Politics and Elections in Mindelo

Mindelo has been getting really hot lately. It is starting to remind me of Fogo, except for that Mindelo is the windiest city in Cape Verde. This helps a lot.

Right now, they’re having campaigns for the Mayor of the city. The way they campaign is they set up stages in various parts of the city over the course of 3 weeks, and the candidate goes there and speaks to the people. The two main political parties in Cape Verde are PAICV (Partido Africano para Independencia de Cabo Verde) and MPD (Movimento para Democracia) PAICV tends to be the more conservative party from what I hear, and they’re more successful in Praia, as Praia is more conservative than Mindelo.  Politics and elections are something that is generally important to the people here, and campaign time is a big deal. It’s actually pretty cool to see. Elections here are very peaceful and lively with music and a political spirit.

P day is something that is always a joy here in Mindelo. All the missionaries really like one another, so we have a great time every Monday morning in soccer. We get up at 6:20am and catch the bus to the church that is on the outskirts of the island here in Mindelo. There are two churches here in Mindelo. We play soccer for some 2 hours, and then we go with the other elders to a bakery in downtown to eat bread and get something to drink. Mindelo has the best bread and pastries in all the country. So it is a small time we get on Mondays to relax, get some breakfast and get going with our day. After that, we go home and clean our enormous house. We live in the biggest house in the mission. It has three floors, and very difficult to keep it clean. We take the time to clean, sweep, mop, and keep it organize for the week.  Then we go out, use the internet, buy groceries and run other errands. Today, we are going to the airports to pick up some missionaries that are coming in as the transfers are going on right now.

Last week was full of spiritual moments and challenges. To start the week off, Margarida’s daughter told us that she wanted to be baptized this past weekend. Her name is Eriette. Being that Margarida's situation is somewhat complicated and that it’s going to take a longer time for her to be baptized, we decided to prepare Eriette for baptism this weekend. The young women in the branch did an excellent job of integrating her and helping her feel welcome in the church. By the time of her baptism, she was already participating in personal progress and in the church choir.  

We’re facing some challenges with Valdevino. He keeps saying that he’s going to come back to church and be a support to Margarida, but he’s not keeping up with his words. He keeps trying to stall on getting married to Margarida and completing his commitments to come to church. It’s extremely frustrating because Margarida is going through a lot of pain right now. She received one of the strongest testimonies I have ever seen an investigator received about the Church and the restoration of the Gospel.  It breaks her heart to see that Valdevino doesn’t show the same passion for the Gospel as she does. This also hinders her progress on getting baptized, as Valdevino still has to get divorced from his previous marriage and marry Margarida. We continue to try thought because we can’t give up on her.

We did get the chance this week to teach Andirson and Jocyleida about the law of chastity. This has to have been one of the most powerful moments of my mission. It was interesting as we helped them see the true purpose and blessings of marriage and covenants. We helped them understand that marriage is not a matter of fancy dresses, cakes, parties, and money, but more about the promises we make of fidelity to our partners and to God to receive the blessing of obedience to the commandments. They understood that clearly, and Andirson said yes. We’re only waiting on Jocyleida and being a little patient with her. She grew up her whole life thinking that she never wanted to get married, so it is a big thing for her to go against that. She has not said no, she just said that she needs some time to think about it. We’re praying for her that she will see the blessings of preparing for that.

We had a rather sad moment with Aldina as she said that she didn’t want to try anymore to change for baptism. Aldina is a woman who is a bit negative and would rather spend time trying to gain the pity of others, so that they can help her. We discovered that the man she lives with supports her financially, thus being the true reason that she does not want to leave him. She tried to make us understand that God has to be more considerate. I explained to her in a more firm manner that God does not accept and will never accept her situation and that he prepared a way for her to get out of it, but that she has to act to find out what to do. There is nothing more we can do, but pray for her.

We found some more new investigators this week, and the members have been doing an amazing job in helping us out and teaching with us. We had 15 lessons with a member present this week!

Elder Cuestas

"Teach People, Not Lessons"

These weeks in Mindelo have been the most intense moments of my mission. Every lesson is different in this area. There is no such thing as routine, and it’s truly a blessing because it really gives us a chance to grow and, as we say "Teach people, not Lessons."

This week has had a few disappointments, but overall, there were more miracles than there were not, and I think we’re finally starting to turn the place around and reach the objective to which we were placed here for.

As I mentioned before, finding investigators here is quite difficult as people in Mindelo are the least receptive to the Gospel, compared to all the other islands. Street contacting is completely useless here. That being said we have to be super smart and work with the members, members, members. We have been working with a few of them for a few weeks, motivating them to look for their friends, and finally we were able to get results. Our area has turned from dead to strong,  and there are a good number of people that we’re now working with. We have a beautiful family, as well as some other investigators, and we were busy as busy could be last week. I have never been so tired in my life hahaha. Just this morning, my companion went to take a 10 minute shower, and I sat on my bed for a few seconds, and before you know it, Fernandes is like "Hey....hey...Cuestas" as he was trying to wake me up. Ha-ha. This has been an intense week.

It feels really good right now. I have fought like I have never fought on my mission before to get these new investigators. We have tried more than we have ever tried to find the potential in this area. What a blessing that the Lord has given us to be able to finally have found these elected souls. It proved to me that there are people everywhere in this world that are being prepared to accept this marvelous gospel. We came in this area to show everyone, as the zone leaders, that finding, teaching, and baptizing in Mindelo is possible. We’re far away from the final goal, but we finally got the train going.

So, that being said, Mindelo is becoming my favorite area on my mission. As I said, here in Mindelo, baptisms don’t come that easy, but because we have to work so hard, we’re learning life lessons. After a few good weeks of struggling and not giving up, we realized how much we have grown and how much better we can teach, feel the spirit, and love the Gospel because of all we have been through. That is what Mindelo has done for us so far. Fernades and I were talking this week, and we were just marveling on how much our teaching has improved, and how much more we feel the spirit in our lessons, just because of all that we have endured here. We have suffered big time, but I would never go back, and if I have to suffer even more to keep picking up this area, so be it. I love the work that the Lord is permitting us to do here. Our accomplishments feel 10 times bigger because of how much harder it was to get them.

We taught our wonderful family three times this week. Imagine this. Jocyleida doesn’t know how to read. She said that when she was little, her mom told her that she was stupid, and as a result she was denied schooling. She never had the opportunity to go to school. It was something that was so heartbreaking to hear. Her mom used to abuse her and enslave her to whatever she pleased. She was like a little mule for her mother, and as a result, she has a true hatred for her mother, which we’re trying to help her with. Her husband, Andirson, being the amazing man he is, is reading the Book of Mormon out loud to her, so that she can learn the things that he’s learning, as well. I would never imagine something like this happening on my mission. We taught them about the restoration this week. At the end of the lesson, we committed them to be baptized in due course, and they accepted.

The husband said something very interesting: "My whole life people have been telling me what to do about religion. I don’t believe that you should do something just because people tell you to. How do you know that they’re right? This is different. You didn’t come in my house to convince me. You came in to teach me, and I feel the truthfulness of your message. I feel that this is right, and I, my wife and my children will be baptized in this church. I feel that I’m doing this out of my own free will, and that’s what is making such a difference".

This is a man that truly ponders about the things that we have taught. He thinks for himself and asks questions. He has a genuine curiosity and has the true desire to live the Gospel. The big lesson/obstacle is coming up, and that is that this couple has to get married. We’ll teach this lesson this week. We hope that everything will go well for this family and that they’ll accept to assume the hardest commitment in this country - The law of Chastity.

We had a major change as well with Valdevino this last Sunday. We came and visited their house with the counselor in the District Presidency and his wife, as well as another member to show the love that we have for him and the desire that everyone in the branch has to get him to come back to church. His countenance was so different this time around. He said to us that he was happy that his wife was going to church, but he was discouraged that he wasn’t finding it possible to go. He was on the verge of giving up, but after the visit, he felt rejuvenated to start up again and try again to start coming back to church... a true miracle.

Aldina was our major disappointment. Being that she has low self-steam, she didn’t reveal one crucial thing to us. Last Tuesday, she finally revealed that she lives with someone, and they aren’t married. Let’s see what happens, if this man is willing to get married, so that she can be baptized. This is going to have to take some time thought.

On the other hand, Gualdino made it to baptism this Saturday. A 57-year old man finally put behind years and years of drinking to change his life and accept the Gospel. This baptism completed his family of all members now. I’ll admit there were certain points in his progress that we thought that he was not going to make it just because of how many relapses he has had, but the Lord knows what he is doing. Gualdino was an elected one, and he is ready to begin a new life as a member of the Lord’s church.

Yes, indeed it was a super intense week… Let’s just say that, although a very small light, the light at the end of the tunnel has, indeed, begun to shine. These are weeks of fasting and prayer, and I know that the Lord is watching out for us and working with all our imperfections and setbacks to make us the missionaries that we need to be.

Elder Cuestas

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