Dustbowl Dance

So basically like I said last week, my area is one of the poorer areas here in Praia, and while a large part of Praia is covered in cobblestone or pavement, I'm pretty sure like 90% of my area is just straight dirt. Every single day when we get back, my shoes are straight covered in dirt, and my pants usually have dirt all over them too. Any event we have with other missionaries in the Zone I usually have someone point at my shirt or the back of my pants and show me somewhere where I've been covered in dirt; I doesn't help that I really don't care how dirty I get :P I think it's fun. Every night too, one of my feet will be covered in dirt too because of miscellaneous wholes that exist in my shoes :P 

It's been another really fun week, with lots going on. On Tuesday, I was positively scared to death about giving a training at a District Meeting 3 times the size of my last district :P I have chosen to give a training on how to help our investigators do better at keeping the Sabbath Day holy, talking about various blessings, reasons, and ways they could do so; thankfuly, I have the easiest district in the world to impress, because when I followed up with the sisters that night, they were all beyond too nice to tell me they liked my training. I learned I don't have to stress it too much, because sisters are far less judgemental towards trainings than elders are :P so that was defs rad.

So basically like I said last week, my area is one of the poorer areas here in Praia, and while a large part of Praia is covered in cobblestone or pavement, I'm pretty sure like 90% of my area is just straight dirt. Every single day when we get back, my shoes are straight covered in dirt, and my pants usually have dirt all over them too. Any event we have with other missionaries in the Zone I usually have someone point at my shirt or the back of my pants and show me somewhere where I've been covered in dirt; I doesn't help that I really don't care how dirty I get :P I think it's fun. Every night too, one of my feet will be covered in dirt too because of miscellaneous holes that exist in my shoes :P 

It's been another really fun week, with lots going on. On Tuesday, I was positively scared to death about giving a training at a District Meeting 3 times the size of my last district :P I have chosen to give a training on how to help our investigators do better at keeping the Sabbath Day holy, talking about various blessings, reasons, and ways they could do so; thankfuly, I have the easiest district in the world to impress, because when I followed up with the sisters that night, they were all beyond too nice to tell me they liked my training. I learned I don't have to stress it too much, because sisters are far less judgemental towards trainings than elders are :P so that was defs rad.

We had a worldwide missionary training this past week on Wednesday, which was super cool; the sister they had leading the music on the broadcast was far too animated for me though :P Elder Bullock happened to be in Praia for a divison with the Assistants, so I got to hang out with him for a bit during the broadcast. The whole theme was that as missionaries, we 'Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts'. we got to hear from people like Elder Anderson and Elder Bednar, and some Seventies as well. I guess it just showed me hw much the leaders of our church really care for us as missionaries, to give us a training like they did. It was definitely boss. 

Our work this week went really well. When I showed up here, a lot of people we were teaching were women who were living with a man, and we had not yet to teach the man, and it didn't appear like much progression was happening. This past week, we were able to work with a bunch of new investigators, and find a lots of progression with a few. We've started to work with a family, consisting of a mom, and her 5 kids, ranging in age frem 20 to 8 years old, and are all very eager to hear, to listen, and to be baptized. We've marked them to be baptized on he 13th of February, if they come to church this week. We're really excited about them. We've also found a few other people who seem genuinely interested, and who have solid member help. It's so refreshing to have so many new people and and help and just EVERYTHING. It's positively great. 

Saturday was kinda a whack day for us, but it ended up being really good. Saturday's are the day where the whole Zone has their baptisms , so we try to get an investigator to come every week. Elder Amado had agreed with the other sisters in our branch to baptize their investigator, so we were there pretty early, when some sisters in my district came up to me and told me they had one of their baptisms for the next week show up saying he wanted to get baptized, so I had to do a rush interview for them, as which was a definite miracle that we were there so early! Then that night, I had to do some interviews for the Assistants, which I wasn't happy about doing, since the church is about a 15 or 20 minute walk from our area, so we lost a LOT of working time. I very quickly realized that I was being dumb for having such a bad attitude, because the family I was interviewing was positively the most converted family before baptism I had ever seen. Each time I got to do an interview I really felt the Spirit telling me how much these people had been prepared by the Lord, and I saw how the Assistants weren't just getting 4 baptisms for next week, but baptizing 4 converts. It was really so cool. Idecided to celebrate by getting shwarma, which was right next to the church. I love shwarma. 

So, it's been a busy one, but it's also been a ton of fun. Life has gotten hard because the grocery store below our house has put up a Star Wars poster next to our door. Please pray for me.

Love y'all! 

Elder Massey

Hot Tonight

This week has brought a NUMBER of changes, not the least of which being the temperature change. While I was in Cova, the weather was absolutely wonderful, and I rarely sweat because of the climate, but here in Praia, MAN. It's hot. We sleep with the fan on like every night, and usually more than a few windows open. We live on the third floor, so it's okay :)

SO, this week has been a CRAZY one, there's been so much to learn and get used to and adjust to, but at the same time, it's been so much fun. I've gone from making 2 phone calls a night to 6. It takes a LONG time, but it's fun. I was stressing about having such a big district and having to do so much, but my district is so good, they do all the work and I just have to tell the ZLs about it; I'm convinced I got the best district in the mission. Like I mentioned last week, I'm a district leader for 4 duplas of sisters, the Assistants to the President, and my own dupla. It didn't take much work to become friends with all of them, they're all super relaxed, and hard workers. I'm having fun with it :)

Coming to Praia brought about seeing some familiar faces again, and getting to know some new ones. We had Zone Meeting this past week, and I got to see 3 people I came in with, my boys Elder Penner, Elder Masubelele, and Elder Bannerman again. It was defs a party, a good solid reunion. One of my ZLs, Elder Clegg, was in Fogo during my time there too, so I got to see him again. 

I've also had a good time getting used to my companion, Elder Amado. He's a super fun guy to be around, and likes to work. The only thing is that I've had to certainly adjust to the way he teaches. For the last 6 months, all of my comps have taught based on the way I have, because I was either training them, or babysitting them as a mini missionary. Having a companion with almost a year on the mission has honestly been a breath of fresh air, because I don't have to lead out on more things than not, and also it's given me a learning opportunity. Elder Amado has had a lot of success in this area, so it's just a matter of time before we find ours together as well. 

Speaking of success, we did have a baptism lined up for this week, named Telma and she looked really solid. By the time I got here, it was a matter of teaching a few commandments and reviewing material, and we even got to marking a baptismal interview, but come the day of, we called her to see if she was at home, and she informed us she didn't want to get baptized this Saturday anymore. Needless to say, it was a bit of a bummer. She's still interest in talking to us, and I believe she'll be baptized here in the future, but for now, she has some concern that we need to help her solve, or that she needs to work through. We'll see how it goes. 

As for my area itself, I'm absolutely LOVING it. We have a mission goal of 15 contacts and 5 lessons every day, and while I fought every day in Cova Figueira to reach my best, here it isn't even close to hard. I'm pretty sure we could do the 15 contacts in 20 minutes if we really really wanted to. The other thing I love is that, with every one we contact, they're willing to mark a time for us to come by and talk to them. It actually shocks me how willing some of the people are to hear. My area, Bela Vista, seems to me to be one of the more ghetto areas of Praia, not in terms of thugs, but in just houses and terms of living. Praia has a lot of nice homes and places to live, but Bela Vista is almost entirely block houses where entire families live in either one big room, or two moderately sized ones. It's really humbling to see, but at the same time, the people don't care. They're just happy to have what they have. We're also able to find new investigators with consistent frequency, usually teaching one or two new people every day. It's a LOT of fun for me, I'm honestly loving the opportunity it's giving me to work. Something I'm hoping to get better at is not just working to get our goal of 15 and 5, but to give an 24 hour effort and teach and contact consistently. If we did, it really wouldn't be hard to have upwards of 25, 30 contacts every day, and 6 or 7 lessons. We'll see how it goes :) 

Love y'all! Hope all is well! I'm VERY busy, and sweating my fair share. It's without a doubt that it's gunna be hot tonight :P 

Elder Massey

Home

I didn't put this as my title because I'm trunky and only thinking about home, don't worry :)

Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes once sang that, 'home is wherever I'm with you', suggesting that home isn't necessary a house, a hometown, or a country, but that it's where you're together with those you love. 

Yesterday, I had to say a sort of second goodbye from home, as I left Cova Figueira after being there for more than 6 months. My last few weeks there, I've really come to see the people there not just as investigators, members, or less actives, but really as my family.

                                                                                                                                                                                                   Elder Massey with his Cape Verdean "parents" - Aninha and Vitor.                                                                                              They are going to Brazil in May to go to the temple.

 

 

Elder Massey and Dani - the ward mission leader

 

 Being such a small community, it got to the point where I would just hear people shouting 'Massey!' and some kid would be like waving to me or something. The people there really became my family. Some of the members became some of my best friends, while so many of them became almost literal brothers or sisters to me. I had two different members pronounce themselves my mom :P thought it hadn't been an easy 6 months, they became probably the most important 6 months of my life. 

 

Our work this past week went really well for us too. We knew we hadn't been achieving our best in the past weeks, so we made it our effort to make sure the last week of our transfer was our best. SO, we went out and we WORKED. By no means was it a perfect week, but it was a good one. During our district meeting, I gave a training about endure til the end, and not just waiting til the end. I was realizing that we were all so focused on the end of the transfer that we hardly realized or recognized the blessings and miracles we were missing, and through enduring to the end, it gave us an opportunity to see them a little bit clearer. 

One such blessing I saw was in a less active member in Tinteira, named Matooka. When we had gone about contacting her to bring her back to church, she wanted nothing to do with us (or so it appeared) and often had excuses for what she was doing, and rarely had time for us to talk to her. Weeks ago, we had finally been able to talk to her while she was shelling beans, and we helped and taught, and it brought about a slow and ultimate change. Starting the week of Christmas, she REALLY started to come around, coming to both the ward Christmas party and church on Sunday, and the difference we saw was incredible. Every time we've gone back, she's been very excited to talk to us, and we can SEE the Spirit working in her life. It was certainly a miracle that I came around to seeing this last week, and I'm SO glad I actually recognized it :) 

Another small (and HUGE) miracle this week, was I got a call from my Zone Leaders, while they were in Praia, saying they contacted my recent convert from Maio, Luisa, who I had NO clue where she was. I then got to talk with her on the phone for about 5 minutes, which was incredible. I could actually understand her creole! The only miracle bigger than that is that I happened to get transferred to the district in which she lives now! 

On Sunday, our calls came around, and I'm now in Praia, serving in an area called Bela Vista. It was an area that used to be a part of the Praia 5th Ward, but was split into a branch 2 weeks ago. I'm serving with Elder Amado, and elder from Fogo, and I'm district leader in a district that includes the Assistant's to the President, and 4 duplas of Sisters, I'm like 97% sure it's the biggest district in the mission :P kiiiiiinda stressed, having gone from being DL of 3 other people, to 11 #toostressedtobeblessed . Also, I'm now in a city, and I haven't seen so many cars in like a year. It's so weird. 

SO, with that, I'm moving on. I've left behind my only son, Elder Mason, who is taking my reigns in Cova, possibly being district leader. I had a blast with that kid, he was so much fun!

Love y'all! 

Elder Massey

The Reason

Just as Ben from Said the Whale once sang about being cognizant of why things happen, I too got to have a little bit of an opportunity to do so this past week :)

So, as I have been saying recently (and if I say it too much you can tell me to stop :P ), is I've been in Cova Figueira for a LONG time, and as I mentioned in a past email, I had my Mission President tell me that there was a reason why the Lord wanted me to stay this transfer here despite having a rather long time in the same area. While this transfer certainly hasn't been an easy one by any means, we were able to see the Lord put his hand directly in our work these past few weeks, and this past Saturday, we got to see the reason WHY the Lord wanted us here. 

WE HAD OUR FIRST COVA FIGUEIRA BAPTISM WOOOO!! As far as I know, this area hasn't had a baptism since I came into the mission, and so for the first time in about a year or so, our ward got to have a convert baptism. We had our investigators, Katia and her son Fabio, be baptized on Saturday, and it was awesome. Fabio just turned 8 this past Tuesday, and so the got to be baptized together, which was really special. The great thing about it all too was that the Lord just about worked EVERYTHING that needed to happen for them to be baptized. While in the past working with investigators to be baptized has never been easy, with Katia and Fabio, just about everything has run according to plan (or even BETTER than according to plan), making them just about the most golden investigators I think I'll find on my mission. 

A lot of our week ended up going towards prepping for the baptism, such as teaching a few final things, preparing for baptismal interviews, and having the Zone Leaders come to do their interviews. The ZLs had come on New Years Eve, and by the time they were done and ready to go home, there were like NO cars going back to their area that night, and they almost had to stay with us for New Years, it was pretty funny. 

After the interviews were done that day, however, Elder Mason and I went about continuing to work, and while we were passing by and talking with members about the baptism for Saturday, we had left a barber shop where one of our members works, and I stepped down off the sidewalk and my right foot went into a hole in the cobblestone, and my ankle didn't seem to agree with the angle at which it went in, and I ended up spraining it :P I thought it was just like a 'CRAP that hurt better walk it off' kinda ankle roll, but as we worked more and walked more, it became more and more difficult to move and walk on it, and I realized that it was maybe swelling more than I would like :P so, yeah, I sprained my ankle this week. Took a solid day of getting it better, and now I'm walking on it normal again. WOOO!! 

A few other funny things happened this week. Katia had invited us to Fabio's birthday party, which I thought, 'yeah no worries, we'll just pass by and say hi' but when we passed by, it turned out that his party was like THE event going on in Cova that day :P we saw Katia, but not Fabio. He told us the next day that there were like over 200 kids there from different zones around Cova Figueira. It was crazy!

Fabio's birthday party

New Years wasn't all that special really, I had sprained my ankle New Year's Eve, and we had our ward planning a party in the house of a member, and they told us we could pass by and get food from them, but when we showed up a bit before 9 and nobody was there, we decided it wouldn't be worth waiting around for food, so we went home :P then on New Year's day, they had ANOTHER party, and our one member, Kennedy, who's a member of the Stake High Council, was so upset that we didn't get anything the night before that he PROMISED us food at the party the next day. However, come 9pm AGAIN, there was NO food ready, soooo we told them to just bring food to our house when it was done :P we got woken up at 11:40pm by a couple young men outside with 4 pieces of chicken and a couple bottles of pop. Pretty solid for not even going to the party I guess :P 

The baptism we had was pretty rad too. We ended up having the baptism for a girl in the other elder's ward together with ours, so there were a few people being baptized together, and so at the end of the service, when time was given for those who were baptized to have the opportunity to bear their testimony, after Katia and Fabio had gone up, Katia's 5 year old son, Fabricio, got up and started saying a prayer. It was classic. He loves to say prayers for everyone :P the next day we had the opportunity to visit with Katia a bit after her confirmation, and she said something that has stuck with me. She said, 'You know, lots of elders have taught me, lots of sisters have taught, lots of really COOL sisters have taught me, but you guys are by far the coolest. You're the ones who put us in the path'. I guess that really showed to me that the Lord needed me to be there for her at that point in time. I guess that's 'the Reason' the Lord has left me here so long :)

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support these past couple weeks, you guys are all the bomb. 

Love y'all! 

Elder Massey