10/26/2009 Letter from Elder Joshua Shelhamer

My first transfer is over. Wow. It went very fast. My trainer, Elder Nobrega, has left and is home in Portugal. This was his last transfer. He was a great trainer, and I will miss him a lot. He helped me learn a lot of things, and together our work was excellent. I am so very grateful for the opportunity I had to serve with him.
The second transfer has begun, and my new Companion is Elder Chun. Elder Chun is from Hawaii, and is very cool. He was my Zone Leader this past transfer, and I am very excited to serve with him now. I am staying in my same area this next transfer. Elder Chun and I have a lot of work to do in our area, and I am very excited to labor with him in the Lord's work.
This past week has been, hot. haha. It is always warm here in Cape Verde. My last transfer I was working in both Fonte Aleixo and Patim, on the Island of Fogo, but now, the Mission President is sending new missionaries to Patim this transfer, and so Elder Chun and I can focus more on Fonte Aleixo.
The people here are wonderful. There are many times when I can be walking down the street headed somewhere, and feel in my heart, the Love that our Heavenly Father has for these people. It is just a remarkable feeling.
I love this work. This work that I am engaged in is the work of the Lord, and I am so thankful for the opportunity to serve as a representative of Christ. It was interesting seeing my last companion finish his mission and go home. I have a lot of time left here, and I am so happy for that.

10/19/2009 Letter from Elder Shelhamer

This week was an exciting week here in Cape Verde. This Saturday, I had my first baptisms with people that I taught. It was a wonderful day! It is such a great experience to meet a person, have the privilege to teach them about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and watch them change their lives and live and follow the example of our Savior. It was a wonderful opportunity to witness them make a covenant and promise with the Lord by being Baptized. It was great. One of the three people that were baptized chose me to baptize them too! So I was able to perform this ordinance. It was a beautiful day, and many friends and family members present to witness and feel the wonderful spirit of the Baptism.
The same day, we had a big gathering at the church. We gave people invitations to give to their family and friends, and they all came for the afternoon and evening for this activity. The activity was kind of like an Open House. Each auxiliary or group in the church, made a presentation of what that group does and how they function. We had something in most of the rooms of the chapel. In the main room, the Sacrament Meeting room, we had the singing of hymns. Outside by the soccer field, we had a few of the Women serving a Cape Verdean dish that they prepared in a barrel with fire right there at the church. It was great. The way we ran this activity was like a rotation. Every 5 to 10 minutes we would have a rotation where people would go to the next room and learn more about the programs of the church. It was a great activity and people really enjoyed it.
Here in Cape Verde we walk SO MUCH. We live at the bottom of a hill, and the Chapel is at the top of the hill, along with other people we visit. We walk SO much, and sometimes we are so tired we have to just walk really slow. The roads here in Cape Verde all mostly all Cobblestone or dirt. It is pretty cool.
I have developed a greater understanding and testimony of the scripture that states ´Every soul is of great worth in the sight of God.´ I see so many different types and lifestyles of people here, and I can tell you that I have no doubt, and have a great knowledge that every soul indeed has great worth in the sight of God.
I have been working a little bit, like 2-3 days a week for a few hours in an area called Patim which is about 30 minutes outside of our main area. We have worked hard there, and talked with our Mission President, and our Mission President has decided to send missionaries there this next transfer and open the area for full time missionary work. What a great blessing.
Everything is going well here. Life is good. My companion, Elder Nóbrega goes home this next week to Portugal, and so I am excited to see who my next companion is!

10/12/2009 Letter from Elder Shelhamer

Cape Verde. I love it. This past week we had a very exciting Preparation Day! Our Zone and a group of members of the church gathered together and went on a trip, ... to the Volcano!
The Island I am currently serving on is a volcanic island, and it has a volcano on the eastern side of the island. We got together some vans and all traveled to the volcano.
It was a lot of fun! At first when I looked at the volcano I wondered how I was ever going to climb it. It is huge. We started out walking in this little town at the base of the volcano, and started our way up. The first 15~30 minutes wasn't too bad, but then we started to get to the steeper part of the volcano. It was difficult. Slowly, my legs started to get more tired with every step I took. We started having to climb rocks, and hang on with our hands so that we didn't fall back down. It was rough. Our water ran out about half way up the volcano. We had two groups, and I was in the second one. About half way up, we began to see the top of the volcano. I could see my friends almost at the top, and it was an inspiration to continue. It got harder and harder as we continued to climb the volcano.
After an hour or so of climbing this volcano, I was SO tired. Every minute or so, I had to stop and take a break. My heart was beating so fast because we were working so hard. I was hoping that I had the strength in me to make it all the way to the top. We struggled, and continued to climb and climb, and finally made it to the top. What a relief.
One of my friends had some water left over and shared it. The inside of the volcano smelled very strong like sulfur. A few people climbed down inside of the volcano to write their names with rocks. When you are on top of this volcano, it feels like you are on top of the world. We could see the ocean around us, the towns down below under the clouds. It was great. We stayed at the top of the Volcano for about 45 minutes to an hour.
THEN, the fun part came, going back down.
The last top part before you reach the top is all rock, and so you have you use your hands and climb the rocks. So, going back down was fun as well. We walked and climbed down the rocks, until we came to a part that was gravel. Walking up the volcano~we took a way that was a bit solid and a little easier, but going down we found a place that was basically all sand. To get back down to the bottom, we RAN down the volcano. Yeah. We ran and skipped down the side of the volcano, each step or leap, landing in the volcano rock like sand and then once in a while just jumping and falling. It was SO much fun. By about half way down my pants pockets, shoes, and everything were filled with the rocks. ha ha. It was so much fun to go down. It is one of the most fun things I have ever done.
When we made it down to the bottom, we were tired and exhausted. It was a good day, and we went back to our place, cleaned up, and started working again.
What an adventure. With the adventure I also learned a lesson. When things get rough, continue to endure it all. The result in the end is bright and true. Life is just like my volcano experience. Sometimes we work hard, we feel the pain, we are tired of everything, and we just want to give up, but the end result is always worth the wait and the suffering. The same is true with life and living the gospel principles. Sometimes we may have difficult times in our lives to endure, but, endure it well. The result and reward after this life is real and I reassure you is worth your work now.
I know that Heavenly Father loves us. I know that he loves us. Jesus Christ is our Savior, and suffered for our sins so that we are able to returned and live in the Presence of our Heavenly Father forever. We have guidelines to live by in this life, gospel principles, but again, I know that by living this principles, we are rewarded in more ways and in marvelous ways that we can not even comprehend.
Thank you for your prayers and thoughts as I continue to serve the lovely people of Cape Verde.

10/7/09 Letter from Elder Shelhamer

These past few weeks have been great. I love it here. I am doing well, and am healthy. The work here is great, and everything is just, wonderful. Life is good.
So I am currently serving in an area called Fonte Aleixo. It is cool. This past week the power has been going off every day though. Its crazy. Also, we didn´t have water for about three days, it came back yesterday, and now it is gone again. Haha. Crazy.
Work is going well. We have an area called Patim that we go out to. Its about 30 minutes away from our house by car. To travel to this area, we travel in their method of public transportation. They have pickup trucks with bars on the side that we hope in and go flying down the road. It is always an adventure.

This past week when we were out there we had a very interesting lesson. We know that Heavenly Father loves all of His children, and everyone needs to hear our message, and so, we try to talk to everyone. This past week we went to this one woman, who lived in a small cement-block house. It was in very poor condition, and smelled bad. We entered and she gave us her best chairs to sit on, which as a normal American, you wouldn´t want to sit on them. We sat down, and started a lesson with her, and then her 6 children came in. They had on either no clothes, or a t-shirt that was ripped, torn, and dirty, but they had smiles and were just wonderful. They all gathered around their mother for the lesson. As we taught the lesson, a neighbor came in, and stood to the side and listened to the message. It was a older lady. She took one of the kids into the hall of the house and started hitting-beating this child. The child returned to the room a few minutes later crying, and the mother was upset. Remember, we were in the middle of a lesson. This old lady had something against these children, because as she stood there during our lesson, she kept moving closer to the other children, and kept hitting them in the head. It was very sad. The mother got very mad, and screamed at the lady to leave, but she wanted one of our pamphlets first. We gave he one and she left, and the lesson continued... Life for the people here is rough. But this is their live. They love their Heavenly Father here, and we have many strong members. But there are times with interesting things like this.
I am out of time for today, until next time.

9/30/2009 First week in Cape Verde

Ive been in Cape Verde for one week already. haha.

It was a great week. In my area we have a branch that meets in two different locations. We have a chapel that is pretty nice, and then a building about 30 minutes away that we meet in as well.

The members of the church here are very active in the church and love the gospel. Most of the members here are fairly recent converts, and love to be active. It is fairly easy to get the members to come out and teach with us. Also, since the gospel means so much in their lives, it is fairly easy for us to get referrals. People here want their family and friends to hear the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and have true happiness in their lives as well.

It is hard to describe the living conditions here. People live in cinder brick block cement houses, that usually wont have carpet or the necessities of most American homes. They really don't have much here, and live in poor conditions. When I say that, I do not mean that they are suffering or starving for food, but they simply live simple lives, and are very happy about it.

It is interesting to look at their clothing here, like their t-shirts, because most of the clothing here has come as donations from the United States, and so we will often see people wearing clothing with logos from American Cartoons such as Dora the Explorer, American Sports teams, special attractions (Ive seen a few Pennsylvania Shirts), and other stuff.

This past week has been very hot. Very hot. We walk A LOT up and down streets and hills, and sweat, a lot. haha. Also, the power is interesting here, and tends to go off at least once a day for an hour or more. Very interesting.

We come to an Internet Cafe every week to send emails.This week we had my first Zone Conference, where our Zone (approximately 12-15 missionaries) meet for meetings of information and instruction with the Mission President and his assistants. It was a lot of fun.

My first week we have already been teaching many lessons per day. We are currently teaching many people about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and helping them come closer to their Savior. The work is great.

I've learned this week to always work to develop more faith. Here in Cape Verde, they basically know Portuguese, but they speak different types of Creole and it is different, and hard to understand. I can not understand Creole yet, which is what they speak all of the time, and so, it is a bit frustrating at times. Imagine yourself, in a foreign country, Cape Verde, surrounded by good people that you don't know, and all of them are having conversations and looking at you. You have no idea what they are talking about or saying. haha. Its difficult. At times when I see people in a bar, or along the street smoking and watching us walk by, and they are having a conversation, I of course have no idea what they are talking about, and so sometimes I develop a little bit of a fear. This is the work of Satan trying to slow down my work, and dampen my spirit.

Fear, comes from Satan, and Faith and happiness can be found through the Savior. As we develop more and more faith in the Savior, we will find ourselves on safe ground. I have no reason to fear others, because I have great faith in Jesus Christ, and am pleased to be a Representative of Jesus Christ for the people here in Cape Verde, teaching and testifying of Him. I know that as I continue to study, teach, and pray, always inviting the spirit to attend with me, I will be safe, I will feel safe.

Missionary Work is great. I love it. I know that God does live. And He Loves ALL of His children around the world. I know that the gospel does bless lives, and I see if happen everyday. Jesus Christ is our Savior. The Church of Jesus Christ is His kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to His glorious second coming. I know these things to be true, and say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.