Follow up, POW, Kick, GOAL!!!!!

So, this week has been good.  There are a lot of people watching the world cup in Brazil all of the time, and so that has been a bit distracting and makes talking to boys and men mostly difficult in the evening.  It will go for another month or so, but at least I am not in Brazil!

This week was pretty good.

We are still conquistisising new investigators and less actives and stuff.
I don´t know if I have already mentioned this, but our mission Baptises and Rescues.  This means that just as much as we try to find new people to baptize, we also have key indicators (in weekly goals and numbers) of less actives progressing, and being rescued, which pretty much means that they come back to full activity in the church.

We found a lot of less actives this week, and started working with some of them.  One of them came to church, and brought her 9 year old daughter, which is one of the side blessings of rescuing is that people have family members that can be baptized as well.

We did a lot of walking this week and we are working to figure out how to work in both of our areas most effectively because it is about 2 hours to get from one to the other, and we live in the middle, but the areas themselves are very large, and so we are getting better at knowing people´s schedules, and trying to plan less walking and more teaching.  Walking does leave us lots of contacting to do on the way though.

So the moon has been super bright this last week, and then on Saturday night, all of the sudden it was super super dark, and we were walking home, and we got on to the main road that goes back to our house, probably 3 miles from our house, and these two guys approached us in the street and asked what we were doing there.  We cheerfully informed them that we went around telling and teaching people about Jesus Christ.  After we said that one of the two guys backed off (I learned after that Elder Pires saw a knife that he had) and then the other guy informed us that this was their territory.  I cheerfully told them that we aren´t strangers, but we live here and love it and this area is awesome.

Then I gave the guy who probably was going to rob us before a Plan of Salvation pamphlet, wished them and all of their friends that were off the side of the road a good night, and they responded cheerfully, and now we are friends instead of getting robbed, which was good because I didn´t really have much on me that could be robbed.  This just shows how God protects us, and when we proclaim that we are representatives of Jesus Christ, people change.
We are working really hard to get people to come to church here, but that is a problem because they all live super far away, so if you wouldn´t mind praying for them, that would be awesome.

This week´s spiritual thought is about Baptism.
Baptism is very important.
Christ showed us an example of baptism, and he was baptised because it is a commandment, and to get into the celestial kingdom, we need to be baptized.  One good side effect of baptism is that it clenses us of sin.
It also shows that we desire to be baptised as a proof and testimony that we desire to serve Him until the end. (Sorry, a verse in portuguese roughly translated)
In order to recieve more blessings, we have to show more willingness to follow.  We do this through baptism.  In God´s infinate wisdom, He gave us baptism, which is something that is super easy physically to do, but that symbalises many important things, and physically requires effort to do it to have an outward expression of our inward disposition to follow Him.  Everything is crafted so perfectly by a being who is Perfect.

I bear my testimony of Him, and of His Son, Jesus Christ.  He lives.

Love,
Elder Sampson

Also I attached 2 pictures.  One of me and Elder Levi which I didn´t have time to send last week, and one of a monkey because they have monkeys here and I finally decided to take a picture of one.  You can decide which photo is which.
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First Week in Assomada

Dear Everyone,

So this week was my first week in assomada (or, next to assomada).  There is a road that goes from Assomada to TarraFal that is like 15 miles, and we live on the side of it, and our area goes out for a long ways.  We have one zone, a 40 min walk from our house in the middle of nowhere, and another super long one that is an hour walk or so away in the other direction.  The other elders that live in our house work in the middle close to our house.  It makes things a little difficult, but oh well.

I am serving with Elder Pires, who is from Fogo.  He is waiting for a visa to go to brazil.  He is great, and has a lot of learning and growing to do!

We started off this last week without less actives or investigators.  We contacted a lady who turns our lives in our area and is less active, and so we started working with her and her man.  We now have 13 investigators, and 7 of which have a date for baptisms.  The Lord really blessed us this week through the members.  One of our areas has only 4 active members, and the other only 2, so we pretty much only have 6 members.  The rest live in the middle next to the church.  It is a good area.  We started teaching a man, and although he didn´t make it to church this week, 2 of his kids that we had never taught went.  They are 19 and 20, and when we went over on sunday after church the 20 year old was reading the resuration pamphlet that we had given her dad.  It was awesome.  We also found out that the Dad is already married, which never never never happens here.  Never.  That is a great miracle.  There are I think 7 of them in their family that can be baptised in the near future. That is a real blessing.

This week´s spiritual thought is about following the Holy Ghost.  When we dilligently seach to learn how to follow the Holy Ghost, and then Follow the Holy Ghost, we are blessed beyond anything we can imagine.
This Live is a time for us to prepare to meet God.
We prepare by doing His will.
We always do His will when we follow the Spirit.
When we do His will we are blessed.

It is very simple, but more difficult to do.


I Love You All, and Hope that you look for the tender mercies of the Lord this week.

Love, Elder Sampson

Attached are pictures of our Baptisms in Praia.  Antunina, Paulino and Zelito.


Me with Elder Pires


Me with Elder Levi (If that one sends)

Oh Man.....Miracles. Incredible

So, this week was great.

I am serving with Elder Levi who I think I said is from Mesa Arizona.  He is awesome.  He has a large desire to work, and although some of his recent comps haven´t worked that hard, he is very humble, and immidately made changes when I showed up since I am more used to doing stuff the right way.  He really knows how to explain the scriptures and is helping me make sure that I am teaching people and not marking numbers.

We started working in our area, which is so different and so awesome.  We have a strong strong ward with tons of RMs and everything is super sweet.  We are in the city so there are sooooo many people, and all the stuff that you should be able to do, like getting references easily, happen.  It took me a few days to get used to the city, and now I never want to leave.  It is just so awesome.  I showed up at church, and just went to church, instead of doing everything possible to try to make church happen without too many problems.  All of the classes and stuff were well taught, everything started on time, and everyone was super friendly and stuff.  Awesome.

We have a bunch of families progressing towards baptism, and we started doing some things and using some tools that the old elders here have neglected to help them progress.

One of these families is the family of Antunina, Paulino, and thier 14 year old son Zelito.  I love love love this family.  Antunina´s friend from work showed here the church, and she has been going for a few weeks, and then two weeks ago the husband and son started to go.  The have been married for like 6 years which is strange, but awesome!  Anyways, so we worked all week with them, and helped the son and dad learn everything, and they were baptised on Saturday.  It was amazing amazing amazing.  Also our church is awesome.  The building looks like ones in america (except it has turf not grass, and everything sorrounding it is dry and dirt).  It was incredible to help them be baptised.  On sunday, The General Primary President and Second Counselor in the general Relief society presidency, and the Europe area president, and president and sister Oliveira came to our ward, and talked about how awesome it is to have a whole familiy baptised in the church, and it was amazing!!!  I am so grateful for the miricles here.  This is soooooo incredible.

Then, Sunday night came, and we were traning a member to help out our baptism for this saturday and next saturday...  Then President Oliveira Called.

I was transfered to serve in the middle of the island in a part off the side of Asamada.  I am serving with a visa waiter, Elder Andrade who is from Fogo.  I have known him for a while. He will be going to brazil when his visa comes.  This area is on the side of a big city, and I am in a small weak branch again.  Our house is in the middle of nowhere, and our area is a 1.5 hour walk in one direction from our house, and a 2 hour walk in an other I have been told.  The have only 9 investigators right now, and they don´t seem that solid.  Anyways, so I havd a great one week in the civilazation and a strong area, and now I am here.  Yay!  It seems like a decent bit needs to be done here (clearly), so pray for me!

This week the spiritual thought is about following the spirit.  Many times we know that we should follow the spirit, but we either try too hard, and just do everything ourselves without him, or maybe following him a little, or thinking that just letting go and "winging it" is following the spirit.  But, that is not true.  The Spirit encourages to do good, brings peace to ourselves and others, and invites all to do good and serve God continually.  May we all seek to follow the spirit this week.

Love,
Elder Sampson

Also, so the area I was in is a cachabodie area which is creole that comes from english (cash or body).  My old area was rather dangerous but it was fun too.  I escaped untouched though.  Haha.  It was exciting.  No one has every gotten hurt or anything though.  Just confused youth that want watches and lose change.  The area here is the boonies that has no crime.

I am trying to send pictures, but it isn´t working because of the internet restrictions. I will try something different next week that should work.

Transfer has Ended

Dear Family, friends, and fellow countryfolk,

This last week was good.  Thanks to the help of two members, they have been making a big difference in our work, we had some great success!

Zezito, who is 22, has been picking up on things faster and faster, and he is progressing so well that we moved his baptisimal date up 2 weeks.  That way he can help all of his friends and family as a real live member.

So we have been talking with this guy who lives on the street, and he has been to church once, but never does anything to change his life.  We talk to him every so often about how he can make the changes he needs, but he never really does that much.  The other day we were talking to him.  He never asks for money, but he does show people where he lives and cooks, and stuff like that all the time.  he has shown us many times, but he always asks us for him to show us where he lives etc...  So we were talking to him, and he was talking about how he has no food, and stuff, and he says,
"Let me show you where I sleep"
and Elder Sanchez said, "its right there" and pointed at it.
Then he said,
"Let me show you where I cook"
and Elder Sanchez said, "its right there" and pointed at it.
Then he said,
"Let me show you where I use the bathroom"
and Elder Sanchez said, "its right there" and pointed at it.
He has shown us a million times.

Then I said to him, "if you want your life to get better, you have to repent.  You have to make changes.  One of the commandments of God is to not take certain substances.  If you don´t drink, God will bless you and you will have money for food and to get on your feet and to get in a house."

He protested a little, but we gave him the word of wisdom pamphlet and he said he would read it.
One sunday, he went up to Elder Sanchez, and said, "I read the book, and then went to the hospital" and elder sanchez was thinking, what does that have to do with anything, then he said "I am addicted to alcohol." something we didn´t know. "it is ruining my life.  I need to change".

This was a miriacle that as we invited him to repent, his life on the street started to change, and I hope that he will continue on the path of repentance to have a good life now and after this life.
The miracles of God are Great!

So I got a call saturday night that I was getting transfered.  I went to church, gave a talk and said goodbye to people, then got on a haice and then a boat.  I was alone for like 4 hours.  It was weird.  I got transfered and am now serving in the city of Praia, in the area of Ponta d´Água with Elder Levi who is from Arizona.  I am excited.
I am super sad to be leaving the best island in the world, but I am also excited to be here.  I know that The Lord knows what I need even if it is super hard to leave the place and the people I love.  We are going to do a good work here though.  I am super stoked.  We have 3 baptisms this week too.  A family, which is super awesome.  Mom, Dad, and child.  Awesome.

I love the attitudes that we can see in the scriptures.  I don´t have much time today, but I invite everyone to get INTO the scriptures this week, especially the book of mormon, and see about the attitudes of people and how we can apply those attitudes to our own lives. (or not apply as the case may be).

I love you all.

Elder Sampson

The last week maybe Here

Dear Family, this last week has been the second to last week of the transfer, and I am hoping that I am not getting transfered but I have been here since december, so if I can´t write on monday, that would be why.

So this last week has been full of adventures.

I saw firsthand the powers of Satan and the power that he has to cause misery and agony, and also the power that we have to beat him when we all rely on the Lord.  The Atonement has the curing power in everything.  We are changed through the gracious power of the atonement.  The sacriment is amazing like that.

I am translating these scriptures from Portuguese, so if they aren´t translated exactly right, sorry.
Christ taught about the Sacriment, and then said in verse 10 of 3 Nephi 18
"Blessed are ye for this that ye have done, because this fulfills my comandments, and testifies to the Father that ye have the desire to do what I command you."  Something like that.
When we take the sacriment, we fulfil all of our obedience.  When our goal is to talk the sacriment, then we do everything that we need to during the week to follow the spirit and to be pure of heart.  These things are so important, and in many people here, Satan tries so hard to stop the sanctity of the sacriment, and to take away the importance of it, but the sacriment fulfills the comandments of Christ, and without it, we can not recieve the peace that comes through the atonement.

3 Nephi 18 is a great chapter, and I would invite everyone to read it and see how you can apply it in your home.
I wish I had more time to expound on this chapter.

So this week, Claudio, who was baptised two weeks ago is still having some struggles, so you all can pray for him if you want.  Just make sure it is a "Prayer of Faith" because that is true and sincere prayer.

This week we also didn´t have to go to Sao Vicente which is so nice because that means that we had lots more time to work here.  The Lord is opening this area up as we rely on Him.  When I got here, this area was on fire, and slowly the work got slower, and now it is finally picking back up and lots of investigators that we had before that disapeared off the face of the earth, have been showing back up with new vigor.  We have people running out of their houses with the book of mormon when we walk by to talk to someone who lives by their house.

The Church is True, and the Lord, when we seek to do acts of charity, and do His will blesses us.  It is amazing.  Yesterday we heeded a call to hike way up into the montains to find a guy who needed our help, and skipped another lesson to do so, but the Lord blessed us with someone to give us a ride right after the lesson 20 mins to the appointment we skipped, and it went well.

Love, Elder Sampson

Mother's Day and Brad's Birthday

Happy Mothers Day!

I have the greatest mother to ever walk the face of the earth!!!
Also, Happy Birthday to a great example of an older brother, Brad.
I Love You Both.

This week was a very special week.
Claudio was baptised, and I was pleased to be the one that baptised him.  We always try to let the members do the baptisms, but through all our trying, He doesn´t really know the members, and so he asked me to baptise him.

After he left the water, he just stood there, thinking and contemplating and praying.  The spirit was there strong.  I love him.  He is moving back to Praia in a few weeks, so I hope that I get transfered to his ward there, and can see him continue to progress.

This week we went to São Vicente for zone conference.  That was an incredible experience.  The Spirit was so strong and changed the lives of every person there.

First, Prayer.
Enos´s soul hungered.  He kneeled down and prayed UNTIL his prayers reached the heavens.  This is how we need to pray too.  We need to give more time for prayer, to talk with God until we recieve answers.  When we talk to God, it is called prayer, and when He talks to us is is called revelation. Every time we pray we can and should recieve revelation.  It should be a grand experience.  It takes time though.  If you find yourself falling asleep while you pray, find a way to fix that.  Don´t pray at your bed, and pray outloud.  I know that prayer like this is real and that it changes the lives of every person that prays like that.
In other churches, they have prayers for specific things that are memorized and everything.  In our church we don´t do that.  Prayer is a conversation. But, we are no better than other false faiths when we say the same prayers over and over.  When we have our Morning Prayer, our Breakfast Prayer, Our Lunch Prayer, our Going out the Door Prayer.  our Night Prayer.  Our Group Prayer.  Alma showed up at the ramiumptom and saw the people praying saying, Thank you that we are a chosen people and that only we will be saved.  That was very iniquitous. But, how many times do we say thank you that we have the only true church and that we can have salvation because of it.  We must speak with our Heavenly Father in order to fulfil the true purpose of prayer.

Second, Doctrines
The Only Way to teach or preach or live is to have the doctrines written on our hearts.  Conversion is an active change.  When we talk about being converted to something we can ask about our reasons for doing stuff, and about specific things.  For example, if we say that we are converted to the doctrine of tithing, but grudgingly pay out tithing, it doesn´t work.  We are not converted.  We must be converted to the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  If we ask ourselves why the Atonement is specifically important for our lives, and cant clearly respond something that has been written on our heart, we need to pray and so we can have that blessing of being converted to the Atonement.  That is what matters.

Charity never fails.  It is never okay to be angry or mad at someone.  If there is a problem, serve that person until there is no more problem.  Charity never failith.  I invite everyone to study the doctrines of Charity, and apply them until charity is written on your heart, and then tell me about it.  It will be a fruitful process.

Lastly, I just wanted to appologise because, Like Nephi, We are weak in writing but not in speaking.  I need to appoligise to my family that I selfishly did not share more of the Gospel with them when we talked on sunday.  As a servant of Christ, I should have better remembered my purpose as a missionary.  I love you all, and hope that you can forgive me as I am seeking repentance for forgetting my calling here.  I know that the things I could have shared could have changed your lives as they have mine, but I hope that you can get a little through reading this email.

As Always, Love You All.

Elder Sampson

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The Will of the Lord

Dear Family, friends etc...

So this week was spectacular. Full of last minute things.

We were excited to have a full week in our area this week without having to go to São Vicente, but that didn´t work out because we got a call that we had a meeting on Saturday, so we spent all of Friday and Saturday out of our area.  That was a bit rough.  We really only have 4 real days a week to work when that happens, and that makes things rather difficult.  Our investigator inventory is dwindling right now because we are never here.  It kind of stinks.  Oh well.  We got a call yesterday that we have zone conference this week, so we have to leave wednsday all day to get there, the meeting is thursday, we come back friday, and so in those three days we only have 3 hours at the end of friday, and most of that will be spent setting up a skype interview.  Man.  I just want some time to work.  These meetings are incredible, but they are also killing us.
So, the miracles of last minute stuff this week.

So on Wednesday we got a call from the Zone leaders saying that they had recieved revelation that everyone in the zone could find one more person to be baptised this week.  We started thinking and praying, and then the next morning was weekly planning.  We planned for Claudio and a couple of other people that could potentially be baptised on that day.  It was nice.  Then right after we finnished planning, Claudio called us.
Claudio is from Praia, and was a golden person there.  He was taught everything, and was ready to be baptized then 2 days before his baptism, he got a teaching job here way up in the mountains and so he moved here.  We went and visited him right after he arrived, and set up some stuff, but then there were some complecations and he didn´t really feel the need to get baptised here because he is one day going back to Praia and he will be baptised there where he lives closer to the church (he lives 30 mins in a car here) because he knew that he needed to be baptised and that he wanted to be baptised, but didn´t feel the need here.  He was almost baptised but then pulled out last second.  We left him for like a month, and didn´t really hear from him until we recieved the revelation that someone could be baptised the next week.  He told us that he needed to talk to us.  He had had many experiences in the last month, and had decided that he couldn´t live anymore not going to church and not being baptised.  We marked him to be baptised after church on sunday so that he could go to church here at least once, and then be confirmed the next week.  Do to some complecations, it didn´t happen this week, and had to be put off for next week, but it was still sweet.  He will be baptised this saturday.  I am super excited for him.

That was pretty much what happened this week.

Also, Happy Birthday to Papa and Happy Mothers day to every mother out there.
I am so grateful for my dearest mother who is the best mom in the world.
Cape Verdian Mothers day was this week, so we wished people happy mothers day here this week.

Right now we could use some prayers to build up our progressing investigators and investigators in general. We have many other miracles with less actives coming back and stuff like that, but we are very much struggling with investigators.  So, Please pray for us!

Spiritual though for the week:
So, The Anti-nephi-lehites make a promise not to take up arms anymore.
Then the enemy comes, and starts killing them.
They did not break their covenant, even at the cost of their lives.
A lot of times we look at the 2000 stripling warriors as a great example, and they are, but also sometimes we don´t see the incredible example of their fathers.  Men who knew their responsibility to defend and provide for their families, who, because of their sins in the past, had to deal with the concequences.  Many times in our lives we see long term effects of past sins.  Even though we can recieve forgiveness completely, the more we sin, the more we end up hindering our future. We put walls around our lives because if we repent completely, we can´t go to those places or anywhere near them anymore.  It is a process that clearly shows us why we have to repent now, and that the concequences of sin aren´t just short term.  We must repent now, and above all avoid sinning in the future!

I hope to everyone the best of a week.

Love,
Elder Sampson