Tony's house (short one today)

This is the house of Tony. Sister Serdar's recent convert. He's the coolest. That's his tree that we decorated. (It's obviously not decorated in this picture) He bought us each a skirt for Christmas. Isn't he the sweetest? He's 17yrs old and lives by himself. Is your heart melting yet?

Degundja Midju

Well I hope you got the other email of me and my recent convert's wedding.
I have also attached a picture of us taking corn of the cob with our
investigator Francisco, and us at a normal ol' sunset over the Brava
horizon. :)

Anyways, This week has been really great. Words can't express my happiness.
The work is rough.. But it's going so well! I'd like to tell you a little
back story to Francisco:

A long time ago.. Back in October/September.. I and Sister Robinson, we
were teaching Isabel (Our baptism that had a baby with her in her baptismal
photo). And When we had came over to teach her she was braiding a 20
something year old man's hair. Well, we invited him to sit with us and we
decided to read parts of 2Nephi31. During our lesson, we invited him to be
baptized on the 20th of October. ( I think?) He accepted! But he didn't
live in our area, so we passed him as a reference to the Sisters that work
in his zone.

Well, here we are December of the same year and I am working with him in
this area. The sisters have been working with him for a long while, but he
missed alot of their appointments so his progression for baptism slowed
down almost to a hault. This week we taught him the Word of Wisdom on
Tuesday. He said he'll keep it. As of that day, he already had stopped
smoking weed for 15 days. Smoking cigarettes for 15 days, and had stopped
drinking for 3. :) To this day, he hasn't touched ANY of those things and
he says he has no desire to. He wants to start his life over and put his
life on the right path. :) :)

We weren't able to talk to him Friday night, but we found him again on
Saturday. And we taught him about the law of Chastity. My comp was a little
nervous, I'll admit. He is living with the mom of 2 of his 4 children.
And.. It hasn't been looking like they like each other that much.
Complicated situation indeed.. But the lesson went AMAZING. We were just
following up on him and his life and he ended up telling us that his baby's
momma isn't taking care of the kids and he is going to send her back to
Praia... Monday. (Um, miracle much?)
He had zero doubts. He laughed in the beginning, but when we asked him why
he thought God would only want him to have sex after marriage, he was
like--I think..Sex after marriage only brings good things.
Us--And sex before?
Francisco--Nothing that good.

And then we taught him about earrings and tattoos and he was like, Sister!
Haven't you noticed that ever since District Conference, I haven't been
using earrings?! :) --man that made me happy.

And last night when we were taking pictures of us with him and the corn, he
was like---No! You can see my weed tattoo in that one! Take a different
one! And then he stuck his arm behind his back.

Oh! And at church yesterday, he ended up picking up a pamphlet that was for
parents of youth... I'm so proud of him. :)

Other that,.. We have been helping the choir with a Christmas program for
all three branches. I'm excited for them. It'll be Christmas Night. We're
hoping it will help with all of the drinking and partying that happens all
over Cape Verde. Apparently that is all anyone does here. Drink. And Party.

Oh! And that family from Ponta Verde,.. They're huge! And Elder benedict
gave a part of the family as a reference to the Elders.... But we had
already contacted half of the family.. So we're hoping to continue to teach
them even though they live out of town. :) They have family members from
America that came here and are having their whole family go to church every
Sunday and teaching them about prayer and stuff! Oh. The Lord truly is so
merciful. And this truly is a really prepared land. :)

There are 8 days until I get to call home! I'm so happy to be able to talk
to my family!!!! Oh man. Highlight of my Christmas.

Also...I got my Christmas Package mom! Don't worry, I'm exercising good
self control. :) We're allowed to skype, sooo I hope that works out! I miss
all of your faces!! :)


Merrrrrry Christmas!
Love Sister Buhler

It's Christmas...it's Christmas time!!

Dear Everyone,

Well, my first week in Sao Filipe 2 has been SUUUUPER LONG! Seriously! Mainly because we were DEATHLY ill for most of the week and still went out and worked. It was just a cold, but a really bad coughy, headache, sinus pressure cold. And we both had it. Terrible right? It is almost a 100% better though. We still have sniffly noses and Sister Serdar coughs instead of laughs, but I'm sure we'll be better by next week.

Well, At church yesterday, all of Branch 1 told me they missed me. It basically melted my heart because I definitely miss them something aweful. Haha. I'm happy I still get to see them though.

Branch 2 is... Good. But Rough. There are some awesome members there, but alot are so stinking lazy! We trained a few members and then asked them to pass by their friends' houses (our investigators) on the way to church. Did they? Nope. Because ALL of them decided to not go to church! (Except one... But then the investigator flaked!)

I've been really preocupied about our church attendance number, because if people don't go to church, they'll never progress and they'll never feel the joy that church has to offer!! So Saturday night I turned to Sister Serdar and said, " I think we should ask for a miracle with our church attendance number. I think its a just cause, especially since we've done alot of work to have members pass by and help them." So we did. We prayed that night, I prayed, We prayed that morning, I prayed again and we went off to church.

& our Tender Mercy of Sunday is that I walked up to a group of folks to get to know them, and it turns our that it is their 2nd week going to church and they are from another city on the island! (That doesn't have the church there) And they've never been baptized. But they have plans to keep coming back to church! But they are only in town on Sundays.. So we'll be talking to them before church next Sunday. :) 4 new investigators at church? =miracle. Heavenly Father is SO nice. :)

Branch 2 depends alot of the missionaries because of the members. We taught Primary & The Elders taught Youth Sunday school. Only one person showed up for Primary and she showed up 30 minutes late and was like, "2 kids had talks." Uhhhh.. Ok. Hahaha. It's nuts. But it'll be better. I have faith in the Lord.

Also,.. I'm leading the Christmas Choir. Terribbly Frustrating? Yes.

Zone Conference will be Wednesday. Our island should be getting packages and 14 books of mormon on Thursday. I'm pretty stoked about that. That is 14 books for 6 branches& 9 companionships to split. Island mission life=rough.

On the brightside, in the midst of all of our sickness, my companion and I made a Christmas tree for our house! :) Isn't it cool!? We'll put the packages under on Thursday. :)

Anyways, That's all I got.
Love, Sister Buhler

Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree....

Dear Everyone,

Well, my first week in Sao Filipe 2 has been SUUUUPER LONG! Seriously! Mainly because we were DEATHLY ill for most of the week and still went out and worked. It was just a cold, but a really bad coughy, headache, sinus pressure cold. And we both had it. Terrible right? It is almost a 100% better though. We still have sniffly noses and Sister Serdar coughs instead of laughs, but I'm sure we'll be better by next week.

Well, At church yesterday, all of Branch 1 told me they missed me. It basically melted my heart because I definitely miss them something aweful. Haha. I'm happy I still get to see them though.

Branch 2 is... Good. But Rough. There are some awesome members there, but alot are so stinking lazy! We trained a few members and then asked them to pass by their friends' houses (our investigators) on the way to church. Did they? Nope. Because ALL of them decided to not go to church! (Except one... But then the investigator flaked!)


I've been really preocupied about our church attendance number, because if people don't go to church, they'll never progress and they'll never feel the joy that church has to offer!! So Saturday night I turned to Sister Serdar and said, " I think
Tender Mercy of Sunday is that I walked up to a group of folks to get to know them, and it turns our that it is their 2nd week going to church and they are from another city on the island! (That doesn't have the church there) And they've never been baptized. But they have plans to keep coming back to church! But they are only in town on Sundays.. So we'll be talking to them before church next Sunday. :)

Transfer 7

So this week, I don't have anything to exciting to report. Aside from that I'm getting transferred.. From São Filipe 1 to São Filipe 2, working with Sister Serdar. We are apparently going to be Sister Leaders... for the São Filipe Area. So basically just our house. I'm not exactly sure what being a Sister Leader entails, but it appears as if we'll probably just do divisions.. once. Haha. I'm also excited because I get to stay in the same house with Sister Robinson! Hooray! Minha Filha! :) And this means I get to pass the holidays (& and my birthday) in a house with people that I love! :)


I'm sad that I've been transferred, but happy that I'll be close enough to watch all of my investigators get baptized this next transfer! And hopefully a wedding! Hopefully.


Fatinha is doing so well with her reading and writing assignments! We gave Lo a For the Strength of Youth, and he had already read half of it by the next day! When he said the closing prayer, he prayed for his girlfriend to become a member of the church too! :) I love their family.

We've been teaching a man named Adao from Ginnea Bissau. When he prays the spirit is SO STRONG! He usually starts out, "Heavenly Father.. There are three of us here..." Hahaha. I love him! He's so awesome! He is doing really good at reading the Book of Mormon too. He has a really strong desire to follow Christ. You'd love him. :)

But on the other hand, we tried to teach our 30 yr old investigator, Kevem, about the Law of Chastity this week... He laughed at us. That was an interesting lesson.

I plan on growing and learning alot during this transfer. Branch 2 is super small. In numbers, and in the size of the area. We have alot of members in our area, but a BUNCH are inactive. There is an zone in Branch 2 that is called Beltches. Yes, Beltches. And when I used to work in it before, Sister Gomes would refer to it as Babylon or Sodom&Gomorrah. Filled with drunks, drugs and prostitution. Seriously. It is super sad. But there are alot of other areas we'll probably work in more.

I've included pictures of: my with my posterity, Sister Robinson fixing Eunice (our faithful resurrected fan), & a whole bunch of beans (black eyed peas, actually)(The woman sitting on the wall tried to marry one of us off to her son a few weeks ago.. She greets us by saying "Hey Baby!").
o

Well,.. Feliz Dezembro tudo mundo! :)
Love,

Sister Buhler

Weekly letter from Sam!!

So this week was rather an eventful week! No baptisms for us.. Not for anyone in Sao Filipe actually. Really sad.. But I did get to go on divisions with Sister Serdar! Sister Serdar is seriously.. MAN! I just love her. She has the greatest spirit about her. I learned so much from her! On how to evaluate situations and stuff like that. And we laughed alot.
At one point in our divisions, she told me that she felt like there was somebody in the street we had just walked past that she needed to talk to. So we turned our tushies around and went to go find them. She kept saying we didn't have to, but we do have to! So we went down that street to find them. And well... No one was outside of their house. (It was a short road) But we started walking down the road and we see a house FULL of bananas. So what do we do to get conversation going? We each buy a banana. Hahaha. It was perfect! Turns out her husband is in America and he's a member and he served a mission! I don't know if things are ever going to go anywhere,.. but that was definitely the tastiest contact I've ever made. And the biggest bananas we ever ate. Hahaha.
Something I learned about myself this week is that I'm relatively good at making street contacts. Which is something I was really scared of before the mission. It's so stinking cool to learn and meet all of these people though!
So we had 2 investigators Carla and Suzi. They are sisters, 19 and 13 (I'm pretty sure). From what it looked like their whole family is Catholic. (Like everyone here) And everytime we talked to their mom.. she was really scary. Anyways, So we go to their house this Saturday, and we are screaming Suzi's name to the 2nd floor window because no one can hear us beating on the door. Well, Who answers? Their mom. Poop. We were really sweet and missionary like to her. hahaha. ANd anyways we enter and end up offering to help her to deshell her beans with her. We talked alot with her and ended up finding out that she has talked to missionaries in the past! And after we got deshelling beans we had a great lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ! And.. She gave us a bag of fresh picked corn! MMMMM! And we had been looking all week for corn on the cob, but no one was picking to sell! Just to keep for themselves. Heavenly Father is so nice.
We have a real problem with people going to church. Satan is just the worst, you know? It's football season and everyone has games on the weekend or goes out of town.. But we did have a man named Adao go to church and the mom of Raul (Fatinha). :) Makes me so happy that they came and enjoyed themselves! Well, at least we hope Adao enjoyed himself, we havent talked to him yet. We'll talk to him tonight.
Um. We also taught in a drug house this week. Didn't know that until afterwards. But we went in, everything looked fine. It looked like a nice house. So we go to talk about the restoration with this girl and it becomes SO difficult to focus. It was like between 5-6 in the day and it was the first day being back in my area from divisions. I thought "Man! The sun has really pulled the energy out of me! I've been away from all of the hills in my area for too long!" My companion would say something and my brain would not let me focus on her. She was pass it to me I would say something that I thought would go along with what she MAYBE said, and pass it right back after a few sentences. It was terrible! Then we got out and she was like "That girl was on drugs." Me, "She was WHAT?!" her, "Yeah, at one point her eyes rolled back into her head." Me, ".. I definitely didn't see that. If I had known I would have gotten out." Moral of the Story is: I don't know when people are on drugs, including myself. After that I bought a Pepsi and I was 100%. No worries folks. No worries.
This past week Sister Robinson and I were in charge of lunches. We definitely had sandwiches every day! HOLLA! It was pretty much the best week ever. Tuna sandwiches, tuna melts, melva patties, hamburgers, wraps, BBQ chicken, & grilled chicken. MMMM! This next week is Thanksgiving themed. We are going to try to find a whole chicken. Plan A was kill a chicken... But since our house will be full of the other sisters and cleaning is a lot of work... Probably not. :/ If I get my package this week, then we'll make greenbean cassarole.. MMM. I love GBcassarole!
Everyone is supposed to have a special training this week. So President and Sister Oliveira will be in town. And rumor has it that an Area 70 will be here too! He's supposed to speak at District Conference. I'm super excited. The Chorus is doing so good! We are so proud of them! We made them cinnimon bread for their last practice. Well, Sister Robinson did. I buttered the pans. She's just modest so she wanted to split the credit. Silly Sister Robinson. :)
The mission is seriously the best decision I've made in my whole life. I learn so much everyday. I can't imagine having lived a life without the benefits of having served a mission. I'm so grateful Heavenly Father smacked me in the spiritual rear-end so many times so I could have these blessings in my life. I know there are people waiting for the gospel and the fight against Satan is real. And that Heavenly Father really does love us! A WHOLE LOT!
Love Sister Buhler

Hope this works?

So this past week was rather disappointing. Our two girls that we LOVE that we were preparing to be baptized this week, didn't feel they were ready yet. So, we are obviously doing something wrong. What? I'm not sure. But I'd like to know so I can fix it. We think part of the problem is that Isa studied with Jehovah's Witnesses for like a year and decided in the process that she didn't want to get baptized. We think because they have such a long process for baptism that maybe she doesn't feel prepared because it's only been a month... but I know there is something else. We just don't know what yet.

This week we also celebrated Sister Serdar's 22nd birthday! CRAZY! She's old! Haha. Sister R and I went out and got stuff for cake and icecream Thursday.. then they came home with stuff for cake and icecream an hour after us.. Sooo... This weekend we had lots of yummy treats. :)

Today for Pday we went to the OTHER cemetery. The one people get buried in now. It was huge! Well.. Not really but really packed full. You could see in the outside wall where they had originally had the cemetery walls, it got full, then they extended 2 times. The visiting hours weren't until 11.. But the man at the gate was super nice and let us in.

Starting today I will be companions with Sister Serdar for 4 days. 4day long divisions is a little strange... Especially when you live in the same house with the peope you are doing divisions with. But it should be good. I'll be going into Serdar's area and Sister Robinson will take the lead on all of our investigators in our area. I'm pretty excited about it. I think Sister Robinson is going to do awesome. No problems at all. She came pre-trained. ;)

So can I just say that I LOVE our branch president? He's the bomb. He is always so concerned about the activity in our branch. He does visits every Saturday afternoon to inactives. Is that enough? No. He makes invites to church.. for the next upcoming 8 weeks until Christmas and kicks off this Sunday with a Christmas program and hymns! It was awesome. He did a visit to our recent convert's mom (who we struggled with) and she showed up to church the next day in a skirt and her son was in a white shirt, tie, and slacks and she told him to go buy a bible. She was SO HAPPY to be at church. When we told her how pretty she looked in her skirt, she turned to us and said, "Sister, I've never wear skirts.. This is the first skirt I have, I bought it yesterday after President passed by my house." MAN! What a blessing!

Also, we are directing the District Chorus. I'll be directing all of the musical numbers at District Conference and Sister Robinson will accompany the Chorus on the piano. An Area Seventy will be here. We're pretty excited about that. :)

Hope all is well on that end!
Sister Buhler

Robbsun e Booler

So I'm sending pictures. Of Luis' baptism. (He's the whiter kid in the picture where I'm wearing a Cabo Verde skirt.) Of our baptism this week, Jorgin. (I'm wearing blue) Us with our branch mission leader going to Brazil on his mission. (My comp is wearing grey and I'm wearing pink) Another picture from the beach last week. Us at the Cemetery today. and Halloween.

Well, this week has been alot of fun! And interesting... haha. Our baptism Jorgin FINALLY got baptized. Oh. It was a miracle. He's been ready for baptism for like a month, but with his mom being sick, him losing work and having to move out of town.. its been delayed alot. FINALLY this week we found him. With the Elders' help, we marked the baptism date for this week and BAM! Baptism! Buuuut. He didn't get confirmed because he had a bad headache the next day and didn't go to church. But Luis from last week got confirmed. So I guess it all will work out.

We had a zone conference tuesday, on Halloween and it was super good! My comp and I coordinated colors for the occasion. hahah. It was good to see the sisters and elders from the other half of the island. They challenged everyone to talk to 10 new people a day. Well, that has been working out really well! Our numbers definitely went up! We had 19 new investigators last week and we have 13 baptism dates marked currently. We have a transfer goal of 12 baptisms. I'm confident we'll meet that goal if we stay close to the spirit.

My arm fungus is going away. I'm really happy about that. :)

In other news, we did divisions with members this week. Sister Robinson's first time being away from me! It went so, so, so well! She's an awesome missionary! I'm really so proud to have her as my comp. I'm glad she had a good time. This week is already PACKED with appointments, We are probably going to do divisions with the other sisters this week.

We also have been teaching a half hour of music to the Primary in our branch, since no one knows the Primary songs. They just LOVE it! We are also teaching 4 other members of the branch how to read music, direct songs, and play the piano. It's going really well! We really love our branch. :)

Some of the days from this week, I've been so tired I've went to bed at 9:50 and then woke up to do prayers at 10:20. I'm telling you. The work is so tiring. Emotionally and Phyically! BUT I do have some pretty sweet looking calves because of all the uphill walking! :)

Today for pday we went to the beach today. Our district had a crab catching activity. hahaha. We caught one! When I say we, I mean they because I basically just watched. But it was cool! Took awhile, but success! Sister R and I also went to the cemetery. It was super cool and old. Very catholic. There was a sign that someone wrote "Jesus, forgive us of our sins" But it was spelled wrong in portuguese. haha.

Oh and a German man told me I had a german chin... I hope that was a compliment? Haha.

Ok, well... Until next week!
Sister Buhler

PICTURES!!

So I got pictures this week! Hoorayyy!

 

Well, LUIS got baptized this week! But not confirmed.. Because her had to go out of town... Yeah. Satan is a bully and a half. And YES the church got painted a yellow color! WOO HOO! :) Doesn't it look so much more happier!? Luis is honestly one of the greatest 14 year olds I know. He really has the light of Christ burning inside him super bright. And he goes to Seminary everyweek without anyone making him. He's great. :)

 

Anyways, this week..Well, I really love it here in Fogo. But this week has been a doosey.  . Our numbers lately have been low... Like having none of our investigators at church yesterday.. I feel like we are being really obedient missionaries, that we work really hard, and that we teach and love our investigators and the people we meet.  I don't know. We'll fix whatever it is we're doing wrong.

 

Satan has been working really hard here. There are ALWAYS things attacking our baptisms. Sick children, work, and going "a fora." Que chato! But we're working really hard and praying alot to Heavenly Father for help. In EVERY aspect of the work.

 

Newsflash, I didn't have bedbugs! But it is definitely a skin fungus. But I only know that because I bought an antifungus creme and it is FINALLY getting better! HOORAY! 

 

We are going to have Zone Conference this week on Halloween. We told the ZL's they need to so something Halloween-y. Maybe they'll talk on the Holy Ghost. Hahahah.

 

We went to the beach today for pday. I don't think all of the pictures are going to fit on one email. So maybe this week everyone will get 2 emails. I'm also attaching old baptisms. Just for safety purposes.

 

I found GATORADE THIS WEEK! I've been waiting 4 transfers for the American store to get it in and it FINALLY came in!! I bought one in every flavor. They're kindof expensive.. Like almost 2 bucks each. Well worth it though. I've also included a random truck picture.. That truck is filled with ramen noodles. It was taken from off our balcony. As much as I loved them in the states, I don't eat them so much here. But I figured my mom would get a kick out of that picture. :)

 

As for our investigators... I'd love to tell you about them.. but they all have their own little situation. And to not be partial I don't want to write about only a few. But maybe next week I'll have better news about them. We are getting alot of new ones though.

 

Love, Sister Buhler

No pictures again...

SO! Transfers were this weekend and the verdict is... We're staying the same! Hooray! Well, our companionship. Sister Payton is moving out of our house and Sister Serdar is moving back in. And Sister Vanderhorst is going to Sal!! So sad!! But Happy! I won't be able to see her but Sal is AMAZINGGG!

We had the BEST Zone Conference this week! Our mission president ended up playing some videos (in english) from Elder Bednar. On receiving revelation, and the Light of Christ. There are three of the videos. Maybe they are on youtube? They were seriously SO amazing! Everyone should watch them. We were challenged to find people doing acts of Kindness(aka the Light of Christ working in them) and teach them. Ahhhh. So good! and to follow all of our leading-to-do-good thoughts. It's been a great week.

This week I met someone who does't believe in God. How sad, right? I didn't even know what to say to them. I was just like.. Ok. Well, have a nice evening. ?

We sadly didn't have baptisms this week and one of our for this upcoming week fell because she didn't go to church. BUT Luis will be getting baptized! His mom was taught by missionaries in the past, but she decided the Adventist church is for her.. But she is going to watch his baptism and is going to make Luis' little brother go to our FHE tonight. hahaha. We are going to try and talk to her again. She's a super nice lady.

This week, on Thursday... I hit my 9 month mark. WOO HOO! That's halfway. Not that I want to be done.. because I don't.. but it's kindof cool to think about. I hope I stay in fogo for 2-3 more transfers so I can see the Stake open. President is flooding our island with missionaries. There are currently 4 sets of sisters and 5 sets of Elders on the island and he's trying to split 2 branches. Nuts!

I think I have bed bugs.. Not cool. So I bug sprayed my matress and washed all my sheets.

It is still super hot in Fogo... Nothing is really that new.

If your name is Holly Holland.. Hi mom! :D

SO... Yeah. There is nothing that exciting this week. Maybe next week. :)
Love you all!
Sister Buhler

Finally! Pictures!

Sorry everyone for not sending pictures. No, my camera didn't get stolen again.. hahaha. I just got 2 emails asking if it had been stolen, but no. Just bad internet places. So I've attached some pictures of all the baptisms since Sister Robinson and I have been companions. :) They are MOSTLY in chronological order.. except the last one. But if you look at the file number I'm sure that will help.

ANYWAYS! What a week! You remember how We had Manuel lined up for baptism? Well, he got baptized alright. In 1994. HAHA. Seriously. He had forgotten that 18 years ago he got baptized. He remembered having the Elders teach him and that he had to stop drinking and stuff.. just not the baptism part it. It was so funny. The branch president told us that we should make sure that he wasn't baptized first and check in the computer. What do you know. It even had his nickname "Mané Bombazina" He conveniently was doing construction on the church the day we looked it up so we walked up to him, "Are you Mané Bombazina?" He grinned from ear to ear. "It says in the computer that you were baptized in 1994.." Mané-"So.. I guess I don't need to be baptized then right?" us-"Right. Hahha."

Other than that our other 2 baptisms fell. One because he went out of town earlier than expected and the other one's baby daughter is sick in the hospital. So that was a bummer. Satan is a HARD worker and I am SO serious about that.

But Isabel, FINALLY got baptized this week!! On Sunday between conference sessions!! :D She's the one holding the baby in the orange shirt. Isn't he ADORABLE!? Oh. That was definitely one of the happiest days of my life. She's fought so hard to be baptized. I gave the talk at her baptism and she started crying. I know that I don't know all of the trials that she is going through, but I do know that the Lord does. I'm so happy she FINALLY made it.:)

This past week everyone in our house has been sick and 2 sisters on the other half of the island. (Another proof Satan is trying to stop the work.) The other 2 sisters stayed in the house for 2 days- MISERABLE. We made them hot chocolate and cheese grits. (hahaha can you guess which one I made?) But Sister Robinson had alot of energy when she was sick so we were still able to work. And I didn't have energy by the time it got around to me, but it finally got me Friday and by that time it was Interviews, Baptisms, and General Conference weekend- and you really can't stay down for any of that. But today I'm feeling tons better. I still have a stuffy nose and cough, but it is about gone. :)

Our numbers weren't good at all this week and we have Zone Conference tomorrow so we'll see how that all pans out. Also... I'm supposed to have 42 scriptures memorized by tomorrow... We'll see what happens. haha. Our awesome branch mission leader is also leaving for his mission in Brazil soon. Sad!

I'm REALLY REALLY REALLY loving my companion Sister Robinson. Transfers are this weekend, we should stay together.. but I guess you never know! We'll get to see who leaves and who stays in our house. They are going to open up Brava this transfer, but I think it's only for Elders.

Anyways, I think that is it.
I love you all!

Love, Sister Buhler

whataweekwhataweek. October 8, 2012

So! I just know that everyone is SUPER duper happy about the new missionary age change. I sure am. :) We were able to watch the Priesthood session this morning and the Saturday morning session in English. It was definitely WONDERFUL! I LOVED it. Conference is just so wonderful, isn't it?

Anyways, I have a couple of fun stories I want to tell everyone so hold on to your seats. :)

First off. We went teaching with our Branch Mission Leader on Thursday and Friday. It went really well. He really invites a great spirit to our lessons. POINT IS, we were walking to our appointment and he cuts in front of me in the road to say hi to someone and the only thing he says is that he wants to introduce us to someone. So he walks up to a girl shakes her hand, I shake her hand, I say hi, Sister Robinson says hi, and he says NOTHING. So I have no idea who this person is. So what do I ask? "Are you baptized?" (Bad first question, I know.) Her-"No" and then it goes silent as we all look at each other REALLY awkwardly. I almost responded, "Well,.. do you want to be?" hahaha. But I didn't. I just asked more questions awkwardly until he finally opened his mouth and told us the Elders had street contacted her but never went back. Hahah. Her name is Patricia. She was taught by missionaried in Brava about 10 years ago before her mom died. She came to church yesterday and LOVED it! And she loves us and we have since then started teaching some of the people she is living with! And she and another girl she lives with are super excited to get baptized in a few weeks! :) :)

Also, I want to talk about a man named Manuel. So my mini and I contacted Manuel last transfer. When we invited him to baptism he flat out turned us down. He's a man that likes to talk alot. and Sometimes the words that come out of his mouth feel like the scriptures.hahah. I really like him. I'm kindof hoping he'll grow up and teach the gospel doctrine class, but that's just me. :) Anyways, It's been at least a month later and this week as my companion and I were making goals for next week, she brings up Manuel's name for baptism. I was like WOAH.. where did that come from?! He hasn't even gotten a response about Joseph Smith! No way he'll be ready for baptism! So later that night we go to his house. We ask at the end of his lesson if he prayed to know if Joseph was a Prophet-No. If the Book of Mormon is true?-No. So I start explaining to him about how it's important to get an answer and he cuts me off. And says, "But everytime I think about it, in my mind and in my heart it feels right. So I feel like Joseph is what you say he is. And whenever I am looking for an answer this book always has a response."
Me(smiling): "So are you saying you have your answer?"
Manuel: "Yeah, I got my answer."
Me(grinning from ear to ear): "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ in your life, and be baptized like he was?"
Manuel(Starting to grin really big): "Haha. I think it has come to that time, yes."
OH BOY! I was the happiest missionary ever! Then when I asked him to say the closing prayer he backsassed me and said "Well what about you give it?" Hahaha. When we got off the street his house was on I started dancing. Haha. Heavenly Father really knows his children. And I'm so glad my comp was listening to the Holy Ghost in planning. :)

Our baptism of Jorgin fell last week, but we've rescheduled it for this week on Thursday. Gotta keep fighting off that dirty Satan. So hopefully everything runs well.

For those of you who are a fan of Isabel, SHE FINALLY CAME TO CHURCH! and the Branch President is seeing what he can do to help her with different living arrangements. But hopefully we'll be having her baptism soon. :) ~

I also accidently threw bleach into my colored laundry this week. haha. I thought I was washing whites but nope. I wasn't! so.... now that I've bleached them more, I have lots of whitish shirts! Oh, the lessons you learn in the mission. :)

So... I think that's about it. I'm excited for more conference next weekend. :)
Have a great week!
Sister Buhler

No pictures...again! :(

Happy first day of OUTUBRO! So I don't have luck with pictures.. again. I promise. One of these days I'll have pictures. But anyways, so first I'll start with the baptisms. :)

These week we baptized 3 young men. 10, 12, and 14 years old. Rulin, Edson, and Keven. Consecutively. They are all super cool and dedicated! The moms of 2 came to the baptism, but one mom had to miss it because she was in Praia. :( We are in the process of teaching all of their parents, but there are alot of barriers... like getting married, and not being able to read (all three moms can't read) or understand much Portuguese. (Have I mentioned that I sometimes have to teach in Creole? Weird!) But the most interesting feat is that Edson's mom is scared of water! hahahah. When the first kid got in the water her hands went up over her eyes. hahaha. Poor thing. We marked her baptism date for October 13. I told her I'd find the biggest priesthood holder in our branch. hahaha. I really like her. :) Rulin's mom came to church, but she feels really uncomfortable because she can't read. :/ But she loves what the church has done for all of the people she's meet in it! So yeah. We'll see how that goes.

We also just got a bunch of references that are a bunch of Young women. :) Which makes me happy because for a while we had only been teaching young men. But yeah! I'm stoked about them. :)

An update on the Isabel story: SHE MOVED OUT OF THAT HOUSE!! :D And now she lives in the other sister's area with a family of one of their investigators. She was really excited to go to church Sunday, but I didn't see her there. I haven't had a chance to talk to the other sister's to see if she went to their branch or if she couldn't go because of the rain and her baby. :/ When I woke up Sunday morning the clouds were SUPER dark! The first thing I thought was Oh No. None of our investigators are going to be at church. And sure enough, we had 1 investigator at church. :/ Sadness!

Also, mom should be really happy with me.. I think I like coconut. hahah. I know! So strange! I like coconut bread that they sell here and come coconut cookies that Sister Arlete makes,... But I had coconut icecream today and wasn't a huge fan. But I think the more I eat, the more I'll like. Maybe. haha.

So it turns out we aren't watching conference this weekend. SAD! But to avoid internet problems the branches are going to download it and watch it next week. And our mission president told everyone that they had to watch it in portuguese.. so I'm a little bummed about it, but not too too much since I understand portuguese. It's just a little annoying with the voice over. Hearing a brazilian man just isn't the same as the prophet's voice.

Other than that... hm. I don't know. I still super hot. A member is coming to out house today to unclog our tub drain. Hooray! I guess you know your mission emails are getting boring when you talk about your clogged tub drain. haha.

I love my companion. Sister Robinson... cooks DELICIOUS pancakes. One day I'm sure she'll read this and laugh, but seriously. They were the best pancakes of my LIFE! Also, she's really good at looking at the bright side of things. She has a lump in her throat. We took her to the hospital to have it looked at. The Doctor wrote her a prescription. When we get to the pharmacy the woman pulls out some HUGE 3 inch needles! I ended up calling President's wife and double checking that we wanted to go through with that. Long story short, the Cape Verde Dr wanted her to take Penicillin made for animals and another type of penicillin that no one knows what it was. haha. But yeah. We think she's getting better anyways.

I also got to see Sister Vanderhorst this week! :) She turned 22 on the 28th. :) happy birthday to her!

Ok. That is pretty much everything in my life. I hope everyone is doing well!
Love, Sister Buhler

Oh sweet spirit! September 24, 2012

Well, this week has been full of blessings from the Lord. First off, I would like to inform everyone that last pday, my companion and I got the broken fan in our apartment to WORK! SWEET GOODNESS! I slept so good not sweating! :)

Also, an apology for not attaching pictures 2 weeks in a row. We're at a sketch place and I can't even find the usb hole.

Other than that, Work has just been phenomenal. Seriously. The spirit has just been SO awesome in our lessons. And people who I thought were on the verge of not progressing made a U-turn for the better! OH! It's amazing. We didn't have any baptisms this last weekend, but we will have between 4 and 5 this week. (But really 5, we just don't have one paper signed.) And they are all STOKED to be baptized! As are we, that they are making good choices. :)

So an interesting story from this week is that on Friday we were on our way up the mountain to visit our investigator Edson. We THOUGHT we had him marked for 6. But on the way a man yells at us from the top of his house "SISTER!" Usually, this happens alot. But with drunk men. So we don't normally pay attention. But for some reason don't ask me why, when he flagged us over, I went. Kindof like I seriously didn't have control over my feet. The whole time my brain is formulating excuses. "we have an appointment,..tell him to go to church sunday,.. you can still run." But no I walk up the stairs and we talk to him. We didn't even have and lesson with him, but he said that he had been trying to find the church for a long time and that he probably wants to be baptized. Well do you know what we did? We invited him to baptism and made him a calendar. He came to church yesterday and boy is he just so ready for the gospel! We're pretty stoked for him. Tender Mercy, huh?

Side Note: WHO IS STOKED FOR GENERAL CONFERENCE!? It's definitely me!!! Oh man. I just LOVE Conference. WOO HOO! Not having baptisms that week is kindof sad, but I'm too stoked for conference for it too bother me too much. haha.

Also, there is this woman Isabel. Who I just LOVE. She was finally going to be able to go to church yesterday. She got up, got dressed, got her baby dressed, the member was outside her house ready to walk with her to church and what happens? The lady who she is staying with comes in and tells her that if she goes to church that Isabel can pack her's and Enascio's things and leave. So Isabel had to stay in the house. We ended up being outside Isabel's house later on teaching somebody. When Isabel heard us singing, she came out and sat in on the lesson with us. After the lesson, she apologized and was just so upset about not being able to go to church. When she told us what happened.. Well, i just kind of wanted to spit in Satan's eyes. Especially since the night before, she told us that she was not going to move back in with the father of her child because living the commandments and being baptized is more important than.. well, sex.
Man. Basically, something is going to happen. I'm not sure what Heavenly Father has up his sleeve, but it's something good for sure.

Tomorrow is my 8 month mark in the mission. It's kinda cool, but kinda sad in the same moment.

I hope everything is going well for everyone over in the states. The work is going really well,.. stressful at times, but really well.
Also, for all you lucky ducks.. Enjoy some gator football for me. :)

Love, Sister Buhler

Training September 17, 2012

So I am very sorry to report that I can't send photos this week because I forgot the cord to my camera. Blast! But you all will see pictures of my greenie next week.

We had a mom and her daughter get baptized Friday. They've been taught for a long time! It was such a blessing that our companionship was finally able to see them get baptized. They were really excited. Their names are Rute and Luana. :) Pictures will come next week.

Other than that, the work is going well here.. It is not without difficulties, but I know things could be worse. Sister Robinson is a real blessing in my life. I learn just as much from her as she does from me, I think! She's got a real positive attitude, but hasn't quite become accustomed to filth yet.. hahaha. But I really like her. Her portuguese is coming along really well too.

So President Oliveira went to a training given by Nelson and he talked about how all things we do in life should be framed around Moses 1:39. That and a combination of discussions with my housemates has helped me realize that there are 2 kinds of people that walk away from the mission: People who change, and People who become. I've decided I'm going to work a bajillion times harder making Heavenly Father's purpose--MY purpose. Not just my purpose for the mission, but purpose for the rest of my existence. Maybe that is just a no-brainer for the rest of you, but I've been under a rock of ignorance or SOMETHING. But yeah, I've repented of my ignorance and I'm working hard to be a 100times better missionary!

Also, the power and internet went out in our city yesterday so we weren't able to email. That is why this is coming so late! Sorry!

Also, a fun fact for those who are interested.. I now run every morning. Yes, I hate running, but I need to do it. Haha. Sister Payton and I have a transfer goal of running to the top of a very far away hill and back by the end of the transfer. Without stopping. haha. I think we will achieve it sooner than the end of the transfer but goals are always good anyways.

I hope the Lord is blessing everyone in the states and especially my ward!

Love, Sister Buhler

I was preggers and I didn't even know it!! September 10, 2012

I'm going to be a MOM!!!! I will be recieving Sister Robinson from the United States later this week!! I'm really excited. :) She's from Brigham City, Utah. I'm really excited. But I feel slightly bad since most of our investigators speak creole... :/ oops. On the brighter side... I speak creole. haha.

Well, to start off it has rained EVERYDAY. No I'm not kidding. I attached a picture of people who were running in the streets with soap in their hair and on their bodies... Genius idea right? Way to save on the water bill! hahaha. But for some reason, even though there was a TON of rain outside, we didn't have water for most of the week in our house... or electricity. Weird, but we have both now. :)

We had the baptism of Deisa this weekend. I love her. She's so full of life and is always laughing. She's the reason why her inactive brother is coming back to church. And why ONE DAY her parents will come back to church and be sealed in the temple. I've got a really positive outlook on her. :) She's adorable!

Also, this has been a really great week of work. Seriously. I LOVE our investigators, so I'm really glad I'm not leaving Sao Filipe. Especially, Isabel. She's from Sao Tome. MAN. She is so happy all the time and her baby is SO STINKING CUTE. Seriously. And she had a boyfriend, but they were getting in a lot of fights and he was treating her bad.. I got really sad for her, but then I realized she can get baptized now!! WOOOO!! I really love her. I'm glad I'm not leaving. :)

ALSO, we just got elders put back in Sao Filipe! So now we are sharing our branch with a companionship of Elders! Which is GREAT, because our area had a LOT of people prepared and we don't have enough time for them all! I looked at the numbers from last month, our area had 10 baptisms and the next leading area in fogo had 5. I'm telling you, it'll be a huge help.

I also attached a picture of me with my recent convert from branch 2. Hahaha. Pierre. After his baptism, he cut his hair. Now, not only is he going to church looking sharp every Sunday, but the sisters are teaching his friend that has HUGE dreds. Hahaha. Pierre told his friend that he can get baptized with the dreds, but 2 days after, they're taking him to get a haircut. HAHAHA. Oh man. We never even told him cutting his hair was needed! So funny.

Oh and I just LOOK fat next to the Droga e lixo sign.
ALSO! Sister Vanderhorst has gotten transferred to FOGO!!! She's on the other half of the island though... in Mosteiros. :/ but i saw her for a little bit today! I was one happy camper. :)

Anyways, I should get my daughter Wednesday or Thursday. I'll let you know ALL about her!
Until later gators!
Sister Buhler

Do you know what blessings are? September 3, 2012

Well. Let me just tell you this week has been FULL of miracles. :) First and foremost, I would like to say that the OTHER sisters had a baptism this week. Thanks to us. We marked the baptism for them last Sunday and he got baptized 2 days ago. hahaha. He´s a kid who has been taught A LOT by sisters and we finally got him to sit down and admit what he wanted in life. :) He's a sweet kid. RICARDO! :)

Other than that, I am also attaching pictures of the 2nd Noah's Ark downpour from last night. We were sitting under a tree training a member and out of nowhere started DOWNPOURING. We had to run into a bar for shelter. When we finally decided it wasn't letting up, we swam our way home. hahaha. I'm kidding about the swimming, but the puddles were pretty huge. People were running out of their houses to take showers in the rain. And the whole city lost power. It was kind of neat. We lost our last hour of teaching last night, but luckily we had decided to leave the house an hour early to teach. :) It was cool.

So we visited 2 inactive families this week and they both showed up for church and bore their testimonies. :) It was really awesome. One of the families,.. I'm not sure why they ever went inactive. I guess when she got pregnant 7yrs ago she just forgot to go to church? Haha. Well this Sunday she went with all of her 4 kids and husband. It made me SO darn happy! The other family is an inactive mom with 2 kids. When we went to teach her this week, it was like a Liahona moment. I wasn't sure what scripture to use, I was just SO sure that the only scripture in my mind was wrong, but after we read it, she was crying. We were so blessed to be able to have that experience with her. The spirit was SO strong when she bore her testimony in church. I know that the Lord was giving her trails so she could find peace in her life. What a loving Heavenly Father we have!

Also, transfers are this weekend and my mini will be going home. Sad. BUT I'm excited to know what is going to happen! Who I'll recieve... Hmmm!

Also, President Oliveira challenged our whole mission to have 10 new investigators with 10 baptism dates marked... And last week we had 12 new investigators. SO basically our plate was really full this week, but we ended up with 15 new investigators and 5 more dates marked. I'm not too disappointed. I feel like the Lord understands we tried our best.

Also,.. This is the third paragraph I've started with also.. hahaha. Um. So I really feel like I can see how much I've grown in the mission! Especially in teaching! I didn't know I was applying so much! But now I feel like I really understand how to teach by the spirit. It's basically the best thing I've ever learned. :) Heavenly Father is so great for helping me.

Other than that.. It's our companionship's turn to cook in the house. I'm pretty excited because that means more Cape Verdian/American food again. :)

Soooo that's it! Until next week! TCHAU!
Sister Buhler

Ternas Misericordias (Tender Mercies) August 27, 2012

So I don't remember if I said anything about Igor in an email, but let me give you a little background on him. He is an investigator that we received when we FIRST got here to Fogo. Took us forever to help him realize that he needs to be baptized and FINALLY after a few weeks he was like, Yeah, I need to be baptized. We took him to get an interview and in the interview he said he didn't want to get baptized anymore. It was super sad because we had worked for a long time with him. We continued to pass by like once every week to see how he was doing. And this week, a little less than 2 months later HE GOT BAPTIZED! Wanna know why? Let me tell you.

Well, last Monday my companion and I were on the road walking to a Family Home Evening that we had planned. We had plans to stop by his house and another investigators on the way. When all of a sudden I felt the need to invite a less active to go with us. He wasn't exactly on the way. In fact, we had to completely turn around and go into a different zone to get him. And on top of that, the last 2 times we tried to visit him he was never home. But you know, if the spirit's talking, you gotta listen. So we turned around to go get him and WHAT DO YOU KNOW, he's home! And had nothing to do and was SUPER excited to go with us! And the whole night he helped Igor find scriptures during the lesson, he introduced Igor to people and made him feel welcome. Towards the end of the night one of the members turned to me and was like Is Igor getting baptized this weekend? I was like, I dunno. Ask him. Then I turn to look at Igor and he has the HUGEST smile on his face and he's shaking his head up and down. AH! And what do you know, Saturday he was baptized. :)

The picture of me with a little girl getting baptized, that wasn't from our area, but she's an old investigator from the other area. He name is Clarice. Clarice couldn't get baptized because of her family situation. Last transfer she came up to me saying, "I'm not going to church anymore. I don't want any of this!" I gave her a hug as she started to cry and told her that it was just a trial and that she needed to stay strong and that I knew that Heavenly Father loved her so much. She came RUNNING up to me in the street 2 weeks ago, "BUHLER BUHLER! Eu vou batizar proxima semana!!" AHHH. I'm so happy for her. :)

As for news from this week, my companion's grandma died Saturday. So she went back to her city Sunday to be with her family, but she's back today. I passed Sunday with my friend Lu as my companion. Lu is leaving for a mission in Brazil soon. :) It was alot of fun. :)

ALSO! My companion and I made Cachupa this week! MMMMM. Delicious!

It's been raining alot this week. Which is super awesome because it means that we occasionally get cooled off when we're walking or it'll be alot colder at night. :) I love the rain!

AND everyone should be happy to know my companion is teaching me alot of creole. We have a wall in our kitchen where we write portuguese words for the greenie in our house. There is currently a creole translation square! But sometimes we doodle... I attached a picture of the doodles.

Anyways, thats it for this week! I hope all is well over there! I haven't heard anything about it yet, but Gator football should be starting up soon right? Someone should keep me updated on that. :)

Love, Sister Buhler

I'm a mom to a mini! August 20, 2012

So Sister Gomes left Fogo yesterday. She'll be home soon! And I recieved a mini missionary! Sister Silva! I was already friends from her from last transfer and now she's my companion!! I'm very excited to have her. She's really dedicated to the work, which is super great because that means we can work super hard and accomplish alot! :) I'm also excited to have a filha! Hooray posterity! hahaha.

This past Thursday we threw a dance for the branch. It was alot of fun and alot of people showed up. :) Hahahah. These people are hilarious when it comes to dancing. I really wanted to rip of my tag and start dancing, but I didn't. haha. One more year and I'll be able to bust some moves!

So Thursday and Friday I had a TERRIBLE stomach ache. Which is dumb because I'm never weak in the stomach. I thought I was developing a milk allergy like some folks do on the mission.. but nope not a milk allergy. A fish allergy. Wanna know how I know its a fish allergy? Because I broke out in hives at 1am Friday night. I thought a swarm of mosquitos was eating me alive! I had to hop out of bed, take a cold shower, rub benedryl itch relief cream ALL OVER, and I slept with the ice pack from our freezer in my bed. One of the worst nights ever. hahaha. But apparently its the fish I ate those two days. My companion says it was "Serra." Alls I Knows is that I ain't eating that fish again. hahaha.

So we had the baptism of Djoni and Victor this week. I love baptisms. We're working on reactivating Djoni's family. They're some really nice people. :)

Apparently, there are some problems with companionships in the mission... Because president asked all of us to fast and repent. Hahah. I love my comp, but I hope everyone else is getting better!

Also, our district went to the beach today for pday. It was alot of fun. And I was FINALLY able to play soccer!! YESSS! It was alot of fun. I also made pizza today because it's our member friend, Lu's birthday! :) MMM.

Anyways, that's all that is interesting this week!
Tchau!
Sister Buhler

Zone Conference Delayyy August 13, 2012

So sorry this letter is super delayed, but we had zone conference yesterday and so pday is today!

We didnt have any baptisms this week, but one of our investigators in our old area before the division got baptized! Danny!

Anyways, there isn't a whole lot new about this week. We have been on a mad hunt for new investigators. But with zone conference yesterday, MAN! I am so pumped to find more. It's all about listening to the spirit, ya know? After we left zone conference yesterday, I felt like I was walking with new eyeballs. We contacted a kid with a busted up foot from a motorcycle accident. He's really nice. I have a good feeling about him. We'll see. :)

Other than that... we had some other sisters stay at our house last night. Man. I love people from Mozambique. hahahaa. They are funny.

My companion is leaving this upcoming Sunday before church. She's going back to Portugal. SOOO I'll be getting a new comp soon. I tried to see if President was going to tell me yesterday at Zone Conference... Nada. Hahaha. He's a smart man. Honestly, my mission president is one of the most powerful men I know. He's awesome. I'm really lucky to be in this mission.

We had the blessing this week to contact a whole house of inactive members who are keeping most of the commandments! The mom (she's not married) and her 2 kids and nephew went to church. MAN! It felt really good to walk with a family to church. :)

Anyways, other than that I'm in good health. No funny stories. Maybe next week.
Love Sister buhler

FOGO! August 6, 2012

Well, last week when were still working in 2 branches, we made the goal of 2 baptisms-one for each area. So when we got assigned to Branch1, we had a goal of one baptism... Guess how many we had? FOUR! HA! YES! THAT! IS! RIGHT! :) We already had Fabio prepared for baptism and then old investigators of different missionaries in the past just CAME OUT OF THE WOODWORKS! It was amazing! I'm not sure why they weren't baptized before, but holy moley. So Raul (nickname-Psico), Edmilson, Edmilson (is really named Adilson), and Fabio were baptized!! :D We had marked 2 of them for baptism next week but they insisted that they wanted to be baptized this week and that they'd meet with us everyday to prepare. I'm telling you. It's just SO true that the Lord is preparing the hearts of these people. :) It's a great time to be a missionary!

So other than that.. Not a whole lot has been going on. Alot of preparation for baptisms. Alot of sweating. hahaha. I got mail this week! And I should be getting some in the upcoming week if anyone is interested in writing me a letter. haha.

OH! So apparently there is a video on youtube about the Cape Verde Mission about the 1st Stake that opened in April here. I watched it and HOLY MOLEY. If you haven't watched it--you should. It's a PERFECT description of our mission. And by the looks of it, before I leave my mission I will be able to see the opening of the 2nd and 3rd stakes here! One in Sao Vincente and one in FOGO!! :) YEAHHH!

Oh! And everyone in my branch, They can say Buhler.. correctly! :) I feel really special that they took the time to learn it. I really feel at home here with our branch. They're super nice. :)

I've included pictures of the baptism and a lovely view of the horizon.. You can see Brava in the picture.. But I guess that'll have to wait.
Until next week!
Sister Buhler

Sao Paulo? July 30, 2012

Óla everyone! What a week. Basically, it's hot here in Fogo.. Like everyday. haha. Transfer calls were last night AND..... I'm staying! And I'm going to kill off my companion. She's very excited to be going home. Trunky? Yes.. A bit. haha. But not alot so that's good. :)

We're staying in Branch 1!!! Hooray!! Except that most of our work was in Branch 2.. :( I'm very sad to be leaving my investigators from Branch 2. BAHHH. But Branch 1 is happy to have me stay. :) The Branch President yesterday was telling me that he doesn't want me to leave. Hahaha. Nice guy.

OH! I gave my first talk in the mission field yesterday!! Hooray! It was on forgiveness. :) The Branch Pres called me up Saturday night and asked if I could fill in. I was so happy! When it came around to the time to give it I was praying "pleasepleaseplease let them understand my Portuguese" Not that I have bad Portuguese.. they speak creole and sometimes, depending on how you talk its hard for them to understand. ANYWAYS, so I get done and some 15yr old boy comes up to me and is like, "You need to practice your Portuguese."
Me-Be Quiet! I'm working on it!
kid-You need to speak Portuguese like her. *points to my companion*
Me-She was RAISED in Portugal! I can't speak like her!
kid-Where were you raised, São Paulo?
Me(Not understanding)-No! The United States!
kid-Oh! So you know English! You'll have to teach me sometime! *and walks off*

So I leave this kid thinking, Darn.. My Portuguese wasn't good. So then I go to tell my companion what happened and it clicks... São Paulo is in Brazil. He thought I was Brazilian. ...YESSSSSSSS!!!!!!! So long story short- My Portuguese is good, but I have a Brazilian accent. :) YES! Brazilians have AWESOME accents. :)


Well, we had the baptism of Pierre and Rosa this week! I'm so happy for them. :) Pierre is 23 years old. We met him two Sundays ago when he showed up for our branch. I sat by him because... well... I could tell he wasn't a member. Actually, he kindof looked like he was on drugs. BUT he was very nice! So One thing leads to another and BAM! Baptized! 2 weeks later. I'm telling you he was prepared by the Lord. :) He wants to get the priesthood and serve a mission and I'm just so proud of him! :)

Rosa is the cousin of Erica that was baptized a few weeks ago. But they're basically sisters. haha. She's a sweet girl. FINALLY! We've been waiting forever for things to fall into place! :)

They were also having an activity at the other branch and we ended up doing a little part on missionary work. It was really fun! I love their branch! And apparently they really like us. One member told the Elders that if I asked him to marry me, he'd say yes. HAHAHAAH. Funny. I'm not even sure who the kid is.

Other than that... Sister Routson is leaving Fogo and that makes me sad. Sister Arlete will train an American. (She didn't want to be training. hahahah.) SO! I hope the new American is cool like Routson!

Um.. Well.. That's all I can think of.
So Yeah. I'm doing good. And eating healthy. And drinking lots of water. And killing lots of bugs. And if anyone asks, I love my companion. :)
Until next week!
Sister Buhler

ps. no photos this week bc the computer stinks. :(

"I just washed my hands!" *looks at hands* "..Oh sick what is THAT?" July 23, 2012

Well, this week... Let's just say I'm glad transfers are soon. hahahaha.

But first with the good news! Carlos was baptized this week!!
(Yep, our other baptisms fell, but they are just being moved to this week.)

Carlos is the brother of Branch1's president. He's cool. We're really proud of him. Now the branch president can say that almost all of his family are members! :) It's pretty cool.

We have a goal of 5 baptisms for this week... I'm not sure what's going to happen, but one thing is for certain... Alot of work. hahaha. We have alot of progressing investigators and after this week, our dupla will be assigned to only one branch. Which is super sad!! I wanna keep all of my investigators!! They're all so cool!! AGH! We'll see what happens.

Something cool about Fogo that everyone should know is that we, in fact, have sledding. It's true. I saw it yesterday. A kid was on top of a sheet of refrigerator coils bent up on one side, and was sliding down the road. Hahahaa. Oh man. If I had a camera.

ALSO! Saturday we taught this woman who is the mother of a member of the Branch. My companion was complimenting her on her head scarf that said " <3 Jesus." The lady was like "Oh, Thank you!! You've got to see this!" So she starts lifting up her apron. I think she's going to reveal a shirt with Jesus' face on it. Nope. Continues lifting up the apron to reveal a dog shirt. She pulls down the collar of her dog shirt. I think "Oh goodness. Does her bra say something about Jesus?" Nope. But pinned to the INSIDE of her bra is a Jesus button. She's a very nice woman. She gave us 4 mangos at the end of our visit. Probably the most interesting visit I've had all week. hahaha.

Today we went to see the beach. It was fun. The sand is black. What a heck of a battle getting it off my white skin. hahaha. But it's kinda cool bc if you keep going past Brava on the horizon, eventually you'll hit Florida! "HI MOM!" Haha.

The conference President gave was pretty cool. Every time I talk to our mission president, my Portuguese stops working. I forgot the word for "drive" then the only word I could think of was "ride" so.. hahaha. I'm sure he thinks I'm having problems, but no. Just in front of him.

In two days, I will hit my 6 month mark in the mission! WOO HOO! Everyone excited?! I am. I found Pillsbury Funfetti cake mix, 2 weeks ago. I've been saving it. :) MMMM!

Anyways, that's all I can think of. I hope everyone has a GREAT week! :)
Love, Sister Buhler

 

Cashews July 16, 2012

SO! We had 2 baptisms this week! Kevin and Sedenei(Sidney)!! AGH! I'm really proud of them. In the picture.. I've got a belly. But it's bc I had to pull up my skirt so high. It's so long! And you know.. I'm so short. hahaha.

Kevin's little sisters will be baptized the 4th of August if all goes well. He's doing great though. He went out and taught with us. It was awesome. He taught about the Kingdoms in the Plan of Salvation. EVERYONE knows Kevin, which is amazing bc he's a kid of very few words. haha. But Really though. He's outstanding. We took the Missionary couple that is serving in our area with us to a Family Night at his house last Monday night and they were just SO impressed by him. :) Which they should be, He's great! :)

Sidney is a surfer. hahah. He's really cool. He's the nephew of our Branch President. I really like him. we were a little on edge when he didn't show up for an appointment and when he was running late for his baptismal interview, but its bc he was in the ocean too long. hahahah.

OH! I'VE GOT NEWS! Our branch split this Sunday! YEAHHHH! Super exciting! But... I'm not sure how thats working out so we're going to work in 2 branches I think until next transfer. Which, I'm stoked about, bc that means I get to teach all of my investigators!

So there is this fruit here that I've never seen before in my life, Caju. Its like a colorful pepper with a seed on top. Turns out, if you take the seed, dry it out in the oven and crack it open.. You have a cashew nut. HOLY MOLEY! My mind was sincerely blown! But the fruity part is like... spicey sweety ... flan texture. Weird. But fascinating all the same.
And as a cool side note, I figured out how to make the milk here taste normal! I have to buy skim milk. Then I stick a few ice cubes in it because the carton its in doesn't get it cold enough. And then if I'm eating knock off raisin bran, I stick brown sugar in it. (The raisin bran and the brown sugar I found in the american store) GENIUS! Now I'm back to drinking milk. Oh man, I missed milk.

We have zone conference this week. I'm not that excited. But we'll see what happens. Maybe it'll be good. Maybe I'll get mail!! :)

We have 2 baptisms lined up for this week that I'm really excited about, but I'll tell you about them next letter.

Tchau Tchau for now!

Sister Chazuda July 9, 2012

SO! Well, this is the point in my mission where nothing seems different from the last. hahaha. BUT Happy late 4th of July to everyone! And Feliz Dia de Independência Cabo Verde! (July 5th) AND I hit 100 days in the mission field on July 5th! WOOOOO! :) If you are wondering how I celebrated the momentous occasions, I made mango banana smoothies the 4th of July and I made oreo milkshakes, hamburgers and potato wedges the next day. :) Yum! :)

I have baptisms to report! Erica and Olimpia were baptized! If you are wondering why some of the suits don't have zippers in the front.. It's bc I forgot to tell Erica and Olimpia that the zipper goes in the front. But I didn't want to make them feel dumb after they had already changed! So... Yeah. Just don't tell them. haha.

Olimpia is a baptism of the Elders. She's been waiting quite some time to be baptized. She was pregnant and the Doctor told her she couldn't get baptized until after she had the baby. hahah. So HOORAY for baby Jaqueline!! :)

The first day I got here and we were getting to know our area a lady named Lucia stopped us in the street and said, "I want my children o be baptized in your church. When can you stop by?" Lucia is the aunt of Erica. (Erica was basically raised by her) This upcoming Saturday we will have the baptism of Lucia's daughter, Rosa! :) Elder is Lucia's oldest son. He baptized Erica. :) Boy, I sure do LOVE baptisms!! :)

So! I HAVE to tell you about one of my favorite investigators, Kevin! He's amazing! He's 13 years old. He showed up at church last week and wanted to talk to the missionaries. So we set up an appointment and he will be baptized this Saturday too! Our leaders don't want us to baptize anyone that is under 14 years of age without a responsible older person in the family to take them to church. So I was wondering how we were going to get him baptized with his upcoming baptism date. But let me just tell you: The Lord ALWAYS provides. The very next day after I had been a bit worried, we talk to his older sister, and she was baptized! She's just less active! And you know what?! Kevin brought her to church yesterday!! I'm telling you. He's going to be a stake president or something one day. Do you know what he said our first lesson with him?
Us- Will you pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true?
Kevin- It's true.
Us-....uh... Will you follow Christ's example and be baptized?
Kevin- Yes.
Us- The 14th of July?
Kevin- Yes.
So Basically Kevin is awesome. Definitely prepared by the Lord.

Other than that... A member from the other branch in our city gave me the nickname Sister Chãzuda. It's creole. But long story short, I think it means Sister Smart Aleck. I don't think it'll stick though. hahah.

Also, I have included a picture of me with 2 of our investigators that went on a month vacation to America before we could baptize them. But they'll be back. :) Fatima and Marcelino. So now everyone knows how I look on a normal day to day basis. hahaha.

Oh and my companion woke me up at 2 in the morning last night when she flipped on the lights and told me to kill a bug. I have so much patience now. Let me tell you.. hahaha. I didn't even get mad at her. I looked at her, at the bug, watched it go under my bed and told her to go back to sleep. And I rolled over. hahaha. I ended up going on a search and killing it for her. They say missions change people. I guess they are right. hahaha.

Anyways, that's all!
Love
Sister Buhler