Monday, July 1, 2013

Leaving Bela Vista

7-1-2013

Another week seems to have flown by.  Where does the time go?

I included some photos this week from my time here in Bela Vista.  A picture of Elder Camargo discovering we have water after more than a week without it.  A picture of the package and letters I got while here in Mindelo.  A picture of my district here including Elders Nhafé, me, Camargo, Young, Mendes, and Pugmire in front, as well as Sisters Routson on the left and Addams on the right.  Finally a picture of the view of Mindelo from the top my area.  This time has been a time of trials and growth experiences (many of which I am sure are not yet completed) and yet I found myself loving every second of it.  The Lord is stretching and refining me.  Most of the time I am a little afraid of the challenges, but I know that the blessings will come much greater than the trials and so I secretly find myself asking for them to come and for the faith to embrace them when they do.  I feel like I have already grown so much.  I am so grateful for my time in the area of Bela Vista, in the city of Mindelo, on the island of São Vicente.

I had a really incredible week.  On Monday night Elder Robinson arrived very late at night and we stayed up a little late talking.  Then we spent several days teaching him the area and introducing him to all of our progressing investigators, especially Sidney and his family and José's family.  Elder Robinson is a vocal major who has spent his entire life singing, doing theater, and playing several instruments so it was really cool to play guitar with him and sing because we would both just randomly make up harmonies and it was a lot of fun.  He is an incredible missionary with a strong testimony and I learned lot from him in just a few short days.

On Friday we got a call saying there were some changes and so I spent the next few days (until now) with Elder Pugmire in his area.  We taught some wonderful lessons and I learned a lot of beautiful doctrines from him because he loves to study doctrine.  And they have a hot shower, which is always fantastic.

Today I made a new best friend.  His name is Elder Mercredi and he is from Canada.  I love this guy.  I also think he is a super hero too.  We like a lot of the same things (although he is much more hardcore outdoorsy than I am) like music, movies, stuff like that.  And we have talked almost all day today.  We even went on a "division" to visit some Chinese stores just to explore all of the fun and random stuff they have.  We are going to keep talking and hope that one day we get to serve together, but if not we are definitely going to hang out after the mission.  It's going to be great.

You know, I am still feeling really crummy physically, but emotionally and spiritually I am feeling better than I think I ever have before.  I am still living in difficult times and things are still hard, but I feel the blessings beginning to pour in.  I am so happy.  I wish I had the words to adequately express the changes that are occurring in my heart, but I don't so please try to observe based on my words and thoughts as the weeks continue.

Love,

Drew
 
Elder Camargo at the water box.
 
 
Mail makes a missionary happy.
 
 
Sister Routson, Elder Nhafé, Drew, Elder Camargo, Elder Young
Sister Addams, Elder Mendes, Elder Pugmire

 
View of Mindelo from the top of the area.

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