5/24/14

Transfer to Luanda...Goodbye beautiful Lubango!

My friend Moses in Lubango!

It was awesome to hear from all of you on Skype!! Sorry the connection wasn't that great, that's what you get with an African Mission, but at least I was able to hear all of you! 4 hours of Skype and about  20 minutes of connection! I looked forward to it the entire day and it was so wonderful.  We didn't end up leaving the member's home until 1 in the morning until all the Elders skyped. The Internet was so bad and I am very tired right now. I got a few good looks at all of you when the connection was up and you all look so great! Mason and Jensen's voices sound so different! Crazy! You are growing so fast!  And Prom, Riley you looked so beautiful! Wow the Iron man, I hope I can do that some day!
So this last week we have had great success, we have been working with Jorge again and he has been walking and teaching with us again and he is awesome.  He is really good with people he is really and so the lessons run very smooth. President Marques has gone by his house two times this past week to talk with him and help him out and give him advice. It was really awesome when I heard about that! Jorge has a phone now and so its been very easy to get  a hold of him and set appointments with him. 
We had a great mutual activity this week, we played Charades and it was so fun! We did movies and some of them, only me and Elder Garn knew. It was a lot of fun, so also this past Sunday we got to watch conference for the first time! It was great! I loved hearing it! We were a little bit behind everyone but it took so long for the DVD's to get over here in Africa.  It was wonderful the chapel had energy and everything correu muito bem, entao que mais. Well we had the assistants come down this week and i walked with Elder Clifford, he is going home in two weeks. He was very sick and so was Elder Garn, so many of us were sick. I took medicine, but I'm still left with a sore throat, but it's passing. 
I really enjoy divisions (splits) they are like adventures for me. I love planning a day full of just finding people to teach on divisions. I always meet really cool people and have great experiences. We taught some new people and explored new areas that I had never been in before. That's one thing I love about this mission is that the neighborhoods here are like giant mazes! You enter in and you don't know where you will end up.  It's really fun and you see knew stuff all of the time. We came out of an ally way in the neighborhood and came across a huge water hole in the middle of nowhere with like 30 people pulling up water and washing clothes and making lunch. They all looked at us like what are you doing here!  This week was wonderful! I'm loving Lubango. I don't know how much more time I have down here but I hope for more. If not then its back up to Luanda where the chaos reigns!  But I'll get used to it again.

On top or Serra De Leba with Belmiro and Gabriel


Week of May 12th:
So I just got transferred here to Luanda! It's very hot and there is a lot different than Lubango. I have been transferred to one of the toughest and roughest ares of Luanda, Terra Nova... I don't how to describe how I feel about it. I'll be getting another native companion. Elder Marquez. He is also from Mozambique. He is very tiny guy, about half of my height and very skinny. Hopefully we won't run into any trouble. This is the same area that Elder Chandler was stabbed in and also Elder Kelsey. Just around the house, because it's in a tough location. We will see how it goes. I was sad to leave Lubango. I wanted to stay longer, but I already was there for almost 6 months there so my time was up. I'm still a little sick and not feeling too well. Remember when you guys asked me on the skype what I wanted to do when I go home? The first thing is go to chick-Fil- A and then immediately to the Doctor. And then the Dentist. They don't have any of those services over here, that I would go to.
There are some changes up in Luanda. Areas have been moved around and there are new Elders. I've finally met them, it's been a good change. We also had a member of the Seventy Elder Renlund come and talk with us.  I am excited about one thing in Terra Nova,  Serrafin, the first person I baptized is in my area. So I will get to go and see him!
Luanda is not anything like Lubango. There is so much more noise... Lubango is very pretty and a more relaxed environment  which is what I like. Today we played soccer for P-day. I scored some good goals, and some lucky shots. Things are going well we are walking with other Elders from Luanda also and visiting people. We still have not gone to Terra Nova. I go there tomorrow and start working. Wish me luck. We call it the outer darkness of Luanda. It's pretty ghetto....I don't know how much I will be walking around with my camera here in Luanda. We will see.. well I love you tons. It was so great to talk with you guys last Sunday. I miss you so much. Chau!!  Love Elder Dunkley

Last Day in Lubango

 I wish you all the best week and i love you all! chau!!!

5/8/14

Fernanda's Baptism....Highs and Lows of the Mission....

Scenes of Lubango

I loved all the emails it was awesome! I miss you guys so much. Mason you are getting huge, keep staying fit because I am going to take you when I get home!  I speaking of home I can’t wait for a high pressured hot water shower. This morning Elder Garn and I went into the city to buy a new pump, we have not had water for the past 3 days and we finally got it fixed this morning.  Thank goodness, there are absolutely no luxuries here! I can’t wait to experience all this when I get home. I can’t wait to skype on Sunday I will call at 19:00 which is 12:00 your time so hurry home from church!  So Dad yes, Lubango is a very small town feel but we are surrounded by mountains and natural wonders. I love it! Things are going great with Elder Domingos we are working hard, finding new people and it has been going well. I had my first really sick day on the mission on Monday night, right after P-day. I had dinner, an egg sandwich.... bad decision. I got hit in the middle of the night around 3:48 in the night and I instantly started throwing up, it was the worst I spent the next 2 hours in there throwing up. And a few more times until 6 a.m. Soon after the other Elders started to get up and I asked Elder Chatwin what he drank when he had this and he said and he said powerade, pura sport and Coca Cola, so they went and got me some. I would drink something and then puke it up right after, until I was dry heaving. I hate that, it’s the worst.  Sister Merrill told me to stay inside. I called Luisa and Leonor to cancel and they freaked out and thought it was Poly Disemo and wanted to take me to the Hospital to get a blood test, but I did not want to move, I was dead. I had a horrible head ache and was still throwing up. That’s the part on the mission that is hard, you have no one to take care of you! So my first real sick day was the most miserable day.
Something wonderful that happened:
This week Fernanda was baptized and it went great. She is a funny lady and will strengthen the branch. She is a type of person that accomplishes. Mom. haha. So we are excited for her to be a member. Elder Domingos and I are finding cool new people and trying to work together in how we want to teach. It’s going great.  Tonight I am making pancakes with the Luisas family. I’m excited to see if she likes it. She and Elder Domingos eu gosto das coisas doces.. ta bem…we will see. I don’t know if she is going to like them.

 There was a tragic accident that happened on Saturday.  Paula didn’t come to church nor her daughter Tagi and so on Sunday afternoon, she called crying asking if we could come over and so we did and  in the bairro (neighborhood). We saw a ton of people for a funeral. We got to Paula’s and she was crying and so was Tagi and they explained that on Saturday Tagi and her two friends were invited by these two guys to go to Tunda vala at the river and they went with them and they were drinking alcohol. They went to the river and none of them knew how to swim and Tagi’s best friend got caught under a rock and drowned. It was incredibly sad.  I didn’t know what to say and she was asking and pleading for advice. I did my best by offering a prayer and giving her some advice. We told her we would pass by every single day to make sure that she was alright. Tagi was devastated and couldn’t even talk.  There are a lot of accidents like this here and it is very sad, the whole neighborhood mourns, but there is always hope.  On another note, my Visa is in the process of being renewed so I have a copy, so any more Police encounters I should be good.

Streets of Lubango: Playing with the kids

This week was a very interesting one. I held my first District Meeting and training it went well and I looking forward to giving more(:
New Week, on Tuesday the other Elders left to do training in Huambo, leaving Elder Domingos and I in the house for a few days.  With a new companion, new work tactics are always applied and we are doing a lot more door to door contacting as of right now and finding a lot more people to teach. We had a lot of success and found 8 new investigators this week.  The other Elders got back from Huambo on Thursday and they were exhausted, beat from the trip. Their bus broke down several times and it was very hot.  On Friday we had a meeting with President Marques and the counselors of each auxiliary and we talked about what could improve in the branch.  I asked if Jorge had home teachers,  Brother rock said that he did not yet because he did not have a phone, so the next day on Saturday morning we had planned another soccer game against the same team that we played last time  and they were determined for a rematch to win. That morning we had Leonel, Wilson, Pedro, Eddy, Claudencio and a homeless guy that wanted to play.  At first they were beating us 5 to 2 and then we came back 4 to 5 and then I scored with an assist from Claudencio a cross shot right into the goal for the tie and then we just whooped them 9 to 6 for the final score. I got very sun burnt and a little beat up. But hey.. when you are playing in the jungle you can expect that! It was awesome. That was like the highlight of my Saturday, then what followed, not so much, so that afternoon I had remembered that President Marques had said there is no way to contact Jorge so I decided to buy him a phone so that he would be able to talk with us and he could keep in contact with the branch.    We walked to Jorge’s home. we could not find him there so we went looking down by Henrique’s house, who is his good friend in the church.  He had slipped up with alcohol and did not want us to see him, my heart sank it really hit me hard.   I then went into Henriques and I gave him the phone and told him to give it to Jorge when he is sober and ready.  I felt like he was my own... and that he was struggling and it affected me and ruined the rest of my Saturday, it was a rough day. I didn’t know what to do, as I could be leaving here in less than two weeks. I need him to stay strong. He is an example to me.   I know that he will just be fine he is going to make it, he just slipped up and life is hard here in Africa.  Now that he has a phone he can call us if he needs us.
After that we continued our visits and went to Jauquin’s house and had a wonderful conversation about the church. Well, that was the week… some highs and some lows. I’m just glad we beat that team again! They all need to come to our church now!  I love you all so much. I wish you the best week! With wonderful moments!  Love Elder Dunkley 

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