Back on the Boat

Last week flew by from good lessons and a lot of stress. A LOT of stress haha.

I got a call from our zone leaders saying I’m the new sister leader on Brava and that I’m supposed to go to a meeting in Praia for all the zone leaders and sister leaders. ARRRRRRRG.

So I’m currently in Fogo waiting to go to the airport to go to Praia. I took a boat this morning which might have been the worst hour of my life. I don’t normally get motion sickness but the boat was rocking so much I almost barfed. I locked myself in the bathroom for most of it because the seat I was sitting in was surrounded by people throwing up.

Mom note: Lindsay wrote a little more about the boat ride in an email to me. She said: “They were all throwing up so casually too! plastic bag in one hand just watching tv and throwing up like it’s no big deal. I have a feeling they spend a lot of time on boats.”

On top of that I have to stay in Fogo for the whole week because there’s a zone meeting Saturday so they didn’t see any point in sending me back to Brava for 2 days. Week of work gone. My poor comp Sister Ellsworth is stuck in Brava for a week doing splits with members everyday.

On the bright side I’m really liking Brava. It’s really stressful but the people are great and it’s beautiful. It’s a lot of work being in such a small area but it’s also really rewarding. We have the opportunity to completely change the branch if we’re willing to work hard. Which we are.

Mom Note: Lindsay wrote to her Dad about responsibility: “I thought I was responsible (before my mission) because I could take care of myself. As it turns out, responsibility as a missionary is being able to take care of yourself, 35 investigators, all your recent converts, and all the less actives in your area. I still have a lot to learn but I’ve already learned a lot.”

One of my favorite investigators is Cubano. ‘Cause he’s from Cuba. He doesn’t speak Portuguese. Just Spanish. So we teach him in Portuguese and he talks to us in Spanish. We understand each other surprisingly well. He’s awesome though. He reads the Book of Mormon like a champion and has been going to church every sunday. Unfortunately he’s going back to Cuba for a month so he can’t get baptized yet. He’s probably one of the nicest people I’ve met in Cabo Verde.

It Wasn’t Me

Sister Ellsworth and I were walking on the road when we saw someone who had recently lied to us drive past. Sister Ellsworth jokingly said “Why did you lie to us!” Right after she said it a random guy crossing a crosswalk gave us a paranoid stare and started saying “No…no!…….NO!” He continued walking but kept looking back at us with a really worried expression saying “No!”

I have no idea what he was up to.

Have a great week!

-Sister Sharp

FELIZ NATAL!!

Feliz Natal everyone!

I FLIPPIN LOVE CHRISTMAS. But I love Christmas more in the states. People just go out and party here. laaaame. It’s cool. We’re gonna have our own awesome Christmas. 

So! This week felt suprisingly long. But it was good! I’ve been fighting against my human nature to focus on the work and not think about Christmas. I succeeded no worries. We had more member present lessons than we’ve had in a while and we found 9 new investigators which is mais ou menos. 

We had two weddings this week which was kind of crazy. The second wedding was awesome! Our investigator J got married and baptized on Saturday! It was a really cute wedding. They both cried. She was just as excited about her baptism as her wedding which is what I like to see. 

As a side note, I was looking around at all the happy faces at the wedding. I thought “Wow, there are so many people here!!! Wow… I’m the only white person here…”

Also 4 minutes before the bride walked in we were informed my companion and I would be standing at the front singing as she walked in. Thanks for the heads up on that one. We pulled it together though no worries. The bride was either crying because she was so happy or because of our horrible singing. 

So other than that we’ve just been getting ready for Christmas day. Were going to go caroling and drop off presents at peoples’ houses and run for it. Should be a good time. 

Oh man, I totally forgot. That day of the first wedding when there was no power! It was because there was a HUGE storm that day. It seriously felt a hurricane! It might have been… but! We’re missionaries so we went out teaching haha. We trudged our way throught the shin-deep water to houses where no one was home all day. The wind was so insane we couldn’t use umbrellas so we were soaking wet and freezing the whole day. By 7 the storm was just getting worse. I had my broken, tattered umbrella wrapped around me like a poncho and my companion was just dead tired. I decided to call it quits cause I was afraid we would get sick and we headed home to our flooded house. yayyyy. It was actually one of the funniest days on my mission though. The whole thing was just so ridiculous.

 

Teaching Miracles

As always we are seeing miracles here in Cabo Verde. The Gospel is changing lives every day. I love my area and my investigators. The other day it was 8:40 at night and we were dead beat and ready to go home. I really wanted to be as diligent as possible so I told my companion we would go to the park and contact people for the last few minutes we had. Earlier that day we had talked with a young girl named E to teach her the second lesson but she never showed up. We had an awesome first lesson with her though. As we walked through the park my companion pointed to a bench and there was E sitting there! We walked over and had a mini lesson with her. She told us she went to the church to find us but didn’t see us. She also said she had prayed about the church and recieved an answer. We marked a baptismal date with her for the 11th. Miracles of diligence and promptings of the Spirit. 

Merry Christmas everyone!
-Sister Sharp

 

Urchins

Don’t you hate it when you get a sea urchin needle stuck in your finger?

So this week was good! A lot of our baptisms fell through but it was still good. We had two investigators baptized, Sister M and Brother H. Sister M is one of those people that when you teach and ask a question she gives you the right answer and then says what you were going to say. We weren’t worried about her. Brother H is just awesome. He’s only 20 years old but is more mature than his age. His testimony grew really fast and he accepted all the commandments like a boss.

The baptisms were awesome! One of my favorite things to do after a baptism is ask the person how they feel. It helps remind you of how you felt the day of your baptism. Sister Willey and I got to overhear a conversation between Brother H and another young member who was a friend of his. They said,

Friend: “How do you feel?”

Brother H: “Light… like new”

Friend: (with a smile) “Yeah, that’s just the beginning.”

GAH I love our members. They’re such good examples to me.

On a random side note while we were standing by the ocean our bishop plucked a sea urchin our of the water and handed it to me. It was so cool! It moved is spikey things in my hand. Then I went to throw it back in the water and one of the spikes got stuck in my finger. It was like a nasty bee sting. It’s still chillin there cause I couldnt get it out hahaha.

Oh haha random funny moment. In ward council we were reviewing our progress record which talks about what help the missionaries need from the ward. Sister Willey had written that one of our investigators needs a “member friend” but the guy misread it and said really loud to the ward council, “She needs an ancient member!” Sister Willey and I were gripping our chairs and biting our tongues trying not to bust out laughing.

So anyway, life is awesome in Cabo Verde. I’m pretty settled into this area now. We had our interviews with our mission president this week which were so amazing. I love our mission president. He’s definitely going to be an apostle some day. You can tell everything he said is inspired. I walked out feeling like a new person.

Hope you all have an amazing week!

-Sister Sharp