Tarrafal

Sister Trainers

From Sister Biven . . .

On the last entry I promised an awesome photo of Fogo.  Fogo is the island with the active volcano and it can be seen from some places on Santiago (our island).  Here is my awesome photo taken FROM Fogo looking towards the sea.  In the distance is another island, perhaps ours.

These two incredible sisters have been my missionary 'trainers' for my role as mission nurse specialist.  The taller sister is Sr Smith.  She sprained her ankle, got better, had a set back, and then it really looked like she was going to be unable to walk (and therefore unable to do a missionary work) for a week.  President and Sister Mathews wisely suggested the companionship try to teach their discussions at the chapel.  Her companion, Sr Reneer was incredibly supportive and resourceful in helping Sr Smith.  And then........ they somehow found crutches.  On the little island of Fogo.  I can't find most medical items I would like to have on the big island of Santiago, and on this little island the Lord sent them a pair of crutches!!!  And they kept working!!   I asked for this photo because they have inspired me.

Tarrafal

Last Saturday we traveled to the north end of the island to the city of Tarrafal.  Our purpose was to investigate a project proposal for a small school 10 km outside of the city.  But before we drove out to the site we stopped at the beautiful Tarrafal beach.  I took off my sandals and walked in the surf.  The world is such a beautiful place.





After enjoying the beach we got back in our vehicle, along with our translator, the project requester (a young woman who is director of four schools in the area), and a local priesthood leader.  We traveled across the high volcanic mountains to a small village and found our little school which needs a new roof.  About fifty elementary age students attend the school.  We felt such a happy feeling in this place.  We did have to fight quite a few cows, dogs and chickens for road access to get there,  but I didn't get photos of that.



There are two two latrines for the sixty students, and a beautiful outside courtyard for the students to play in during breaks.




Below is a photo of one of the classrooms.  I was so impressed with the visual aides on the wall.  The pink one is the words to the Cabo Verde national song.  Other posters showed timelines of important events on Cabo Verde.  I felt I was standing on sacred ground as we toured this location where children are taught local history.  

Assomada

Assomado

From Sister Biven . . . 


So here is the boat we watched being brought into the harbor by a tug boat.  You can also see a military boat on the dock if you expand the photo a little.

Elder Biven's humanitarian work took us to Assomada this week, it was a drive through the volcanic mountains of the island. Assomada is about 40 kilometers from Praia. Due to the nature of the roads, it takes about an hour to get there. The valleys were lined with beautiful fields of corn and root vegetables, and mango and papaya trees grow by the fields.  Such a beautiful place, and we are assured that it is even more beautiful during the rainy season which is yet to come this year.  Here is a street view of Assomada.  It is a busy place.





As we left Assomada we stopped at a scenic overlook and took a photo of the city behind us. On the horizon is the sea  (sorry about the finger on the camera lens) and once again, there is an outline of the island of Fogo in the distance.  Someday I will have a spectacular photo of Fogo to post.  We traveled with President Mendonça of the mission presidency and as we drove through a little village he said Stop!  Stop right here!  So we did.  And he got out and purchased roadside pastel milhos, little corn pastries with fish in them, I thought the were very good.  Freshly cooked.  Mmmm.


As we get used to life on our island we are grateful for the opportunity to be here and help the people, and to support the missionaries.  We have multiple opportunities everyday to speak with junior missionaries and they inspire us!  Those who don't speak English--who patiently listen to our faltering Portuguese and offer suggestions--how we appreciate the kindness they extend to us!  We have been here nearly three weeks.  Today most of our meetings and phone calls, as well as our lunch with two elders who do not speak English-- one from Cape Verde and one from Brazil-- today we mostly spoke Portuguese!  Through the grace of God we are functioning.  We have grateful hearts.

Morning Walks

Morning Walks 

From Sister Biven. . . 

Each morning we get up before the sun and walk and enjoy the island.  Because once the sun is up, it's time to head home!  And sunrise is just about the same time every day, so it's easy to have a schedule.

The most important sea traffic is our own supply ships which come about every two or three weeks.  We spotted one way out at sea this morning.

This means there will be new things on the store shelves in about two weeks.  Frozen stuff arrives first, there will be a huge truck in front of the frozen food store and they will be unloading in about a week.  Then in the days after that we will see trucks at the grocery stores.  The fun thing is so far the ships are Maersk, and many of the containers say Maersk.  Which makes us feel just a little closer to Denmark.  If only they could fill a container with Danish weather and send it for us to have for a day or two, that would be refreshing!  .....Though we do fine, we just don't go out in the heat of the day here on our tropical island.

Member Welfare Project and Easter Sunday

Member Welfare Project

Last Thursday (April 13, 2017) Elder Biven had the opportunity to accompany President Lucilino Mendonca on visits to four of the ten families that are participating in the Praia Stake Member Welfare project. President Mendonca is the 2nd counselor in the Mission Presidency and also the Director of Self-Reliance for the southern islands.  




The families were all doing well with their chickens.  Some coops were in "backyards"; some were located on roofs; and some were kept in a nearby valley.  


















In some cases members had even expanded their flocks, making use of adjoining areas.



Eggs can be sold for 15 - 18 Cabo Verdian escudos each (100 cv escudos is about $1 US), or about $2 US per dozen.  Even after paying for feed and setting aside money for replacement chickens, a family with 20 chickens can earn enough to make a meaningful improvement in their ability to support themselves.

Saturday we had the privilege of visiting another family.  This coop was in Achada Grande de Frente which is the most eastern neighborhood in Praia on the roof of a home on a bluff overlooking the seaport.  There was a beautiful breeze as we climbed onto the roof to take a look.  Sister Biven says that it was a tender mercy that she had on her longest blue skirt so she could carefully and modestly climb the ladder.





President Mendonca and Elder Biven examining the rooftop coop.

And here are the residents.  Clean and healthy chickens.  The owner hauls water up to the coop frequently and they have enjoyed being able to sell eggs every week.  We stood in great respect for the coop owner, who after showing us the coop, was walking to church to help clean the building, just as members do at home.  His work was not yet done for the day.






Domingos and his wife, the owners of the coop, took us to see the view of the seaport from the bluff near their home.  It was enjoyable to spend a few moments with them.  In our broken Portuguese we found out that they have three grown children, just as we do.  And one granddaughter.

It seems that chickens will be a part of our future as we are supporting local priesthood leadership in their desires to start a similar project in the Assomada District which covers the center and north of the island of Santiago, and also also in the Fogo stake which encompasses the island of Fogo.

Easter Sunday

Today is Easter, the day when we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He is risen!   Here is a photo of our Easter breakfast, we have figured out how to source all kinds of things these last two weeks.  We enjoyed eggs which were a gift from one of the chicken coop owners, ham and Parmesan cheese from the Italian store..... (when we bought it their computer was down and so they told us to take it and come back later to pay.  We did!). Delicious, local fresh papaya and little Portuguese custards from the bakery.  And of course, filtered water.

After breakfast we walked to church and met our Mission Ward Family.  We loved singing beautiful hymns such as "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" in Portuguese.  The language is so much easier to speak and understand when it is accompanied by music and by the Holy Spirit.

We are happy to be in Cabo Verde.  There have been challenges and we are certain that there will be many more.  During times of challenge, we do feel your prayers and we are grateful for them.  Thank-you.

Ten Days In

Sunday in Praia

Last Sunday marked one week in beautiful Cape Verde. Sister Biven and I were able to attend church (Palmarejo 1st Ward) and we enjoyed much kindness from the other members.  Of course we are not strong Portuguese speakers but we are working on it!  In sacrament meeting Elder Biven bore his testimony in Portuguese and even though he probably mis-conjugated a verb or two it seemed to be well received.   We are very grateful for the privilege of serving the Lord through serving with our brothers and sisters here in Cape Verde.

Later in the day as we walked along the waterfront, Sister Biven remarked "Before I came here I wondered what Cape Verde would sound like.  Today I heard some of the sweetest sounds, the hymns being sung in Portuguese. The people really sang, their voices were loud and clear.  And the sound of the ocean breaking on the rocks.  So peaceful."

Here is a photo of the lighthouse near where we live in Praia.

Cidade Velha (Old City)

Over the weekend we had wonderful training from our area welfare specialists, the Healys who came from Frankfurt.  We enjoyed the training on administration of our welfare responsibilities, which include both humanitarian help, such as with water projects, and self reliance projects such as the chicken projects initiated by the previous couple, the Carnell's, and run by local leadership.



On Monday, we took a little break from the training with the Healys and went to Cidade Velha.  So beautiful!  Here are some photos.  Beautiful bougainvillea growing by the path....





Fishing boats on the rock beach.




A view of the valley Cidade Velha sits in..... very green.  There is running water here, it is where the early ships would stop for water on their way to the new world.





A view of the ocean.  Cape Verde sits in the middle of the Atlantic!  There are about ten main islands, we are on the biggest one, Santiago.  40 miles away in the mist is Fogo, the big volcano island, and its very faint outline can be seen way up in the clouds.

An island in the middle of the sea.  And great are the promises of the Lord to the inhabitants of the islands of the sea.  It is such a privilege to be here.




Elder Biven and our tour guide of the Fort Real de São Felipe.  Slaves were brought here, from which there was no real escape, and trained in raising sugar cane, tobacco, new world products, all of which were grown in Cape Verde originally. Then they were sent on to the new world, particularly Brazil.  As our incredible guide, who spoke many languages and was well versed in the history of this important place, as he stated  "it was a cruel time".  Many of the stones used in building the Fort were brought to Cape Verde, from Portugal, as ballast in empty slave ships.  The stones would be offloaded and when the ships left port slaves were the ballast.

A Picture of The Pillory.  This was sculpted out of white marble at the beginning of the in the 16th century.  A symbol of power and cruelty. This is where disobediant slaves were chained and publicly whipped.

Attachments are

The New Couple

Arrival in Cape Verde

What we have heard about Cape Verde being a special place is true.  Now that we are here we see that the people are wonderful, so friendly and welcoming.

We left the MTC early Friday morning and met my brother Jim in Salt Lake where we had our last American breakfast at McDonald's and then Jim drove us safely to the airport.  We were on our way.  Rainy and cold in Salt Lake but we were on to Amsterdam (YES, chocolate) and then another flight to Lisbon.

We loved Lisbon where we had a long layover.  It was sunny and warm and I put my coat in my suitcase.  We were there seven hours and had time to walk around and eat some great Portuguese food.  The egg custards were delicious.  We then boarded our plane for the four hour flight to Cape Verde arriving at midnight Saturday night/Sunday morning.


President and Sister Matthews picked us up at the airport.  They are incredible, and we loved them instantly.  They delivered us to our comfortable apartment located just above the Lunts, an amazing senior couple who are CES missionaries.  Fantastic neighbors!  Sunday evening they shared a meal with us and then we joined them for the last conference session at the stake center at 7 pm.  The chapel was full of young, cheerful people - - -  young families, young single adults.  And they welcomed us.  And once again I thought, is this real?  Because it's pretty amazing.


First day in Cape Verde

We spent Monday with Elder and Sister Alvarez who drove us around getting our ID number, setting up banking, grocery shopping, and inspecting missionary apartments.  We met the most wonderful Elders!  As we visited with them we felt their great strength.  We are so honored to be serving with these amazing young people. That evening we had dinner at the mission home with the senior missionaries serving in Praia:  the Lunts, the Alvarez's, and President and Sister Matthews.  Later in the evening Elder and Sister Andersen, the office couple, came to dinner as well; they had been to the north end of the island, inspecting missionary apartments.  It was good to meet them and we look forward to getting to know them better.  We were still jet lagged, so the evening ended fairly early.  We have hope for taking an early morning walk in Praia as many Cape Verdeans do, and most senior missionaries do, since Praia is a wonderfully walkable city.  Walking is also a way to help us learn how to get around. A big project in Praia but we are getting there.

Day to Day life

 This morning (Tuesday 4/4/17) we did go for a walk and found a Padaria, a bakery where we bought bread.  We were also blessed to be able to light the stove and cook eggs for breakfast, with some of the delicious frozen red peppers from the frozen food store the Alvarez's took us to.  As some of the life tasks sorted themselves out this morning we were also able to watch a conference talk by Elder Eyring.  Its nice to be establishing a routine.

This is Elder Biven in his office, it is well equipped and comfortable.  He has been sorting through information on previous and ongoing humanitarian projects.   The biggest challenge has been the new cell phone.  We are getting there.

We are so grateful for simple things, the other senior missionaries, daily trash pickup (you can hang a small plastic bag on the entry gate and they take it), food, water, sunshine.  We are grateful to be here serving the Lord in Cape Verde.