Hold on to your hats and glasses--it's the week of Carnaval!

So, Sao Nicalau was very blessed this week to get rain for about 3 days! The problem with this is Cape Verdeans don't like being out in the rain, so the only ones that are out are the ones that have some things to do! Also, with the approach of Carnaval, people got really busy getting all ready! The first 2 days have gone by and there is just one more.  They started celebrating super late (like 2 am Sunday morning). Needless to say, I did not sleep well! Then yesterday church was not too bad. It was the lowest attendance I have seen since being here. Things were pretty normal that day, but at about  5:30pm the "outfits" started coming out... So we went by our 6pm appointment, and then we all called it because it got hard to work. Today was the Kids day, and tomorrow they are supposed to go crazy. It's during the day, not the night. So that will be fun :/

All of those boxes are full of beer... the whole truck... hold on to your hats and glasses! 

We made tacos!! All from scratch!

Carnaval is in full force!

As for the work, we were able to find 3 families this week! We have not sat down with them yet, but we are hoping to in the upcoming week! The work was slow, but the sifting process is working and I am hoping we can have a breakthrough here in a little while! 

I have started working out again, and I am pleased to report it is helping ;) 

Something that we focused on this week and tried to help the members understand is the principle of sacrifice. The thing is, if you want to follow God, you will sacrifice!! There is no avoiding it! Through our callings, or tithing, or fasting (only to name a few of the ways we sacrifice), we show our faith in God. We all need to be ready and willing to do whatever we need to do and to "Put off the natural man." No, it's not easy, but that's not the point. The Lord's ways are "higher" than our ways. If we want to achieve the Lord's standards and become like him, we have to go up. That means leaving behind the things that tie us down to the world. We have seen it so much these past weeks where people are more worried about Carnaval than God. More people worry about money than keeping the commandments. That is backwards!! That has to change in us. And guess what? When we sacrifice for God, we really are not sacrificing anything at all. Ever thought about that?!? :) Being tired, or rich, or poor, or famous are all things of this world. They will not go with us!! The only things that matter are our relationships with people and our own personal character. 

We all need to understand this. Imagine if everyone did? We would have a lot fewer problems in the world, and from the sound of it, it sounds like the world is just getting worse and worse. Don't get caught in the lies that satan has surrounded us with.

I love you all and I am so happy to be serving the Lord here in cape verde! :)

Love,

Elder Naylor