Monday, April 30, 2012

The First Stake in Capo Verde--That means the Church is Growing there.

Familia e Amigos,
 So as the title says: Cabo Verde got it's first stake. It's in Praia but it is still pretty stinking awesome. When we were in a lesson yesterday they even broadcasted it on the news. Which aslo kinda proves how small this country is. :) But it was still pretty awesome.
 This week we had a seventy come and do a training. His name is Elder Kopishke and he is the Area President of Europe. It was pretty stinking awesome. I learned so much from him. Elder Rodgers throughout though had to translate for all the people who can't speak English. But we still both learned a lot and really want to apply everything that we were taught. One of the coolest things was just about how essential it is to find with the Spirit. In Cabo Verde almost everyone will talk to you. And so it is essential that we talk to the people who will really progress and move forward. Speaking of which I want to tell a story of something this happened this week. So Elder Rodgers and I were walking back from the Port to a lesson. While we were walking we ran into a kid named Marcos. He asked us if we went to a church and we said yes and then we were able to set up a time when we could teach his family. We taught them yesterday and before we walked in a lot of people left. Which we were a little frustrated about. But Marcos and his cousin sat down and we began to teach them. As we were teaching their aunt walked in and sat down. And as we continued to teach another cousin was standing behind us. It was just awesome and you could feel the Spirit drawing them into the lesson. When we left they thanked us so much for coming and we are going to teach them again on Wednesday. It was just so awesome and when the Spirit is ther we truely see miracles.
 Also this week we had two baptisms! One us for our investigator Ineida. The othere was for Alvero. It was so awesome to see them baptized and to see them come unto Christ. Hopefully with both of them they can be a good example for the rest of their family and help them all to come unto Christ. Their baptisms both went well with not a ton of stress. Did't have to run for any water truck or anything- :). But they are going to be great examples and we are really going to try to help their families as well to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized as well. 
 The work is moving so well here and what's crazy is I'm almost done with my second transfer. Yesterday somebody asked me if they spoke Portuguese in the US which made me feel that my Portuguese at least isn't awful here. :) 
 I love you all and I hope that everything continues to go well. 
 Elder Schillemat 

Monday, April 23, 2012

Peder's 20th Birthday in Cape Verde this year.

Familia e Amigos,
This week has been pretty chill. Some of the things we have done this
week. Well we did a couple of divisions this week which went really
well. I went with our Branch President and with Marwilson (a member
who is preparing for a mission). Both went really well and we were
able to get a lot more work done.
Besides that we are just preparing a lot of our investigators for
baptism. We have three baptisms for this next week. One is for an
invesitgator named Ineida that I taked about last week. As well we
have an investigator named Miriam who is getting ready and a 10 year
old boy named Alvero. All of them are doing well and it should be
great to see them on saturday.
While I was writing this I also remembered something that happened
last monday. So we were going to an FHE at one of our investigator's
house. We had made some cake and brownies for it. So I had made the
cake and I failed to realize until I got there that I forgot to put
something in: baking powder. Needless to say the cake wasn't that
great. Good thing it's my birthday today so I don't have to worry
about it. :)
Yeah things are pretty awesome. Not going to be doing much on my
birthday but normal p-day stuff but it should be fun. Thank you all
for the birthday wishes and I love you all.
Peder

Monday, April 9, 2012

Portugese by Immersion and other tales.

Familia e Amigos,
 So this week has been pretty good. First off we had a baptism on Saturday which went really well. It was for our investigator Bruno. He's 12 years old and we have been waiting on permission for him for a while. His baptism day was a little stressful though. We were trying our best to schedule it so that his kother could come but she had a commitment on the day of the baptism. She said she would try her best to be there. So on Saturday we were waiting there for a while and she showed up late but she was there which was awesome. His baptism went super well and slowly we are going to bring that whole family unto Christ. Bruno already has two brothers that are members so it's just up to us to work with the parents. 
 Tambem we had divisions this week with the Zone Leaders. So both the Zone Leaders can only speak Portuguese so it really forced me to speak Portuguese throughout the entire day. It was good and although I ended the day with a headache I know that it definitely helped me to progress. (Speaking of which when the Zone Leaders were trying to come into Porto Novo, the boat that they were on took about an hour or so to port. It was funny because we could see them the whole time that this was going on).
 Besides that we started teaching a new investigatornamed Miriam. She had been taught about a year ago by earlier missionaries. A couple of weeks ago she started to come back to church. When we finally found here and started teaching we asked how things were with the earlier missionaries and why she came back to church. She said that since she had stopped meeting with the missionaries and stopped reading the Book of Mormon that she stopped feeling happy and as well her grades and school all dropped. She said that she knows that the gospel had blessed her life and that's why she came back to church. It was just stinking awesome. She isn't rushing into anything but we hope that she can be baptized on the 5 of May. She will definitely be ready. 
 Altogether I am loving things here in Porto Novo. The work is moving well and I'm so happy to be serving. The Church is true and it has blessed my life so much. 
I love you all. :)

Peder

Monday, April 2, 2012

Baptisms, Conference and getting slapped in the face

Familia e Amigos,
 So this week has been pretty sweet here in Porto Novo. Let's see the things that we're really cool this week. First off one of our investigators that has been waiting to get permission finally got it which is awesome. He should be baptized this week which is awesome. His name is Bruno.
 Let's see as well this week has just been really good. There haven't really been any specific things that I can point out and say that's what made this week awesome it's just been that our lessons have been solid and we are teaching well. Conference waqsa stinking awesome. We watched the first two sessions in Portuguese but I was still able to get a good part of them down. President Eyring's talk was one that I loved. Also on Sunday morning before church we went to watch the Priesthood session. I loved the priesthood session. It was so good. 
 We are teaching this new investigator named Jason as well this week. A lot of his family is interested and when we came in to their house to teach they all came and sat in the lesson which was awesome. It's an awesome feeling to be able to teach entire families because this gospel is such a blessing to all families. 
 I just want to say that I am so happy to be serving a mission. During conference, a member named Jeremias asked if I wanted to be in the confrence center. I though about it and you know I really wouldn't want to be anywhere but here right now. This is where I'm supposed to be and it is just awesome! The Church is true and I know that we have a living Prophet today. I love you all and I hope that everything is going well.
 -Elder Schillemat

ps so there was actually kind of something funny that happened this week. So we were sitting outside Bruno's house to teach him and this little kid came up and stood in front of me. I thought nothing of it and he was just standing there smiling. The next thing I knew was that he cocked back his arm and slapped me straight on my face. And he had a pretty get slap. I've been trying to avoid this kid ever since. :)