DONT PANIC, AND DONT DO ANYTHING! PLEASE!

Yesterday the volcano opened up. It was not an explosion, but lava is flowing. First off, I AM SAFE. Our mission president and area seventies are aware and are very concerned about our safety. No calls to the mission or first presidency. I just want you to know. They have evacuated the city close to the volcano and have pulled the missionaries out of the next closest. Here in Mostieros we have opened up a place for these people to go. We have been working hand in hand with the Red Cross and police to take care of everything. 

It has been really cool to work on humanitarian stuff here. At the gate into the school they have police guarding it so that normal people don't come in and cause problems. But when we come up they just open right up! We are cool! :) Last night we ran around gathering clothes and blankets for the people who came in. This morning we have been giving out food and just trying to help and be ready for the worst.

Some places on Fogo have had ash fall, and some fumes, but where I am at is virtually safe! 

This next week I can see us doing a lot of stuff with this, so teaching might be a little low. But don't worry about us. We are here to help and serve but we also will stay safe.

Prayers are what these people need. Don't worry about sending any money or things, just keep these people in your heart this Thanksgiving week. Be grateful for everything you have, because people here are losing everything.

I know that God is in control and that he will take care of this. I am happy to be able to be here and help. I won't lie, I  really wanted to do humanitarian stuff on my mission, so my wishes came true! ;) 

That's all for this week.

Love,

Elder Naylor

My Week in Pictures!

To be honest this week was kinda slow. Not a ton has changed in regards to investigators progressing. Guta is still waiting for some unknown doubt... I'm not sure what to do other than to keep passing by and inviting her to do things that are right. Janin has fallen really hard and shows no interest to change... but we have a few people who could make it.

Something I keep running into here is that the people really like the elders and love to talk with us and even sometimes like what we say, but they will not do what we ask. They believe that just hearing the word of God is enough, or that Christ already paid and therefore they need to do nothing. It's really quite sad.

Elder Pauli and I are going to focus a little bit more on the ward and try to strengthen them and hopefully that is what will bring in the baptisms.

Honestly, that's all for this week, but here are a lot of pictures! :)

Hiking

Hiking again

I think my shoes need to be swapped (that is my finger BTW)

Fogo!!

Translation:Strangers can not enter. yes we went in ;)

Family night at Guta's!

Dishes

Love, 

Elder Naylor

3 New Investigators!

Transfers were last night and guess where I am??? The same place! :) That will make 9 months in this area by the end!! Good thing I like this area, right? :) I will have a new comp though! He is from California but is a Tongan!! :) It should be a lot of fun! His name is Elder Pauli.

This last week went really well! We found three people that are golden and ready to listen. One of them is actually Fransisca, from way back when! She came around and really wants to do everything and follow this church! She came to an activity, but then missed church because she was at a funeral. But she is awesome! Another person we met is Eunice. She is the mother of one of our members and she decided to come to church one day. She loved it so much she wants to talk with us and do everything there is!! Super awesome! The other is Eve. Her husband passed away 1 year ago. He was killed while working as a security guard and left Eve with 7 kids and no work. She also is looking for God in her life and wants to follow!

This really came as a blessing because lately I have felt that this area was just closed off to the Lord. They wanted nothing with him. So I had been praying that the people would change and come to God, and they are now!

Guta is dong ok. We have planned for her to be baptized this week. We will confirm that today. She is still helping her daughter with a Catholic thing and doesn't want to be baptized until this is done. The problem is that the pastor went to America and they don't know when he will be back.... so we will see!

I have been using a different cyber lately that is super slow uploading photos. Next week I will send a lot more! I promise! 

Love,
Elder Naylor

Halloween= 1 Candy Bar

This week Elder Fernandes went to Brazil, so they set me up with a mini (a local missionary). He is cool. 

This week was a rough one. There were days that I did not want to do a single thing. A lot of disappointments and a lot things did not go the way we wanted.

Guta was not baptized because she was doing a catholic meeting thing for her daughter. We taught her everything we could, but she just couldn't get passed being baptized and then being in this catholic meeting. We did everything we could. Janin was fine, but he had set-back, so we have to wait. He is not putting the Lord in first place. A lot of the people here are not accepting our message and can't look past the things of this world to look to God.

This week was tough, and I was doing a lot of study on hope. I'm trying to find the fire to keep going. I remembered the Mormon message about daily bread, and how the Lord supported them day by day. We just need to keep going and take everything we get and always trust the Lord.

Love you all.  Hope this week was good.