cape Verdians and then we have breakfast at the zone leaders house. We then get on the Internet, and then clean our apartment. Then we go shopping for food and then we usually go exploring the area.

We see our zone leaders every week at football. I will be going on an exchange with one of them. I will be with one of them for the day on Thursday in their area and the other will be with my companion.

I forgot to mention that we are in an area that has never had missionaries before. That is called being WHITE WASHED in to OPEN an area. My mission president is in my branch (Like a ward but smaller) so I see him every Sunday.

There are challenges here beyond the conditions. But it’s funny to think that the conditions don't seem like a challenge to me. I'm happy, and I'm so grateful that the Lord has blessed me to adjust to here.

Our entire zone is pretty cool. Most are Americans. There are a few Cape Verdians and Brazilians but mostly Americans.

We have two progressing investigators right now. One is Toto and he's a bit slow.... we have to make lessons very simple for him. The other one is Tereza. We just have to get her to go to church.

I know that I was placed here for a reason, and I know that I will have success in finding the people that I was placed here to find. I know that if we are faithful we will be successful in this life. We owe everything to our Divine Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and I as a missionary owe everything to him.

Ate mais!
Elder Cuestas

Achada de Santo AntonioPraia
Ihla de San Tiago
CAPE VERDE
A Igreja DeJESUS CRISTO Dos Santos Dos Ultimos Dias

Cape Verde

My message on gratitude

My companion is really nice. We are getting along great. He cannot speak English, so it gives me a chance to get even better about Portuguese. I miss Elder Gunter, but I am really grateful for my companion here. We teach well together. We are getting to know each other more and more every day, and we are finding that we are more and more alike.

I have been humbled and the accustomation period has begun.

The people here have a lot of respect for us, and we are already teaching about 25 lessons a week. We contact about 50 people a week, and people are very humble and receptive to our message. We have been instructed well on where to go and where not to go, what to eat and what not to eat.

The Lord has called me here for a reason. I have already learned more in these few weeks than in my whole life. I have a bright future and a great mission ahead of me.

Keep your faith. It’s all we’ve got, and I am a personal witness of the divinity of his majesty, Jesus Christ. He is our savior and redeemer. Know that! Remember it.

Ciao!

Elder Gianluca Cuestas

Week one in Praia

This is going to be an entirely new way of life!! I’m so excited to get started and full of the spirit to begin teaching.

So we were delayed from Salt Lake to France. When we arrived in Paris, the whole city was completely fogged up and you could not see the hand in front of you. We had to wait 4 hours in a line to get a hotel.

We get to Portugal...bags lost.

By miracle...and I mean by the grace of our Heavenly Father, we met again with the rest of our district that is headed to Portugal for their missions and who left a day later than we did. We met again on the flight from France to Portugal. It was the encounter of a lifetime. When we got to Lisbon, we went with them to meet their mission president. The mission president took all of us to the mission office and got us pizza (Which was awesome because we had not eaten for 2 days...the airplane food was not good at all~)

The mission president got us tickets to PCV, and we got there at 3 in the morning a day later than anticipated

I have finally received my new companion today. He seems pretty cool.

The people here speak very easy Portuguese to understand because they speak it very slow. They also speak Creole which I have no clue what they say, but in the city, everyone can speak Portuguese

There is almost no AC anywhere, so that is something that I am going to have to get used to. Somehow, it is not as troublesome as I thought it would be. There is music in the streets everywhere and tons of people.

There are a lot of Chinese people here who open up stores and what not. You can find anything here. There are tons of stores of clothes and small electronics and toys.

What is great about the place is that these are some of the nicest people I have ever met. No one is in a rush. It’s an island and the people act that way. They think that it is so cool that Americans would come to Cape Verde. Most of them recognize us but not as Mormons. They know us as Elders, and they call the Church, A Igreja de Elder (The Church of Elder)

Sleeping is a bit difficult because the mattresses are hard. Luckily, the island gets cool and windy at night so that is not so much a problem.

There are not many bugs here because it hardly rains.

The time was nice this last week with the APs. It went by very slow because I could not start working yet - as I had to wait until today to receive my companion. We will finally start working tonight. The APs seem to be really nice. I like them both a lot, and I think we would have worked well together, if I were to be put with them. One is also from Brazil and the other one is from Utah.

Okay more next week.

Ate Mais
Elder Cuestas

Hey everyone

K so I have been so busy, and my blog posts are going to be pretty short until I get on the field.

I am comfortable speaking Portuguese now. I read my scriptures in Portuguese and pray personally in Portuguese.

The temple in Provo is amazing!!!

I conduct classes for my district and teach them, so that they can get ahead and understand our teachers better.

The weather is so awesome. High thirties low forties.

My time here is going by really fast. 6 weeks to go! Life has been great, and I would not be surprised if Elder Gunter would be my best companion on the whole mission. He is awesome. He is an answer to my prayers!! One of the most diligent missionary in my district.

The showers are getting better. Guess enough people aren’t complaining about them, ha-ha


TO EVERYONE

I don’t have time to write VIA email. I'm not ignoring you. Write me through Dear Elder, while I am at the MTC, so that I have time to read your letters. I would love to hear from you. I only have about 1 hour of free time a day, so it may take me a little bit of time to respond.

I love you all. Keep your faith. It's all we've got, and I am a personal witness of the divinity of his majesty, Jesus Christ. He is our savior and redeemer. Know that!! Remember it. God bless.

Ate mais tarde!

Elder Cuestas

Hey all

Don’t have much time (2 minutes)

Showers are scalding hot one day, freezing cold next

Food...not so good ha-ha, but its bearable

EVERYONE SEND ME YOUR ADDRESSES. That way I can send you letters. I only have 30 min on computer and I use it to write family.

It's been great, and I am loving the mission. Days are super long but good. I am now fully fluent in Portuguese, and I can read the scriptures in Portuguese. I'm helping my district, and it is awesome!

Write me on dear elder.com my mom has the instructions. DONT EMAIL ME while I'm in the MTC. Write me on dear elder. That way I can take the time to read your letters.

I love you all. I’m doing so great, and I've got a great future ahead of me

Boa Sorte

Elder Cuestas