Capo Verde

Wednesday started off with a bang. I woke up a bit groggy on an airplane somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. I looked out my window and saw the first hint of sunrise. Just blue ocean and the sun peaking up over the horizon. It was almost like a rainbow there were so many colors. Once the sun was up I looked down and to my surprise I saw a tiny speck of land. It was Santo Antao, the northern most Island of Capo Verde. We could see the small towns and the rouged terrain. Then a moment or two later later we saw Sao Vincente. It is a smaller island but has the second largest city, Mindelo. We could clearly see the city and the waves on the beach. About an hour later we saw the northern end of Santiago. At the other end was the tiny airport. Here is what it looked like as we walked off the stairs from the airplane.

After finally getting our baggage we stepped out of the airport into a throng of waiting people. We were very excited to see someone in a white shirt and tie. It was our Mission President and his sweet wife, President and Sister Oliveira. They are from Brazil but do speak English - thank goodness. They took us to our temporary apartment and instructed us to take a nap and they would pick us up in 4 hours. This is what waited for us.

It really isn't a bad place. The nurse is living her but is touring the mission right now. The church is right across the street. This is a view from our window...

And this is a view from the street.Our apartment is the white one to the right of the church. Oddly enough we get a car. They just got two in the mission! It is the white Toyota in the parking lot of the church. They like us to keep it locked up at night. The only problem with this place is that the electricity is turned off more than it is turned on. Glad we bought the flashlights and glad the stoves are gas and still work in the dark.

Back to the story. That afternoon we visited with the Oliveira's and discovered two wonderful ties to them. First, Robert left the Rio de Janeiro Mission in November of 1975, the exact time President Oliveira entered the mission. They both served under President Camargo. President Camargo is legendary as the story is told of him and 3 other men who were studying to become Methodist ministers. One day the Methodist School of Theology called the mission home asking them to send some members of their priesthood over to clear up some questions about what our church believed about the Godhead. The mission president said he would send missionaries but the Methodist said no, they wanted someone with more experience as the men they would be teaching were well versed in the scriptures. The mission president said he would send men who had 7 years in the priesthood and then sent the missionaries. While teaching these soon to be Methodist ministers the first discussion, the missionaries asked that if they were to find what they were about to be taught were true would they be baptized. Four men raised their hands. Three did join the church. President Camargo was one of them. But then we found out that another one of them was Sister Oliveira's father. Your father was very close to President Camargo as is Sister Oliveira so it was wonderful to catch up on news of him and of Brazil.  

From there we were taken to the mission office. After a quick interview, the President started giving us assignments. When we read "member and leadership support" in our mission call, we had no idea what we were getting into. He explained that he has been running 3 districts and a mission. It is like being on a speeding train - you can't jump off to fix anything. You just keep chugging forward,. What needs to be fixed the most is the financial records in the mission office, two districts and the new stake. He teared up when he realized Robert was a CPA. So Robert is in the office working on that and will soon do a mission tour with the President to start training clerks in the districts. Then President asked me to assist a Brother in obtaining the visas for missionaries and those families going to Brazil to be sealed in the Temple.  The districts are using the funds provided by the donations of church members to the special Temple Fund. The members here go to the Temple in Recife, Brazil. (If you feel inclined donate to this fund. It is an 8 hour plane ride to this Temple. Spain makes the obtaining of visas almost impossible so they must go to Brazil) Then the President asked us to work with the young single adults. They need to understand more about marriage and he feels a couple married for 36 years can help. The YSA activity center is at the back of the church and they have activities every Tuesday night.

Then we began talking about possibilities of where we could live. There is a an apartment above the mission home. He took us up to see it and I was sold instantly. First the view is incredible. You can see for miles out into the ocean. It is in a safer neighborhood and it shares the Mission office generator. Never without electricity! I will send pictures when we finally move in - hopefully this weekend. It was being used as the mission office but they decided to move to the second floor. They just started the move last week so the apartment is still cluttered with desk and papers. The missionaries will get the rest out and the Landlord will do some repairs and repaint for us. 

There rest of the week was a blur. Go to the mission office, be trained, drive around with Sis. Oliveira to be shown safe places to eat and shop and where the clinic is, etc. Attended District meeting where BOTH of us were asked to bear our testimony. Though brief,  I did do it in Portuguese. Walked around and got a feel for the place and then finally go to church today. The baptism for yesterday was cancelled. At church we BOTH struggled to understand much.(they understand Robert but he doesn't always understand them) He did understand that a Bishop was called. No counselors and  everyone was released from their branch callings as this in now a ward in the new stake. The poor Bishop is going to have fun over the next few weeks restaffing an entire ward. The Stake President is also in the same mode. In fact he gave us a calling today. We will be teaching the Temple Prep class starting June 3rd. I need to emphasis WE. Yikes! They are trying to get the manual in English for me. If I can compare the tw, it helps me translate and then I can mimic the lesson fairly well.
One thing I did understand in church was a special hymn we sang in RS,  Master the Tempest is Raging. I understood the words "sos-se-gai"  - peace be still. I very much needed to feel those words. It was my dad's favorite hymn and I felt as if he was nearby and that Heavenly Father was going to get us through all of this. Tudo bem. The spirit can be felt anywhere in the world and that is all we really need.

Now here is a picture of the homes.

I know they look like they are in a state of ruin but they are just in a state of building. What happens here is members of a family will leave the country for work. They send money home to those here to build a house. The houses are usually three story. When the third story is complete the people come home.They then live on the first floor and rent the top two floors. Now that sounds like a simple enough process but it takes as many as fifteen years for most people to finish these houses. Thus everywhere you look appears to be in a state of "ruin" but it is actually in a state of progress. And everywhere you look people are on the streets and they are friendly. Here is Edu. He lives right behind the church. He talked to us for a minute calling us Elder and Sister, (He clearly knows about the church - he might be a member but he wasn't there today) Then he grabbed my camera. He wanted to see the pictures on it and he knew how to get to them in a hurry. What was in there were the ones we took at the MTC. He loved the pictures of Bruce, Rachel and Madelyn. He kept saying America, America! Then he wanted us to take a picture of him. So here is to Edu.

So after all of this I was beginning to think this place wasn't too foreign until we heard the unsettling sound of a pig being killed on our street. I think that is why they tell us never to eat ham here! And now we are enjoying the smell of the pig being B-B-Qued downstairs.
And one last thing ... this Blog thing just got complicated. When you go to Google it links you into the closest Google which is Capo Verde which means everything is in Portuguese including all blog instructions. Ha. I HAVE TO LEARN THIS LANGUAGE. Keep praying that we both get it.