Elder Alaelua's Box/Car is Confiscated

Elders Alealua and Rodgers

Last time we went to Praia there was a 12 kg box at the mission home for Elder Alealua, from Australia. It needed transport to Fogo and delivery to Relva and was covered with red Australian stamps, about $190 worth, as well as a photo of Christ as some missionary packages are.  It was a really big box!  We had to do some very creative packing to get our luggage and the huge box for Elder Alaelua checked on the plane back to Fogo.  But we did.  And then it sat in our living room for a week while we thought about how to get it to Relva on the other side of the island.

Sisters Transfiguracion and Carvalho in Cova

The opportunity arrived when the sisters in the neighboring town called, they had been out of running water for a month and did we have any ideas?  No running water is a very hard way to live.  We came to understand that because of the drought, Cova Figueira, where they live, is only getting water every other day.  And even that much has not been getting to them.  We felt we should go to Cova and check on these sisters, see if we could help, check their pump and perhaps prime it if necessary......and we could take Elder Alaelua's box with us as Relva was just beyond Cova.






So.  We loaded our car with mail and tools and fresh fruit (which is also hard to find in Cova), and off we went.  But we didn’t get far. Fifteen kilometers out of town we were stopped by the police.  They reviewed our church provided registration and licensing papers and discovered that yes, (despite our recent pleas of concern to the office) yes, our insurance had expired.  We were required to follow them to Cova (good thing we were going there anyway, because it was still 30 minutes away) to the police station where they confiscated our car.  Because in fact, Germany had not paid our insurance.  After all.  

Cova Figueira Police Station

Long story, covering about three hours.  Things were a little strange at times......the police chief lent us his truck so we could do our business in Cova.  We checked on the  Cova sisters’ water and learned that the Cova Elders, Elder Silva from Brazil and Elder Ramirez from San Diego, had gotten up on their roof and filled their water tank for them.  We also visited the Elders Silva and Ramirez, delivering mail and a new iron.  And now since we were without transportation, we left Elder Alealua's box with them.  They insisted on going back to the police station with us to make sure we were okay.  We love those good Elders.




So at the end of the afternoon in Cova, unable to recover our car because Germany had not in fact paid the insurance, we left the police station. This was a big experience, but it really wasn't a good time to be taking photos.  Except...

Cova Figueira Chief of Police

Sr. Andrade, the police chief, did agree to a photo.

Cova Figueira Elders

We located the hiace (small bus) going back to São Filipe, and with prayers of gratitude in our hearts, we began our journey home in Cabo Verdean style.  We passed the Elders on our way out of town.

A hiace is a large van with four seats behind the front seat. This is a super efficient way to travel, and the general business plan is to pack as many people as possible into the hiace.  So for a significant portion of the trip there were 22 people and a small child in the hiace, as people almost literally hung from the roof, with one foot on the floor and an arm on the back of a seat for balance.  We had laughed when we had followed a hiace on Santiago island that had a person crammed between the last seat and the window......that occurred in this hiace.  And we laughed again.  We were on our way home, the music was good, the people in the hiace were good natured and happy, joking about how full the hiace was because of the “touristas“ (meaning us) and I smiled and laughed “não touristas, somos missionarios!!”  When it was over we felt we really would have missed something had we never ridden in a hiace while in Cape Verde.