I´ve never seen more baratas (beatles) and stray dogs in my entire life...they´re literally everywhere. The dogs are treated so badly, which is super sad. And then the baratas like to chill in our fridge, microwave, sink. and literally every other place you could think of in our house. It´s so gross. But hey, at least it´s not spiders I have to deal with. We have a pest control person coming next week too I think, so pray that helps!
On a positive note, I got really blessed for my first transfer of the mission because #1 I´m companions with Sis. Lee who is a sister leader and super awesome. She´s a BYU cheerleader which is kinda funny if you know me, but we get along super well and she is helping me learn tons both about teaching and learning the language. And #2 we live in `downtown` Praia. Which means we live close to all the restaurants and grocery stores, and our house is super nice. At least for cabo verdeans. Every house is made out of cement, which is odd. But they think it´s odd that we use wood for our houses in america so whatever. We have a kitchen with a fridge and microwave, a laundry room with a washer, 2 bathrooms with toilets that flush toilet paper (!!!!!!!!!!!!) normal showers with warm water, and a fan! So yeah, I feel SUPER blessed. It´s the little things that count here. God is good. Shoutout to k-shu.
My area is called Tira Chapeu (tee-ra sha-pay-ooh) and is super ghetto. We´re pretty much in the slums of Praia. We have to walk all downhill for 10 minutes to get there each day. Here in Cabo Verde, people who live high on the hills are more rich and those who live below are more poor. Walking home each night is quite the hike too. The people in our area are phenomenal though We had a total of 6 pesquisadors at church last sunday which is unheard of! They are all so welcoming and humble and they literally have nothing. They live in 1 bedroom cement houses and work 40+ hour weeks just to stay alive. It´s pretty funny how most of them have the newest iphone or tv though. Priorities man....lol. It´s very humbling here though. I already love the people so much even though I can only understand every 6th word they say. Everyone here speaks creole unless they´ve recieved higher education, and even then they just mix their portuguese with creole. So good thing we learned how to speak that in the MTC........
I´m super grateful to be here serving these people though. It´s all very different, and extremely overwhelming and difficult at times, but I´ve also never been happier in my life. I know that this is God´s work and there´s no where else I´d rather be. The book is blue, the church is true. Amen.
Also, the bread here is to DIE FOR!!!!! I could eat it all day, every day. But good thing my comp LOVES to run (; Proof that God has a sense of humor.
Here are random facts and stories from the past 2 weeks:
-I had a super cool experience in the portugual airport. While sis. miller and sis stonely were figuring things out with their lost luggage, we met this dutch man who was married to a cv woman and would be on our same flight to cv. we got talking to him and then out of the blue he asked the question that all missionaries dream of. `what is different from your church and other churches?´´ Thank the heavens this dude spoke english or we all would have died haha. anyways, sis goudy started explaining things and then wanted someone else to take over, so i went for it. I talked to him about baptism and the restoration and everything and then we gave him a pass-along card. he said he would check it out. I´ll never see that man again, but it was such a cool experience. Missionary work is so cool.
-The sacrament bread is SO GOOD
-I´m still getting used to all the funky smells here...
-We all cram on peoples beds and teach them the lessons. Or we use buckets and tires while they sit on the other side of the cement room. I recited the first vision for the first time on my mission while sitting on a tire in someone´s `living room` and it was the coolest experience ever. I actually really enjoy sitting on tires now too haha. I invite ya´ll to try it out sometime (;
-We´re homies with a lot of the crazy old drunk men and women
-Night time is party time here. There´s a bar on every corner with loud music playing and some sort of meat being grilled.
-the puppies are ADROABLE but they all have ticks. we brought one to a lesson with us on saturday haha
-i played the opening hymn at a random baptism. you were right mom (;
-i´ve now officially kissed more women on the cheek than i have men. haha it´s a big thing here.
-halloween is lame here haha
-Me and sis. lee talked to a guy while he was taking a bucket shower outside his house (don´t worry he had boxers on)
-walked by a little boy pooping outside his front door. there´s literally poop everywhere here and it´s gross because you don´t know whether it´s from a human or dog haha
-everyone pees wherever
-cold bucket showers are actually dope. espeically in this heat. ya´ll should try them out too.
-our water heater broke TWICE in one week and flooded our house TWICE. love this place~
-ate a whole ear of corn and about died. it was so gross. and super chewy. i definitely like american corn now. also ate goiba (guava) with a worm in it. pray for my bowels.
-i´ve seen so many miracles and blessings. the mission is super rough at times, but so amazing also. grateful to be here.
-we have to soak our fruits in bleach bc of african diseases
-justin bieber is always playing in the streets and i LOVE it
-sat on a cement roof while looking at the northern star and taught a lesson. we had to use my flashlight becasue it was so dark.
-gift of tongues is real
-lunch is HUGE here and they LOVE french fries and ketchup and mayo haha
tell everyone thank you so much for the love and support. it literally means the world. LOVE YOU XOXOXOXOXOX ate proximo semana (until next week)
Much love, Sister Jorgensen
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