African Weight Room

July 21, 2014

African Weight Room

View from the Apartment

Lela

Very solid week from the Island Called Fire. I read in a missionary handbook that if you dont know what to write home in your letters, try to title it like a news paper artice, and write different sections. So let me know if this is good or bad.  

The Baseball Section

 Elder Bazzarone and I went on the roof today and did soft toss to eachother with little rocks, and a broom stick.  It was nice to swing something like a baseball bat, brought back some good memories.  Needless to say, either the rocks got a little bigger, or the bat/broom handle got a little weaker, it broke in half like a wood bad on a Mariano Rivera cutter.  But we do have plans to get another broom handle, and we plan on keeping the broken one as a lembranca of our works.  That happened this morning, and it was super fun.  And if I wasnt missing baseball enough, I recieved word that my family is going to California and going to the two baseball parks in Cali I have never been to.  Thanks for that. Its great to talk baseball with Elder Bazzarone. Hes from DC, a big O's fan, which is respectible.  

The Work Section (I promise it's not that boring)

The work here is going sick. Still bishop-less, which gives us a little more reign to do what we will with the ward haha.  We're reading the BOM juntos, and the home teaching is a lot better. This week a lot of people were gone to help start up EFY, and our frequency stayed about the same with a lot of the strong members being gone, so thats very solid.  Had quite a few investigators, and even more less actives show up.  Our baptism for this week is one of the best baptisms of my mish.  His name is Ja.  He is 19, been to church the last couple weeks, was just ready to hear the gospel. We talk a lot about what he has to do to serve a mission, and he is actually preparing right now haha. We got him PMG, and he reads that and the BOM everyday, and he hasnt even been baptised yet. He went to mission prep with us last night, and Im excited about him.  We have a couple that we are working with thats progressing well. We will start the marriage papers this week, and they should be married within the next three weeks. Carlos and Samilia. Carlos is a MA, and Samili is an investigator.  The work is going well, and Elder Pauli is a boss.  On Wednesday I was reading in Matt about repentence. And literally all 5 lessons we had were on repentence that day.  I felt like all I was doing was spiritual Faukas, but litterally everyone we taught that day came to church so it kinda worked...  I also taught Elder Pauli how to say "take out your earings", so we found a coulple less actives with earings, and my earing collection got a little bigger.  

The "Strange Things That Happen in Verde Section"

We havent had water in two days, but thats almost not even worth writing about.  We were walking on the street, and an old lady three a bucket of dirty water off the roof and was about 5 feet off from hitting my companion.  As you can see in the pics, we've starting lifting in our "weight room". Fun stuff.  We talked with two 30 ish year old white teachers from Boston.  They asked us who we were, and what we do.  Amazed me that people come from the States, and dont know who the missionaries are.  It was the first time in my whole mission I have explained who we are, and what we do in English.  They were super awesome, and they loved me because I love the Sox, and we talked about the Sox forever.  God Bless America.

The "Thoughts of the Week" Sectioin

Had a bunch of good/strange thoughts this week.  I hit my year mark in two weeks, and I was just thinking about that. Like I have been out a year, have I even changed that much? And I becoming the person I want to be, & the person God needs me to be. The good thing about the mish is we dont have to wonder if we are actually making a difference, because the fruits are visible.  

Another sick thought was from Tony Dongy (Football coach for the Colts) (Not the best missionary source, but very reliable, and one of my dads favorites) "God didnt create christians to be soft. If your a player, win the game. If your a lawyer, win the case. If your a detective, solve the crime." Thats not saying dont be christ like in everything we do, but we werent made to be soft, or shrink in the shadow, or not let out light shine.  God blessed us with the Gospel, the chance to grow up in a member family.  God didnt do that so we would hide under the shadow, and not share His message.  To anyone thinking about serving a mission, God blessed us with the gospel, and this light.  He didnt do that for us to stay home, or to crumble, be quiet, and not share it.  "God didnt make christians to be soft" 

Let me know if you liked how I did this letter, and if it was a little more enjoyable to read.  I love all you guys, thanks for all the support Ive recieved the last year out here. Thanks for everything, love you guys! 

    

Elder Jarvis, Fogo Cabo Verde