Cape Verde Com Amor: Week 3 Tuesday, July 29,2014

Thanks so much for the package you sent me mom and everyone else! I loved it. The elders in my district really loved the gummy worms and funny story, Elder Wallace's mom must have heard that I was in dire need of gummy worms too because she sent me a bag and it was the same kind you sent me haha! So the elders got in a habit this last week of where whenever they wanted a gummy worm they would roll their desk up to mine and say Por Favor. It was so funny. I got several good letters today so thank you to everyone who wrote me! I am in the process of writing back right now so be patient with me. So many things have happened this last week that I don't know where to start. Last wednesday was a hard day. After we taught our investigator Charles, I got really frustrated because he is really struggling with some vices he has and my Portuguese isn't good enough that I really feel like I am helping him. Irmao Workman could tell later in that day that I was having a hard time and he pulled me aside and we talked. He is such an amazing teacher and I honestly don't know what I would do with him or Irmao Staples. They are so supportive and you can tell that they really love us and want us to be good missionaries. Later that night Elder Wallace and I were on a role and memorized the first vision, james 1:5, both baptismal invitations, and the baptismal prayer in Portuguese. I know it was Heavenly Father helping me and it was his way of telling me that I'm doing good and just have to keep working on it every day.
So I guess in Utah that have a day comparable to the 4th of July called Pioneer Day on the 24th of July. I have never heard about this day until this last week. Apparently it is a big deal here. All the missionary services were shut down which was so weird. They were lighting off fireworks long into the night too. I basically just didn't sleep that night because the fireworks, then there was a really big thunder storm, and a cat was stuck outside our window meowing the whole night. It was a weird night. But Sister Yeater and I committed both our investigators to baptism that day so that made up for all the other stuff that went on.
Friday went by so quick. We learned some really difficult things in Portuguese and spent the whole day practicing them. I got the package from y'all this day and it was such an energy booster! I was feeling so frustrated and tired and it was so nice to get letters from y'all and the Idaho stuff was so funny. I showed the Idaho keychain to Elder Couch, who is also from Idaho Falls, and he fell in love with it. He didn't want to give it back haha! The multi-color pen has been really helpful in marking my scriptures and so has the holy tabs. I'm going to need more of those dots because I'm almost out! Everyone else thinks its super cool and wants their families to send them one. This week Sister Yeater and I have really started to get along better. I feel such a strong love for her! She is so amazing and gives her best in everything she does. She is so good at Portuguese already! I wish I had that talent.
Saturday we had more class and then we were supposed to teach our investigator Cornelio. We had a lesson all prepared but when we went and knocked on the door to teach him, he answered it and he was hungover! He had gone to a party the night before and his friends pressured him to drink. He was too hungover for us to teach him very much but we left a pamphlet about the Plan of Salvation and told him we would come back on Monday. He told us he felt awful and all after such a spiritual lesson about the Book of Mormon the last time we taught him. It's hard to see your investigators go through such things, especially since he wants to be baptized, but I know he will come around.
Sunday was awesome. President Johnson spoke to us in Sacrament. He served in Tonga under President Conrad, who is from that movie "The Other Side of Heaven." He told us a really cool story about how he had to learn the language. I gave the closing prayer in Portuguese. After our other meetings and lunch, we went on our temple walk. It's nice to have some time to get out of the MTC and into the open air. The pathways at the MTC are covered so it feels like you are inside all the time.
And Monday. Oh boy what a day. We had a long morning running some errands and after lunch Irmao Chamberlein, who just got back from his vacation to Fish Lake, taught us. We also got a new investigator (what a coincidence he looks just like Irmao Chamberlein) whose name is Jose Feliz. We went to go get to know him and give him a short message about the gospel. I asked him about his family but I was having a hard time understanding what he was saying because his accent is so thick. So later on when we were trying to teach him about prayer I mentioned that he should just tell Heavenly Father what he would tell his other dad. (I should mention that he comes from a catholic background so he kept saying he has the prayers memorized) He got confused and said, "I can pray to my father?" I had no idea where that came from so we were like no only to god. It got really confusing for a while but we worked in out. Afterwards I found out that his dad had passed away and I was saying that he can talk to him haha. Whooops. Looks like I need to get a lot more practice in with the language before I try that again. Tomorrow marks my half-way point here at the MTC! I'm really excited because I can't wait to get to Cape Verde and teach the people but I also need more practice with the language and I love it here at the MTC. I will miss all the other elders and sisters in my zone that are going to Mozambique. They leave two or three days before we leave for Cape Verde so those will be some lonely days.
Thanks for all the well wishes and the letters! You can write me or email me or dearelder me. They do that for sisters too. All you need to know is my unit number which is 77 and my departure date which is 7/20. Then you just go to the website and put in your info. I love you all so much!
Com Muito Amor,
Sister Brown