Transfer 2!!!

AND!!!!!!

I am staying in Praia!! Still in Achada Santo Antonio!! And yep still with Sister Gates!! Sister Gates and I assumed that would be the case so I can finish training but the next transfer will be interesting because that will be Sister Gates last transfer before she heads home so it could go any way!!

This week nothing cool happened...

In church a member was trying to teach my Creole... It didn't work. I have no idea what he was saying in Portuguese or Creole. So that was funny! Then at church we had 2 investigators come to church!! It was so exciting to see them progressing more in the gospel but what really was the miracle of this week was we found a family!! The family (well the grandma and 2 kids) are 1 of the investigators that came to church. The Lord is really preparing people. I hope they continue to progress and see the light of Christ.

Also this week I did divisions, that is when we have a Sister Training Leader be our comps for the day and one of us works in our area and one of us work in their area, usually the younger comp stays in the area and the older one leaves but since Sister Gates and I have had the same amount of time in our area. I got to leave. I spent a day in Tira Chapeau Praia. That was lots of fun and I learned more of Praia. Praia is really big but small at the same time compared to Utah County. 

Until next time!!

Love Sister Burke!!!

PS. So this week I received a package from my mom... It was full of Gravy Packets!! Normal kids ask for candy... Nope Gravy warms the soul!!! :)

Last week of Transfer 1!!

Yelp!! This is my last week of transfer 1!! Who know that would go by so fast!!!!!!!!!! 

My Portuguese has improved but I am no where near perfect. I can understand a lot (when they speak Portuguese that is) but I struggle to speak it back. I have gotten better but I am still working on it! 

This week was crazy!! The coolest thing I saw was the reason why we don't eat pork on the mission. I saw a pig get killed in the middle of the road. I saw from start to finish of how to kill a pig. I am in shock still. Only here do you see a pig die and no one is phased by it. I thought it was very entertaining to watch and sad at the same time. How they just do it in the middle of the dirty streets. Dogs licking the dead pig fly's everywhere. So gross but so normal here!

Also I saw the deadliest thing on this island. A centipede. I was at a members house and everyone freaked out and killed it before I could blink! It was about 3 inches long and so creepy! They are also really deadly. My comp has only seen 2 her whole mission so they aren't very common.

Then the green spiky fruit. Not sure if I talked about it last week. But I tried it and it is SOOOO GOOOOD!!! In Portuguese it is called a Pin-ha in creole it is called a Sape Sape. Either way YUM!!!!!!!!!!! My comp didn't like it as much but I loved it!!

As for the work here it is coming along slowly. I am helping more less actives then investigators. But either way we are all children of God and we all need help. I also got a feel for how much everyone looks up to missionaries. It is amazing that the Lord trust me enough here! I see the Lord's hand in the work and it is truly amazing!! I hope everyone has a great week!!

Love,

Sister Burke

Boring Week

So I have finally been listening to conference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3 new temples!!!!!!!!!!!!! What!?!?!??!?! SO COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One day there will be a temple in Cabo Verde!! But not now. 

Cabo Verde is the only place where you can stand in the middle of the road and have people flock to you for 30 minutes then the next day have to knock on doors because no one is around. The area is hard. I am so tired. My body is so sore. The people are blinded by satan. But I know how rewarding this work is. This work is amazing. I am truly blessed!!!!!!! I love it here!!!! I love this work!!!

This week we had zone conference it was amazing because I got to see my MTC companion!!! It was so nice to see a face I recognized and knew!! All the new Missionary got to bare their testimonies... Scary!! I did good but was scared my Portuguese isn't that good yet. Then the bus ride home was so fun!!! It was like the craziest bus ride of my life!! Everything was so bummy!! And there are no limits on speed or how to drive so it is a big free for all. I had to stand in the middle of the isle on the bus. Let me just tell you it was so much fun!!!!!! HaHaHa

This week was really boring and really hard. Nothing exciting happened. 

Love

Sister Burke

Monday already??

Time goes by way fast!! I it seem like it was just Monday yesterday!!

Let me tell you about my area. We have two different parts to the area. We have nicer apartments where the people are less excepting of what we are teaching teaching. Then we have the average homes for Cabo Verde where the people are humble and willing to listen and learn our message. Really the differences between the two areas beside the people and their be open to our message is the floors and walls. The apartments are bigger, have painted walls, and tile floors. The more average homes are not painted and don't have tile floors. They are made of bricks or concrete. The floors are cement or dirt. They are smaller and the people don't have as much as the people that live in the apartments. I live in an apartment. I am very blessed.

The roads.. We have 4 paved roads. The rest are cobble stone or dirt with rocks. You have to pick up your feet or you trip. When I trip I laugh really hard!! Great times!!

In Portuguese you don't say the W, K, Y so when people see my name they struggle pouncing it. They call me Sister Burke (Like normal) or Sister BurkE (e accented) or Sister Brooke. I love hearing how they will pronounce my name!! SO much fun!!

The members want me to speak creole but I have no idea what the words are in Portuguese so we all just laugh. I am pretty sure they are laughing at me but I am laughing at me as well. I have learned to just laugh it off because one day I will be able to understand.

Imagine driving from Lehi to SLC. At the point of the Mountain you see the entire SLC valley. In March when the inversion sets in the air quality is nasty. Now imagine Africa. This past week the dirt from the Serra dessert was in the air. Everything was this rusty brown color. It was so gross but cool at the same time I can say I have breathed in the Serra dessert air. Ha Ha

Also I thought my hair was going to be super curly and cute because of all the humidity. Nope it is straight. Just like I straighten it when back home. What the!? I was really hoping for curly hair. I guess it just wants to be straight. Oh and the water makes it feel super stringy and nasty but it is too hot to have my hair down. So it is up all the time!!

General Conference!! I hoped you watched!!  Because that is all I did. I watched!! I have no idea what was said. It was all in Portuguese and I don't know enough Portuguese to understand. The music was in English so that was my favorite part!! I hope everyone felt the spirit and enjoyed what was taught.

This past week I also hit two months on the mission!!! Time flies by!!! I am so grateful to be here and to learn about my Savior and how I can help the people around me. I know God lives! I am living my dream!!

Hope this makes up for all the other smaller lame posts!!

Lots of love,

Sister Burke!!