Well, everyone! Sorry this is coming to you so late in the week.. but my companion Sister Gomes was sick on pday and sunday night. And we had a special training yesterday with President soooo.. yeah. Hooray for finally getting to a computer!
Well, Here's how Fogo is... HOT! HOLY GOODNESS its like a bajillion degrees here! I'm so niot even kidding about that. And we don't even have a fan in our apartment. It's nuts. But I do really like it here in Fogo. We share an apartment with 2 other sisters. Sister Routsen and Sister Arlete. They work in an area way farther up the mountain and we work in the lower part of the mountain.. But they have to walk 15 minutes to walk to where their area starts. I kid you not.. Our ENTIRE AREA is on a slope like this --> \ And its a bajillion degrees. During like the second day of work here I sat down in someones house and I could see sweat stains on the front of my shirt.. on the top AND towards the bottom... I didn't even want to look at how my pits or back looked. I just kept my backpack on and my arms down the whole time.
So there is a Campain for President going on here in Fogo. There are trucks that ride around ALL the time with huge speakers in the back blasting catchy campain tunes. And everyone parties everynight during the time of campaining. OH! And it's also a bunch of holidays for Saints going on every few days or so. So basically they party ALL NIGHT LONG everynight. It kinda sucks bc we have to leave our windows open at night to not die of heat so.. Yeah, sleep isn't super easy here, but campaining should be over soon. :)
Other than that... Having a portuguese companion is lots of fun. She's really interesting and likes to talk alot. I don't like to talk a whole lot, but luckily my language is well enough off that we can hold conversations really well. She's honestly a real sweetheart. She really cares about people and it's good that I get her as my companion before she dies off.
As for my companion being sick,.. Let me tell you the story.
So she said that she was experiencing discomfort from gas Sunday night. So we made a few street contacts near our house and went home. She ends up throwing up A WHOLE LOT. Like the whole night long. President and Elder Benedict came over to give her a blessing at 11:30ish... Pres was going off about how the chili she ate probably wasn't a good decision and yadda yadda.. And then President asks who cooked the chili she ate... We were all standing in a circle (in candlelight bc the power was out) and EVERYONE turns to me as I timidly raise my hand. MY CHILI WAS DELICIOUS! And was NOT the cause of her sickness. No one else got sick... Geez. My chili was not the cause. JUST SAYIN'!
People here speak Creole not Bidou... I'm not even sure I know what Bidou is... Everyone says something different. But these people forget to open their mouths all the way when they talk so it's a good thing that my companion's portuguese is better than mine.
As for the branch here, I love it! We share the area with Elders.. but they are getting transferred this week to another area. Soooo... They so graciously left us 45 uncontacted references from members. HOLY goodness. I'm really excited to teach all of these people and do alot of work.. I hope my companion is ready for lots of running and teaching!! These people here in Fogo are SO READY for the gospel! You just have to teach by the spirit, love them, and fight the fact that almost everyone was baptized in the Catholic church and don't understand why they need to be baptized again.. hahaha. But Seriously. They're wonderful. I love them. :)
And just a side note, I got a free mango from our investigator last night! I LOVE mangos! Mangos from Fogo are delicious!
Anyways, I really love Fogo. And even though its hotter than Hades all the time, I hope I don't get transferred anytime soon. :)
I'm out of time, Until next week!
Love, Sister Buhler
PS. The person who wrote me a Dear Elder from the orient.. You know who you are... I need your dang mailing address! The one you left is weird! Send your mailing address to Vanessa and she'll send it to me! Por favor! :) Rapido!
And for them and everyone else, my mailing address is and always will be:
Sister Buhler
Missão Cabo Verde Praia
Caixa Postal 420
Praia, Santiago
Cabo Verde
Monday, June 25, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
TRANSFERRED! :( June 18, 2012
Greetings!
Well, I am sad to report that I have been officially TRANSFERRED! What a bummer. I'm getting transferred to the Southern Island of.... DUN DUN DUUUN.. Fogo. Blast it. In all honesty, I've heard Fogo is wonderful, but I'm just being a party pooper because I love Sal and don't want to leave. I catch a plane tonight at like 11ish to go to Praia... but I'm not sure about my travel plans after that. BUT I'll either get to stay with Sister Vanderhorst, or President.. So I either get to see my BEST FRIEND from the MTC! orrr I get a HOT SHOWER!! WITH WATER PRESSURE!!! :D I'm slightly pumped for this experience. I also get to break mission handbook rules.. hahaha. Yes!
Would you like to hear what my mission president wrote in his email to me this week? Hahaha.
Dear Sister,
Your portuguese is getting there, the writing not so much! Hahaha
We love your sweet spirit. Thank you for being obedient and kind. The Lord will use you in many ways in this mission. Many will feel the love of God through you.
Love,
Pres. Oliveira
My mission president laughed at me! hahahah! He's a stinker. Anyways, I'll be serving with Sister Gomes. She's from Portugal! She's dying in a transfer and a half, so I'll be killing her. I'm pretty stoked about getting a fluent companion. I'm also stoked that I get to live in a house with another companionship! Sister Routsen (my friend from the MTC) and Sister Arlete (She was just Sister V's comp)! I'm STOKED to live with them! :)
Vilma and Poéjo were baptized this week! It was awesome! Vilma was super scared.. but she did it! She overcame her fear of water!! :D (Really, she has a fear of large bodies of water) It was awesome! I'd attach pictures but all of the ports on this computer are closed up because APPARENTLY there is a virus going around on the computers in this internet place... Next week maybe.
Anyways, Yes. I'm super sad to leave my home of Sal, but I hope what everyone has been saying about Fogo is true. I'm probably going to be in Fogo for at least two transfers because I'll be killing Sister Gomes off. I've heard that Fogo is SUPER HOT. And that it's super hilly. It's going to be quite the change from the nice ocean breeze and flatness of Sal.
Have I mentioned that the lower islands speak a different creole? Well yes. They do. Basically, creole is a lazy version of portuguese. And apparently there are TONS of ways to be lazy! Bidu is what the lower islands speak so.. Wish me luck with that one!
Sister Holland says that the first week of a transfer with a new change is always the hardest. I've also heard the mission gets easier in your third transfer. That the third transfer is when you are REALLY accustomed to mission life. I'm quite a bit excited about this.
I start my 3rd transfer of a 12 transfer mission today. NUTS huh?! Anyways, that is all the news I have for this week. I hope everything is all dandy in the states!
Love, Sister Buhler
Well, I am sad to report that I have been officially TRANSFERRED! What a bummer. I'm getting transferred to the Southern Island of.... DUN DUN DUUUN.. Fogo. Blast it. In all honesty, I've heard Fogo is wonderful, but I'm just being a party pooper because I love Sal and don't want to leave. I catch a plane tonight at like 11ish to go to Praia... but I'm not sure about my travel plans after that. BUT I'll either get to stay with Sister Vanderhorst, or President.. So I either get to see my BEST FRIEND from the MTC! orrr I get a HOT SHOWER!! WITH WATER PRESSURE!!! :D I'm slightly pumped for this experience. I also get to break mission handbook rules.. hahaha. Yes!
Would you like to hear what my mission president wrote in his email to me this week? Hahaha.
Dear Sister,
Your portuguese is getting there, the writing not so much! Hahaha
We love your sweet spirit. Thank you for being obedient and kind. The Lord will use you in many ways in this mission. Many will feel the love of God through you.
Love,
Pres. Oliveira
My mission president laughed at me! hahahah! He's a stinker. Anyways, I'll be serving with Sister Gomes. She's from Portugal! She's dying in a transfer and a half, so I'll be killing her. I'm pretty stoked about getting a fluent companion. I'm also stoked that I get to live in a house with another companionship! Sister Routsen (my friend from the MTC) and Sister Arlete (She was just Sister V's comp)! I'm STOKED to live with them! :)
Vilma and Poéjo were baptized this week! It was awesome! Vilma was super scared.. but she did it! She overcame her fear of water!! :D (Really, she has a fear of large bodies of water) It was awesome! I'd attach pictures but all of the ports on this computer are closed up because APPARENTLY there is a virus going around on the computers in this internet place... Next week maybe.
Anyways, Yes. I'm super sad to leave my home of Sal, but I hope what everyone has been saying about Fogo is true. I'm probably going to be in Fogo for at least two transfers because I'll be killing Sister Gomes off. I've heard that Fogo is SUPER HOT. And that it's super hilly. It's going to be quite the change from the nice ocean breeze and flatness of Sal.
Have I mentioned that the lower islands speak a different creole? Well yes. They do. Basically, creole is a lazy version of portuguese. And apparently there are TONS of ways to be lazy! Bidu is what the lower islands speak so.. Wish me luck with that one!
Sister Holland says that the first week of a transfer with a new change is always the hardest. I've also heard the mission gets easier in your third transfer. That the third transfer is when you are REALLY accustomed to mission life. I'm quite a bit excited about this.
I start my 3rd transfer of a 12 transfer mission today. NUTS huh?! Anyways, that is all the news I have for this week. I hope everything is all dandy in the states!
Love, Sister Buhler
Monday, June 11, 2012
"...I'm not sure what her problem is." June 11, 2012
Boa Tarde gente!
Well, It's pday again and BOY AM I GRATEFUL! It's been a long week here. There was one day when we literally walked around for 2 hours going from investigator's house to investigator's house and NO ONE was home! It was terrible. Teaching only 3 lessons a day is a smudge depressing when you usually teach 6ish. But things turned up. :)
This past week the Lord has been working miracles in this area in finding PREPARED people to teach. We are teaching two families in particular who I am very excited for! One parent in each family is a less-active member. The two families are Paulo(LA) and Saturnina(I) and Sãozinha(LA) and Neny(I). Paulo's family has two kids under the age of 8 and Sãozinha has 3 kids over the age of 8! :) I love them and they LOVE having the missionaries over to teach! It is truly a blessing being in this area!
When we first taught Sãozinha's family this week, we left a book of mormon for her husband to read. When we came back later on in the week for our next appointment he said in Creole "I don't understand Portuguese too well.. do you have one in.. (We thought FOR SURE he was going to say Creole..) English?" .....I'm sorry. What did you say? ENGLISH!? You want a Book of Mormon in ENGLISH!? Turns out he spent 25year in the states and went to middle school and high school there! I'm telling you. This man Neny is incredible. He's got such a good head on his shoulders and he is such a great dad to his children. I love their family. We're going to have family night with them tonight and what he doesn't know is that we're making brownies for them.. :)
My companion and I also had an interesting experience with a man this week. So our Branch Mission Leader gives us the contact information of a man that we need to visit. Ok. We think its a reference. Is it? No. It's a man who owns a building that he wanted us to talk to about moving the location of our branch. Anyways, point is: we're in this man's house and he ends up showing us ALOT of pictures of his family. (We were going to turn this into a teaching opportunity anyways.) We come across a picture of a man who MAY OR MAY NOT have been dancing and drinking. I hadn't been looking too hard at the pictures because he was showing us ALOT of them. Then Sister Holland, all nonchalant-like, points to the man in the picture while she is still talking to the man in front of us. PURPOSEFULLY pointing out that the man in the picture looks like he is recieving the Heimlich Manuever from an invisible person. .....Well what did I do? I laughed. REALLY LOUD and uncontrollably. I ended up offending the man so I tried to hit myself in the chest and cough to make it look like an allergy, but I'm not so sure if that worked... Then Sister Holland turns to the man and says, "Eu não sei o que ela tem."
Translation: "...I'm not sure what her problem is."
We're going to São Vincente again this week and transfers are this weekend. I'M NERVOUS. We got a mass text today say that Presidente is going to quiz us on our Standard of Excellence for our mission. Oh boy.. AND I'm pretty sure I'm getting transfered this week.... Sister Holland and Elder Barker both have a transfer left. I'm sure that they are both just going to stay for one more transfer and die here. Elder Gunnarson was told he was going to be here for a long time to teach people piano... So that leaves me. I'm sure that I'm leaving. :( We'll see though.
Other than that. I love it here, per usual. It's definitely alot of work here in Sal, but work for people you love never feels like work.
Anyways, tchau tchau for now!
Sister Buhler
Well, It's pday again and BOY AM I GRATEFUL! It's been a long week here. There was one day when we literally walked around for 2 hours going from investigator's house to investigator's house and NO ONE was home! It was terrible. Teaching only 3 lessons a day is a smudge depressing when you usually teach 6ish. But things turned up. :)
This past week the Lord has been working miracles in this area in finding PREPARED people to teach. We are teaching two families in particular who I am very excited for! One parent in each family is a less-active member. The two families are Paulo(LA) and Saturnina(I) and Sãozinha(LA) and Neny(I). Paulo's family has two kids under the age of 8 and Sãozinha has 3 kids over the age of 8! :) I love them and they LOVE having the missionaries over to teach! It is truly a blessing being in this area!
When we first taught Sãozinha's family this week, we left a book of mormon for her husband to read. When we came back later on in the week for our next appointment he said in Creole "I don't understand Portuguese too well.. do you have one in.. (We thought FOR SURE he was going to say Creole..) English?" .....I'm sorry. What did you say? ENGLISH!? You want a Book of Mormon in ENGLISH!? Turns out he spent 25year in the states and went to middle school and high school there! I'm telling you. This man Neny is incredible. He's got such a good head on his shoulders and he is such a great dad to his children. I love their family. We're going to have family night with them tonight and what he doesn't know is that we're making brownies for them.. :)
My companion and I also had an interesting experience with a man this week. So our Branch Mission Leader gives us the contact information of a man that we need to visit. Ok. We think its a reference. Is it? No. It's a man who owns a building that he wanted us to talk to about moving the location of our branch. Anyways, point is: we're in this man's house and he ends up showing us ALOT of pictures of his family. (We were going to turn this into a teaching opportunity anyways.) We come across a picture of a man who MAY OR MAY NOT have been dancing and drinking. I hadn't been looking too hard at the pictures because he was showing us ALOT of them. Then Sister Holland, all nonchalant-like, points to the man in the picture while she is still talking to the man in front of us. PURPOSEFULLY pointing out that the man in the picture looks like he is recieving the Heimlich Manuever from an invisible person. .....Well what did I do? I laughed. REALLY LOUD and uncontrollably. I ended up offending the man so I tried to hit myself in the chest and cough to make it look like an allergy, but I'm not so sure if that worked... Then Sister Holland turns to the man and says, "Eu não sei o que ela tem."
Translation: "...I'm not sure what her problem is."
We're going to São Vincente again this week and transfers are this weekend. I'M NERVOUS. We got a mass text today say that Presidente is going to quiz us on our Standard of Excellence for our mission. Oh boy.. AND I'm pretty sure I'm getting transfered this week.... Sister Holland and Elder Barker both have a transfer left. I'm sure that they are both just going to stay for one more transfer and die here. Elder Gunnarson was told he was going to be here for a long time to teach people piano... So that leaves me. I'm sure that I'm leaving. :( We'll see though.
Other than that. I love it here, per usual. It's definitely alot of work here in Sal, but work for people you love never feels like work.
Anyways, tchau tchau for now!
Sister Buhler
Monday, June 4, 2012
"That's yours" June 4, 2012
Update on my favorites of who we are teaching:
Poéjo. He's the grandson of Senhor Toi. He's super smart and I love him. He's honestly been so prepared by the Lord! His baptism with be on the 16th.
Vilma. She's the best friend of Rony (Toi's step-son). She is also SO PREPARED. She completely understands the plan and is so willing to put in practice the Lord's commandments instead of sit on her tush. She's a feiry go-getter. Seriously. I love her. :) We hung out with her this morning. She's one of the happiest people I've ever met. We're going to be friends for a long time. :) Her baptism date is also set for the 16th... But she's scared of water.... Yeah. I'll let you know how that plays out. Hahahaha.
We've also been visiting alot of random inactives and families lately so I'm not sure what is going to turn into anything, but it's been alot of fun! We've been using "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" alot in our teaching. Did you know that THE most important truth about the Restoration is that our families can be together forever? You would think so right? But some people just don't realize it!! It's terribly sad that they don't know. We were teaching Perla and Autolindo and their two kids earlier this week and Perla was like, "I know I can't have my children forever, but I just hope they live happy lives." I wanted to scream, "BUT YOU CAN HAVE THEM FOREVER!!" Hahaha. It's such a joy telling these people the truth about what happens after this life. Families CAN be together forever!
Other than that, today is Pday. This morning, Sister Holland & I learned how to make bread at Toi and Bella's house. Their bread is SO DELICIOUS!! and then while we were waiting for it to rise and bake, their daughter Gilda braided our hair! Well, rolled it..? Hahaha. It's interesting having the air on my scalp... I'm not so sure I'm a fan. Hahaha. Then they fed us and sent us on our merry way with tons of bread. I love their family. :)
Also.. Our washing machine is stupid. We FINALLY had water this week. The washing maching has been leavign some marks on our clothes when we wash anything but what else are we going to do? It takes too long to handwash & our butts are sore for like 3 days bc of all the kneeling. ANYWAYS, We finally had water. We REALLY needed clean clothes. What does our devil machine do? It stays on the first cycle alll night, USES ALL THE WATER WE HAVE AND STAINS OUR WHITES ORANGE. (%minutes after we realized we were out of water, our power went out) We've been showering and flushing our toilet with the emergency water barrel that is sitting in our apartment. It's really hard to shower when you are rationing your bathing water to half a bucketful. But I guess I shouldn't complain too much, its what these people do everyday. I just hope the water comes back on so we down have to haul water up to our apartment on the 2nd story.
Well, That's it for this week!
Sister Buhler
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