What we love about Cape Verde!

I honestly don't know what happen to June. It flew by. Maybe it is because we received 16 new missionaries and had to open 5 new apartments and are still trying to open 3 more. Or maybe it is because we traveled to Mindelo and Boa Vista - well actually only Elder Mathews went to Mindelo. I stayed behind but stayed busy. Or maybe it is because we had an Area Authority come and were involved in training and a fireside. Or maybe it is because we started the Temple preparation classes up again. (They are hoping to get 100 people to the Temple this summer). Or maybe it is because we threw a  Barbeque party for all the senior couples out on our deck because we were all finally on the same island - for a blink. Regardless of why, June just slipped by. But we both waxed a bit sentimental for some reason - maybe because it was our anniversary of 37 years - and we started thinking of all the things we love here. So this is some of our musing. It is a list of the top twenty things we love about this place. They are listed in no particular order but just as they came to us..

1. Full service gas stations. This is a step back in time to have an attendant fill your tank. It would feel just like the 1950’s - if it wasn’t for the price which is about $5 a gallon. And it would be nicer if it read Exxon. 
   
   2.      No toys. Kids are always running around playing but not with any toys. Every once in awhile you will see them with homemade kites made from plastic grocery bags (like the one shown below that was caught in the electric wires) or old tires pushed by sticks (as seen below) or a handmade doll. Even our church nursery is void of toys. They simply sing or tell the children stories, sometimes they draw but there are no crayons. Kids just use their imagination and look like the happiest kids on earth.
   
   
   
   
   3.      Color! Houses here are painted a myriad of colors making the neighborhoods creative and fun. It has made me wish our deed restrictions were not so, well, restrictive.  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   4.      The way they verbally greet each other. For as laid back as the islanders are, they still greet you with either Bom Dia, good day, Boa Tarde, good afternoon, or Boa Noite, good evening. And rarely does anyone pass you without saying one of the three. It would be rude not to acknowledge those you pass.
   5.      The way they physically greet each other. Men shake hands. If you meet someone on the street that you know, you shake hands, talk a minute, and then you shake hands when you depart. But if it is two women greeting each other they kiss each other on both cheeks. I have been kissed by more people in the last few months than in my whole life. And I kiss right back. They are the friendliest people.
   6.      Line waiting courtesies.  Where ever you go – bank, phone company, electric company – you wait in some sort of line. Everyone just takes a number – literally there are paper numbers you take from a machine – and waits for their turn. The only exception is if a pregnant woman, a woman with a tiny child, or an old person walks in. They go to the front of the line. It is a respect and courtesy they show to such people. No one is ever put out by it - and the lines are always long so that they are so patient with this unspoken rule is amazing. It only backfires occasionally. We actually waited in a line the other day with a Sister from our ward who is expecting. She is built like Jessica and even though she is 5 months along she is not showing so she was too embarrassed to line jump. We told her she needed to buy a pillow to put under her shirt. HA.
   7.      Obviousness of their road signs. Stop signs are the same as ours and ironically in English. Other signs are sort of obvious. Like a trumpet with a line through it means no honking your horn. A picture of two cars side by side and a line through it means no passing. A big P with a line through it means no Parking. The list goes on. But our favorite is the big white rock. If there is a big pot hole and some sort of construction or fallen debris in the road they will put a big rock in front of it. Usually they paint the rock white so you can see it at a distance - you know from about 30 feet. We always love coming up on that sign.
   8.      The simplicity of testimony meetings. Rarely does anyone bear testimony for more than 3 minutes. Testimonies are stated with no added stories or fanfare. It is my favorite meeting of the month because I can actually understand it. Because I can recognize the Portuguese words for phrases like - I know that or gospel or church or priesthood or authority or restoration or Joseph Smith or Jesus Cristo or atonement - I pretty much understand everything going on.
   9.      Doing with less. I think when we go home we just might downsize our home. We are seeing how little we can live on and much we can live without. A desk, a bed, a chest of drawers, a couch and a table and we are loving it. We can clean our apartment in 1 ½ hours and that includes doing the laundry. Life is simpler and we can focus on what really matters. I can honestly say I don’t miss any of my "stuff". I miss family, friends, and the Temple, but that is all.
   10.   Walking places. Everything is relatively close so walking to the store is a fun diversion. Walking along the ocean. Walking to get a quick treat like a Popsicle. Or walking to our favorite restaurant for dinner.
   11.   Fresh baked bread. This can be good or bad. There is no bread aisle in the grocery store. You buy bread at a bakery and it does not have preservatives in it. That means you are buying it about every other day. Yummy warm bread. They also only sell white bread. It is really good but probably our biggest temptation here.
   12.   Watching how they carry things. They use scarves in very unique ways. They will twill them around to make them rope like and then coil them on their heads. Then they put whatever they need to carry on their head. We have seen everything from ice chest to bowls filled with fish or bananas or homemade treats. Then we have seen suitcases and BBQ pits and furniture and even household appliances. What posture! What balance! It is really an art.
   They also will use long scarfs for carrying babies, or children of all sizes, as seen below.
   
   
   
   
   13.   Dogs on Roofs. Most homes that have dogs (that aren’t street dogs but are actually owned) keep them on the roof. Seriously. The unfinished homes - meaning they only have one story built but plan to build a second one on top -  have flat roofs and that is where the dog stays to look over the property - literally. But even in the finished homes they will have decks the dogs peer down from.  It was hard getting use to hearing a dog bark from above you, but we are getting use to it.
   
   
   
   
   14.   Love of children. Though I am sure that abortion takes place here, you hear little of it. Most everyone you speak to or see are very excited about children. Young couples are anxious to start families. They love their own children but they love all children, even to the point they will take someone else's child into their family. Sandra (the young woman who we helped to baptize) is an example of this. Just after she was baptized she brought her mother to church. Her mother has been listening to the missionaries and plans to be baptized soon. Sandra is always speaking of her mom and how much she loves and respects her, so you can imagine how surprised I was to find out this woman is not her real mother. Her real mom left for Portugal to find a better life when Sandra was very young. The woman she calls mom agreed to take Sandra in and raise her. It would be one thing if they had any money here but they don’t so taking in an extra child is quit a sacrifice, yet there are many stories like this. They love the children of their land.This is Sandra with "her mom" and her "grandma".
   
   
   
   15.   How our family has been blessed in our absence. President Paulsen, our Stake President, said our children would be so blessed in our absence that they would not want us to come back. We are worried now that might be true. Mark graduated with his Phd and is having the opportunity to teach at BYU this summer. His wife, Mandy, is expecting their 4^th child, finally another boy. Dave, Danielle’s husband, graduated from medical school and “matched” with the residency program he wanted to at Phoenix Children Hospital. Danielle is also expecting, another little girl. Jessica and Rod are doing well and expecting their 4^th child, another little girl. Paul has undergone a lot of health issues in our absence but has found the right doctors to cure him – 3 surgeries later. He is working at his dream job and we are hoping the greatest blessing of our serving will be that he finds his wife. We believe. This is what the front of our refrigerator looks like.They serve as a reminder of the blessing we are receiving.The baby pictures will go up next. And who knows maybe a wedding announcement.
   
   
   
   16.   Response to missionary invitations.  Several times now we have had the opportunity to ask someone if they would like to have the missionaries over to tell them more. The response has always been yes. And we have seen baptisms as a result. Sandra, our neighbor, was the first. Another is a young man named Jeremy who we met at the store one day. Long ago he found a missionary name tag on the street that belonged to an Elder Adams. He searched for this Elder and returned the badge. Elder Adams was a senior missionary like us who did not speak the language well but he thanked the young man. Fast forward about two years and this young man sees us and starts up a conversation by asking us if we know Elder Adams. We have never met Elder Adams because he returned home before us but it allowed us to begin a conversation with Jeremy. We asked if he would like to meet with the missionaries. He didn’t hesitate. He was baptized last Saturday. In Boa Vista we took a taxi to the airport. The taxi driver named Eddy mentioned he had just heard of our church (we just sent missionaries to that island 3 weeks ago) and that he heard the church was meeting across the street from where he lives. We asked would you like to know more. Sure. He gave us his phone number and we will see what happens with that.  I don’t think I will every read a passage in the scriptures that speaks of the Isles of the Sea without thinking of this land and how the people here have been so preserved and prepared to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Here is a typical Saturday in our chapel. Well not so typical - the front row was full and then the fifth row I sat on was soon filled with a family of 8. I took the second photo as the family was filling out to be baptized.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   17.   Seeing brand new converts given a calling. When we first were here we helped teach a young couple and then spoke at their wedding. They were baptized shortly after and she is now the Relief Society President in the new ward and is doing a remarkable job. Well Sandra, our neighbor, who has been a member 2 months was called to be the Young Women’s President in our ward last Sunday. Wow. The girls love her and she is studying the gospel - constantly reading and asking questions - so she is already amazingly prepared to teach them. She went out with the missionaries about 3 weeks ago and nearly took over their lesson.  By the end she had convinced the 18 year old women they were teaching to come with her after the missionary lesson to the institute class at the church. The girl did and is now a baptized member. I think there are some lessons in this for what we can do with new converts in the States.
   18.   Being together twenty four hours a day. Our desks face each other so we are always looking up and talking to each other or laughing when the other one sighs over some goofy problem that has just arisen. Then there is the racing to the car together to do some quick errand. Or even getting up on our Preparation day and seeing how fast we can clean our apartment so we can go do something fun. I think we hold hands now more than we ever have. Robert says it is a missionary tool. We need to show the young people on these islands how marriage works and how it can last. Last week was our 37^th anniversary.
   
     But every now and again I catch him holding hands with someone else. This is Sandra and her precious little girl, Eli. She likes Elder Mathews a lot. 
   
   
                  
   
   19.  The hope for what is to come. When we first arrived here a year ago things were a bit rough. Cape Verde imports 90% of its food so you can imagine how much fun grocery shopping was. Food was a bit limited especially in its variety. Shopping for anything else was done in flea market shops or Chinese stores. Since we have been here they have opened up a tiny Mall and the Portuguese equivalent of Sam’s Club (though it is still relatively small). The main grocery store, Calu e Angela, here has expanded its products. We can actually get salad dressing now. And several “American” stores have opened up. They aren’t American stores but they carry American stuff. I can now get zip lock bags here. Industry is coming too. And the University here in Praia is expanding. More of the youth are attending. There are signs of hope all over.
   20.   Gratitude. Even with all the hope and all that is happening to improve things here, they still have little. They live in tiny homes some made of part wooden slates and a bit of cinder blocks but they are clean and as nicely decorated as they can make them. Some homes share a common hall way with the neighbors where they have a joint kitchen. Some just hang a curtain for a front door. Most of the clothes they own are bought on the streets. They are donated clothing from the US usually. The Ashby foundation gives donated bags of clothing to women to sell on the street to provide them income. They will spread a blanket on a side walk and display the used clothes and shoes they have to sell. (Consequently, I can read most every T-shirt worn here because they are all in English.) They dress as nicely and as neatly as they can. They take care of what little they have. And they are grateful. I don’t think they feel a lack. They are happy to have what they have. Some might say they don’t know what they are missing. But are they missing? I remember seeing a beggar in a wheel chair just outside the grocery store. I gave him a bit of money and turned to leave. Just as I was driving away I saw two barefoot boys running toward him. They had a plate of warm food for him that their mother had probably made. They had no money to give but what they had they shared. There is little pride and class distinction among this people. At church they OFTEN sing the hymns “Count your many Blessings” and “Because I have been given much.” They sing them like they mean it and they do. It has made me want to express my gratitude infinitely more than I have in the past.