"I think you're pregnant Sister Holland" April 30, 2012

Well, The island of Sal is doing great this week! For P-day today my companion, the Elders, some members, Eddy, Helder and I, all walked to the famous Salinas! And then to Petro de Lume. And then back to Espargos. Basically, I have a lot of sun on my face and arms, and I'm pooped. It was really beautiful though! If anyone looks up how far it is from Espargos (the bottom right-hand corner of Espargos) to the Salinas to Pedro de Lume, I bet its a long ways. hahahaha.

     

All that white stuff beneath my SWEET ninja kick.... that's salt. :)

That little pool of water that my companion and Helder are near is full of salt water. We stuck our faces in it. It wasn't the best idea we've ever had.

You know that cool finger snap missionaries can do. I can do it. I'm pro in fact. I hit my finger SO HARD that it swelled up and bruised.

We have the baptism of Vania this week! She's really strong and I'm so proud of her! She's already in 2 Néfi!

Eddy and Helder's baptisms were also scheduled for this week, but I'm not sure how that will go. They are determined to meet their goal of baptism on the 5th. We'll just have to see how Helder and Eddy do with their own individual trials. I think Eddy will be baptized this week, but we'll have to see António... Is an older gentlemen that we were teaching. He really wanted to obey the commandments and change his life. But two days in a row we found him drunk and he was really confused about our appointments with him. It's sort of frustrating.

As for Keila´s family: She went to the Catholic church yesterday. Her dad couldn't make it to our appointment so we didn't meet with him. But we've been continuing praying for them. Her 17 year old brother Helton came to church yesterday and I think he really liked it. Eddy is really going to be a huge gateway for his family. He talks about how he wants to serve a mission too! His younger sister Alecia comes to church when she is allowed to. I know the Lord is blessing their family in ways we can't see.

Transfers are this weekend. I'm almost positive I'll stay in Sal. And I have this funny feeling my companion is going to get transfered to train a new sister coming in... and that I'm going to get a native Portuguese speaking sister as a companion... I'll let you know how that plays out.

São Vincente was cool! I love visiting! But it was great to be able to come home to Sal. Elder Kopischke gave a GREAT zone Conference!

Until next week!!

     

"It's a good thing you're not a really big fat guy or this would be REALLY difficult!" -SisH April 23, 2012

This past week has been a little rough for me, I won't lie. Keila and Alecia weren't baptized this week because of their parents decision, but when we talked to their father, he told us to please keep teaching his children. We ended up teaching him the first lesson and set up a follow-up appointment for next week. He had been taught by missionaries in the past and only remembered the picture of the first vision and how they told him to pray. We recommitted him to pray, gave him the restoration pamphlet and the For Strength of Youth pamphlet so he would know some of the standards that we are teaching his kids. He really like the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses, but we know that when he said that he really liked what we were saying, was because he felt the spirit so strong.

As for Helder and Edivânia.. They're doing great now. :) Edivânia was baptized on Saturday. :) Thank goodness. She thought she looked ugly in her oversized jumpsuit, luckily we had Elder Barker to make her feel better and save the day.

Keila became discouraged afterwards, but Alecia is still strong in coming to church. Keila came around Sunday afternoon to the Moças activity. Eddy is doing great! And he is really becoming a good friend and example for our other investigators. He is doing GREAT on keeping the Word of Wisdom.




Helder slipped off the wagon this week and got wasted Friday. He was so hungover on Saturday that he wasn't at his sister's baptism. None of their family was, but all of the Moças were! At Edivânia's Moças activity on Sunday someone asked if her mom was there. She responded no. Then one of the moças responded, "Oh look the Sisters are here! They're like your mom!" Then she perked up, "Yeah!" I know it meant alot to her and our investigators that were there that we could be there for them when their families weren't.

Last night, we invited a big group on the street corner (that smokes and drinks) and invited them to watch a film at our Ward Mission Leader's (Adilson) house. We told them, "Since you don't have anything better to do, you could watch this 30 minute film that might change your life." Three of them agreed to go. When we got there, the room had members, one of the Elders' investigators (soon to be married and baptized), two other nonmembers, and Helder. We opened with a prayer, explained a little before, and watched it. At the end, the spirit was SO STRONG! They all individually said they would pray because of the difference and happiness they all felt. We set baptism dates for all 5! :) We set up and appointment with all of them again for Tuesday night. I'm SO EXCITED! Every member and current investigator in the room bore their testimony and I know that the young men have a strong desire to find out the truth.

In other news, When we were confronting Helder about his drinking on Friday, his friend threw rocks at me. (Boy was I TICKED. I wanted to throw rocks back.. but I didn't.. bc I'm trying to be like Christ.)

I've also been roped into singing in a quartet for the two area 70s that are coming into Mindelo this week. (Yep, we're going to Sao Vincente again!)

We walked to the top of the town today and took pictures of the city and our area. Pretty sweet huh!?

   

If the sweater thing Edivânia is wearing looks familiar, it's because its mine. hahaha. She has no modest clothes. I gave her one of my purple shirts to wear to her baptimal interview and haven't gotten it back... I'm its a present for her now. hahaha. When she originally put it on she was like, "Es GRANDE!" ...Way to make me feel fat. hahahahaah.

Until next week!
Sister Buhler

         

The only weight we gain here Sister, is SPIRITUAL!! April 16, 2012

Haahahaha. Oh what a week. Things have been going great here in Sal! We went to São Vincente this week for a training from President. We spent three days there and went on splits with the sisters there. I really like going on splits. It was nice to see how other people work. It helped me alot in the way I teach investigators. I was on splits witha Sister from Mozambique. Her name is Sister Macamo. I learned alot from her. She's a bit intense, but I think she's super funny. She speaks alot of English. She kept asking my why I do certain things the way I do. Most of the time I responded "I don't know" but I really loved my time with her. I learned ALOT. It was also good seeing all of my friends from the MTC at the training. hahaha. Everyone is getting so tan!

Speaking of which.... I hope everyone enjoys my pictures from this week. :) I don't have any sandals like the rest of the sisters here. I haven't found any that I like and I've really only went to like 2 stores. Ok, so like 5 China stores, but all of them only have like 5 pairs and I dont want a pair that will break in a week. And I have to be able to commit myself to a weird tan line for the next two years... everyone here has Chaco tan lines. Sigh. Maybe someday soon I´ll have some sandals.

             

Remember the lizard last week. He returned. We chased him out of our apartment from door. During this chase, he recieved the name Bernardino. I've attached a picture of this booger of a lizard. If anyone finds out what type he is, I'd be curious to know too. :)
                      

So our Mission President's wife doesn't want us eating member's or investigator's food. Well, We were offending alot of people so we asked her again this week. She clarified to just use wisdom, but don't offend the people. As long as it looks clean or that they made it clean, we can eat it. And if it doesnt and we don't have a way out, to say a prayer. hahahaha. Well, I'm glad we asked for an explanation because we had food shoved in our face ALOT this week.

Saturday night, we were at an investigator's house and his stepdad is a fisherman. The stepdad asked us if we wanted a fish. Sure we want a fish! We thought he was going to give us a fish to take home. Nope. He uncovers a plate that was on the table, a fish that had been cooked earlier in the day WHO KNOWS HOW LONG AGO and slaps it on a plate for me. It still has fins, it still has a head, and it still has eyeballs LOOKING AT me. (Sidenote: CV water isn't clean, so the cleansliness of the dishes is also questionable in this situation) Then he slaps on rice and beans, and frenchfries. All of which has been sitting out for a bit. He tries to feed us juice but luckily my companion tells him that we can't drink CV water because it makes us sick. Then he makes his son go buy us milk. Which, they don't have alot as it is. So we felt bad. And he made my companion and I drink the whole liter of milk by ourselves. (CV milk is imported, and is made to last for like... a whole year. In result, CV milk tastes funny. And when I say funny, I mean that I don't like it.) Hahaha. AND THEN he gives us bread that tastes like toast and makes us eat that too. AND buys us doce. A coconut cookie something-or-other for us to take home. (thank goodness, I hate coconut)

Cape Verde people are sweet,... I'm glad I have a tough stomach bc I'm pretty sure I accidently swallowed alot of spiney things from fish.

OH! And last night our investigators made us eat Cachupa. They get really happy when americans eat their food. My companion woke up in the middle of the night last night with a stomach ache, but she's good now. :)

Yesterday it rained so our numbers were down in church. CV people don't know how to deal with the rain. And we lost an hour of visiting people too.

If you are wondering who the three people are wrapped up in covers in my pictures... those our 3 of our favorite investigators. hahahhaa. We were waking them up for church.

As for the actual work in the area....
The calendars are working out super well! The investigators and we, love them! We've been seeing alot of progress with Eddy and Vania this week. They've been helping wake up other investigators for church and explain things to other new investigators that show up at their house when we teach. I'm excited for them to get baptized and help us teach other people. Eddy's entire family came to church Sunday except for Helton and their mother. Helton said he went to priesthood the first hour, didn't like it and went home. He was in the wrong priesthood class though. He said he'd try agian next week. Their mom says that she has talked to the missionaries before, but we hope to start teaching her again sometime in the near future. It'd be really amazing for all 5 kids to be baptized(there is a 6th but she's too little) and their mom! Eddy's baptism should be on the 5th with Helder's. :) :)

We've seen alot of progress with Helder. His reading has been getting better and he REALLY loves the scriptures. :) We've even heard comments from his mom about how he's a changed young man. :)

While we were gone to São Vincente, Eddy and Helder played soccer with alot of members. We are really grateful for the role that the members have played in including them in wholesome activities. :) Members really do make all the difference in missionary work.

We should be having 2 baptisms this weekend. :) But definitely 1. We are still waiting for permission on the other.

OH And my companion saw a little boy crying because he ran away from his mom trying to beat him. My companion is awesome. She taught him how to pray and bandaged up his bleeding knee. He felt so much better after. I just love missionary work!

Anyways, my time is spent. But I hope all is well in the good ole USA!


Love, Sister Buhler

P.S. I've gained 5lbs since the MTC...... :( Who goes to Africa and GAINS weight?!

PPS. I had a dream about icecream last night... I woke up sad. hahahahah.

You've got the greenie power...you're the green lantern! April 9, 2012

This past week has progressed as I learned about the baptismal calendars from Sister Holland! I think that they are the perfect solution to our problems in the work! People are going to be tons more motivated to keep the commandments and other commitments we invite them to do! We already made more copies and have plans to invoke them in all our set baptismal dates! I´m so excited! And one of our investigators---Helder---we allowed him to make his own goals for overcoming his word of Wisdom problems and reset his baptismal date! Miracles, miracles! He said he wants to be able to baptize his 2 children when they turn 8 many years down the road. :)

Also, the work has been going awesome! Last week I felt overwhelmed with having so many investigators and references, and as we went into this we recieved even more, but the Lord has blessed us with our newest investigators to have HUGE desires for the gospel! So it has been easier teaching our newest investigators. One older man, at the end of our first contact, told us about how he needs a change in his life and to find the right church. At the end of our second lesson he said that if he finds out this is true he will give up drinking, and smoking and cut his hair. (He´s an older man with dreds. hahahaha.)

In addition to those huge blessings in our work, we´ve also had HUGE success with Helton and Eddy and their family. They have been investigators that have been sitting for a while. We decided that teaching them seperately would be the best route to take in teaching them and BOY WHAT A BLESSING! They no longer have reservations about sharing their feelings! And we have learned that they really are visual learners and the film of the Restoration REALLY sparked their desire to know if the church is true. They are chasing the gospel down now and praying and keeping commitments!

Something my companion taught me this week is if anybody needs our love and support, it is these people. At the beginning of the week I was ready to chuck everybody not keeping commitments out of our schedule (because we are REALLY overwhelmed.. We have more people to teach than we have time to), but I´ve learned that is just Satan. That nasty devil. These people really need love and I´m so excited for them to overcome these obstacles and get baptized. I´m excited to have another week of hard work!

Aside from the awesome gospel things, here is how the week went:

Monday- I went to use the bathroom when I got home and I was greeted (as I was about to sit on the toilet, mind you) by a VERY STRANGE LOOKING lizard. He was white. With black eyes. Needless to say, I somehow managed to hold it.

Tuesday-Our branch mission leader and one of our biggest helps, Adilson... forgot me name. He called me Sister Pequena instead. hahahaha.

Saturday- We went into our investigators´(Helton and Eddy) house and woke them up for a baptism of the Elders´ in our area. (Hahaha. I´m pretty sure it was a bonding moment.)

Sunday- We went around town going into our investigators´ houses, banging on their doors and pulling covers off their faces waking them up for church. BUT we met our goals for the week! Hahaha. They like it when we wake them up. They all laugh at us. :)

AND we hard boiled eggs and had an egg war of sorts that is a tradition in Sister Hollands family... I made a gator egg. :) Also... I didn´t cook the eggs long enough on the stove.... Since I heard Michael Cox (Yes people, blame him) say he cooked eggs in the microwave, that is what I did with the uncooked parts from doing it on the stove..... I think it worked? Ish. Our egg-salad sandwiches looked funny.

Enclosed in the pictures is---the first day I met Sister Holland---my gator doughnut from last week---part of the view outside our apartment window--- Us in Santa Maria. :) ---- and Finding out the fisheye effect on my camera. (maybe not in that order though)

Also, I can read your emails if you write me, but I cant write back... Sorry Vanessa! Please still write me!

OH and I get mail this week! Please dearelder.com me! I don´t think you need an address. Just click cape verde praia mission!

Until next week!
LOVE Sister Buhler :)

 

Cabo Verde! Best place on the planet! April 2, 2012

So I made it to Cape Verde Wednesday morning! I landed on the island of Santiago and met the mission president and napped and showered, they fed me, and we had a meeting, and then I got my companion!!! My companion/trainer's name is Sister Holland. She's great :) And we are assigned to the island of Sal! Sister V got a companion from Portugal that only speaks portuguese. Sister Holland is from Idaho :) We stayed the night in Praia with Sister V and her companion, and caught a plan Thursday morning to Sal.


Sal is one of the more tourist-y islands. ..but not really where we live. We live in Espargos. In the middle of the island.  Santa Maria is the tourist part. We caught a truck down there earlier today and walked around the beach and had some icecream. It was good. :) Seriously... this place is AWESOME. Oh and the island is nothing, but sand and sky. and all the roads are cobblestone-ish. More like--rock-ish.

The people are SUPER FRIENDLY: More friendly than southern people. (Apparently it´s possible) Everytime you great someone, you kiss them on each cheek. EVERY woman we meet we kiss her on the cheeks. It was a little strange at first, but if you don´t do it you just end up looking unfriendly. The men do it to women I suppose, but not to us Sisters. hahaha. I guy at the beach today tried my companion, but she was all "Não posso!" hahah.

The people in the small branch of the church really like me. :) The younger people are always helping me try to learn new words. Yesterday a small girl drew us pictures of us with her. We had name tags on. hahaha.

We aren´t allowed to eat in members houses because we don´t know how clean everyone is and so we have to decline from everyone. BUT bc this past weekend was General Conference, we had an almoço(lunch) at the church! Beans and rice! Both days. hahaha. The 2nd day I had Cuscus. An dish that is SORTA like cornbread, but not. Sister Holland and I got a doughnut recipe from an Elder that ended up making like  150plus doughnuts. The dough just kept going! It was like a recipe where mashed potatoes were in the ingredients. SO GOOD! But it was alot of work.

Here are the triste things that have happened since I´ve been here:
Day 1: I had to sleep on a tile floor without a blanket or pillow my first night here in Africa. I woke up every hour. One to drunk people sleeping and another time to a rooster who didn´t know that it was 3am. hahahah.
Day 2: I killed my hairdryer. (I later found out it just blew the socket... The wattage is too big on my hairdryer. They have weird sockets here.)
Day 3: I stepped in dog poop. ...There are a BILLION disease-filled dogs here. And they poop everywhere and lay everywhere. hahaha.
Day 4: I got bleach on my favorite green shirt when I was trying to wash the food we got from the store. We have to disinfect EVERYTHING here. and we have to use a filter for everything. It´s cool, but the filtered water only comes out as a little stream.
Day 5: I leaned up against an investigator´s house and got gum on my favorite button down. AND We saw an investigator of ours PEE ON A WALL and then he came up to us and shook our hands. And the day before i had lost the cap to my hand sanitizer and everything and fallen out. hahahaha.

But apart from that things are really great! I laugh about all those things. Honestly, its so fun. I love this place. We have running water and a washing machine, but of alot people here don´t. But almost everyone-no matter how poor- has a TV in their concrete house. hahah. I love it here. We have one investigator that is just soaring and eating up the message of the gospel. Others are having a difficult time with the commandments, but we´re working on it.

Tell Skyler Luthi that I saw Domingo Cruz who served with him in Fogo! He´s in my branch! :)

And tell Sister Patterson, Dean, Davis, Bringhurst, and Elders Hansen and Wilhelm that I saw them during conference!

Til next week!
Tchau!

P.S. Apparently the national language changed to Creole 30 days before i arrived... but they can't decide WHICH Creole. But it doent matter bc we are only allowed to speak portuguese anyways....but alot of people sure do speak it! and fast. really fast.

PPS you can dear elder or write to me at

Caixa Postal 420
Praia
Ilha de Santiago
Cabo Verde