I Ran Out of Titles...

So this week was good. The bad news is that Pedro was not baptized. We had a great visit with him on Tuesday. We asked him if he was ready for baptism, and he was kind of nervous, but as we talked to him, he felt better! So we passed by one other day and everything was going great! Until we went to do the interview... We knocked on his door and his cousin said he left, and that he also said he is not ready for baptism. We passed by later that day, but he was not there. Also, he did not come to church on Sunday. I am not sure what it is. People come to church and they read in the Book of Mormon, and they say they pray, but yet they can't seem to muster up the faith to do what they know is right... So that was kind of sad.

Last Sunday we talked to the mother of Marlinda after church (yes she came!!) and we taught the restoration. At the end she started to tear up, and you could feel the spirit really strong!! So this week we passed by again and we asked how she was doing, and she said "I am great, and I feel like this is the path that I should follow. I want to get baptized." So we asked how she decided, and she said that that Sunday she knew! That was a great lesson to be a part of-- to see someone realize the truth in their lives! 

We also were able to find a new family! It was cool how we found them. We were walking by and a little kid fell into the curtain of the door and pulled it off. When the dad came to fix it, we contacted him ;) Turns out the wife knew a lot already. Later, the dad said, "I don't think it was luck that he sat on the curtain in that moment you were passing by." So that was cool! 

Also, we had a little meeting with President and he showed us a video of Elder Holland. He was talking about how Peter was there with Christ and then when all was done he went back to fishing. Then the Lord came to him and asked him do you love me?. Then feed my sheep. For all of us who have the desire to follow Christ we have to ask ourselves, "Do I love him enough to leave (insert something in your life) forever? Peter was not perfect, but what he became was a powerful tool in the hands of the Lord. This really hit me, and it was nice to hear heading into the last month of my mission. When I am thinking of coming home or going back to my "nets" I need to ask do I love him! 

Love you all lots and hope everything goes great! 

Elder Naylor

It's Hard to Get People to Church...

So, we had two people preparing for church this week, Pedro and Sandra, but they did not show up to church. We passed by before church and they were all ready to go, but for some reason they did not show up. Plus, our members are really not helping. We are trying to make it work. 

I wish I had more to write, but I am not sure what I should say. We are working super hard to make things happen, but it seems like every time we get close, we lose it... For example, Zezino and Monica. They are so close to getting married, but they keep letting dumb little things get in the way. We are working on trying to help people build their faith in Christ. 

We had some good lessons in which we were getting people progressing, but again, they did not come to church. The one highlight of the week was Zelito! We found him one day in the road and he wanted to talk. We were kind of skeptical because he lives in a iffy area, and he looked kind of sketchy. But he has been reading lately, and he has said he would come to church. We just didn't have time to pass by before, but we made it our focus to go by on Sunday this week and he came to church! So, he is doing really well. We just have to keep him rolling and pick up the other people! It should be a good week! :)

I will try to send pictures next week! I don't really take very many right now, but I will try harder this week. 

Love,

Elder Naylor 

Last Transfer!!

Kind of a weird moment. I have always kind of kept the end of my mission in my sights, but now that it's so close I don't know if I am ready... Oh well, it has to come eventually! 

This week is going to be kind of short ladies and gents.

This last week Claison was baptized! He really was happy! He will be a great member! We had a ton of great plans set up to get all of our investigators to church but, of course, nothing went the way we wanted! Our members fall through and that meant we could not do a division. And then a ton of investigators had the weirdest reasons that they could not go... We are going to regroup and try again this next week. 

We have had great success in finding people who want the gospel! We were able to find 4 great investigators this week (will let you know how they do next week)! Sandra was not at church this week... but all is well! 

Elder Naylor 

Claison's Baptism

I Found Pickles!!

It took me about 2 years to do it, but I found them!!!! Of course, my companion hates them, but that's OK! :) More for me ;)

This was a good week! We were able to have 3 investigators at our stake conference! Usually, because meetings are not in the usual building, people don't go. But we had 3 people come this time! Clesison came and is progressing very well! He is set to be baptized this week. I feel it will happen. He might have some little doubts hanging on, since his whole family is Catholic, but I know he knows that this is the truth! We are also working with Sandra. We found her a week or two ago, and she has done incredibly!! Usually there are little pauses in an investigator's progression, but she has taken everything in stride, and she really liked the conference! She has a date for baptism on the 20th of June! Also, Pedro came. He is one we have been working with for a while, but he is one that we have really seen change. He has come to church for the last 4 or 5 weeks and wants to be baptized, he is just resolving a problem in Fogo before he can be baptized. But he is doing great! 

We also have been working with Zezino and Monica. They are really close to getting married, but I think they just keep getting cold feet. The biggest doubt is that they want to trust the other one more, but they are not working on it! In this next week we should have a marriage date, and everything finalized.

Something that I have really learned on my mission is the power of the Book of Mormon! Everything that we believe and everything we do is built upon the Book of Mormon. If you want to know that this church is true, read the book. Everything becomes so clear, and we have a purpose. We kind of live in a poor place. There are a lot of fights and gangs and just bad things that go on (last night there were two gun shots near our house). I look at these people, mostly the youth or young adults and wonder "Where are you trying to go in your life?" When you have the gospel in your life, there is no need to fight or to work for things that are pointless.

Also in this last week, it seems like every day I ran into someone that says, "I know." If you really knew, then you would do it. The gospel, I have found out, is not complicated. It's very simple. It's not always easy, but it's simple. The way I look at it, we are all fighting (ourselves) for a spot in the Celestial Kingdom. If you are living the gospel, you are promised eternal life, but not guaranteed eternal life. Yesterday we contacted a man and we realized he had some cigarettes. Normally, I don't contact by telling people to stop smoking, but with him I did and he said, "I will smoke this, and God will forgive me." I said, "No he won't!" and he got very offended and walked away, saying how do you know. The thing is, forgiveness is not something we get by chance. You can't just do what you want and hope that God will forgive you. Like I said, it is a Fight. You have to do everything you can! If you let up, even a little, you run the risk of losing! That's a problem a lot of members have here. They get baptized and then they get lazy, and end up falling away.

Sorry if that sounded like a rant, but it is the truth that I have come to know. I am so grateful that our Heavenly Father sent his Son to give us the "chance" to come back. I am grateful for Jesus Christ, everything he has taught us, and all the help and guidance he has given that we don't have to find ourselves. We just have to follow. Trust in Him, and I promise all will be ok! :)

Love,

Elder Naylor 

Running Out of Things to Write...

I have been at this for so long, I am not really sure what is interesting to people back home! I hope I can share something interesting!  :)

So, this week we were able to have Irina with us at church! We have been visiting with her and her husband, but she came to church and she said she really liked it! So that should be great for the future! We also found a lot of new investigators this week! We seem to be finding and sharing the first lesson with a ton of people, but we are having a hard time getting them past the second visit. I am hopeful that some of these people will catch on. 

I think I have found my purpose of my mission: I am the Farmer... I plant all the seeds! I don't know if I mentioned this. For all of those who remember my days in Fogo, they were not the easiest of my mission. But I found out that after I left in 3 weeks they had 3 something baptisms. I have a feeling the same thing will happen here. I am not really baptizing a ton, but I have given out a ton of Book of Mormons. We will see what happens ;)

Also this week, we were thinking of how we could find people in one of our areas, and we thought of Vanesa. So we went to her house and asked her if she knew of anyone we could teach and she said that she didn't (normal answer! :)). So we said hey, let's walk around and talk to people. Usually, you need to drag the member around, but I gave her a pass-along card and she runs up to the first person she sees and says, "Hey you should join our church! It is super cool and you will like it!" Then gave them the card! :) It made me laugh!! It was not the perfect way to do it, but she showed great courage. Most members would never do that! As we walked around she got a lot better! 

Well, I think that's all for this week! I hope all is well at home! 

Elder Naylor 

a traditional food of cape verde (cuscus) kinda like corn bread

Cuscus

Marlinda!

Marlinda's baptism

This week was a good one. Marlinda was baptized and she was so happy! She passed the interview without any problems! Then, when we went to the church for the baptism. We showed her to the bathroom so she could change, and we went to another part of the church to get ready. When we came back, she was talking to another elder in the hall, but crying. My first thought was CRAP, but then we talked to her and they were only tears of joy! When she stood up to bear her testimony, she got about half way through and became so choked up she couldn't finish! She wanted it so bad, and to finally achieve it made her so happy! She also was able to have her mom and step father present. It was a good day! :)

The rest of the week was kind of slower. We have a really high turnover right now. We are finding a lot of people, and we start to teach them, but then they stop progressing... People have a really hard time seeing with spiritual eyes, and acting with faith. We did have a really good lesson though, with a woman named Ilene and her husband Edmilson. We had sat down after our last appointment of the day feeling like we were through, and she went walking by with a gas can. We offered to help, and walked back to her house. She then let us in and we talked a little bit. Then her husband came in from work. Normally, we go right into the first lesson, and invite them to baptism, but this time we started talking about faith in Christ and why he is important. I felt it was a great lesson! They were not able to make it to church this week, but I still thought it was great.

We want to really help the ward here be more involved in missionary work. This is one of the biggest problems we find here in Cape Verde. We have made a plan to have every leader of the church focus on and bring to church one person every week. We will see how that goes.

Love,

Elder Naylor 

I Can Count It On My Hands!

10! So, it was great to talk to the family on our Mother's Day call! A lot has changed. Mainly in Rachel! She is tall and not a little girl anymore (kind of scary).

This week actually went very well! All of our numbers took a huge leap! We found 14 new investigators!! :) Now we just need to get them progressing!! We also have a baptism for next week. Her name is Marlinda. She's been coming to church since I came to this area, but she couldn't be baptized because her mom did not give permission. But this last week she came up to us and said "I will be baptized!" So we went by and got the permission. We really just have to review everything with her because she already knows everything, so its really easy!! :)

We also were able to set five dates with new people and they seem like they could easily progress! We will see how this week goes! 

Love,

Elder Naylor

The sign says "dont put trash here" They dont seem to be following this!

my life...

 just working out a little ;)

picture from my area

who is good at cooking now?! :)