All in White

Dear Family,

This past weekend we had a baptism. Baptism are always awesome. What made this baptism so much cooler is that Stefanha is the little sister of the girl we baptised in September. I added a picture of our convert, her brother, me, and my comp who baptised her. He forgot his tie and since we were running late we just did without. I also added a picture of me and Elder Brown at the little mini party they had after the baptism and a picture of Tino, our convert´s little brother. He´s the funniest little kid. I´m probably going to end up leaving this area next week at transfers so this was a satisfying end of my time here.

The other picture is of soccer this morning. We were planning to go to the Volcano again for our Zone Activity, but it just didn´t work out. So instead we got the Elders together and played soccer and then we ate lunch while watching a movie. It was fun. Really.

Yesterday I had a really interesting experience which really strengthened my faith and my testimony. I don´t know how many of you read Shauna Kennedies emails, but in her letter that Dad forwarded to me she related an experience of an investigator bringing a Pastor from a different faith to their appointment. In it he challenged the truth of the Book of Mormon and asserted to have God´s authority and such. She closed by saying that instead of having her testimony hurt by this attack it was strengthened. I had an experience which, while the details vary, is in essence the same. Unfortunately I don´t have time to tell the whole story, but long story short I have never been more sure that Thomas S. Monson is God´s prophet and that God works through the authorized channels for the benefit of His children. The Book of Mormon is true and the Bible is true as far as it is translated correctly. Joseph Smith was God´s prophet who restored His church. Satan is at work. And he would like to sift us as wheat. So we must watch and pray always.

Stay strong!

Elder Canute

The Week

Dear Family,

This week has been interesting. And good. Let´s go.

First of all this week we went to Brava again for a baptism interview. The sea was really rough. On the way over to Brava I did fine. In fact, in all the travels I have done between Brava and Fogo, I hadn´t had any problems feeling sick or anything. I think this may have been due in part to the fact that up to this point we had always made the trip sitting on the outside of the boat. On the way back to Fogo we made the trip inside the boat. Ugh... It was the worst. I attached a picture showing how we all felt and one of the porthole showing the sea outside. That trip made me feel so sick that it ruined the rest of the day for us. But I´m proud to say that I didn´t throw up during or after the trip.

Also, during the past few days we witnessed police aprehending some hooligans. There wasn´t a struggle, but it was interesting to see. What was also interesting to see were the chickens roosting in a tree. Picture attached.

And I had a very strange dream the other day. In this dream I was Aquaman. I don´t know if any of you know anything about Aquaman but he´s basically one of the most useless super heroes. His powers are: He can breathe underwater, he can swim fast, and he can talk to fish. So... useless. I´m not sure why I was aquaman in this dream. But it was a bizarre dream.

In other news I learned a huge lesson in humility the other day. To make a long story short, we went to a lesson expecting great results and ended up getting knocked on our tushies. It´s difficult teaching the learned. It´s very true the scripture that says if you don´t have the spirit you will not teach. I think that´s in D&C 42:14 or somewhere in the surrounding area. Anyways, our plans didn´t go as planned. God always wins be we don´t. Blah.

Enjoy pictures of me and my companion reading the scriptures and pondering deeply.

~Elder Canute

Making and Achieving Goals

Dear Family,

This past week we managed to reach or get really close to nearly all our goals. It was awesome.

Last Tuesday we had Zone Conference. We had to set up the chapel with tables and stuff in the morning. Then we ate lunch with President, the Assistants, and the Medical couple at a restaurant. We had our zone conference in the afternoon. Elder Brown and I gave a training on planning. That´s a pretty important thing. Just think, we are on the Lord´s time so we want to use His time wisely. We used Alma 52:19 to illustrate the use of planning by Moroni and his captains in a life and death situation. We are dealing with peoples´ eternal welfare. A little more important. Just saying. But that went well.

In district meeting we made goals to find more people to teach. For Elder Brown and I, finding people the first time hasn´t been a problem. It´s finding people again that´s difficult. It seems like we find people, teach people, and then people disappear and we are never able to find them again. That´s a problem. So we keep finding people and trying to teach people. It would be really nice if the members helped us find people more. Mmm... referrals....

Anyways, right now we are teaching a group of Adventists that want us to prove that Joseph Smith was a prophet using the Bible. So... yea. They don´t seem to get that the Book of Mormon is the key to everything despite the fact that we have repeatedly explained that. We´ll see how that goes.

Keep writing and stuff.

Elder Canute

Happy New Year!

Dear Family,

First off, I don´t know if I sent this picture before but this is a fort we made from the bed pads we have at our house to bed all the elders when they came for christmas and when they come for Zone Conference. So, fun times on the mish.

This week I will be brief. Happy New Year! Our new year was spent in our house from 6 pm on. For our own safety. Basically this whole week, this whole city has been one big party. No joke. These past few weeks have the been the hardest so far in my mission. It is rough. The holiday season here isn´t full of joy and cheer for me. It´s just frustrating and sad to see all these good things used as an escuse for so much wickedness. But that´s why we´re here. I will say, that yesterday was an awesome day. We had a member with us the whole afternoon and everything seemed to go right. Right when I hit rock bottom, the Lord picked me up.

God loves us. Trust in Him and He will help us in our times of need.

Elder Canute Peterson

Christmas

Dear Family,

Talking to you was fun even though the mic you were using wasn´t fantastic. Grant says you switched mics for merilee´s call and that went a lot better. But next time I´m thinking it may just be better to call home on the regular phone. But I sent pictures home of the christmas party we had in the Senior Couple´s house. And a picture of a large fish one of our investigators caught.

But basically the whole Zone came over for the weekend because of travel issues. From Friday to today. So that was pretty fun, but they made quite the mess. It´s tough having 11 Elders in the same house even just for a weekend. On Christmas we went over to the Couple´s house and snacked. Then we watched Polar Express because it was the only Christmas film we could get a hold of. Kind of surprising considering the general selection of films that you can find here. But we did that then ate lunch. Then we kind of separated and we staggered our christmas calls. A lot of us just had the fam call us because there were no phone places open despite the fact that several had told us they would be open at least in the afternoon. But I can´t hold it against them for not opening on Christmas. We later had a white Elephant Gift exchange. I drew a planner cover as my gift. Picture attached. And everything in that picture is a common sight in Praia. And most things are common every where else as well. So those aren´t the crazy and rare things I´ve seen, these are common every day occurences.

Anyways, we didn´t teach a lot this past week because people started partying last monday. And they won´t stop until next week some time. It´s ridiculous. But we´re still going to do our thing. We´re like the post man, rain or shine or snow or sleet or hail or sun or whatever, we´ll get to your door.

´And that´s all folks.

Love,

~Elder Canute