Cidade Velha

Dear Family,

Today we went to Cidade Velha, the oldest settlement in Cape Verde. Cidade Velha means Old City. I went there expecting to see all sorts of old buildings and historic sites and stuff. But the houses and stuff all looked like everywhere else here. Which doesn´t say much about the development here. But we did see some pretty interesting buildings. And there was a 3 legged dog that followed us around. We saw banana street. and then went to the beach. Because as you know, no activity is complete without going to the beach. If only we could go swimming. Ah....


Also this week, one of our taxi drivers had Joker scars on his face. It was interesting and also kind of sad. Maybe I shouldn´t email home about all the disfigurations I see.

Maybe I could talk about the crazy people instead. There is one guy we talk to sometimes that is absolutely nuts. He´s a less active member who the Branch asked us to help so we pass by sometimes, but after he went inactive he got into some pretty bad drugs. So his mind is pretty gone. Among the stuff he has said are such things as that he was an angel. He said that he didn´t have a spirit, and when we explained that without a spirit the body is dead he came to the conclusion that he must be dead. He then told us that he had already died several times. He also isn´t sure how old he is. When we asked him he told us that he wasn´t sure and it changed depending on the story. He claimed to be 44. He said that other people said he was 27. We checked his teaching record later and it says that he´s 27. Crazy...

Anyways, my time´s about up. It was good hearing from all of you. When I have more noteworthy items I will try to write more. But day by day it becomes more routine and things seem less interesting to me. Maybe I should bring my journal with me when I do emails so I can write more. Hm...

Loves,

~Elder Peterson