Week 75: Baptism and Some of My Favorite People

Well, i'm kinda going to be a bit of a fubeca and my email is gonna be a bit short... BUT!!! this week was amazing! We continued our streak of family nights and we ended the transfer (6 weeks) with 38 family nights! woot woot! I'd say that was pretty successful. So... I do have a story of the baptism, but its FOREVER long and i don't think i have time to write it all, but i'll try. So here goes nothing. 

Baptism of (from left to right) Ani, Sonia, and Albertina.

Font ankle deep, full of sand.

Saturday morning we woke up put on our exercise clothes and we headed to a service project to clean up the city, it was supposed to start at 7, we showed up at 7.15 and no one was there... no one showed up till 8. and we didn't start until 8.30- welcome to the timing of cabo verdians mixed with members. everything always starts an hour late... at least. so we headed back to prepare for the baptism at 10.30 and headed to the baptism which was supposed to start at 11... well... we arrived. the baptisms were there, and the ward mission leader.... and that was it. and the font had water ankle deep. So we organized things and called people and we ended up heading to the beach at 12.30... and the baptism started at 1.30 .... and then we got home at 2.30. Never would have thought that that would have been my last baptism but it was good. not to mention that we didn't have enough baptismal clothes, but luckily my companion was in a white skirt and we had a white shirt at home so Ani was baptized in our clothes. But it turned out so beautiful! And thus my companions first baptism and my last was in the ocean. It was like a fairytale, a lot more similar than i had planned, villain and all.

Me, Sister B Santos, Rosi (convert), their mom, Anilton (convert), grandma and brother who was visiting for the weekend. One of the families that I was closest to. Love them!

Then it became the last day that I would be teaching in porto novo, and i was doing so good. I didn't cry in church, nothing... till I got to Anilton (recent convert from the beginning of the mission)´s house and we shared a message with him and his mom. We were reading a lovely scripture and i began to explain and bear testimony and I looked over at Anilton who was just sobbing, and I couldn't help but cry too, so all of us began crying for a good 10 minutes, but we had it through. It's amazing to see the changes on the mission. I would have never imagined the mission would be like this. You don't understand it until you pass through it. You see the gospel touch the lives of these people and you can see it in their eyes that they are converted. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to know these people. They are amazing. I have never met a people so loving and so accepting. I know that this work is the work of our Savior. I can see His hand in the lives of these people.

Love ya´ll!

Sister Kohlert

Antonia (recent covert from the very beginning of my mission, and two of her children. Ricardo was baptized a few weeks back, so you might already recognize him. She is such a strong and amazing woman.

Week 74: Okay, I'm for reals out of email subjects.

O NHA MÉ! Well can you even believe that another week has passed by! I forgot my planner at the house today so... i don't really remember what happened, so today the email will be a bit sparce... my bad. We are still on the roll of family nights, not quite sure how many we've had, but one every day this week. We are also making A TON of banana cake. You wouldn't believe how many times i have made that cake (but grandma sheila's sour cream cake will never be topped, all who agree may manifest with ´amen´).

We were also privileged to see Anilton receive the priesthood yesterday (woot woot!). We will be having three baptisms on saturday :) super stoked about that! And we also have been finding a lot of new families! I honestly don't remember much else of the week except for the fact that it's really hot. To the point that it's hard to sleep, but ya know, we live through it.

Scenery heading to the bottom of Cova.

The truck ride back home

Our district at the top of Cova

Today, we went to Cova, where the pine trees grown. Super cool. You're literally in the clouds. We waited for about an hour to get a car to take us up, and then we spent about 4 hours hiking around and talking to the animals, then when it was time to head back... there were no cars to take us back... until 2.30 in the afternoon... we would have to wait 3 hours... so we began to wait... at the only store in this tiny little town... eating and playing games with the worker. And EVERY TIME the other sisters heard a car they sprinted to the road to see if they were heading to porto novo. After about an hour, we finally got someone to give us a ´buleia´. Blessings. But I must say that I really do like little towns out in the middle of no where. it's more ´home-y´. except for the fact that there's no internet access or cell service. Anyways. We had a lot of fun and learned that I'm really good at talking to goats (but not as good as grandma spilker at calling peacocks).

Isn't it stunning!

Relief Society activity on the beach.

Oh and I forgot about the first hitch hiking experience. That was when we were at the relief society activity. So it was arranged that we would take a car there and then walk (just over an hour)to get home... except they didn't bother to tell the sisters this. So we were stoked to head home... until we understood that we would be walking back haha...so we began walking. Luckily we were with a few who were walking faster so we were quite a bit ahead of the group, far enough that they couldn't see us. I soon made an agreement with the other 4 members that were with us that we would stop the next car, soon after a car passed and we got in as fast as we could. As far as the other members know, we walked the whole way.

Well, thats just about it for this week! So grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve the Lord here in Santo Antao, I wouldn't trade it for anything. 

Love you all!

Till next week,

Sister Kohlert

Found these gummies at the store. They're called "Kisses" and advertise that they are "sin" and gluten free (it's actually spanish, but definitely funnier in english). 

Week 73: 5...4...3...

HEYO! Well just one more week as passed by and we are just loving life here in Santo Antao, but the only thing is that the happier we get the temperature goes up a degree... and its getting REALLY HOT. Its like flashbacks to a year ago, but this time I can actually understand that everyone is dying in the heat... and that everyone is at the beach, and not in their houses. But that's okay because we are still having a ton of success!

Just hanging out the our recent convert's grandma. Love her!

Family Night! I swear they just keep getting bigger.

So if ya'll remember, last week i was talking about how a door closed, but i knew that 3 more would open, well, the funny thing is that literally three doors opened and those three doors will be getting baptized in 2 weeks! WHAT!?! Its actually the family that was ALMOST baptized just over a month ago, but their family was visiting from luxembourg so they kinda dropped off the face of the planet because of their family. But their family left and they are SOOO READY! They came to church on sunday and are being integrated into the ward. Albertina explained how she just has this desire to go to church every week and how much she missed going when her family was in town. Its amazing to see how much they remember of the lessons and the pure desire of their hearts. Keep them (albertina, sonia, and ani) in your prayers this week!

Family Night ...again!

We also has seen sooo much success from our family nights! We had 8 less actives at church this week and we are so stoked that they will all be ´rescued´ by the end of the month. My convert from a year ago, Anilton, who went less active because of work, is one of our rescues, and he will be receiving the Melchizedek priesthood on sunday, and is preparing to serve a mission. His sister, Rosi, who was baptized with him, will also be one of our rescues. AHHH! Just so happy! And it's literally getting hotter by the minute. 

Removing some part of every kernal of corn that i dont know how to explain... to make cachupa, because we´re real cabo verdeans. 

And just one more gross story just for fun. We decided to help Antonia (my first convert on the mission, who I ALWAYS wrote stories about things that happened in her house) wash clothes, because they aren't the cleanest. Well... i won't even say what was on the ground, but the moment that we got home for lunch we took showers and scrubbed ourselves down with antibacterial soap. Gotta love it. I'll explain it all in person, but the details won't go over so well in email. 

Love you all A TON! Hope you guys are all ready for #TheBestTwoWeeks.

Sister Kohlert

FHE on the beach with some members.

Sister Kohlert's famous (in Porto Novo) Banana Cake.
It's so good you'll lick the aluminum foil.

Week 72: The Bittersweet

Well this week passed in a blink of an eye! We started off strong, then we were shipped off to Mindelo for zone meeting, which was... well, definitely not one of the best I have been to. For the last zone meeting of a missionary, they will bear their testimony, so i wasn't exactly looking forward to that, and it was also the first of my companion so i knew that she, too, would have to bear her testimony. After the beginning of zone meeting, they invited the new missionaries to bear their testimonies, and after they finished, they just continued on and for a moment I thought I had missed the bullet and that I wouldn't have to!... jokes on sister kohlert because they´ll just make all the dying missionaries do it at the end instead. Thats okay, at least I wasn't the only one to get teary eyed.

The next we returned to santo antao, but sister b santos didn't pass so well on the boat, she just kinda died when we got home. I just have to keep reminding her to drink water too or else she´s literally going to die with me. Oh it's so fun to train...

And in case you were wondering about our family nights, they are still going strong! on saturday, we had a family night and we had about half of the neighborhood playing ´a macaco foi a feira(?)' its like down by the banks but in portuguese. best thing ever. And then... it all paid off on sunday when we had 9 less actives at church! WHAT! all of the ones who frequent our family nights. so that was pretty cool! And they we´re talking to all the members who are hosting the family nights! ahhh! its so amazing! and the three investigators that frequent our family nights were also at church, que bencao. But we did have a bit of a heartbreaker this week, Ravi, who was supposed to be baptized on the 23rd is going to live in sao vicente permanently so we had to pass him over to the elders... but when one door closes, 3 more open, so now we´re just gonna hunt down those three open doors! who needs knocking away if the doors already open. okay that was just a cheesy missionary joke. but I can only use them for a few more weeks. so... ya know... `African´ love you all!

Sister Kohlert

Week 71: So....It's now been move to 'Transfer of the Family Nights'

Boa Terde as they say here in Santo Antao,

Another wonderful week has passed by on this golden island that i love so much! We have had a lot of fun this week, and we have seen a lot of miracles. One miracle that I´d like to share was the story of the first door my greenie knocked. So it was a lovely summer day in Porto Novo; by lovely I mean drenched in sweat, covered in dirt, with sand in your eyes, with wind as if you were in a clothes dryer, when our lesson fell though and i decided to take the opportunity to have my comp knock the first door in her life. First, she had no idea where to go, haha so i picked the street and she picked the door. Turns out a family of like 14 lives there and 6 of the kids (from ages 8 to 23) sat to hear our message. They were so welcoming and so open. It was truely a miracle. We passed by again on saturday and just one of the daughters was there, but she had prayed and knew it was true. Can I just tell you that these people are prepared!?! Gotta love the mission. So we´re going to keep trying to work with the whole family (which consists of the parents and their 8 kids... you dont find that here! not with all the kids having the same parents!) so cool.

We also had another week full of family nights, every single night actually. It´s been great for our investigators and the less actives, and the members of course. We´ll see how many we can do this transfer, so far we´re at 12 out of the 14 days. soon to be 13/15 after tonight. 

Yesterday was bittersweet because it was the last fast and testimony meeting that I will have here in Cabo Verde, as I realized that sitting in the congregation I just bawled my eyes out. You grow to love these people so much, and it just breaks your heart to even think about leaving them. I love my mission. I wouldn´t trade it for anything in this world. There is not anything better that I could do with this year and a half than to serve the Lord.

Love you all! Till next week,

Síster Kohlert

Week 70: Week of Family Nights

Sooo... I only have a little bit of time today... long story. the internet here is rough. But this week, with Sister Tomas, we had a TON of family nights and it was the funnest thing ever! We had one every night for 5 days. Its amazing to see how much they help your investigators, recent converts, and less actives intergrate and find friends. We´re seeing a lot of success from them, so you´ll be getting a lot of pictures this transfers of all the family nights. But not today because this computer wont let me send pictures.... sorry.

My companion, Sister B Santos arrived this morning from Brazil. Unfortunetly her baggage got lost, so we´ll see what we can with the clothes we have in our house. I forgot what it's like to train! She just has no idea what she´s doing and I just keep forgetting that she doesnt know! haha and i think that i keep forgetting too because she already speaks portuguese haha. Can't wait to tell all the stories that come with training. Love you guys a ton! I love this work and the people here. They are truely amazing. Sorry for the short email, maybe next week everything will work out.

Ficam dret,

Sister Kohlert

Week 69: The Last Transfer

AH! 

Can you guys even believe that its the last transfer?! So... my last transfer, I will be training Sister Santos, from Brazil. She´ll be arriving on Sunday or Monday, so until then I´ll be with a ´mini missionary´, Sister Tomas. She´s from this island, just another city. For those of you who dont know what a mini missionary is, its just a local who will serve for a short period of time (usually 1-6 weeks), they usually are preparing to serve, or are still deciding, so they are not set apart as a missionary. So it´ll be an interesting transfer.

This week we found some awesome people, who i´m really excited about, but we just have to get them to church... that´s always the problem. But, I have high hopes. We heard a rumor that they will divide our areas differently, but im not really sure about that. So you´ll hear about that next week. On Saturday, we were helping a member wash her clothes, and afterward we learned the dance for the festa of Sao Joao, and she made us Kamoka, the best stuff ever. I will make it for ya all when I get home. Its just toasted whole grain flour, then you add sugar and powdered milk and thats it. It looks just like sand, but tastes kinda like cheerios. You eat it plain. without any liquid. its soooo good! Sorry I dont have a picture of it, but maybe next week.

On Sunday, Sister M. Santos said bye to everyone. It was pretty sad, and she doesn't really know what to do because it's the first time that she´s been transfered to a new area, but she is actually going to serve where I was before, in Africa 70 Sal. She´s going to love it there, but it takes a lot of hard work. Lets just say that Santo Antao is one of the best islands, and you learn alot on the other islands haha.

Well, that´s just about all this week, I love you all, till next week!

Sister Kohlert