Tell Mom I Finally Got a Real Job

Dear Family,

So I finally learned how to use a camera and took many pictures during one lunch period. Mom as far as getting much more than this, it´s difficult because we are not allowed to take pictures during proselyting. At least we´re not supposed to. So you´ll have to be content with what I can snag on P-days and during lunch. As far as the pictures here, I know you all really enjoy the one with me flexing. I´m not sure what i´m really trying to show off, my muscles or tan line. You can admire whichever you think is more impressive.

So here are some more things about Cape Verde that I´m not sure I´ve shared yet. For example, it´s rather common for people to bath in the street. Really all they need is a bucket of water, a bar of soap, and a scrub brush. Also, nothing here has seat belts. So whenever we take a taxi or anything like that I tend to be afraid for my life. You will understand if you´ve read my previous emails detailing the traffic here.

Africa makes you appreciate things more. For example, a cup of honey costs about 5 dollars. I bit the bullet and got some. I use veeerry sparingly, but it is sooooo good. I also wish they had Tortillas, sour cream, refried beans, shredded chedder cheese, and microwaves. If you can guess what those ingredients make you get a cookie. Merilee will make it. The only cheese they have of any reasonable price is gouda. Which is ok when you have nothing else.

If you can´t tell from the pictures, we made chili the other day. It was pretty good, but I couldn´t help but think that it would have been a thousand times better with shredded chedder and sour cream. go figure.

So every P-day in the morning we play soccer, or as it´s called here, football. This isn´t good for me. The first week I broke my right big toenail in half and today I cracked the nail on my left big toe. I also have received various scratches, scrapes, bumps, and bruises. But it´s fun.

Also, the other day I met a Cape Verdeian with a lisp. I thought that was incredibly funny. it´s also slightly less noticable in Portuguese than it is in English as Portuguese tends to mush their S´s anyways.

So I´m doing good here. The work is progressing. We had a baptism saturday which was awesome. I baptised the one on the right in the group picture. He also had me confirm him yesterday. I was pretty surprised and not really prepared for that. Fortunately I have been reading my missionary handbook in Portuguese which has all the ordinances in it. I hadn´t read it recently but I remembered enough to get through the confirmation. so that was cool.

Right now we have so many people we are trying to teach that our week is almost already full of appointments. The entire week. And that´s with one lesson per investigator. We really need to do some splits or something. It´s hard to focus on the investigators that are really going to progress with this many people to teach. And at the same time we want to make sure that we don´t miss someone who will accept the gospel. What can you do? Work hard and follow the spirit is really all you can do. Pray for us.

I love you.

Elder Peterson