Olá! Oi! Aloha! It's a Week of Welcoming!

Brothers and Sisters Aloha! 

This week Sister Tongi and I threw an Island Luao in the church for the whole of Assomada. Sister Tongi has been teaching hula to the mocas (young woman) and a few of our investigators - Suely and Heriana. We performed our hula and the Elders performed the haka with some recent members, including our recent baptism Jardel - he was front and center and looking fierce! We also taught everyone the Cupid Shuffle during the party. The members made Kachupa and cakes and I was in charge of decorations (heaven!).  All of the missionaries had investigators attend and the night ended up being a big success! 

 

This week I also went on divisions with my Sister Training Leader Sister Spolador. We had some great lessons and I learned a new technique for relieving stress - whacking at a pig head with a machete. 

Yesterday was transfers.... and my killer companion Sister Tongi was transferred to Santo Antao. I'm really going to miss that crazy girl - she's one awesome missionary. I will be staying in Assomada for another transfer with Sister Cardoso.  She is Cabo Verdean and doesn't speak English - so this will be my transfer to really practice Portuguese (and a little Creole too).  Assomada is a tough area but I have a lot of friends here and I'm happy this wasn't good-bye. Except for with Sister Tongi - good thing we live close by each other in the USA.

Well, with transfer craziness that is all for this week. Ate mais logo!

Loves,

Sister Hanzel

Losing at Mancala to a local expert

Girl Time

This was a really good week! We had a baptism on Saturday, our "little brother" Jardel. He's Maria de Jesus' son and we're excited because now they can help each other grow and progress together.

Jardel's Baptism

The women that vend around our apartment know us really well now. They're loud and funny and we look forward to our "Boa Tarde!" everyday as we leave to proselyte. This morning I was on my way to throw our trash in the dumpster outside when one of the vending ladies started shouting at me in Creole that I should stop throwing my garbage away and should instead give it to her - for her pigs. I laughed and we bargained in Creole for a second, I'll give her my garbage, and she'll give me mangos. 

Certain days the work is really long, and sweaty, and you wonder why you're hiking this hill for the four hundredth time. But then Heavenly Father gives you an investigator like Suely, who just needed some good girl talk, or Heriana, who needed a BFF to talk to about her school stresses. These two chickas make me feel happy and needed and I love all of our lessons and chats and inside jokes and adventures. Suely has a baptism date marked for this Saturday, and they are both dancing in our Island Luao this Friday at the church. All of Assomada is invited, and I'm excited for Assomada to see these girlies hula! 

Hula Practice

Have a happy week! 
Sister Hanzel





A couple of scrapes never kept me down!

The classic jumping pic with my BFF Heriana and a nice view of Assomada



I fell this week and scraped up my knees, Heriana and Sister Tongi found it really funny, until I told Sister Tongi my skirt material was snagging on my knees and making it impossible to walk, so she had to switch me skirts

This week we spent a day in Praia for trip number three of Sister Tongi's dentist adventure (only one more to go) and we also spent a day in the house while I got over a cold. But hey, team Tongi and Hanzel are back in business this week! We have a goal to find a family to teach and to find an inactive or less active every day, along with a new investigator. We're aiming high but if we do our best Heavenly Father will take over the rest. 

I remember reading about that in my favorite book, "Kisses from Katie".  She said that many times in her challenging life (Katie is a young single mother of 14 adopted girls in Uganda) people will tell her "God doesn't give us more than we can handle.", and she said she absolutely does not believe that. She believes that God will always give us more than we can handle, because that's when we stop relying on ourselves and turn to him.

I believe that is how being a missionary works as well. If we set our goals higher than we know we can reach, but continue to have faith and do our part, that's when the mission miracles come. 

So remember, God will always give you more than you can handle. It's a blessing in disguise. 

Love,

Sister Hanzel

View of the volcano island of Fogo