The New Kid

Nate meets Elder Amado for the first time

Chegadas Jan 2014, Portugal, Tonga, USA, Brasil e Cabo Verde
(the new missionaries this transfer and where they are from, Nate's new companion Elder Amado is 2nd from the left)

I got a feege!

So this week was sweet.  I didn’t get my comp until Thursday, so I hung out with Elder Evans until then.  We worked Achada Traz during the day when we could, and we worked Achada Mato, his area, at night.  It went well.  Taught some sweet people, marked a couple dates and it was sweet.  We also made brown sugar rolls every day, which was incredible.  He had a member that showed him how to make bread, and we found some brown sugar at this American store!  It was super good to spend so much time with Elder Evans, he’s a boss, and we’ll hang out after the mission. A funny thing that happened when I was with him when we were at a member’s house.  There was this little kid, 2 or 3, with a diaper on.  And he was screaming like crazy.  So the mom takes the diaper off, and put him in the little pool of water that they have in their house.  And he immediately poops in the pool of water, like within 2 minutes of getting in! It was super funny because this kid had a diaper on for 2 hours before that, and right when the take it off he decides to let loose.
 
So on Thursday we received our new companions and that was sweet! It was clearly the first time I have ever met Elder Amado, and he is a boss.  He is from Cape Verde, the island of Fogo, and has been a member for a year, and already knows a ton of the missionaries in the mission because they served in his area on Fogo.  He is super sweet though, and will help me a ton with my Portuguese.  We'll work hard together and it’ll be fun.

It’s a little weird to have a normal comp, because I was the most blessed person in the world with my first two comps.  Having Elder Caplin in the MTC was super easy, and then Elder Gooch was my best friend for my first 4 months in Africa.  It’s just different because I don’t have anyone to really talk to a ton, but I speak English with Elder Dorff in the house, so that’s super nice.  It will be a great experience serving with him,  I’ll learn a bunch and I’m super looking forward to it.  A couple things about us.  We established day one that we are buying our food separately, ha ha. I made him pancakes his first day, and he didn’t really love those.  So I think we’ll do food separately, which is alright! I’ll just eat American stuff, and he will cook what he likes.  It’s kinda funny, I tied his tie for him the first 3 days we were together, then I taught him how to tie it last night.  That’s a pretty big cuza (creol for thing) for missionaries to know how to do.  But he’s a boss, and I will love serving with him.  (Nate told us Elder Amado has never had a working sink, washing machine or fridge, until coming on the mission….)

So this was also my first week of being the district leader, just me.  Between starting to train elder Amado, and doing that it was kind of a stressful four days, but I’m getting used to it.  Just trying to adjust.  This district meeting went pretty well too.  I was a little late because I was doing one of Achada Matos interviews.  But it was good.  I gave training on why goals are important to missionaries.  Just talked about why we set goals, and the importance of them.  Then we talked about the three people that need to be aware of your goals.  You, God, and the investigator.  We also talked about the importance of using calendarios to help our investigators.  Elder Gooch and Elder Accord helped me out with that, and it was sweet.  I Love having those guys as zone leaders, and its super sweet!  I look up to both of them a ton, and there is a reason they are both Zone Leaders.  I’ll definitely hang out with those guys a bunch when I get back.

Yeah, so a pretty normal week.  Had Friday Pizza with the Zone leaders as always.  Also Elder Evans got his new missionary.  His name is Elder Pau'u from Tonga.  His last name translates to bread in Portuguese ha ha.  He is a boss, and he is huge.  I give Elder Evans crap and tell him that he is going to go broke the first week of the month because his comp will eat so much, ha ha.

I’m not sure why this week I couldn’t stop thinking about my big brother.  Its crazy he’s almost done with his mission.  There are so many people out here that I’m like great friends with that will go home the same time as him, that he will have to look up and be friends with.  Also, Elder Christensen will come to Praia for Zone Conference next week, and I talked with Norberto, our recent convert, about getting me a glove so we could play catch, and he said he could!  I’m super stoked for that.  I miss baseball and basketball as much as anything.

But tonight we have a family night in Achada Grande.  People don’t really do Family nights in Achada Traz, but I invited Noberto and Enice to come and see how they do it.  Well try to get a family night in Achada Traz someday this week, that would be sweet! Our family night is in like 20 minutes, and I haven’t planned a spiritual thought yet, so I’m winging it!

I love all you guys so much, thanks for all you do and all the letters, it literally makes the mission!

With Much Love,
Elder Jarvis, Cape Verde.

Nate, Elder Evans and the New Guys