Email from 4/11/11

I don't see how mike birbiglia doesn't invite the spirit. He brings happiness and joy into my life 2 Nephi 2:25 Adam fell that men might be, that they are that they might have joy. I don't even know if that is it in English but I figured it was easier than having you translate Portuguese. Therefore he is fulfilling the purpose of life by giving me joy. Winner. And at least you told me the spiritual parts of the temple since I already got the funny stuff from my brother and sister. So I'm confused as to what you said in relation to AFRICA being a low stress environment... how is Africa a low stress environment.... especially lower than the states where you don't have to worry about not having running water in your house for the first 6 months of your mission learning a new language that people don't even speak etc etc etc. And yes mother's day phone calls are coming up again. I was thinking if I'm still on this island (which I will be) I might be able to use a web camera here at the internet place. All the computers have them so I would just need to get some headphones and we could face to face. So ashiley was wrong about my employment status but yes I did break a caution floor wet sign. Anywho now that were done bringing up passed things that don't matter, this week seemed to have gone by really fast. I really don't remember really what happened this week. We taught people and stuff obviously but I don't know. It just feels like I wasn't really here this week. Oh and before I forget I don't know if Jake told you this but I was wondering if you could send me my green ctr tie and my moon tie that Nick gave me when you send my ipod. Also Random thing as well but I was wondering if you could send me my ASL vocabulary sheets that are in my paper cubby. Um what else. We went mnt hiking again this morning but this time we went to the highest point in our area. It was fun. There are pictures. Speaking of pictures I still need to upload more so I will go do that right now and end my email by saying I love you and have fun with wedding preparations MUHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA e.weiss

Email from 4/4/11

Man you like to make a fuss about sending packages and the mail system here. Don't worry about when it's sent because nobody really knows when stuff gets moved around. Basically anytime someone takes a plane they are given mail to take so that's more often than transfers because of trainings and zone conference and stuff like that and the senior couple coming down to do stuff. And we did have a senior couple here but there mission ended 2 weeks ago and the next one for this island wont be here until July. Yes we watched all 5 sessions of conference and 4 of them in English. We didn't watch the first one in English because we were looking to see if our investigators showed up but they came to the Sunday sessions and they loved it (toni andtina). And I guess I didn't tell you but there wedding date is officially may 15th and there baptism is the week after. They wanted to get married in Aug because that would have marked 25 years together but they decided it was better not to wait. Yes I know keaton shoale but I forgot he was in japan. So we were in the house mon-thurs because Egbert couldn't really walk so I cleaned the house and killed millions of roaches. I realize now that I should have taken a picture of my roach graveyard but I forgot. So the soccer field we play on is cement and we play with all the missionaries on the island. And there are missionaries in sao vicent santo antao fogo brava sal and santiago. So yesterday for p-day we went to santo antao for a zone activities and that is why I didn't write until today. We didn't get back to our island until 6:30 and we had to go out and work still. It was fun and we went hiking in the mountains and I'll end this email quick so I can send photos but I love you and pray for you and hope you all have a good week and apply conference to your life cause it was awesome. I can't really apply conference to my life because the whole thing was about getting married and preparing for a mission!just kidding. e.weiss

Email from 2/21/11

Hello eveyone. and things are good on the ILHA de sao vicente. I don't know what my areas name translates into. Something tea but i don't know. So yes I got your lovely package. The sobe is almost gone and that fan that you put in there is the biggest waste of money I've ever seen in my life. Oh and tell Lexie Thank you for the pillow case it is currently keeping my pillow safe. And yes they do have powedered sugar here and they apparently occasionally have chocolate chips acording to my zone leader. Ah and wedding plans. I'm so jealous that Jake gets to wear a pink vest. So anyways did you get my package yet or no? Hope so. Theres some good stuff in there. And I suppose if you really want my year mark to be 11-11-11 i could just go crash with other people when I get home until then. Well anywho this week ended up being really long. On tuesday we had service in the morning then we did a division. Then on wed we had a division on thurs with the zone leader and then on friday we got locked out of our house and I had to spider man down from the roof of our apt. building. Then we had a training meeting with president for that whole day and then saturday was kinda normal and sunday kinda sucked. Nobody came to church for us and it sucked. We even left after first hour to go try and pick people up for sacrament and still nobody came. But we found a new family this week that was a reference and the parents are interested and they have 11 year old twins that are actually interested as well and they've already been to church so thats sweet. Well I'm going to try and upload photos as well so have a good week everyone and be safe and what not.

love
e.weiss

Email from 2/14/11

Happy monday the 14th. So E. Egburt is only 1 transfer below me and he is dashingly handsome, witty, and random. And that is how he described himself for you all. I hope you like it.
I do know about the mardi-graw delio. It's called carnival. it starts in March and from what I hear you won't be wanting pictures of it. It kinda turns into hell here and we have to be home at 6 like that whole week. and people start celebrating a few weeks before and it goes until like 3 months after. So that will be fun I guess. So I talked with E. Jones the other night and he said that our investigator that we had when I left got baptized this last saturday!!! Go team. She's really cool and I wish I was there. I've already written my news article dealio and it talks about her so you can read it there. So basicly as a DL all I do is take phone calls run a meeting every week and report numbers on monday. All the annoying stuff about missionary work. Well anyways I need to start typing my newsletter thing so I'll end for now and hope you all have a good week and are safe and doing whats right.

e.weiss

Email from 2/14/11

Hello my ward family. So here's a little update from the other side of the world. The church here is still small but it's learning and growing everyday. The people here are very hospitable and they are a very tight-knit community. It is clear that the Lord loves all his children and works in every place in the world no matter how small or unkown that place is. After living here for sometime I realize how blessed our lives are when we live the commandments. We sometimes think commandments are a list of things we can and can't do. Really though the commandments are as a guide to life. We all have the opportunity to accept or reject the commandments and counsel of the lord. I've seen two profound examples of obedience and disobediance that I believe best show the results of choice. The first is a youth I met. She used to live on another island with her family but now because she made a choice she lives with her boyfriend and his family. She is 16 and pregnant and can't get baptised unless she buys her own house to move in or gets married. Because of a few choices her life is extremely complicated now and she has a lot to deal with. But on the other hand we have a woman named Mana. Mana found us when we were walking in the road one day and asked us to teach her. As we started teaching her she had many questions for us. In particular she said she had heard about the word of wisdom and was already living that commandment. She also asked about our standerds on the way we should dress. When she asked she was not dressed very modestly so we hesitantly let her read in the pamphelet "For the Strength of the Youth" about dress and appearance, praying that she wouldn't be offended since this was the first time we had ever talked with her. The next time we showed up to teach her she was dressed modestly and was once again ready to learn. She also asked on a later occasion if she had to remove the stud from her nose to be baptized and when we told her yes she said "O.K. I will take it out tonight." This past saturday she was baptised and she's never been happier in her life. Because of her willingness to obey she has been able to start her life again washed of all her sins and is on her way to being closer to her heavenly father. I know that obediance is the only thing that will bring true joy into our lives, and when we are obedient we can be guided by the spirit. I know that this is the church of God and that we are always blessed when we do what the Lord asks of us. Em nome de Jesus Cristo amem.

Pictures!

This is mounte cara aka face.

Me Jamanta and E. Jones

Me and Mana

Me and Fransisco

E. Jones Paula and Me

E. Egburt Iva and Me

Email from 2/7/11

yes egburt and I are fine. We get along fine and his personality is... his personality idk how do you describe someones personality. yeah so you couldn't find the area because I spelled the name wrong. its correct in dads email this week. and how would I find Yota. Do I have to go to the degoba system? Just because these islands are small doesn't mean I know every single person on the island. "is there more than one area on this isalnd?" Ha. this island has the 2nd most missionaries on it after sao tiago. Sunday was fine. Voting was going on all sunday so not a lot of people came to church but we did have a baptism this saturday and I confirmed here on sunday. No this isn't the misquito island i think thats fogo or brava. Shopping here is shopping. we buy food. we cook it. we eat it. game over. Our apartment is fine. Beds, shower, kitchen, study room. All that stuff. And relax your photos are in that package I sent home. So I'll get mail every six weeks or everytime someone comes to this island. Like on the 18th of this month the assisents are flying in and if my package is there they will bring it.
We email from an internet cafe owned by an american and so right now he's broadcasting the superbowl and usually he has movies playing.
Well that was our week basicly. We ended up doing a lot of walking because the houses are a little more spaced out in this area. We also had a baptism this week and I'm going to upload photos of it so have a good week and don't freeze.

e.weiss