Porto Novo!

The moment youºve all been waiting for...

...or I have, at least...

I think Iºm going to accidentally throw in more portuguese words now in my letters home! I realized a while ago that my mind translates English experiences into Portuguese and my Portuguese experiences into English. Except, now it isnºt translating as much of my Portuguese experiences into English right when I think back on them... :)

Anyway, Iºm here and safe and I did half of my email time on Tuesday because I didnºt get into Porto Novo until 5 or 5:30 on Monday. So thatºs why you guys got random little notes. :) But I also ran out of time, so thatºs also why Iºm not sure if all of you got notes, and why they were really short. :)

Okay... where to start...

Oh! The boat ride. I took anti-nausea medicine, and I was fine... but Iºm not sure if I needed the medicine. The ride was pretty smooth between Mindelo and Porto Novo, so Iºm going to take some with me but not take it until I start to feel sick next time we go to Mindelo. Our zone conferences will be in Mindelo, so it should be within a month or six weeks, more like. But when I could first see Santo Antao, it had been kind of a crazy, stressful day already and I was a bit frazzled. Then I saw Santo Antao, and it felt like something that had been slightly unaligned inside me just clicked together, and I felt like I was going home. It was such a tender mercy! I was really surprised to feel that way, because it was all crazy, and I didnºt have that experience when I landed in Sal. It was a tender mercy of the Lord, and at the very least, for me it was a reminder that everything would be okay. That this was part of the Lordºs plan, not a last-minute adjustment for Him. And I felt so excited to get out and meet these new people and help them come unto Christ.

Then I met Sister Pina. Man, she is awesome! She is so fun and humble and obedient. I now have a new goal: to learn as much as I can from her, and hopefully be like her by the end of my mission. She reminds me of my friends from High School, especially Emma. Iºm not exactly sure why, but even on Monday she reminded me of Emma. Itºs been so fun. She is just so good at being easygoing and loving everyone and having fun, but also buckling down and working and striving to become better all the time. Like I said, I really want to be like her by the end of my mission. :)

Apparently missionaries stay really long in Santo Antão, which Iºm really excited for because already, these people and this ward have my heart. But missionaries are supposed to stay really long in Sal, too, so weºll see. But honestly, I feel like if I served here for the rest of my mission, I would be happy with that. But wow! This ward is awesome! And maybe itºs the difference between a ward and a branch that makes it so awesome. But they have a chapel, and there is so much more structure and order to things. And they have family history classes every Sunday and Wednesday! Even though almost no one has their own computer, and a lot of people donºt even have a modest skirt or a white shirt to wear on Sundays, they have family history classes! The people are just so open and kind and loving. There are so many people who are so willing to help us, too. I already love it here.

Anyway, this week has been such a good week. It reminds me of Christmas break: school had been crazy and hard and I had learned and grown a lot, and then I had a break, a breather, a time to refocus and prepare and a bit of a rest. Then it was even harder, in different ways, the next semester. But right now, I feel like I did over Christmas break. Iºm refocusing, resting a bit from all the craziness that happened over the past nine weeks... and in the MTC too. And itºs so good. Iºm a little worried about what  that might mean for the "semester ahead", haha, but Iºve just decided not even to think about it.

Sister Pina always offers to cook, so I always clean up, like Amy and Jordan. Oh, and itºs just the two of us in our apartment. Thereºs another dupla of sisters in Porto Novo, but they are in a different apartment. I guess there used to be four elders and two sisters in Porto Novo, but now thereºs just the four sisters... in two separate apartments (ours only has room for one dupla, really). But Iºm eating a lot of Caboverdian lunches now. Lots of rice, with different beans or vegetables or meat mixed in. Itºs really good. Iºm going to get some recipes for Sister Hill so she can try it :)

Also, our apartment is right over the storage for our dom da casa´s minimercado (the guy who owns our apartment has a food store... and we live over the food storage for that store. Oh! grocery store, haha). So that means we have LOTS of ants, some beetles, and cockroaches will appear. Mostly small ones, but theyºre so gross. I havenºt seen any of the big ones, but itºs probably just a matter of time. And Iºve learned that Sister Pina wonºt kill them. Sheºs too afraid, she says. So itºs war between me and the cockroaches, because my imagination doesnºt let me live with them in my house. :)

Yep, itºs awesome here. Sorry, I´ll try to tell you more about our investigators and menos ativos next week. But one cool experience happened when we were doing our weekly planning session.

We were trying to decide what day to remark with two girls we teach named Lara and Nadine. They basically have all the lessons, but they both feel unprepared/struggle with really believing that they can be forgiven. I kept feeling like it should be October 11 that we should remark with them for them to be baptized, but because I didnºt really know their situation super well I waited for Sister Pina to suggest a day. But she couldnºt bring herself to suggest a day, either, so I finally told her I felt like October 11 should be the day. She told me that was what she felt, too. It was a date of faith, pretty close to now, and so she felt hesitant. But we realized that the Lord was telling us both the same thing, so we wrote it down. Then we suggested it to Lara and Nadine, and they both agreed right away! It was amazing. The Lord was preparing all of us. It was just a simple experience, but a good reminder that the Lord really is directing His work and sometime we just have to get out of the way and let him do His work.

It was like that with contacts, too. Pres. Mathews and Elder Moreira challenged us to do 10 street contacts, at least, every day, and Sister Pina and I have really been working on figuring out how to do that and just going forward and doing it with faith. We´re also supposed to focus on finding families and working with families, and they promised us that if we would do these contacts we would find families, already married families, which is a SUPER rare thing out here. Well, it has been amazing: we have found at least two families that are definitely married, and two or so other families who may or may not be married... Iºm not exactly sure. Itºs been so amazing! Man, I love this work. I love these people and I love the miracles the Lord will bless us with if we will just act in faith.

Love you all!

Love,

Sister Zimbelman

Also, side note: I feel like Iºm writing the small plates, where Moroni says that not one hundredth of all the things that happened could be written down. I donºt know if Iºve told you guys that before, but thatºs what these letters feel like. Love you all!