The Kingdom is Like Unto a Chocolate Cake

Dear Family,

I was reading about Christ's use of parables in James E. Talmage's Jesus the Christ and I decided that I would like to try and teach using parables. The problem is a lot of people here have a hard time grasping the simple basics of the gospel even when they are taught clearly, simply, and straightforward. So I suppose my venture into the depths of figurative language will have to wait.

In other news, this past week I once again voyaged to the island of Santiago. Mom I don't know where to find a map of the island I'm on but I'll ask around. Also, I forgot to mention that here in a little I am going to need new razor heads. Gilette Fusion. They don't have those here.

Also, Cookie, I received your valentines day package the other day. It was joyfully received.

This past week we had some really slow days and some pretty good days. One we walked a lot. And taught very little. The other we still walked a lot but we also taught quite a bit. Whoever called this a walking mission wasn't kidding. A car would be really nice. But also a lot of work. Cleaning, repairs, upkeep, etc.

We had a cleaning check that went well. It certainly should have, I spent my lunch hour the day before sweeping and mopping. Did I mention that my house is a pain to clean? And that it's massive? Yea.

But thanks to all for emails and packages and goodies.

Love,

Elder Canute

A Baby Left...

Dear Family,

I only have a baby left.

This past week has been quite interesting. On Tuesday we shucked corn as service. On Wednesday we went to a school to scrape rust off the fence so they can repaint. However, they didn't really have the correct type of tools we needed. Yea they had rust brushes, but this was some serious rust. We ended up scraping off the first layer of rust as best we could with a knife, going over that with a rust brush, and then going over it again with sandpaper. But that didn't work out that well. So after a couple hours of scraping in futility we gave up. They need some serious equipment to get the rust off those fences.

Then on Thursday we had a division with the Elders in Cha de Alecrim, another part of Mindelo. I went to that other area and worked for the day. When I went over there I learned that those Elders buy their food on a daily basis. So their cupboards were bare. It was interesting... Needless to say, I made mention of the fact that P-day is a day set apart for the doing of necessary things like buying of our food so we can focus on the work during the week. but we'll see what they do.

Friday we had a massive mexican meal. We had 2 other Elders over and we cooked 2 lbs of beef and made taco meat and burrito meat. I made up the last of my refried beans. Elder Go made salsa. We had black beans and some homemade sour cream. It was glorious. Then we had a training with President Neves. And he told us the identity of the next Mission President. His name is President Oliveira. He's a Brazilian who lives in Bountiful Utah. The switch will happen at the end of June.

And on Sunday we had a record amount of investigators at church. Woot!

Pictures: One is of us scraping the fence for the service project. One is a couple sheet metal houses that are pretty common in my area. Sheet metal house seems like it would be more like an oven... The other picture is of our meat feast on Friday.

Love,

Elder Canute

Handy Handkerchief

Dear Family,

There are certain things that you sometimes carry around and you're not sure why until the moment when that thing becomes very useful. For example, my entire mission I have carried a white handerkerchief folded up in my back pocket. I have used it on a few occasions to wipe the sweat from my brow but it was never that necessary. This past week, however, I had a really bad cold. It was never enough to keep me home, but I have had a really runny nose almost constantly. And suddenly that white handkerchief became very useful. Fortunately I have several so I have been able to rotate clean handkerchiefs and not have to reuse the same mucus covered cloth. Thank goodness.

This past week I have also been on the hunt for American peanut butter. There is a little side shop here that sells it but the trick is to pass by when it's open since it doesn't have regular hours. And the hunt continues...

Here in Mindelo we have a larger concentration of Elders and members and easier access to sports facilities. Because of this we play soccer Monday mornings and Basketball Friday mornings. It is most enjoyable. But I still prefer soccer. I'm tall, which helps in basketball, but I'm not the most coordinated. And any of my brothers will be able to tell you that I was never the best shot. But it is still fun.

Last week we had a division to the island of Santo Antao to a new area which just opened this transfer. I've been pretty lucky as far as that kind of thing is concerned. First Brava and now Santo Antao. There were already elders in Santo Antao, but they opened a new area on the other side of the island. It was nice. I sent some pics. One is a nasty dog we saw there. joy.

Well, the gospel is true. One thing just came to mind that I remember Elder Holland saying in a talk to us at the MTC. He said that everything we want for our investigators, Heavenly Father wants for us. We want them to accept the gospel and gain a testimony. We want them to keep commitments. We know they need to repent. God wants us to gain a testimony, keep our covenants and repent as well. Let us all follow the example of Christ that through Him we may become clean.

Love,

Elder Peterson

Big House

Dear Family,

Last week I forgot to tell you who my new companion is. His name is Elder Olson from Logan, Utah. He's pretty cool.

Unfortunately, the only pictures I have taken in the past week have been of nasty dogs. I would have taken pictures of my house to show you but, uh, I didn't. But let me tell you what. It's fairly large. Three stories. They aren't very wide but it still is spacious. Our first floor is the kitchen, the second floor has our laundry room, my comp's bathroom, and our exercise room, and the top floor has my bathroom, our sleeping quarters, and study room. The downside to that is the amount of house we have to clean. If we kept the windows shut it wouldn't get so dirty, but our house would turn into an oven. Oh, and other positive thing. We have hot water. It is the best. I'm just saying.

I want to say one thing very briefly. I hate haircuts here in Cape Verde. That is all.

But new area, new companion, new creole, bring it on.

Elder Peterson

Mindelo

Dear Family,

Transfer Day. I have left the volcanic island of Fogo for the island of St. Vicente. I will serve as Zone Leader in the city of Mindelo, the second largest city in Cape Verde. Mindelo is considered the cultural capitol. I like it so far. It will be an interesting change though. I will have to learn the area and stuff all over again.

As far as last week, I was sick. It started on wednesday during a division in Cova Figueira and last through the weekend. It wasn't all bad the whole time but came and went. The worst was wednesday night when I threw up and sunday morning. I woke up with bad pains in my stomache and painfully alternated between the toilet and my bed trying to get comfortable. Fortunately I'm good now.

But because of my indisposed state I have no other news. I was sick, I left Fogo and I'm in Mindelo. The End.

Elder Canute