Charlie Brown

Alright, title. So, my buddy that I met in the MTC who's in Cape Verde, always uses a song title as his subject, so I thought I'd try it. And Charlie Brown is the title of a song by Coldplay that just makes my heart happy. If you haven't heard it, you have to go look it up now :)

I apologize that I haven't been the best email writer.  Sorry. I'll do better. I promise.

For those of you who aren't Mormon or don't know what it's like to serve a mission, let me just say this. It's hard. That's all I can really say. But my young men's leader taught me to "Do Hard Things". I know that this is the most important thing I can ever do. Because it is so hard. I am learning to rely on my God for my strength. I know He answers prayers, because He answers mine every day. I get to see Him in the service I give. If you understand one thing about why I am out here, know this: I'm out here because I love God, and I know what I'm teaching is true.

I was very sad this Saturday because we had to drop an investigator that had once been progressing. José Batista. We are still his friends, but he has no real desire to follow the commandments and for now, he won't change. We'll just keep praying for him and maybe the right set of Elders will help him better than we could.

But at the same time we met a new investigator, Duart who has real desire to know the truth. He's such a cool guy. We've taught him about the Restoration and he believes the Book of Mormon is true and Joseph Smith was a prophet. So awesome!

Portuguese is as hard as ever, but I'm honestly progressing really well, I was able to give a talk in church two weeks ago from notes! I've never even done that in English. But it's a little frustrating at times. So, people talk so fast and so slurred here, it just sounds like a bunch of gibberish! When my companion doesn't understand something (he's from Cape Verde) he says, "Como?" and he says it really loud and I want to hit him sometimes haha. Learning to live with companions and ignore the little things. It's a work in progress. Good practice for marriage one day :)

This is an adventure. I said I wanted to go out like Walter Mitty. Well, I'm here, and I'd be remiss if I regretted a single day. So I don't plan on it. If I have the right attitude, no day is bad. How can a day be bad when you're sharing the restored gospel of Jesus Christ? I know this is true. And just like we just were able to celebrate, I know that Christ lives. I know that He speaks today through His living Prophet. I get the privilege to bear the calling of one of His disciples.

I love you all. I hope you had a boa Páscoa and have a good week!

Elder Buchanan