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