Great are the Promises . . . (2 Nephi 10:21): Two Busy Weeks

Delivering Chicken Coop Materials

What an exciting two weeks. On a wet Cape Verdean Friday, Elder Biven and Paolo delivered supplies to the eight remaining homes in the Assomada District which will have coops built.

It was a day to witness generous acts. And what a tender experience entering homes with great love inside them and very little in the way of comforts or possessions.

At one of the locations the mother was outside deep frying fish for her family. She generously offered some to Elder Biven, Paolo, and the truck driver and his assistant. The first two bites were good, it was kind of chewy....then it was crunchy.....the woman smiled as she watched Elder Biven eat and he told her how delicious it was...."Moray" she said. She showed him the crushed head with all the sharp teeth (and Elder Biven is thinking, how did they catch a moray eel? Those are mean little devils). Elder Biven continued to smile as he was given a second piece of the freshly cooked eel and he wandered over to the truck. Where he can discretely give his second piece to the truck driver who ate it with relish. But he kept the sweetness of her kindness in his heart.

At the end of the long day, with two more homes to deliver supplies to, one family was not home. A neighbor approached, offering to store the supplies for his neighbor. Gratefully Elder Biven and Paolo unloaded the goods into the neighbors humble three room house, taking the 'chapas' or large boards and well as the wire and smaller boards, into the neighbor's small bedroom for safe keeping. Amazing.

Wood to Fogo

Following delivery of Materials to the Assomada District, the remainder of the wood, 1000kg, could be shipped to Fogo for framing the coops to be built as part of the Sao Filipe Member Welfare Project. The wood would be shipped by boat, of course.

So Paolo, NeNe (Paulo's assistant) and Elder Biven strapped the wood into bundles and got it on a truck and down to the dock.

The bundles of wood were 350 lbs a piece, so Elder Biven was extremely happy to see the crane on the boat for loading the wood off the dock! And it was funny, as he and Paolo and the truck driver pushed the bundles of wood off the truck onto the dock the dock workers shooed Elder Biven away........ they could handle this...... we looked at each other and laughed, perhaps it was our gray hair that caused the dock workers so much concern. :). What a blessing that they helped us.

Nos Saude Project

Towards the end of the week, we received news that our project proposal to help with materials for a health clinic in Achada Grande was approved. What joy we feel at being able to help prepare a small clinic for delivery of health services to this humble area. We attended a celebration at the clinic location-- Pilorinho-- which included dance and song and shaking hands with the community group president. We have enjoyed our time with the members of this small community and look forward to working with them on this project.

Tarrafal Wedding (Elder Biven)

Finally, this past Friday, we were invited to the wedding of President Mendonca's Mother in Tarrafal. President Mendonca is the 2nd Counselor in the Mission Presidency. He is also the Director of Self Reliance for the Southern Cabo Verdean islands. President Mendonca was one of the first people that we met when we arrived and has reached out to help us on multiple occasions.

It is common in Cabo Verde for couples to live together for their entire lifetimes without being married. Of course without being married, a couple cannot join the church. So this was a doubly joyous occasion. The marriage was to be Friday followed by a baptism on Saturday.