The perks of being the "Gofers"

We really are what we call the "gofers"of the mission. In other words, if there are any loose ends that need to be taken care of, we are usually the ones asked to "go fer it." This often takes us on some wild and crazy adventures which adds a lot of spice to the mission. For example, we needed paper plates and cups for the mission. An easy enough trip to Walmart, right? Well, not so here. After 3 days of looking we finally stumbled onto  a place that supplies bakeries and there they were! Large paper plates and cups, and forks too. Then as we examined the store further we found a huge bag of - you will not believe this - chocolate chips! I am thinking buy, buy, buy until I see it cost the equivalent of $64. I told you the bag was big, but not that big. So we asked the owner if he sells them in smaller quantities and he said no, BUT another store owner buys that size bag and divides it up and sells them at her shop in smaller quantities. Off we went! I made Power Cookies a few days later. Yum.

Also the church's humanitarian efforts are alive and well here in Cape Verde. The church has been involved with getting special equipment to the neonatal nursery at the hospital here. That was our first "gofer" experience. They actually sent the equipment with us in our suitcases when we left the States. The church has also brought in many wheel chairs. They have also been helping with a huge water project on Fogo. The country will do the work to bring the water into central stations but the families are responsible for getting the water from the stations to their homes. Most can't afford to. In some of the places we pass through on our trips to the other end of the island, we are still amazed to see how many people are lined up at such station with water buckets to take back to their homes. In fact we know of some that still do so in Praia. The church has spent the last couple of months in Fogo helping nearly 200 families get the water from the station into their homes and into a school there. So while the humanitarian missionaries were busy on Fogo, a shipment arrived with two computers to be donated to the public library in Tarrafal. So "go fer it" we did. We got in the car last Monday and drove once again to the far end of the island. This was our first obstacle.

Then there were the four mountain ranges with their winding roads - yet beautiful vistas. But we managed to get there in record time. Once there, we went to the library and began setting up the computers. The youth that were studying there started gathering around.

When the President (the government official equivalent to their mayor) arrived, it started to sink into the youth that these computers were for their use. They were pretty excited. The President asked Elder Mathews to give a few words and then he spoke. They both talked about how the internet and other things that these computers could do could unlock the world for them and help them to achieve even their highest dreams. To grasp the significance of that, you have to realize that what you are seeing behind these students in that picture is the entire inventory of books in their library and most of those books are for younger children. Truly being involved with this was a bigger perk than finding the chocolate chips.
And yet another gofer experience. I am still not sure how I became the mission seamstress, but I should have been suspicious when Sister Oliveira just gave me the mission sewing machine to keep at our apartment. I tried not to sound like a sewing machine snob when she presented this machine to me. She had it out in her car and when I offered to help her carry it up to our third floor apartment, she said there was no need. Now Sister Oliveira is tiny, she makes me look tall. But up the stairs she came with this wonderful ... plastic, almost toy looking ... machine. Yet in the course of the last few months I have altered one suit coat and about 10 pair of pants to help our outbound missionaries fit into the donated clothing we have been given to get them prepared to leave for their missions in other parts of the world.  Here are two more that I was able to outfit.

This last one, standing with his father, came a bit late. His flight was leaving in 30 minutes and yet he needed a suit, three pair of pants and some shirts. This suit coat fit him perfectly (we even found one for his dad) but the pants were too short. We are at 15 minutes now and he is trying on pants and shirts while I hurriedly take out the hem on the suit pants and ironed the hem the length it needed to be. That is when I realized this machine doesn't have a blind hem stitch. Where's my Bernina!!! So okay we go to hand stitching. But before I could thread the needle the missionary said in broken English, "Sister, I ... must ... go. I ... can. " Then he does the motion of hand sewing. Bless his heart, this sweet missionary will be hand sewing the hem on his suit pants somewhere on the way to Brazil. Though I know I will continue to whine about the machine, I really love being part of this "gofer" job. These outbound missionaries are so sweet and humble, and so grateful for everything we give them, even down to the hand-me-down socks.