10 Weeks!!

Yelp! I have 10 weeks here in Capo Verde and my comp only has 10 weeks left!! Crazy!! Time fly's by so fast!! 

I also hit my 100 days on a mission this past week!! 100 days!!!!!!!!!!!! What?! That is a long time but nothing at the same time!!

This past week has been really busy!! We have met tons of people and found lots of less actives! We have also been preparing one of our investigators for baptism! Hopefully she will get baptized this Saturday!! She is one of the cutest old ladies I have met!! And she is so happy for baptism!! She can't see and didn't have glasses so we were praying to find glasses for her and one day we showed up to her house and she found her mom's glasses. So she can read now! She is so happy that she can read! That was a huge miracle!!

This past week a less active also wanted to paint our nails so we let her and got to know her better! Hopefully we can build that trust and help her come back to church! Also my toes turned our really good!!!

Sunday we met the new Area President from Europe, Elder Kearon. Cabo Verde is part of the Europe Missions and it is the best Europe mission! He really helped each one of us get motivated and refocused! It was a great!! As we were closing the meeting he said okay I guess it is time to go catch your boats since you actually have to do that here! My mission is the best! Who has to catch boats and planes to get to their areas? We do! I just have to walk 30 minutes right now but one day I will have to take the boat or plane and that day will be so cool! Ha Ha Love my mission!! It is exactly were I need to be! I love it here!

Funny things that happen this week. In a lesson and the mom is holding her naked 3 month year old son and he decided to start peeing. Yup we got peed on. we all laughed! Then a drunk lady kissed my comps arm and asked for a picture of Jesus. So we gave her a pass along card and she starts kissing it. We then walked away. Also saw my second centipeade this week! other then that just excited for Saturday!! I will let you know if it all works out!!

Lots of love!!

Sister Burke

Slow boring week.

So first I want to start of by talking about Skype. Truly it is the most stressful thing ever. I would prefer to be the one at home every time. Finding a place here is so hard. We found this place that seemed perfect but when we showed up Sunday the internet was down. Then we found this really ghetto cyber cafe around the corner that worked just fine but it was so stressful!! 

It was really weird seeing my family it has only been 3 months and not much has changed. 

I haven't talked about the family that we found a few weeks ago. Well it  is complicated. The mom and her one daughter listen to every lesson and go to church along with the daughters son. They are golden. Only problem is the daughters boyfriend is in America and she doesn't know when he will return home. They need to get married before they are baptized. So we continue to teach them but no baptism day marked yet.

Then we have this other investigator. She is a cute older lady! She is an Aunt to a member in the ward. She has a baptism date marked for the 23rd of May. She knows it is true! She says one of the ways she knows it is true is because why would we leave our families to come to Cabo Verde if it wasn't true. She is so cute!! Why would I leave my family to come to Cabo Verde a place I had no idea existed, until I  got my call, if this gospel wasn't true? Any way this investigator comes to church  and knows her baptism date. The only problem she struggles reading. So we read with her a  lot. I I am pretty sure she will get baptized! She is the cutest older  lady ever!! Plus this doesn't sound super cool in English but in Portuguese it is funny to listen to... We are talking about Joseph Smith and she is like its true its true. Sounds better in Portuguese and in her tone of voice. Just imagine an old lady speaking. Super cute. I am a terrible ex plainer.

Lots of love!!

Sister Burke!!

Another Hot Week....

So last Monday my companion and I went bowling!! All missionaries need to have the opportunity to go bowling! Earlier that day we bought a watermelon and used 3 of our back up water bottle supplies. We set up our bowling alley in our living room. It was a great time until our watermelon broke. OH and we also had perfect scores! 

Ha Ha 

  

This week I saw another pig die. Totally normal here. People raise pigs just to eat them. Crazy!!

The holiday of the workers was May 1st. My first one in Cabo Verde.  So no one works. It was crazy!! Loud music everywhere, drunk people and lots of parties!! In the streets, where all the business are, there was no people. They were all in the house areas, tons and tons of people. 

Also I have now gotten 4 misquote bits. They look terrible, but this is normal for me. However it does freak out my companion. I just have always had weird reaction to bug bites.  

Other weird things this week. I saw a boy chasing pigs up a hill. Oh No Pigs on the loose!! I also saw  a car on a roof and not sure how it got up there but that was interesting and a good laugh. A the little girl in the cyber place keeps handing me her purse and tape. Cutest thing ever. 

Now on a spiritual note. Alma 26:16 "Behold I say unto you I cannot say the smallest part of which I feel" So much happens in one day that it is truly impossible to write it all. Today I have been on my mission for 3 months. 

Time fly's by so fast and I still have so much to learn. I don't feel any different, I am just tanner. I don't speak the language very well yet but I try really hard to communicate with the people.  I know I will not be fluent in the next 15 months but that means I have lots of room for improvement. The people of Cabo Verde love me so much that they are helping me speak the language, even if they are teaching me creole and not straight Portuguese. In the next 6 months I hope to understand and speak more fluently. The lord truly blesses you if you are serving him. It doesn't have to be a mission by small acts of kindness you are serving God. I love my mission and all the blessings I have seen so far!! 

Quote of the week: "Little growth occurs in the comfort zone. Little comfort occurs in the growth zone." - unknown. 

Love you all!! Thank you so much for all the love and support!!!

Sister Burke!!

P.S. All roads lead to the ocean!! I love living so close to the ocean!! Too bad I can't touch the water! ;)

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!!