Three Miracles!

Things here in Mindelo are going good. This week was both extremely hard, but with great miracles at the end that shows that Heavenly Father is truly watching over us here as his servants.

It was a challenging week to say the least. We tried so hard, but it was appointment after appointment falling through. We would be stuck with two or three hours straight of not finding anyone to teach. Like I said, Mindelo is not Fogo, and being that the people are more "Modern" they are less interested in things of God. We fight here to help people gain interest in the Gospel. So that being said, we had to drop a bunch of investigators this week that were not progressing or showing any interest. Dropping investigators is not the best feeling in the world, because you do everything in your power to help them understand how important the Gospel is, and they just keep going in their ways. That being said, you can’t teach them forever, so you just have to move on. The members did not really do their part this week either, and we had no support. We found no new investigators which is extremely rare, and we just ended up walking around and around trying to find people. 

It’s frustrating, no doubt, but I was expecting it. They don’t call Mindelo the hardest area for nothing. Of all the areas in Mindelo, ours is the nicest because it is right in the middle of the city, thus being the nicest houses and the wealthiest people (Not that they’re really wealthy at all, but generally a little better off than the rest, which is a big cause of pride).

So just when we thought that we were not able to accomplish anything this week, a series of three miracles in a row happened. 

We had been working with Aldina for some time and things have been very difficult for her. She does not have much confidence in herself, and it leads to her wanting to give up easily on the Gospel and so on... We even had a lesson on Friday, where she was crying and telling us how much pain she was going through. We gave her a blessing that day, and I promised her that if she would be obedient to God’s commandments, she would feel peace and joy in her heart, starting with going to church on Sunday. She said that she didn’t know if she was going or not. This was very disheartening to hear because it is crucial for her to go to church, so that she could be baptized one day.

Later on that week, it was Saturday night and Elder Josephson called me from Mont Sossego (Another area of Mindelo) he told us that they had been teaching someone and her friend stepped in the room and sat down with them. She then said that she lives in Morada (Our area). Josephson immediately after the lesson called us and passed us her contact info. We called and said that we would be in that area around 7 that evening. I had been expecting that 7p would come around and we would call and she would not answer the phone. With the way that things had been going that week, I was not expecting what actually happened.

Seven o clock came around, and we went to that part of the city to call her. We stood on a street corner and dialed the phone. Ring...no answer. We tried one more time....no answer. Fernandes had the phone. He put it back in his pocket, and let out a big sigh and looked at the ground. 

Another appointment that has fallen through. Another investigator with no interest…

We just stood there for a few seconds, when we realized that someone had been shouting at us a few blocks away. Sure enough it was her. She did not answer because she already saw us as she was standing outside her house waiting for us. We practically ran up to her with these huge smiles on our faces. Our intent was just to contact her and set up a time another day to teach her. We talked for a few minutes and marked a time. Just about as we said that we had to go, she goes "Wait”. Would you like to come in the house and meet my family?"

Meet your family?? No one in this country EVER says that.

"Of course we would like to meet your family!!"

We walked in the house and there was standing a husband and 5 little children, two twins, another boy and two girls. All the children under the age of 10 and all of them staring at us like we were the strangest people they have ever seen. We probably were...

The husband did something unusual. Instead of shaking our hand and then running away like most people, he started creating conversation with us. He told us that he had been looking for work on 3 of the islands to support his family. When his efforts were in vain, he came back home because he did not want to be away from his children anymore. They had been living together for 8 years, and they’re poor as poor can be. The house is in such bad condition that it was abandoned. They moved in and did not have to pay rent. I felt this feeling of intense happiness as we talked those few minutes. Right before leaving, we left them an invite to come to church. The husband was quiet for a few seconds and then replied

"...yes I think we’ll all go. We need to go"

I had never heard such sweet words up until this point in my mission.

Sunday rolls around and we spent that whole morning looking for our investigators. Most of them we could not find in their houses…

We arrived at church and discovered that Aldina was not home because she already left to go to church. Gualdino was already there as well as two inactive people we taught this past week.

First Miracle

We were overjoyed to see them there. Aldina had changed completely. There she was with a huge smile on her face as she sat in Relief Society. Gualdino had now been free from alcohol for over two weeks. His countenance had changed as well. He’s much more calm and eager to participate in church.

Second Miracle

Just as we were finishing up first hour, I stepped out of class for a minute and went to look out the window and drink some water. I looked a little harder to see a woman, a man and 5 little boys and girls all dressed up and walking towards the building.

Could it really be?? We haven’t even taught them once yet!

Yes, there was our beautiful family coming to church. I ran and got the Branch President, Relief Society President, and several other members to receive them and show them around. The little ones were taken away into primary with all the other little kids, and the couple was shown into Gospel Principles class. By the end of the church, a few members came up to us asking if they could come along to our appointments. I had a conversation with the Husband and he said that he felt this peace and that he loved it. He said that he wants to keep coming back and would like to come to church earlier next time.

Fernandes and I were with so much joy in our hearts. Our joy was full and we looked at each other knowing whole heartedly that God performed another miracle. We’ll start teaching them tomorrow. The woman’s name is Jocyleida and the Husband is Adirson.

Third Miracle

We had been teaching Valdevino and his family for some time. His non-member wife and step daughter had been coming to church for over three weeks, and they seemed very interested, just that Margarida was always very quiet. As much as they had been coming to church, Valdevino, the inactive member kept saying that he would come; only he never did. This last Sunday was no different. Sunday night we had an appointment to teach all three, and we were ready with our lesson plan...until we started the lesson. Valdevino was not home, just Margarida and her daughter. A bit disappointed, but we decided to teach them two anyway. We asked who wanted to offer the first prayer. Margarida said she wanted to. Ten seconds into the prayer she started bawling and could almost not finish the prayer. She opened up for the first time to us telling us how frustrated she was. She said she had never been so sure about anything in her life. She discovered that the Gospel is true and that it made her so sad that she was going to church with her daughter, and her husband who is already a member was not going. She wants so badly for her husband to go back to church, and she said that she wants nothing more now in her life than to follow the Gospel

What a miracle!! We have to work twice as hard with them now. I had no idea that she felt so strong about the church. We have so much work to do, and it’s awesome!

So yes indeed, I think the miracles were so worth the struggles that we went through this week!

Elder Cuestas

Mindelo

Mindelo is the most developed, appealing city in Cape Verde. It really is different from Praia or Assomada. In Praia, there are all kinds of people from Cape Verdinians to Portuguese to people from Senegal or Ghana. In Mindelo, it’s just people from Cape Verde.

They speak an entirely different Creole which is said to be the most beautiful one of the country. I personally like Praia Creole better. The upside to all this is that the majority of the people in Mindelo is more educated and can understand and read scriptures better. You can speak Portuguese faster and use more complex words, and they’ll understand. The downside is that they know they’re in the best of the Country. People from Mindelo have generally negative views on people from Praia, and they do not like the city at all. They’re more prideful, and they see themselves as more modern, thus forgetting God quicker. Nevertheless, it’s nothing like Europe, and we still find humble people to teach and prepare to accept the Gospel. It’s just not as easy as Fogo.

Santo Antao is very much like Tarrafal - quiet, poor and humble people. I got to meet many of the members there, and it was pretty awesome. It’s the second hottest area of the mission behind Sao Filipe.

This week has been equally busy as the last one as we have lots of work and furthermore, we’re preparing this woman named Aldina for baptism in two weeks. Aldina recently lost a daughter and has had her life very affected by this. She was closed to everyone at first, but started opening up and praying to Heavenly Father. In the most recent times that we have taught her, you can see her entire countenance changing. Now she’s lively, chuckles from time to time and is excited about attending church and being baptized. She’s probably some 40 years old. We’re preparing her 25 year old daughter to be baptized, as well.

Elder Cuestas

There Is A Special Joy In Teaching Families

So my companion, Elder Fernandes is incredible! I cannot emphasize how amazing of a time we’re having. He’s super clean and extremely patient. Elder Fernandes is from Achada Grande, Praia, and he lives with his mom and his two older brothers. He’s very young on the mission, and he’ll reach his year mark in September. Together we’re so focused on the work, and we’re both putting our heads together to see what we can do to turn this zone around. He’s so incredibly easy to get along with. Sometimes we chat the whole way from appointment to appointment, while other times we just walk in silence. Everything is so well balance, which it creates all the room to focus on the investigators, and the work along with our personal, spiritual growth.  

Last week was Crazy… On Monday, P day, we went to play soccer with all the elders in Mindelo. Elder Josephson is the zone leader in the Mindelo South Zone, and I get to see him every Monday now.  We’re really good friends. We had a great time playing soccer, and I hope that I can get a little more control of the ball as time goes on…ha-ha. I play terribly!! but so does everyone else. We just laugh the whole time.

Then we left our house at 10:00p to catch our 11:00p flight to Praia with Elder Josephson and Elder Cruz dos Santos from Brazil. We stayed at Elder Hills house, who is now the zone leader of Praia. We had a great training that was focused on how to teach whole families and that we need to look for them now more than individuals. We learned about how to train our missionaries to do so, as well. The spirit was very strong. Indeed, we all learned a lot and spent the evening talking about it and waiting for our 6AM flight the next morning. Over those three days, Fernandes, Cruz dos Santos, Josephson, and I developed a really strong bond, and we talked about everything after the training. We’re excited to work together in Mindelo. The day of our flight back, we had to wake up at 4am to be at the airport at 5am. We were so exhausted when we got back, and we still had to work all that day, but all is good!

The rest of last week we prepared this 17 year old guy for baptism named Elio. He was extremely organized, and he completed his appointments every time and read the book of Mormon every day. His baptism was super spiritual, and he wants to serve a mission. He was able to stand up to his friends that made fun of him for wanting to follow Jesus Christ. It was truly a great joy to meet with him every day and see how eager he wanted to be baptized. He lives with his grandmother as his mom lives in France. He’s waiting to receive papers to go there to live with her. In the meantime, he just has a humble job as a carpenter.

As I mentioned before, we’re focusing now on teaching entire families, as opposed to individuals, and we have a few that are especially promising. Right now, we’re teaching Claudino. He’s a less active that is starting to reactivate, and he has a wife who is not a member of the church. We were able to sit down with them on Saturday and teach them the plan of happiness and how it involves families. The wife named Rizeth looked very interested in the counsel that the gospel can provide for her little girl.

The other family is a man named Valdevino and his wife Margarida. Valdevino is another inactive member who lives with Margarida, but is not married. We watched the film of Joseph Smith, and they promised that they’ll go to Church next week. Margarida is very interested as well and is already doing family prayer with her daughter and Valdevino every day. We gave them a copy of the Family Proclamation, and she read it all in one day. There is a special joy that comes from teaching whole families, as opposed to just individuals. It’s especially what the church here in Mindelo needs.

We’ll be going to Santo Antao today, which is another island. We’ll be doing divisions there with the elders to see what we can do to better help them out. They say Santo Antao is really pretty and is the hottest island in the country, hotter than Fogo. We will see about that.

Elder Cuestas

Got Transferred To Mindelo!

About three days ago, I entered the office in the morning to start working, and President pulled me in for a conversation. After a prayer, he said to me that I was a great missionary and that I worked miracles in Fogo. He said that he could not believe that I never lost my work ethic all those 6 transfers that I was in Fogo. He said that because of this, he thought best that I be an example to the rest of the mission and come to be his assistant. He said that after seeing this transfer go by, he felt that this is not the place for me. He said that it’s not about me being an example; it’s about me going back to the field to work more miracles. He said that I don’t belong here in the office working with numbers, but that I belong in the field with the missionaries and focusing on the work 24/7. He said that I have the natural drive of a leader and that he cannot change that in me.

Therefore, I am leaving the office! That’s right. I'm going to be a Zone Leader Again! And I'll do so in the city of Mindelo, serving with Elder Fernandes.

I screamed inside my heart with joy when I saw this on the transfer board. I'm going to Mindelo!!

I know that Mindelo is known for being the hardest two zones in the mission for baptizing and finding people to teach. President is sending me there because he's hoping that I can go and change things and help increase the faith of the missionaries there. And I get to go serve with elder Fernandes. He's incredible! He's from Cape Verde, from Praia and has been serving his whole mission in Fogo. He got transferred to Mindelo when I got transferred to Assistant.

I’m excited for constantly being in one area and getting to know the members of my team and working with them and watching them grow in their areas. This is what I was made for. I really hope things go well out in Mindelo.

Today is Monday, P day, and it turns out that I’m the last one to fly out of Praia. As this is the last day as an AP, I have been super busy with transfers and getting everyone else to where they need to go and what not along with getting ready for my departure. I’ll arrive just at the crack of dusk into Mindelo. I'm exhausted, and I even have black circles under my eyes ha-ha, but I feel great!

So last week was absolutely incredible. The week started off by going to Fogo and, yes, seeing Elder Abularach and Elder Reeser again. There is another Elder there that got to Fogo the last transfer that I was there, and his name is Elder Hill. After we went to the Zone conference and gave our training, I went on a division with Elder Hill to see how his teaching was. We visited a ton of my recent converts in Sao Filipe and taught them and saw how they were doing. I was so happy to see everyone again. It was such a joy to be in Fogo walking the streets of Sao Filipe again. I felt that I was in paradise. No vacation can compare to the joy of walking my favorite area, where I served faithfully for 9 months. Most of the recent converts are doing well, with a few that just needed some strength. I love Fogo!

Last but not least, just wanted to say that President Oliveira is such a remarkable man, and I truly admire him! Every time that he interviews me, I feel the Spirit very strong, and I feel that he’s looking for the missionaries’ best interest, and I know that he loves us all!

Elder Cuestas

First Stake of the Republic of Cape Verde

This was the week of weeks, and it was history changing for Cape Verde. On Sunday, we all met in the Palace of the Nacional Assembly. This is where congressmen and such meet for their affairs. We were in the presence of Elder Kopischke and his counselor, Elder Texeira. They’re the presidency of the Europe Area.

They came and released all the leadership of the district of Praia and called the new Stake President, and his counselors. They came and announced the FIRST STAKE of the Republic of Cape Verde. This is history. Cape Verde now has its first stake, its first wards, bishops, stake presidents, patriarchs, and all the other blessings of stakes.

I sat there next to Lacy, Tony and Zeletche from Tarrafal as all the members of the island of San Tiago were there. This is HUGE for the country. President Oliveira even met with President Jorge Carlos Fonseca, the president of Cape Verde to discuss the matter. All this is on the Cape Verde church’s website - igreja-jesus-cristo.cv

This week was incredibly busy. On Tuesday, we received 4 of the 12 missionaries from Fogo to come and see Zone conference. I was able to go on a division with Elder Reeser, whom I worked with in Brava. We ran around the whole city. I think we took close to some 10 taxis from one area of the city to another. We had to set up the church, get accommodations for the missionaries coming in and coordinate everything. It was such a productive day.

Wednesday was conference day, and I served as an interpreter for the missionaries that do not speak English. Translating is exhausting, but it forced me to pay attention the whole time.

Elder Kopischke spoke to us, and this had to have been the strongest spirit I have ever felt in a conference. This was the conference for the missionaries exclusively before the Stake conference on Sunday. I learned so much this day - things that are going to help me moving forward.

On the other note, the Lord gave us a small treat this week. It turns out President still needed to do one more special training...in FOGO!! And he’s taking us with him!!!!

I will fly to Fogo on Wednesday and come back Friday. I get to see Fogo one more time!!! I get to see elder Abularach and elder Calderwood! I am very excited for this, too.

This week is going to be crazy, and I have to do some running around and get things ready for next week. I‘ll write more next week.

Elder Cuestas

A typical week as an AP

So the mission office is in the richest area of Cape Verde. This area is called Palmarejo, and there is no exaggeration. Only foreigners, or politicians, or really successful people live here. They drive cars like Toyota, Land Cruisers, Audi Q8 etc. These cars are more expensive here because of import and maintenance money. Yep. So our house is about a 4 minute walk from the mission office, and consequently, this is the nicest house of the mission. It has a hot water heater and 4 rooms. It has a microwave and is just very nice with the tile that is in it and in the bathrooms and what not. All this is great, but not terribly important to me. I can definitively say that the assistants’ house is the nicest house in the mission.

The mission president lives in the tallest building, in an apartment complex, in Cape Verde that is across the street to what would be the equivalent of the US National Capitol Building, where all the congress and government officials work. The area is called Varzea.

Let me cap a typical week as an AP. Monday is P day, and every Monday at 6:30a, all the missionaries from Praia get together to play soccer in a part of the city called Achadinha. Then we’ll go home, shower and come to the mission office where we get to use internet for free, which is a plus. Then we will just do the regular stuff like shopping, errands, cleaning the house and get everything ready for the week.

The rest of the week we study in the mornings, just like everyone else, and instead of leaving the house at 10am to go proselyte, we go to the mission office where we have office work to do, like gather up data for the mission, or take care of whatever project the president has for us. We also have a mission vehicle to our use when we need to pick up missionaries or run errands for the president. There is no possibility of speeding here ha-ha. There is no road in condition to do so, but it’s cool that our car is manual, and I get to drive it most of the time.

As an AP, there is a good deal of administrative work that we need to take care of, and I’m grateful for the new experience. However, there are times that I can’t help missing being a Zone Leader because of the work on the field - the missionary work that I love so much. The preparing people for baptism and helping other missionaries be successful. Nevertheless, this is what my Heavenly Father wants me to do right now, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to be of service.

This week we prepared this one man for baptism. His name is Adilson, and he is from Sao Vicente. He was very humble and was on time for his appointments every time. He seems to be so at peace now that he’s a member. I saw him in Sacrament meeting yesterday as he was closing his eyes in fervent prayer as the sacrament was being passed around. I’m so happy for him.

Elder Cuestas

General Conference in Praia

Here is a picture of the area from the mission office. We don’t really proselyte there because this is the richest area in the whole country. We go to the much poorer parts of our proselyting area, and the other pic is Helder and me.

A week has passed since my transfer to Praia, and we already have the month planned out with meetings and trainings and conferences that we’ll help President Oliveira with. I’ll get to travel to Mindelo, and see it for the first time. I know that I’ll grow a lot through my time here as an assistant, and I know that I’m here for a reason. I just have to continue being humble and pray a lot for the Lord to help me.
Our responsibilities are basically counseling with the mission president in all things that he does in respect to the missionaries and helping him in maintaining the missionaries informed. We also plan and prepare trainings and supervise the well-being and work of all missionaries in the mission. In other words, we oversee the mission in all things. We have a car (Toyota Hiace) that we use for mission purposes such as taking people to and from the airport and other errands that we frequently have to run. We have the afternoons to proselyte, but sometimes we have to run errands that the mission president will ask us to run. Being beside President Oliveira will be a blessing, as he has so much wisdom, and I know he’ll help me grow immensely.
This time we watched General Conference in English in the church, just in a different room. I enjoyed the most Elder Ballard’s talk on Sunday afternoon. I noticed that conference was based on families and the home particularly this time around.

Elder Cuestas