Baptism in the ocean!

Nate, Jair, Elder Gooch and Ima

I already sent the pictures of our baptism in the ocean, so I guess I better write a little about it. So our baptism this week, the ocean one, was Jair. And if you have been keeping up on my weekly things, you probably have heard me complain about him in just about every single letter. Jair was the biggest fubecka in the history of fubeckas. We worked with this guy for my first twelve weeks, like three months. This guy had been to church one time before last week, and that was when we found him drunk as a skunk and we drug him to church. This guy didn’t go to his own daughters baptism. And he had a super drinking problem. Anyway, last week he decided to go to church, and it was pretty sweet. Then is was like the biggest change in the history of anything. God just came into his life. I went and visited him with a member, just us two. And he told me that one day he looked in the mirror and was like "Jair, your 28, you have three kids, you don’t have a job, what are you doing with your life"? It was so incredible. So he stopped drinking, smoking, and everything. Then the day leading up to his interview he did a 24 hour fast to get ready for his interview. Then we asked him why he was fasting, and he said that he wanted to find a job, so he could pay tithing. This guy wouldn’t go to his own daughters baptism, and now he's wanting to pay tithing?! It was incredible, coolest thing I have ever seen in my life. And when I visited him, I was with a recent covert Kubi, who was baptized in the ocean. And Kubi put the idea into his mind to get baptized in the ocean. So he did. And we were looking for a spot, then a member said he knew a sweet spot.

So we show up to the beach, and start walking down these steps. And its absolutely gorgeous, like unreal how pretty it is. And I’m walking down these steps, and I realize I’m walking exactly where they filmed the Cape Verde Video. Then we got down, and took pics and stuff, and I was one of the witnesses with Elder Gooch. So we get in the water, and Ima, an awesome member, does the baptism while we witness. And it took forever to do it because the waves were so big. So we were all covered in water, even before he was baptized. It was so much fun being in the ocean:) Anyway, he got the baptism on the second try, and it was incredible. Easily one of the best feelings in my life.

I wont lie, I feel like I kinda went through a lot of crap my first transfer. But I can't explain the feeling I got when we were in the water with him. Like I kinda just saw the big picture of life and things. And he changed his life, and we helped him do it. Like, idk, words cant really describe how it felt. Every time I think about it, it just gets me. Like, Jair was baptized in the ocean. I wouldn’t trade my first transfer for anything in the world. And watching him get baptized made everything worth it. It was just a reminder that everything is true.

(Sorry my grammar and what not was awful up to this point. I was just getting excited and typing things really fast.)

Wilkar (the 18 year old that plays basketball)

But yeah, we had Jair, Junior, and Wilkar as our baptisms for the week. Junior is 11, his entire family is members, he just lived with his grandma, who is also a member. So he was sweet. And Wilkar is 18, plays basketball, and it just a boss. We've been working with him for a couple weeks, probably a little over a month. It was super good to see him get in that font as well.

Junior

We also had the Christmas Party on Tuesday. That was super fun. We wore our light up Santa hats, sang carols, ate food, and had an amazing talk by President Oliviera. It was incredible, he talked on giving, not getting. It was amazing. He will be an apostle pretty soon here. It was so much fun. I hung out with Elder Christensen the whole time, it was great! He will go home and be a major league baseball pitcher. Look him up!  He also slept over at our house, and we stayed up all night and talked baseball. It was incredible, he is the coolest guy. Elder Rice stayed the night too, he's a boss.  Those two are the only and first missionaries ever on the island of Maio, how cool is that. I talked to them, they do everything at church. Like EVERYTHING.

Also, we didn’t have water for three days this week, that was a little tough, but it's happened enough we deal with it. I’ve gotta go, I love all you guys, Merry Christmas, Please keep writing!

Com Muito Amor, Elder Jarvis

6 more weeks with Elder Gooch!

I’m not sure what I did to get to hang with Elder Gooch for 6 more weeks, but the dynamic duo is staying together for a little longer!  But this week in Praia was soo sweet!  I took some notes throughout the week, because I never know what I should write on Mondays, so here are some little things.  

Tuesday, the bottom of one of my pants came unstitched.  So I went over to get Nicco, the member that was walking with us for the day.  And while we were getting him, I asked Felipa, his member mom, if she could fix it.  And she ran and got her sewing stuff, and told me to put my foot on the chair.  So here I am in africa, with my foot on this wobbly chair, having some old African women on her knees fixing my messed up church pants, I thought that was pretty funny.  

So anyway, same day we are walking with Nicco, who is 24, his younger brother Tony is our ward mission leader.  Tony just finished his mission here the transfer before I got here.  So we’re walking with Nicco, whose kinda not all the way there, but he’s a solid member, walks with us all the time.  And we go teach Nobert and Nice, just kinda checking up on them.  And for the first time ever, we heard their little boy Louis pray, and it was adorable.  It was so cute, hes five years old and it was just awesome!  Then after that Nice brought us a plate of food, and it was pretty good.  It was only the second time I had eaten with memberrs on my mission because there is a rule that we can’t because its kinda sketchy.  But their house is way clean, and they actually have a house so it’s all good.  So here I am, sitting next to Elder Gooch, two forks, one plate, eating this huge thing of rice. And I just thought, yep,  you’re in Africa right now..  Anyway,  after that, she brought us juice boxes, and they were good.  Then Nicco, the 24 year old member walking with us, stole the juice box from the five year old Louis!  It was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen!  Ha, that was just a funny day.

 

Wednesday was relatively normal, except for the morning.  We were walking back from the louge where we buy bread in the mornings, and there was this 40 year old guy walking down the road.  And he was walking toward us, and in front of us there were 3 teenage girls.  And right before he got to the girls, he dropped his pants all the way down, like everything came down.  Everything.  And it was just an interesting sight to see.  Like people go to jail for that in America, and it was just mildly strange for Cape Verde, if strange at all.   Beer here is the highlight of a lot of peoples weeks, which is pretty sad.   But the alcohol problem is really kinda out of control, everyone drinks all day.

Thursday was a way sick day, we did divisions with the A.P’s.  So I went to Achada San Antonio and worked with Elder Folgerburg, and Elder Bruce came and worked with Elder Gooch.  It was pretty sweet!  Obviously the A.P’s have the nicest house in the mission, so it was sweet to live there for a day.  I had a hot shower for the first time in 12 weeks, and I won’t lie, it felt fantastic!  We went to the office and did A.P stuff.  Which pretty much means Elder Folgerburg did everything while I talked with Sister Matthews, the senior couple that works in the office.  The AP’s in our mission have to do so much more than some other missions because  our transfers are the different islands.  So they have to worry about plane tickets, boat tickets, and all the transportation for 120 missionaries.  Our mission is growing fast, but we’re still one of the smallest in the world.  Anyway,  about the division, I learned so much stuff from the A.P I served with, it was sweet!  And we got ice cream after which is always great.

Friday I did another division with the Zone Leaders because Elder Gooch is the district leader, so he has to do the baptism interviews for everyone in the district.  So I got to hang out with Elder Acord for a while, and that was sweet.  I freakin love that guy so much, its sad he got transferred.  He is now the zone leader for the other zone in Praia, which kinda sucks because between him, Gooch, Darling, and I we had a ton of fun.  But the division with him was sweet too.  He did all three of our baptisms interviews for the week, and it was good, they were all awesome! I'll  write a little about each one of them.  

Derre:   He is a freaking boss, easily one of my favorite converts.  He had so many questions about the church, and wanted to learn so much.  He is 24, and we worked with him forever, like 10 weeks, and it was amazing to actually get him in the font.  He actually understood what he was doing, why it was important, and it was just incredible.    Easily the coolest moment of the week was when Derre took the sacrament for the first time.  Last week at church I was sitting by him, and he hadn’t  been baptised yet, and he didn't take the sacrament.  Then on Tuesday he asked us all about it, and why we took it, and we explained it.  Then Sunday, when he took it for the first time, he just had the biggest grin ever on his face.  And it just clicked.  Like, this guy gets it, he understands what he is doing.  And I'm tearing up just thinking about it. Like being able to help him feel that was incredible.  Like obviously the Holy Ghost is the ultimate teacher, but just to be there and help him realize everything, then to actually see that come into play was unreal. One of the best feelings of my life, by far.

 

Mandilla:   Also a boss.  He is 18, stud soccer player, and an incredible person.  He had already been to institute three times before he was baptized, just so prepared it was sweet.  Elder Acord, who did his interview, said he was the most prepared person he had ever interviewed, which is such a testament to him and how he wanted to learn.  His best friend is Edson, our baptism from a couple of weeks ago.  And Edson played such a huge role in his conversion.  

Edson actually did the baptisms for Derre, and Mandilla.  And Edson and Mandilla are both talking with President Fernandez about serving missions, so I super hope that happens!  

Alicia:   She is the daughter of Dena, another recent baptism we had.  She is the cutest little girl ever.  She is 11, and she is awesome.  Dena super helped out a ton, and that was awesome to have her there.  She has another brother we’ll baptize in a couple weeks here, so the work is definitely taking off.  

Saturday was great of course, had all those baptisms, it was sweet.  Had Ice Cream too. 

Sunday was the babysitting day, of course.  We kinda have a problem because we have so many recent converts we had to visit throughout the week, plus  all three of our baptisms everyday, we didn't have too much time to find new investigators, which we’ll do this week.  But we got Wilikar to church, our baptism for this week.  And for the first time ever, Jair showed some desire and came to church.  So we've gotta get him to quit smoking, but he’ll be baptized soon hopefully.  We had one more come too, so that was good.  But to find Jair, we went to this big soccer game going on.  It’s kinda crazy, 20 Africans on a tiny dirt soccer field just playing crazy.  So the whole town was watching, and we found Jair, and we asked if he was going to church, and he said yeah, and were like, we’re just gonna stay with you until church, mostly so he wouldn't drink before church.  But we got him there, and we stayed and watched soccer for almost an hour before church just to get him there.  But he came and it was sweet!  

Another cool thing that happened was during sacrament meeting, Nitto and his little bro Clayton passed the sacrament.  And two weeks ago I gave Nitto a tie, and Gooch gave Clayton one.  They didn’t have ties, and they can't afford to buy one.  So they wore those while they passed the sacrament, and it was just sweet.  He will put that tie to way better use than I ever could, and it was sweet to help him out and give him my tie.

I guess I’ll talk a little about the Christmas spirit here.  In Cape Verde, Christmas is big, but not huge.  But in our house, christmas is life!  We went to a chinese store and bought christmas lights, and floss, and santa hats that glow in the dark.  And we have tons of christmas music, and we just turn off the big lights and chill with the Christmas lights almost every day, its so sweet!  

Anyway this letter is so long, and if you read the whole thing you should get some sort of reward.  I won't write as much next week, thanks for reading all of this haha.  Love all you guys, and I love hearing from all of you!  

Com Amor, elder Jarvis

Week 12 in Cabo Verde, back to a four person apartment

The new elders that moved in with Elders Jarvis and Gooch
Elder Conduane (left, from Mozambique) and Elder Dorff

This week was another sweet one in Cabo Verde.  It was hotter than usual this week, which is saying something because we live in Africa... It was a sweet week, but definitely an interesting one.  

First, on Wednesday, I did a division with Elder Conduane (from Mozambique), and it was just interesting... He's sweet, it’s just such a different culture change.  He came and stayed in our house, and I led in showing him Achada Traz. 

Its interesting to think about, because we have a lot of Native African missionaries, and they're sweet.  But for the Americans serving here, the houses we live in on the mission will probably be the worst houses we will ever live in throughout our whole lives.  But for the Natives, these are the best houses they will ever live in.  Its just an interesting thought, and obviously things just run a little differently.  Like, I made pancakes for breakfast, and I poured the mix for him and everything.  Then he wanted to make some, so he poured the mix on the pan.  But when the one side was done cooking, and he needed to flip it,  so the other side could cook.  Well he just started stabbing down at it, like the uncooked side.  So here I am, sitting here watching him beat the heck out of our nice pan.  And as I sat there watching this African  Missionary stab  the pancake batter instead of flipping it, I just kinda thought what a different world we live in.  I was also sweating wondering how I got to that point in life...  But thats irrelevant.  But the day was solid with him, taught a lot of good lessons, and maked a couple dates. 

Also, after President visited everyones house, he said that the Achada Grande house, the one we lived in when we got kicked out the first time, was not "livable".  So Elder Doorf and Elder Conduane moved in with us this week.  In our house which is definitely not a four elder house, but its all good.  The house is pretty crammed, and it smells a little different.  But we found glade at a store so our house is smelling fresh again haha.  But yeah, a little weird having a four elder house but its all good. 

I’ll talk a little about our baptism for this week, Andera.  She was super solid, we checked up on her everyday, she was sweet. She passed her interview with ease, everything is good.  So Saturday, at 1, like three hours before her baptism we get a call.  It’s her, and she says that she is in Acha Mada, which is a city 2 hours away from Praia.  So of course we are freaking out because our baptism is two hours away.  And after a bunch of stress and what not, she was definitely not back in time for the baptism.  Anyway, she was baptised and confirmed Sunday before church, and it all worked out,  it was just a huge headache.  Who goes to Acha Mada the day of their baptisms!?  It all worked out. 

I love hearing about Thanksgiving, and it kinda made me a little trunky.  But we ate at the Marrage, which is this buffet, the only buffet in Praia.  It was a little pricy, but it was fantastic.  It was honestly the best thing ever.  They had Lasagna, soup, bread, all sorts of dessert.  It really was amazing! And we went with the Zone Leaders, and Elder Evans and Stevens, and they are all sweet.  And you eat on the big deck looking over the Atlantic Ocean, super pretty, I’ll send pics in a couple weeks. 

Anyway we are doing a division with the APs this Thursday, so that’ll be sweet!  I think Elder Gooch is going to be a  Zone Leader pretty soon here, which makes sense, he’s a stud.  We also have transfers this week, which I am not looking forward to at all. Well I kind of am, I’m  just sad I won’t get to stay serving with my best friend ha.  It’ll be sweet tho. 

Overall it was a sweet week, definitely in the best mission in the world.  Love all you guys.

Com Amor, elder Jarvis

Week 11- Cabo Verde

This week was another great week in paradise. We had the grand discovery of pancakes this week, and they are super cheap and American so we made those like everyday. Probably not the healthiest thing ever, but we try to live like Americans. But really, we try to avoid eating rice and beans as much as possible. But this week was good. We did a division Wednesday with Achada Mato. I stayed and ran our area with Elder Stevens, he was sweet and it was pretty fun. The next day, was a normal day with Elder Gooch. Then the next day we did another division with the Zone Leaders, and I stayed in Achada Traz and worked with Elder Accord, he is one of my favorites for sure.

We had one girl, Andrea, that was ready and worthy to be baptized, and she was our hopeful for the week. But she hadn’t been to church for a couple years, like 4, so she wanted one more week to get ready. So she went to church and she is a definite for this weeks, super solid. So it was a little rough not having a baptism this week, first week in 7 weeks we haven’t had a baptism, so that’s pretty good. And not having a baptism definitely wont happen again, we have 3 solid ones for this week, and 4 more solid ones for the next. 

About Sunday. We definitively took our baby sitting titles to the next level. On Sunday, at around 11, we found J.... the biggest fubecka in the history of anything) super duper drunk at a bar. So with the help of his stud little brother NItto (20, used to be less active, we re-activated him 7 weeks ago, and now he's preparing to serve a mission) we dragged drunk J... into his house. At first we weren’t sure if we should help him or what. And he was soooo drunk.  And Elder Gooch was like "Elder Jarvis, what do you think we should do, hes super hammered?" and I was like "there’s no better place for him than church." So we drag drunk J.... nto his house, and literally sit there and talk with until he falls asleep. Super Baby-sitters.

But it was the craziest thing ever, when he was drunk, and he was super drunk, he was speaking fluent English! He was talking to us, and he told us he learned English on the streets, and it was the craziest, funniest thing ever! So we waited till he fell asleep, and then left to go find our other investigators. Our plan for this week was not to teach any lessons Sunday, just find our investigators, and hang out with them before church, then walk with them to church. So we wait till J.... falls asleep, go find Wilikar, stay with him, find Nuno, and Derre, stay with them. And literally just stayed with our investigators till it was time to go to church. By days end we had 7 investigators at church, all with dates for the next two weeks. We only taught one lesson Sunday, but we got people to church so it was definitely worth it, and our next two weeks look pretty solid. Achada Traz is so awesome!

But the whole week was good, studied the language a bunch, like always, and it was sweet. I also got Christmas music from a member, so we listen to sol Christmas music in the house.  Making both of us super happy, and super truncky at the same time. But its awesome. If we stay together next transfer were buying Christmas decorations and decorating the house! We also hang out with the Zone Leaders all the time. Elder Accord, and Elder Darling are my freaking heroes, they are so sweet! And they made us Pizza Friday and it was glorious. Oh, and when I say we eat pancakes, obviously there is no syrup, so we kind of eat them just with butter. Probably not the healthiest thing in the world, but we get by, and we work out.

Oh, we had our interviews with President on Tuesday. It was sweet. We got water Tuesday morning, and spent the morning cleaning. We had to make it look sweet because the most influential man in the country was coming into our house. And they went really well. They were impressed with our house, and it was good. While Elder Gooch had his interview, I talked with Sister Olievera, who is the biggest sweetheart on the whole planet! I felt bad, she spoke in English for a while, then I told her I do speak Portuguese, then we talked in Portuguese and it was all good. She was just checking on our health and our house. Elder Gooch's interview seemed like forever. Then I got in and out of mine in like 10 minutes. I was really worried it didn’t go well, but it’ll be alright. President Olivera is honestly the coolest, most spiritual guy in the world. He is so amazing and its fun.

But yeah had a great week.

The lady at the email place is playing American Music and Elder Gooch and I are busting out in song right now! But yeah, great week, have a couple baptisms set up for the next week, and the work is progressing. God prepares these people and its a fun work to be a part of. And the languages are doing well also. But I love all of you, and would love to hear back from all of you as well!

Much Love, Elder Jarvis

Week 10 in Cabo Verde

Jamilla, her Grandmother and her brother Netto that baptized her.

Well this week was another great one in Cabo Verde.  Still working with Elder Jared Gooch, and he's awesome.  I'm never really sure what to write.  Like I know I live in such a different world than everyone, but everyday things that would seem crazy to you, are the everyday norm for me ha.  I'll try to think of just some little things that Americans would think are funny.

  

There is this place we eat at every week.  And two months ago you couldn't pay me enough to eat there, it just looks really gross with meat and rice and french fries.  And its kinda really greasy and gross, but I absolutely love it now.  It's funny because I was extremely picky before the mission.  But here, if I don't eat rice and beans when we go out to eat, I would never eat.  I have yet to receive a menu at any place we eat, they just bring you rice, fries and beef.  Sometimes beans, but even that's kinda rare.  But its good, I'm learning to like it.  It's goofy, because everyone here gains weight because all we have are carbs, between bread, rice, pasta, and beans, all we eat are carbs.  And there's not a ton of options, that's kinda what you eat everyday.

"The District, and the Title of Liberty"

We're running without water for the third straight day, and we have our interviews with the mission president tomorrow, and you can imagine how clean we can get our house without water.  And President Oliveira does the interviews at our house, so we are kinda praying for water so we can clean the place up a little before the most influential man in the country comes into our house.  We always talk about that, how Pres Oliveira is the most infulential man in the country.  He literally has so much influence on the whole country, and can move 160 young Elders and Sisters at anytime he wants.  He is probably one of the most amazing individuals I have ever met.  But yeah, were totally hoping to get water soon tonight or tomorrow or we will get the fauka of a lifetime for not having our house clean.

Monkey on a leash

This week was a pretty good week overall.  The babysitters failed, and we literally didn't have one investigator at church.  It's so tough because we live like 2.5 miles away from the church, and no one wants to walk because its Africa, and it's a million degrees.  And of course no one can afford a taxi, they can't afford food, and its just kinda tough.  And we don't have any time to work in our area, because we cant go out in the mornings, because it takes forever to walk to our area, and it wouldn't be worth it.  And we have to come back early, just to avoid getting robbed..   But its all good, we have a ton of sweet investigators, they just don't come to church.  Really is the biggest problem.  People will stop smoking, and breaking the law of chastity for us, but coming to church is just out of the question.  So pray for that and we will continue to work hard.

  

We did keep our transfer goal of having a baptism every week by baptising Jamilla.  She is 9 years old and is amazing.  Her grandmom is a member, and so is her older brother Nitto, who is a champ.  NItto was inactive three weeks ago, then he did the baptism Saturday, and it was sweet!  Its awesome because her dad is a fubecka de mias!  He is 27, has three kids, doesnt work, and will never come to church.  But he'll talk with us all the time, because he is never doing anything.  Anyway, the 9 year old went to church the last two weeks, with her grandma, passed the baptismal interview and everything.  Then when saturday came around, her dad was drunk at the "park" across the street, and her grandma wasn't home.  And this 9 year old girl remembered her baptism, got all dressed up in a skirt and everything, and just waited for us on her couch, by herself.  shes nine, and she was 100% ready all by herself!  Nitto did the baptism and it was just sweet!  Shes awesome, I think I sent a picture of her? 

We should have a baptism for this week, we just dont know who it will be.  Pretty much we have to find someone that's been to church twice, that is ready to be baptized.  Which is kinda crazy, but I have faith we'll find someone. 

Also the night of interviews, friday, we have to go on divisions, because Elder Gooch is the DL, and he has to do interviews, and the ZLs do ours.  So Elder Darling and I waited for Elder Gooch and Elder Accord to get back from divisions.  And they got back at like 945.  Which is 15 minutes late.  And for us to walk from Lan Fahera to Achada Grande after 9 is just asking someone to rob you.  So we had a sleepover, and talked about sports, and girls and Christmas and by the end of the night we were all truncky out of our minds!  We have started to decorate our houses with any "Christmas" things we can, and we listen to Christmas music only!  So if anyone has any christmas music, or decorations or anyting they want to send me that would be sweet haha. But it was such a fun night, those guys are freaking sweet!

  

Another funny thing that happened this week was as we were talking to someone on the street.  And I looked down at might feet, I dont know why, but seriously two feet away from me I saw some bubbly water.  And I was so confused.  And I turned around, and there was litterally a little kid peeing 10 feet behind me, in the middle of the street, just right there.  And it didnt get on me, it just made me laugh.  I didnt really think much of it because kids pee on the street all the time, I just realized that would never, ever happen in the usa.  Also some lady almost hit gooch when she was dumping water off her roof, that was freaking funny!  Went to the Sukapeta and chilled their again today.  It was soo sweet!  

We also played soccer with everyone in Praia today, that was pretty sweet, soccer is a lot of fun. I think we will go get some good food Thursday for Thanksgiving, probably just rice and beef haha.  

Anyway, if any of you have any questions, feel free to ask, I love all you just.  

Much Love Elder Jarvis

Tough to get 'em to church!

Dina and her grandson

Well, this week was sweet!  Sorry if the letter is a little shorter than usual, I tried to send some pics for like an hour but it didn't work.  The computer here are like the ones we used in 1990, so things just take a while, and everything is old ha.  But this week was solid!  We had two baptisms, Jaineny, and Dina.   Jaineny is the daughter of Nobert and Nice, my first family.  She is 14, and she was super sweet, listened well to everything, and was just incredible.  Her baptism was pretty cool, and we have to baptize one more kid to complete that family, so that’s pretty cool!

Jaineny and her mom Nice, and little brother

Dina is 52, and she is awesome!  She stopped drinking coffee after we taught her for like three days, came to church all on her own, and is just awesome!  The first time she prayed, she kinda started crying and feeling the spirit and it was incredible.

Our area is so amazingly cool.  I’m sure its different for every mission, but in our mission, anyone will let you in the door.  Like we can just go walk up and down the street and anyone will let us in and listen to our message.  The BIGGEST problem is getting people to church.  Our church is so far away!  And we commit people to baptism like crazy, like all the time, but they never ever come to church.  We have so many baptism dates marked that we have to push back because they don’t come to church.  And it's frustrating at times because they are way sweet when we teach them, and they want to get baptized, and we visit them before church and they say they will come. Then they never do...  Really that’s the biggest problem we have for sure.  This week we only had 1 investigator at church, and she'll be our baptism for the week, she's chill! And I was kinda feeling down and sorry for myself during church, because all our investigators are fubeckas (lazy, in Portuguese).  But then Nobert bore his testimony, and Edson bore his, and Zito bore his, and Nice bore hers!  And sacrament meeting was just filled with all our recent converts bearing their testimonies, and it was incredible.

Sundays are the day "Day of Rest", but for us, its the day of work.  We have church at three, so we go out to find people to come to church at ten, and spend 5 hours walking around in the African sun to babysit our investigators to get to church, and it doesn't really work.  That’s definitely, by far, just the most frustrating thing.  But other than that its sweet!  Everyone here is so cool, and I love the people we work with, and there are so many neat people here.  We have awesome investigators too, they just don’t come to church... But its all good, still the best mission in the world.

Gosh if you guys only knew the view I get everyday!  We walk down this huge hill to get to our church, and the Zone Leaders house.  And the hill sucks, but the view of the hill is just amazing!  It captures the whole city of Praia, and the lights, and the ocean with the beach! Especially at night, when you cant see how dirty the city is, its incredible, it would blow your mind!  And from what I hear, a bunch of the other islands have even better views so it’ll be interesting to see all of those!  Not that I ever want to get transferred or leave Praia, Praia is the best!  And I get to serve with my best friend Elder Gooch, so its still the coolest thing ever.

I just realized that I never write about the languages I need to learn.  I guess its probably because I don’t worry about it a ton.  I love Portuguese, when people speak that, my eyes just light up, its so nice.  And that’s what we study, and I feel decently good at that.  I never really worried about learning Portuguese, I just figured it would come,with speaking, which is what everyone says.  And worrying about it wouldn't do a ton of good.  The advice I would give to anyone trying to learn a mission language is prayer, obviously.  Because God called us to our missions for a reason, and he's not going to leave you alone while you’re trying to learn it.  That’s probably whats helped me the most!  Everyone says don’t stress about it, so I don’t.
Creole is just a native language that is tough to learn, and were not "suppose" to learn.  But 90% of the people here speak it, and that’s probably the most frustrating thing.  But I can't complain, I'll learn it.  But so many more people speak Creole that Portuguese, it's unreal.
This week I also did a division with Elder Darling, the ZL, and he's sweet!  We had a lot of fun, and worked hard!  I got to hang out with Elder Evans a little too!  We were good friends in the MTC, and we're in the same district, so that’s sweet!

Once again sorry for the short letter, it will be even shorter next week because I'm sending more pics next week.  I love you all, the church is true, and God is everywhere in our lives.  Let yourself be happy!!!
Love Elder Jarvis

Stake Conference and Chocolate Syrup

This week was a kinda decently normal week.  No days are really that normal, because we don't live in our area, and it takes a while to get there, and we cant go unless we have 2 adult members to walk with us.  We had a habit of getting robbed without members with us...  And we have to come back from our area earlier than most missionaries because its not the safest thing ever.  But we are well protected, we just don't have as much time working in our area as most missionaries.  But we work smart, and effectively, and our area is still booming.  But the Lord helps us so much, you have no idea.

Edson

So we have a transfer goal of a baptism a week.  And we had two for this past week, and we were really determined to get at least one of them.  Because it would be stupid to have a transfer goal, and not get it the first week.  So the one drank on Tuesday, he's off the table.  And the other one, Talo, we cant find forever.  We finally find him, drinking Thursday.  So me and Elder Gooch gave him a very spiritual fauka, (chewing him out).  It was the first time I had ever kind of told someone off in Portuguese, so that was a fun experience haha!  Anyway, literally right after we get mad at this guy, and drop him as an investigator, Zito tells us we need to talk to his friend.  And this is Thursday night, and we don't have a baptism for Saturday.  Remember Zito was my first baptism, who is just a complete champion, and who was walking with us that night.  So he introduces us to his friend Edson.  And his friend had been to church at least twice, which is the requirement.  And Elder Gooch and I just looked at each other, and we were like "Wanna give him the baptismal interview questions?" and I was like yeah.  So we gave this guy the baptismal interview questions, and this guy was  sweet and awesome!!  And he knew almost all of them, but the Palavra de Sabadoria (word of wisdom).  So we listed off the 5 things we shouldn't take, and he was like, "I had coffee this morning.  I'm so sorry, I really didn't know we weren't allowed to, I feel so bad" and this is 2 days before baptism day.  So we call the ZL's, and they tell us to call President Oliviera about it.  And President said if he promised to stop right then, and read the Book of Mormon that night he could be baptized!  And he did, and it was so glorious and sweet!  Easily one of my favorite baptisms!  It was just so crazy how God answered our prayers, and had him ready to be baptized this week, it was unbelievable.  One of the coolest things I have ever had a chance to be a part of. 

Then we had Stake conference, with all of Praia!  That was sick, so much fun.  Its fun because sometimes it feels like when we are teaching, and people aren't getting it, it is just so frustrating.  But then when you see all those amazing members in one place, it's just such a good reminder that the church is so true!! There were so many people there, there wasn't space for the missionaries to sit in the chapel, so we all chilled outside and just talked sports and such.  There's an Elder Christensen in my Zone, he actually was the AP till last transfer, one of my favorite people ever.  He was drafted by the Royals, and will play for them when he gets back.  And it 2 days he is going to Mau to open up that island.  How cool is it that he gets to be the first missionary on that island.  That island literally has never had the church on it ever before, and they just start from scratch, how awesome!  We hung out all P day.  But we talked about baseball during Stake Conference, that was fun!  And we had Edson's baptism last week.  And its just sweet. 

We also have new Zone leaders, they are the best, Love them.  And there's another Elder Jarvis that just got here, how weird...  So on every letter, if anyone ever writes me, write Elder Nathan Jarvis, because just saying Elder Jarvis no longer narrows it down,  haha.  

Easily the highlight of my week was finding Chocolate Syrup!!  What a steal!  We put it on everything!  Also found Mac and Cheese, I was all over that.  Elder Gooch and I try our hardest to not eat rice, but we really don't have many options.

 
This week we should have three baptisms.  Two are the daughter and son of Nobert and Nice.  After them that's their whole family, Familia!!!  They are talking about going to the temple in a year too, to be sealed.  How cool is it that we had the chance to help them get the gospel, and their  lives will never Ever be the same after their choice to follow Christ.  Its just such an amazing thing to see.  Ah, the church is true and its Amazing!! I'm gonna try to send some pics now, and try to stop gaining weight.  Seriously tho, I'm gaining weight and I need to stop, I don't know how its happening...   But I love all you guys, take it easy and have a fantastic week!

Much Love Elder Jarvis