Transferred!

Yeah, it happened. I got taken off my pretty little island of Santa Antao. :( Oh well. Life goes on! I am now on the island of Sao Vicente and I might be a district leader!! (Still not sure, kinda still in the air, my comp is for sure! :)) So I am happy to be here and see what new adventures I can find! I finally get to play sports on this island. That will be really fun!!!

This last week was really crazy. We didn't teach very much because of Carnaval and a meeting we had in Sao Vicente that weekend. But it was still really good! We had been teaching this lady, Zenida, and she is amazing! She has so much faith and wants to do everything. The only problem is that she needs to marry her boyfriend first before she can be baptized. When the church opens there, she said it should be easier! 

By the way, the church is almost done! That will help this area so much! Too bad I don't get to be there for the grand opening! Also, as bad as beer and alcohol are, they have given me 4 new investigators!! There are people that, while they are drunk, call to us on the road and sit down with us and say "Hey I don't want to drink anymore. Can you help me?" These people are so bad off that when we start to share our message, they can't help but love it!! So I hope the future elders keep working with them! 

In regards to Carnaval, it was actually pretty mellow! It was more like the whole world was doing Halloween with huge parades as well! Nothing too bad happened on Santa Antao! 

We also taught this other man, who is so golden. He talks about how important his family is to him and he has had so many chances to go to Portugal, but he hasn't just to stay with them! He makes so many sacrifices for them! And he tries very hard to follow God! The only hurdle we have with him is that he is very educated and knows the Bible really well, which should be a good thing. But! He is smart, he follows what is right, and is always asking questions and really trying to find the right answer!! This week was really slow, but still good!

I found a scripture that I have now based my whole mission around! It is Corinthians 3:3. Go read it and you'll learn why! ;)

Other than that, Elder Naylor is loving life and saving souls!! :)

Fica Fixe!!

Elder Naylor 

It's March! The trouble with Caranaval...

Baptism from last week

Wuz up todo mundo!!! :) todo bem? ( I say this probably 500 times a day! :) The todo bem part!) 

Welcome to not my favorite week of the mission... I have one word: Caranaval (or mardi gras). It has literally blown up all of our investigators, all our appointments, and any kind of hope we had for finding new people right now...

BUT even when the whole world around you is having a "great time" sinning, we found a woman who is so sincere! We found her when we were trying to teach one of our investigators, Domingues. During that lesson there was such loud music playing and so many things going on, and then she walked into the room in a very rude way and I just thought, "Great. This won't help," but she sat down and listened, and we marked her for the next day. When we showed up she was there, and was super ready to talk! There is a thing here called grog that they make from sugar cane. It. is. so. bad! She is a huge drinker, and she knows how bad it is for her!! But she wants help and is willing to change! So we had an awesome lesson with her and her name is Maralina! 

The next day we were walking to an appointment. This lady runs past, and is not wearing tons of clothing, and it has all these coins on it, so we look away as we walk past her. Then we hear her run up behind us and I was thinking, "Who is this crazy lady?" Then as she passes us she says, "Hello elders!!! to at 6 right??" Yes. It was Maralina. So caranaval has really put a downer on everything. We had two whole days with just 2 lessons... super unusual! We actually have to stay in the next few days! After this we have some awesome people who will be great, but until then? Lots of loud music and strange clothing outside, studying inside!

Love you all, and wish you the best! :)

Elder Naylor 

That awkward moment you forgot how to type on an English keyboard!

Hello world! This week was really good! We had 3 baptisms! Hernany age 21, Kely age 17, and Maria age 48. They are all doing super good and were so ready for baptism! :) We also had a lot of appointments fall through, but I'm learning to just move on. :)

It's tough to know what to write every week because something that was cool to me might not be the same for you guys! 

This week we had our zone leaders come do divisions with us! (My old comp Elder Camargo and I got to work together again!!! :)) I learned a lot with them, and I have gotten so much better! Two things I learned with them are: 1. Stay calm, even when the appointments fall through, the Lord is still in control! 2. Be yourself. People need you! They need someone that they have confidence in and then they will ask questions!

We started teaching Hernany's mom! One night we were waiting outside the interview and sitting on these concrete steps in the dark, and her mom walked past and was super embarrassed because she didn't have a light for us or chairs and that the house was not "nice." She just kept apologizing, even when we said it's alright! But this was an opportunity to tell her that God does not look on what we have in this life, but on our heart. After we said this, she says "If you guys really don't mind, come up and talk with us." So when we went up the stairs and into this little room with a bed and two chairs (with just enough space in between for our legs!), we started to talk about Christ and what's important in this life, and what we need to do! Then she really opened up, but we had to go do another interview, so we remarked her (set another appointment) and it should be really good! :)


We also have been teaching this lady that is super excited about the gospel and wants to get baptized, but she needs to get married first, and her boyfriend is less than excited. They run a bar inside their house, but we are working with them, and it should be good. One day we walked past and the door to the bar was closed, but in the boards of the door was stuck one of our pass along cards! The one that has Christ's picture on it! So every time you pass that door, Christ is right there!! :) Super cool! We did not mention that, it was all her doing! 

We have another lady who has been making excuses to not talk with us, and for her daughter. One day we caught her in the road and talked with her. At the beginning she kept dodging questions, but when we started asking about what she knew about Christ she started answering, and then we got talking, and!..... Finally marked a time to sit down with her and her family!!! Do not underestimate the power that Christ has! :) 

That's about all for this week! I will take notes next week and give better details, alright? I would love it if all of you would send me a little message about what's going on in your lives, and even little details that you guys think are nothing! Thanks! :)

Love,

Elder Naylor

Parables...

So this has been a good week! I am sorry the computers are not uploading pictures very well, but I will figure something out! This week was a tougher week, but was still really good! Elder Duca and I have been working hard to grow our area (because the work got split in two) and it's been tough, but we are starting to make some progress!

This week I have two analogies to share with y'all! :)

1. Christ's parable about the seeds: The first falls on the path and gets eaten by birds, the second falls onto rock and is burned, the third is in the weeds, gets smothered and can't grow, the fourth finds good ground and grows. Without trying to be sacreligious, I want to add one more. We were walking down this hill this week and my comp points to this cliff wall, and asks "How do those flowers grow here?" and he was right. There was literally no dirt or anything, just solid rock. But sure enough, these flowers were growing out of the wall. So, like Christ's parable, the ground is like our heart and we need to receive the gospel and grow it into the plant we want. Also, when we are surrounded by "hard" things and are not sure how to move forward, with faith and hard work we can make it. I know that the Lord is always there with us no matter where we are physically or emotionally, and with faith any of us can grow!

2. The other: a few months ago, a member told me about how he is the best jockey on the island. He told me a story about how the gun went off but his horse stayed in the shoots. He still ended up winning the race! The reason he is so good is because when the race starts, he throws the reins over the horse's head and does not use them. At first I thought "Why? You don't have control?" But he went on to explain that the horse runs more naturally when you don't use them, so he runs faster. If you pull on the reins even a little, you pull on the bit and the horse pulls up a little. The spirit is the same! Even when we think we are right and are helping or doing good, sometimes we can hold the Spirit back! We need to do everything in our lives to be worthy of his help and then get out of the way when he tries to do something, or DO what he tells us to do!

That's what I wanted to share with you all this week! :)

Love,

Elder Naylor

Yeah. ;)

For this week, we had zone conference, and we ended up being out of our area for three days! (Not super happy about this...), but it was really good. We had some really good trainings and I had the opportunity to sing for half the mission!! :) It was kind of nice to perform again! :) 

But something I want to say to the whole world... If you are in charge of people or information that will affect them, do not hold back information or be unorganized!!!!!!!!!! We spent 4 hours in a huge city with all of our stuff, and making a million phone calls because of this!!! I was a little bit frustrated! 

They finally put minis in our area! What this means is that my comp and I are split and are working with people who are not missionaries. These members have enough free time to be full time missionaries. We do this because my misson is all islands and lots of people need to move or whatever. 

So I am now working with a native caboveriano! :) He is cool, I really like him! :) We also had the baptism of Denise!!!!!!!!!!! yes!!!!!!! So happy about that! After a few big lessons, she finally committed and followed through! 

We had two golden people fall into our laps, and they will be baptized here in two weeks! Keli has had all of the lessons from a member and the first thing she said when we talked is, "When can I get baptized?" And Claudio was a hand off from some elders in Praia and he is awesome!!! So that's what happened this week! :) I will send more pictures when the internet is faster. It's been super slow lately...

fica fixe! 

Elder Naylor 

PS (from mom).... It sounds like he received more packages and letters from Christmas, but there were very few details (other than candy and letters) to be able to tell from who and/or what... So thank you to all!! 

Go Seahawks!! Thank you for Christmas letters/packages...

I love my Hawks even in Africa

So, to start off...GO SEAHAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Now that that is done with! ;)

This was an interesting week. It had a ton of let downs and frustrations and stuff that just really made me mad, but it ended a little better! :) I got a ton more Christmas mail this week! :) (not packages still, :( ) but I want to just say thank you to all the people that sent me stuff!! :) (Even if I got it in February, I am still very grateful! :)) I love you all, and am grateful for all the support and prayers that are for me! It just keeps you working though the stuff that is hard! :) Thanks! 

So we have been working really hard with Denise and Joakim, and we thought we were going to have them baptized this week, but on Thursday night (the last possible night they could say yes or no) they both fell through, and Denise had said yes earlier that day!!!!! And Joakim is so ready! He just won't take the last step! Yeah, not a very happy Elder Naylor that night... I just wish they could have the faith to take the step and receive the blessings that are waiting for them. 

The next day we were at district meeting,  and we got a message saying we have to go to Sao Vicente the next day!! That took us out of our area for two whole days!! Ahhhhh. But! The meeting in Sao Vicente was really good, and I learned a ton of good stuff! 

We came back and were able to save some of our appointments, and church on Sunday was the smoothest running it has ever been!!! :) So yeah, this week we have to go back to Sao Vicente (taking the dumb boat that makes me super sick) and that will take up more time, but this one is with the president so that will be good! :) That's all for this week! :)

fica fixe!

Love,

Elder Naylor

7 Months!

This has been a really good week! To start off, we had three baptisms this week!!! Cely, Ana, and William!!! They are doing super well, and Ana has literally been telling everyone she sees to get baptised!! :) So this week we are pushing really hard to get Denise and Joakin baptised. They are both 100% ready, they just won't say yes, so we are going to help them clear up any doubts!

The work here in Ribera Grande has been going really well, and the future is looking bright for this area! We still have not been split yet, and we are waiting to see what happens, but we keep getting calls like it will be soon!

We have found some new people to teach, but we will need to sit down with them a little more to find out if they will be good for the future! It's kind of nice and kind of not, but all the people here will talk with you or let you into their house. But a lot of times, they have no intention of making any changes! Sometimes I wish they would just say "I don't want to talk you." It's weird, but we lose time sometimes teaching people who are not going to progress!

This week, something I learned is that you can always find answers and comfort in the scriptures! I have been kind of stressed lately (lots of work that needs to happen w/ investigators and the mission area), but I know I can find answers in the scriptures, and I am so grateful for that! :) I wish you all the best, and hope that you have an awesome week! :) Fica Fixe! 

Love,

Elder Naylor