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.

Responsibilities

Mission Responsibilities

After six weeks of pushing very hard to keep up with our mission responsibilities we have a little breathing room for a few days.  Just enough.

Before we came to Cape Verde we trolled the internet for blogs about senior missions.  And we were very interested in what senior missionaries actually do.  So here is a small list:

We have general mission responsibilities, which include attending zone and mission conferences supporting the junior missionaries in random ways like rides and apartment help, and helping the other senior missionaries with their jobs.  And we have a specific mission assignment to help with apartment inspections.  In the past it has been all 26 apartments on Santiago, which we do in one week at the end of the transfer.  We go out every day, and the real challenge is that this mission has the highest baptism rate in our area--  the European Area-- so our missionaries are very, very busy teaching and working with investigators and members. When we drive to do the northern island we go on their p- day and it's pretty easy to schedule.  But the other two zones are mostly in Praia and we have to squeeze our visits in between their teaching responsibilities.  Its really fun to see them.

Elder Biven was called as a humanitarian missionary and I am his assitant.  He has a small budget for humanitarian work and member welfare projects.  He spends one to two days a week managing the receipts and paperwork, and then we have multiple meetings and appointments each week to support our projects.  We often, but not always, work with a translator to help with the Portuguese.  We currently have about five open projects:  

1) The chicken project in Fogo, chickens began arriving at their new homes this week.  We were able to manage the work on Fogo by phone, and with the help of some amazing members and senior missionaries, (the Martineaus) on Fogo.  

2) Nós Saude, the health clinic that is nearly complete.  This has required more or less three trips a week to the site, with mornings spent purchasing the supplies and attending project management meetings. 

3). Eyeglasses for the poor and needy in Cape Verde-- a tender mercy on this project is that the doctor who provides the service to the poor (we only buy the glasses) he has been on vacation in Portugal for a month.  So we have 200 pairs of eyeglasses in our apartment awaiting distribution--the doctor did not leave the contact information for the eyeglasses with us before he left the country.  It saved us that this work was delayed for a month 

4). A school supplies project we have just gotten approval for, and 

5) Beds for the Remar rehabilitation facility, interesting story there.  We found bunk beds, we asked to purchase them and began the two to three week process of getting money transferred directly to the vendor from Frankfurt.  It would not be wise to describe on this blog what it takes to get thousands of dollars into the country for the cash payments we make, but in this case we felt we could do a rare wire transfer.  During the two week interim, while waiting for the transfer to arrive, Elder Biven was out of the country for a week, and then off on the island in Fogo for another week. So two weeks later we went to the merchant and asked if they had received the multi-thousand dollar wire transfer for ten bunk beds and 20 mattresses.  They had.  So can we pick the merchandise up right away?  Well, no, it will be thirty days......?  Our Portuguese was not sufficient to resolve the situation.

Our partner on the project, Pastor João, is Portuguese.  He made a trip to the store and asked them where his beds went.  They had been sold to the government, to the prison.  No beds.  Pastor João had already waited two weeks for the wire transfer and he needs the beds, he cannot wait another month.  We felt the frustration with doing business in a developing country and we were tempted to feel overwhelmed and frustrated.  But we were working with a very special partner.  Pastor João and Elder Biven went shopping for beds one more time, they had looked previously, but one more time.....they went and looked at the one other bunk bed they had found, a wooden, fragile set.  They did not want to buy this inferior solution.  Somehow they found a sales person in this other store who told them, of course you don't want those wooden beds for men, they are for children.  We have some metal bunk beds......and the sales person took them to another location where there were metal bunks beds -- of a higher quality than those that had been sold to the prison by the other merchant--  and mattresses that were significantly better.  And..... because the Lord was in the details of this.....it was all much cheaper.  They bought twelve bunk beds and twenty four mattresses.  As Pastor João and Elder Biven left they agreed that things had turned out exactly as the Lord wanted.

Here is a photo of purchasing electrical supplies for Nós saude.  Our translator, Neome, is in the background

Delivering Drywall (Pladur) Supplies

Cleaning up the mess at Nos Saude

Nursing Duties

In the letter Elder Biven and I received, calling us to serve as missionaries in Cape Verde, in addition to our humanitarian responsibilities I was also assigned to be Mission Nurse Specialist, and Elder Biven is my assistant.  So we work together.  And generally we are able to carry our load, together.

Two weeks ago we had a mental health event with one of the new missionaries, and he needed to go home immediately.  There was no time to bring someone in from Germany to escort him.  The Area President, Elder Hacking, called my medical phone and asked for volunteers.  I handed the phone to Elder Biven.  I knew that we had been divinely blessed and guided in handling the crises that evening.  I felt peace as I knew that the solution to the problem was going to be painful for me personally.  Elder Biven said yes.  Yes he would make the five day, eight flight segment, 70 hours of travel time, trip to the US.  So I became both full time humanitarian missionary and full time nurse for a week.  To be fair, Elder Biven did get a trip to a Walmart in a small town in Montana, and the Senior missionaries in Praia put in orders, blades for electric shavers, corn chips, I wanted new sheets.....things you can't find here.  Vitamin pills.  

This is a photo of the bounty he returned with.

I carry a medical phone 24x7.  I help missionaries with gastric distress and skin rashes, I do a lot of teaching and a little counseling.  I help President Amo watch over the missionaries, and he does his job very lovingly and tenderly, so I try to follow his example.

We have malaria in Praia now.  It just appeared, and by the grace of God we are ahead of it and we will distribute prophylaxis to the missionaries in Praia Friday at their zone conference.  We learned of the problem from a church member who works at the American embassy.  He forwarded an alert from the CDC a little over a week ago.  I sent it to our Area Medical Advisor who sent it to Utah.  "Just watch, not yet", was the message they sent back on August 25.

Then one week later the CDC increased their warning, all travelers to Cape Verde should take measures.  This was five days ago.  Salt Lake directed us to take measures and get medicine immediately.  Understand that the supply chains to Cape Verde are weak, we don't have interstates with trucks bringing us stuff, it comes in one container, on one boat, at a time.  So I began on Friday, walking into every farmacia I could find begging for doxycycline, a medication only available by prescription here.

I was fortunate, the farmacias I frequent regularly just gave me the medicine, by Monday I had 25 boxes.  There are 40 missionaries in Praia. Tuesday we drove north and hit each farmacia we found on the road, I would lay my missionary call, signed by President Monson, in English, on the counter, and my passport and say in broken Portuguese  "I am an American nurse.  I am a nurse for the missionaries (point to the name tag)". I lay a box of doxycyclina on the counter.  "Eu Preciso isso".  If they start to move toward their medicine cabinet I tell them I need lots, I need all that they have.  Miraculously, except for one Farmacia which refused because they wanted a prescription, each one gave me everything they had, three boxes, eight boxes, I bought it all.  One woman said she was a member of the Church as she gave it to me.  Another said, you need a prescription but because you are a missionary we will do this for God.

I don't know where we are going to get next month's supply, and the missionaries on the northern island need it as well.   But we can cover the missionaries In the most danger right now.  Elder Biven had malaria as a young man, he had relapses for years.  President Amo has also had malaria, it damaged his liver so badly he cannot take the medication to prevent it now.  I think that after you do all that you can the Lord gives you grace.  We are doing all we can.