A Very Missionary Christmas

Missionary Christmas Party

On December 15th, the Praia East, Praia West and Assomada zones gathered for a Missionary Christmas Party.  A highlight was the skits.  Each District developed a skit.  Most were about some aspect of Missionary life here in Cape Verde.    Our favorite was from the Pedra Badejo district.  Elder Peterson is the District Leader, he is also the Branch President in Pedra Badejo.  Their skit showed a "typical" Sunday meeting.  Elder Peterson is in the middle with the elder on the left playing an angel and the one on the right the adversary.  The angel and the devil were vying for President Peterson's attention as strangers, drunks, and others wandered in and out of the meeting.  And yes, these things do happen on a fairly regular basis.  President Peterson made the right choice in dealing with each situation.

Of course no Christmas party would be

complete without a visit from Santa (Elder Lunt).  Sister Amo, President Amo's wife coordinated the creation of Christmas treat bags with the Senior Missionary couples.  Although many missionaries received packages from home, some packages do not arrive in time for Christmas.  At our very first zone conference last April, Christmas packages from Christmas 2016 were still being delivered.

Family home evening.

Elder Biven has two families he is assigned to home teach.  His companion, Br. Fernandes, is on the high council and travels, so often Elder Biven and I visit the families.  It’s tricky, home teaching Kriole/Portuguese speaking members when we don’t speak Portuguese that well, so we take a short thought and a video on our iPad.

Two weeks ago one of our families suggested we do a family home evening together.  Which sounded ambitious, a lesson, a game, snacks, but we agreed.  I made three dozen peanut butter cookies, because lots of cookies are always a good idea.  Elder Biven prepared to have the family members read the Christmas story in Portuguese and then he had a short thought about Simeon, the man who was promised that he would see the Messiah before he died, and indeed he met Christ as a babe in the temple shortly after his birth.  We also prepared a really simple game—it’s all about the game here.

On December 18th we arrived at 7:00pm as agreed, and interesting things began to happen.  The family we home teach was not present in the large home as we entered, but another family was there and we visited with them.  And then more ward families appeared, lots of them.  Yes, they had invited the entire ward.  And since we love the members of our ward very much, while we were a little unsure how we were going to deliver said family home evening, we were otherwise happy to be there.  Fortunately, the Lord sent our young missionary Sisters along with the rest of the ward members, and they were able to translate for Elder Biven as he taught his lesson—because it’s one thing to pick through your words in a small group, but you really can’t do that in front of a room full of people.  Elder Biven was amazing, teaching about how men should live to be worthy to receive Christ, as Simeon was.  The plate of three dozen cookies made it all the way around the room.  The game was okay, my friend Fabrily loved it, so I guess that’s all that matters.  Above is a photo of my young friend Fabrily, she was in a wedding recently, so she was all dressed up and I took a photo.

Kansas City Tuna

On the evening of December 22nd, we had our Christmas potluck dinner with the senior missionaries on Santiago island.  It was also a farewell party for the Lunts, who leave in a few days.  Presidente Amo grilled some delicious steaks and I took Kansas City tuna. Everyone loved it.  I didn’t bring any home.

What is Kansas City tuna?  Hahaha!  At our farewell party before departing from Liberty my dear friend Renee Creswell gave me a suggestion, she said “enjoy living by the sea”.  And that was very excellent advice.  She also said she had a fantastic recipe for tuna which she gave me as we left.  Then just recently, as I was going though the important papers I brought with us, I found Renee’s recipe!  Just in time for Christmas!  I made it for us and it was great.  So I made it for the party and when people asked what it was I told them.........Renee’s Kansas City tuna!

Renee’s amazing Kansas City tuna:
A container of cream cheese
A can of tuna
4 Tbls mayonnaise
2 Tbls lemon juice
Some salt
Some diced onion
The final, key ingredient is CURRY, the recipe calls for 1 or 2 Tbls, but I put in about 6, maybe our curry is not as bold here.

Mix everything up and let it sit for a couple of hours for the flavors to blend.  Serve with crackers.

Singing in the Plaza on Plateau

Nativity on Albuquerque Praca

On Christmas Eve the missionaries in Praia gathered in Albuquerque Praça (the main square) on Plateau, and sang Christmas carols.  Many people gathered nearby to listen and take photos.  Some joined with us to sing, which is a witness to the beautiful hearts of the people here.  We felt great joy in this little act of Christmas service.

It was a moment that meant a lot to me, to be one of the missionaries in the Park.  Eighteen years ago Elder Biven and I were spending a weekend in Madrid when we encountered missionaries in a park.  We had been married for fifteen years.  While I felt strongly about my faith in Jesus Christ and the restored Church, I had always respected Elder Biven’s choices and he did not want to “be a Mormon”.   Then, in November of 1999, new missionaries transferred into our ward and they visited our home.  They asked Elder Biven if they could teach him.  I was surprised when he said yes.  

Missionaries and Stake Choir Singing

The missionaries came to our home to teach Elder Biven on Saturday evenings.  During that time of teaching we took a short trip to Madrid.  On Saturday evening as we walked through a park in Madrid, a group of LDS missionaries were out talking to people in the park.  They did not speak to us, but they didn’t need to, we felt God knew where we were, and he had sent missionaries to fulfill the teaching  appointment.  It spoke to us of God's love.  It was after that time that Elder Biven felt it was right to accept the invitation to be baptized and live the principles and beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

And so yesterday, in Praia, Elder Biven and I were some of the missionaries in the park!

Serra da Malagueta

P-Day Hike

A couple P-days ago, Sister Biven and I went hiking in the Serra da Malagueta National Park.  Serra da Malagueta is on the northern part of Santiago Island at the top of the last mountain range before getting to Tarrafal.  The weather was perfect and the scenery was magnificent.  As we reached the highest altitude, roughly 1000 meters, we walked through small groves of pine trees.  Panoramic views of the whole northern part of Santiago were stunning.  There are several trails in the park.  We look forward to having an opportunity for further exploration.

Sister Biven Near the Start of the Trail.

Looking Down the Mountainside at a Woman Carrying Forage on her Head.

Looking Northeast Down a Mountain Valley.

Sister Biven on the Trail.

Southeast View with the Ocean in the Background

To the Southeast.

Another Southeast View with the Ocean in the Distance.

Looking Southwest at Sister Biven.

Down the Hillside by which Sister Biven was Standing.

Looking North along the Road to Tarrafal with Tarrafal in the Extreme Distance.

A Small Dot of Color. 

Primary Presentation, Mission Tour and Sao Felipe Basketball

Palmarejo II Primary Presentation

Our wonderful little primary had their presentation on December 3rd.  I shamelessly took a photo of them singing......parents were also doing this.......it was just so beautiful.

Mission Tour - President Johnson

President Johnson, the area president, came and encouraged us.  We were grateful for his thoughts.  It was a special bonus for Elder Biven and I that he spoke in English.  We were reminded that the Jaredites were pushed forward by ferocious winds, while they sang hymns and praised God.  And those furious winds got them where they needed to go, to the promised land!

Elder Biven donned an apron to help serve the missionaries, about half of the mission attended the Praia conference.  The meal was catered by a restaurant the Mission has used for years.  The menu seldom varies:  chicken stroganoff, lots of rice, french fries, and a salad of sliced cucumber and tomatoes.  For dessert we had a cup of fruit. What a great meal.  No one went away hungry.

We enjoyed taking part in the group photo, President Johnson and President and Sister Amo are at center in the back.  The Elder holding up a Book of Mormon is Elder Bowman, from Missouri.  He is a seasoned missionary and nearing the end of his mission, so he showed off a little by bearing his testimony in the native Kriole language, rather than Portuguese.  The missionaries just have to figure Kriole out, while they learn Portuguese in the MTC, when they get here they find out that many people speak Kriole.  So in order to teach them they have to learn at least some, which many of them do!

Sao Felipe Basketball

In late November we had a new project approved: Sao Felipe Basketball (SFB).  SFB's long term goal is to strengthen the Sao Felipe community.  To do this they will focus on strengthening families, starting with the youth, using basketball as the vehicle.  This past Saturday, Bila Santos (Coach Bila), the President of SFB invited Players from three other programs he has been involved with to Sao Felipe for a four team tournament.  The objective was to build excitement in the local youth and stoke their desire to participate.  There are few, if any, indoor basketball courts in Cape Verde and the outdoor courts share space with the concrete soccer fields. 

 

Setting Up the Basketball goal

The backboards and hoops had seen better days however Coach Bila brought new nets for the occasion.

You Need Two of Them

Coach Bila, in blue, Addressing the
 Assembled Players

Hands in - Ready to Play

Sao Felipe Basketball is a coed program and will start with youth from 8 to 12 years old.  Each year as a new group of 8 year olds join, the age range will expand until ultimately covering youth from 8 to 18.  SFB will use the mentoring relationships that they develop with the youth and will partner with other community organizations to provide the youth with education on health, self reliance and other life skills.  Community service projects for the youth and parents will teach the value of serving others.

Bruma Seca

African Wind

Bruma Seca, is the Kriole word for the dry hot dusty wind from the African Sahara.  It was blowing hard this afternoon, creating a mist of dust.  This is what the sky looked like, you couldn’t even see much of the sea.....

Christmas Packages

There are Christmas packages arriving for our missionaries!  God Bless their parents and families!!  Elder Biven will take these to Assomada today when he goes with Paolo to work on one of the chicken coops and then to meet with President Torres, the district president and one of our favorite people.

The packages are from Brazil, Ecuador, Portugal, and the USA.  The one in the middle from the USA has $132 in postage on it.  There is also a box of German cookies that the Garretts brought, we are sending it to a district meeting this morning.  I can’t say enough in appreciation of the parents of these strong young people.

Blessings

A few weeks ago I felt to check on one of our elders who had complained about a "blood blister" on his foot three days previous.  Upon arrival at the apartment I found the Elder nursing a quarter-sized, infected, sore on the bottom his foot.  It was beginning to have red streaks upward on his leg, which is a dangerous sign.  

We immediately took him to the hospital.  After waiting two hours we watched as four unconscious people were carried from vehicles into the care area.  Even as we prayed for them, we knew it would be a much longer time before we would get help, so we went to the private clinic the missionaries often use.  It was now late in the day, and we waited another hour before the doctor saw us.  We were perhaps the last people in the clinic now.  When we entered the room the doctor glanced at the Elder's foot and spoke briefly with him.  I could see he knew how bad it was and that treatment was not going to be easy.   I prayed with all my heart that he would be willing to help.  He sighed and then looked and me and said "I know you.  I met you at the grand opening of Nós Saude clinic" (one of our recent projects, the health clinic on Achada Grande).   He then turned back to the Elder and told him he would work on his foot.  It was truly urgent that the abcess be drained, and the doctor agreed to do it because he knew me from our humanitarian work.  

And so the doctor stayed late.  We were sent to the little surgical room in the clinic.  The doctor treated me like an honored guest in the operating room, and allowed me to sit next to him as he worked. It was a challenging procedure.  When he opened the abscess he found multiple layers of infection.  The Elder was amazing.  There was no pain medicine to begin with--and clearly it was so very painful--I whispered to the doctor "do you have any morphine??"   Eventually he stopped and had the nurse start an IV with a little pain medication.  A great relief!  Maybe the LDS Charities project we had done, building a health clinic in a poor section of the city, elevated the importance of helping our missionaries to this good man.  The Elder is now recovered.  The angels are watching over these young people!  I am grateful to be a witness.

Visitors From the North

Kayleigh Visits

Last weekend we had a visit from our daughter Kayleigh who lives in Copenhagen.  What a treat it was, to share our missionary area with her.















We went to Cidade Velha, the “old city” and walked up to the old church from the 1600’s.  We love the sweet little church which has been restored through efforts by local people.  As in the great cathedrals of Europe there is a burial slab in the floor—there is just one here— and the historical character is Sergeant Major João.  Not a king or a prince, but a sergeant major.  We feel honor for this historic character who was buried underneath the floor of the church in Cidade Velha long ago.

The restored chapel is now used sometimes for events, perhaps to include weddings, though weddings are not common here.  A marriage license is expensive and few actually marry.  This has been something that has drawn people to the LDS church, the belief that it is important to raise children in a home with a mother and a father who are committed and married to one another.  This view, surprisingly, has drawn men to the church, because it gives them a solid place in the home, something that they might not otherwise have here.  Property ownership records---as we understand from those involved in registering property---ownership records are 80-90 percent female.  Homes are owned and run by women in Cape Verde in many cases.

Toward the end of Kayleigh’s visit we stopped by the old lighthouse which is closed for renovations this month.  We walked out on the point, and Kayleigh took this photo of the port of Praia at night.  We enjoyed her visit so much, and felt stronger and more committed to serving well when she left.

Garrett's Visit

A week later a couple associated with LDS Family Services in Europe, the Garretts, currently from North Carolina, came for meetings.  We enjoyed a good visit with them, in English!  Going for gelato and talking about familiar things as we showed them Praia was very enjoyable.

Veteran's Day

Since Saturday, November 11 was Veterans Day, we stopped at a memorial to a US soldier from Cape Verde, located in Achada Grande.  We had seen this plaque in the plaza and planned to come on Veterans Day to honor Sgt. Alberto D. Montrond.  Sgt. Montrond  served in the 528th Special Forces, 7th Group.  He was killed in Afghanistan on February 13, 2006. We left flowers and a thank you note on his plaque.

The Year Starts to Wind Down

The budget year for welfare services/humanitarian work is ending and we have one more project we are submitting for approval to complete the use of our budgeted humanitarian funds this year.  We have identified a community leader who is strengthening the neighborhood, and children, and the families of children, by organizing a youth basketball program.  Elder Biven and I and a translator met with Bila this week, and we followed him to one of his clinics, in Ponta D’Agua.  We met the youth he had worked with for nine years there, many of them now coaching other youth and teaching them about work and life within the framework of learning and practicing basketball.  It was so inspiring to see these young people who had confidence, and joy.  We hope to be able to work with Bila on a similar project in Sao Filipe.

Trip to Maio

Maio

This weekend we traveled to Maio to learn about the island and consider possible member welfare and humanitarian projects.  It's a beautiful little island, and unlike our island, Santiago, there are lots of sandy beaches.  We started the day walking on the beach, trying to be careful to stay near the surf since turtles nest on this island and this is the time of year they come.  We saw track marks of turtles in the sand.  It got hot fast, so just like on our island it was important to get up early and take a walk before the sun was up too long.  Life is quiet here.

While it's only a fifteen minute flight from Santiago to Maio, planes don't come everyday, so we are here for four days.  Our first day we took an island tour to get an idea of how people are living.  We saw small villages, and we saw a few drip irrigation projects and some beautiful beaches.  The volcanic soil is rich here.

In the evening, on the recommendation of the two young elders who are working here, we went to a little place near the beach that sold food, run by a lovely Brazilian hostess.  We had grilled chicken Brazilian style as we watched the sunset and also watched the ferry come in from Santiago.  The ferry takes four hours--compared to a fifteen minute flight we felt pretty grateful.  The ferry also does not run but a couple of times a week.

We met with the local Branch President and visited with the Elders, who were perhaps glad to have a little company and visit in English.  We attended church with the branch, where perhaps ten to fifteen people come regularly.  We felt so blessed to be there among the members, who were kind to us even though our Portuguese is weak, allowing us to read some of the lesson material (just a little).  The Elders translated a few comments we were asked to make.  We understand much of what is said, but we have trouble expressing ourselves.  Elder Biven is doing pretty well.  I am struggling with verb conjugations.  We were very impressed with the home teaching assignment sheet we saw posted in the hallway (photo).

A common belief in Cape Verde is it doesn't really matter what you believe.  As people are taught about God's love for them they begin to feel that actively serving the Lord, and even being a member of an organized church, is worthwhile.  But it's still not easy to do what you believe, to attend church on Sunday on an equatorial island when there are many other things to do.  As we met these incredible people we witnessed their faith, which has been built over time, one prayer, one Sunday at a time, reading scriptures and reaching out to God for strength for themselves and for their families.  What a treasured experience it has been to worship with them today.

Week of October 13, 2017

Inauguration

This week the health clinic we financed had its "inauguration" or grand opening.  The community center was cleaned and painted, and it was a big day.  There was even a cake.  Here is a photo of our translator, Noeme, before the inauguration ceremony.










Here's the cake.  I don't know where they got it-- but this was the first time I have seen a decorated cake (western style) here.

















This is Presidente Teixeira, President of Praia stake on the right, and Bishop Neves, Bishop of the Achada Grande ward in which the health clinic resides.  When humanitarian missionaries do a project they ask local priesthood leadership to come to the closing ceremonies.  This is because our work is funded by donations from church members, so the gift of the health clinic to the community is a gift from church members worldwide.  President Teixeira spoke briefly at the inauguration, and they were given these certificates.

Rui Vaz

For a field trip last Saturday we drove up into the mountains near Praia to a little village called Rui Vaz.  We had heard the view was spectacular and indeed it was!

New Translator

Our translators have certainly been a blessing to us!  and they have also been blessed as they have worked with us.  Our first translator, Manuel, got a good internship working for the company we bought the chickens from.  Our second translator, Rosa, was accepted to school in Portugal, and was able to get a visa to go.  Our third translator, Noeme, received an internship in the US and was able to get a visa.  And below is a photo of our fourth translator, Elder Duarte.

Elder Duarte is pretty wonderful.  During his mission, when I was asked to give brief training sessions on health, I could call upon Elder Duarte, a zone leader, to talk about hard subjects....like diarrhea....and make them funny.  Elder Duarte's release date was three weeks ago.  He went to the airport with the other missionaries also going home, ready to return to his family waiting for him at the airport in Lisbon.  He was denied passage!  His Portugese "green card" had expired during his mission.  So the mission office is working on getting Elder Duarte a visa to go home!  It's supposed to work the other way, you get a visa to GO on a mission, not to go home!

Being Portuguese, Elder Duarte's Portuguese is beautiful and he is fluent in English.  So he has been helping with translation work.  He may get his visa and go home any day now---we hope!  Any day!  But he has been a great help and we have enjoyed working with him.

A Visit from Gilles

This week we had the privilege of a visit from our Area Welfare Manager from Frankfurt, Gilles François.  He is a delightful person and we enjoyed taking him to meet our partners.

We took him to see the health clinic located within the Pilorinho community center.  To the right is a photo of some of the people who gave volunteer hours of labor to make the center possible, this was taken about two weeks ago.  The health center is now largely completed.


This is a photo of many members of the Pilorinho community center including Nós Saude president Raimundo, our translator, Noeme, and Gilles.  The view is from Achada Grande Frente, overlooking the port of Praia.  We took a walking tour of the Achada Grande neighborhood with Raimundo as tour guide and Gilles as special guest.

We also took Gilles to meet our wonderful partners Pastor João and his wife Elizabeth of Remar.  Remar is an organization that works rehabilitating those who have lost opportunity through addiction or bad choices.  It is internationally recognized.  LDS Charities provided the bunk beds in the background.

Gilles was a rock star interacting with the current residents at the Remar facility, some of whom spoke English or French (Gilles is a French resident of Germany). We had a lot of fun together.










Here is a photo of the Remar residents outside.  They willing participated in the photo, but some preferred not to be recognized.  There was a wonderful feeling as we left.










Our second day with Gilles was focused on member welfare projects, primarily the chicken project we are wrapping up.  After meeting with local priesthood and seeing some of the completed coops in homes, Gilles felt that ongoing oversight was a good idea.  Elder Biven will begin visiting the locations again to check on people and help them as he can.   Egg output was low at many locations, we think the chickens may not be getting enough food and water.  Perhaps we can encourage our participants and help them improve.

Closing Ceremonies

School Supplies

Even though we are on the equator and don't have autumn, we do have back to school excitement here in Cape Verde as families prepare to send their children to school, some for the very first time.

Our Praia stake primary president, Sister Fernandes, wanted to organize a service project for the primary children to prepare school supplies for needy children.  So Elder Biven found partners to help us distribute the school supplies and wrote up a proposal to submit to Frankfurt.  Approval came.  It was a great project, a wonderful sponsor, Sister Fernandez and the stake primary, and wonderful NGOs, Primarily the "Black Panthers" community group in Varzea.

Black Panthers were super organized and, even though we were dealing with back to school craziness in the shops, purchasing everything went very smoothly.  Here is Elder Biven and one of our translators, Rosa, in a school supplies shop.  It might be interesting to the reader to note that the school supplies requested for each child were one pencil, one pen, two small paper notebooks, an eraser and-- this is the really big deal-- colored pencils.  We gave them two pencils and added a small plastic pencil sharpener.


Sister Fernandes was also very organized and on Wednesday afternoon about thirty people showed up to help put the school supplies for each student into individual bags.  The children worked so well!  I one hour they built 300 school supplies bags!

And then on Friday we attended the back to school ceremony held by Black Panthers at their community center.  This is the crowd waiting outside.

















This is the first year students (five year old class) waiting inside for distribution of their supplies, which included a special first year student frock (it's an African thing) and a backpack with school supplies.   The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints through LDS Charities provided backpacks and/or supplies for about 375 students.

Here is the President Alcides Amarante of Associação

Juvenile Black Panthers, on the right, Sister Fernandes and Lionel representing the Praia Stake priesthood leadership.  Humanitarian missionaries kind of try to hide when it's time for photos, and there were TV cameras there, because we are simply managing funds donated by LDS Church members, and the projects belong to the people of Cape Verde who make these things happen.











It touched our hearts when, as we drove away after distribution of the materials, Sister Fernandez told her story (in Portuguese) as we drove her back to her work.  She said she wanted to do this project because when she was a child and school started she had nothing.  Nothing, and it was very hard.  She wanted children to have supplies when they went to school.  She was glowing after this experience and we were so grateful we could help her do this wonderful service:  "Children serving children", something which was unprecedented, according to the President of Black Panthers.

Óculos for the Poor and Needy

Purchasing eyeglasses in Cape Verde can be an overwhelming prospect for the poor.  A pair of glasses will cost about what it takes for a small, and very humble, family to live on for a month.  It is overwhelming.  Our predecessor, the Carnells, thought up a project to provide eye glasses to the poor and needy of Cape Verde.  When we inherited the project it was in pretty rough shape.  But we followed through on their commitment, and although it took months, and although we still have a number of glasses that have been in customs for weeks, on Friday we were able to facilitate the first distribution of seventy eyeglasses to the poor and needy of Cape Verde.   It was a happy day, with one of the doctors who had provided the free exams presenting the glasses to each recipient.  It was all coordinated by our wonderful NGO, ADEVIC an organization for those with visual disabilities.  They called the recipients and provided the organization of the distribution and the space to do it in.  Television cameras were also present at this event.  Here are some photos of the happy recipients.  The young man was so thrilled, he could see well!!  He walked around with that smile on his face just beaming.