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

Sister Buhler