Off to the Northern Islands

For some time now we have needed to go to the northern islands to install the CO alarms in the apartments and to bring the water filters they will need to last them until March. But the trip turned into much more than that. We arrived late on Thursday night. President had asked us to teach/train at the Mindelo Zone Conference on Friday. I spoke for 30 minutes and Robert for an hour. Then he asked Robert to speak for him at the Saturday evening session of their Stake Conference and to speak at the Sunday morning session as well. He did great at both. They asked me to bear my testimony at the Sunday one - with zero notice - but I did okay. It was fun to be there as this was the first Stake Conference they have had sense they were organized. And it proved to be historic as they called their first Patriarch.

This is the new patriarch and this young woman had just returned from her mission in Brazil the night before. We met her in the airport.

The children here love to have their picture taken so they gathered around in a hurry and begged me to take this. Aren't they cute.

That is a lot to do in 3 days as there are 10 apartments in Mindelo and they are scattered everywhere. And of course some needed repairs which we managed to do in our spare time. HA.

That is two missionaries walking down the road near their apartment. I would have never found it.
The only reason we had any success is because of the taxi driver the missionaries recommended. His name is George and he knew where every apartment was. They jokingly call him the other Zone Leader. He took us to each apartment, waited patiently for us to finish in each and then drove us to the next one. He even knew where the closest hardware stores were.
Here are a few picture of Mindelo.

On Monday we woke up early to catch the ferry to Santa Antao - an island we had never been too. The ferry ride was so fun as this ferry is an open air one and the view of the ocean and the two islands was beautiful

But the real beauty was yet to be seen. We rented a car and drove around the edge of the island to two apartments in two very remote towns, Ponto de Sol and Coculi. Did I say edge. Yes. But first we had to go through the mountain to get to the edge.

                                 

Then on the way back instead of driving along the coast we drove across the island back to  Porto Novo where we had started. The center of the island was amazing. We felt like we were in Colorado. Cool air, green mountains and PINE TREES. That is a sight you do not see anywhere else in Cape Verde. And did I mention we went over, around and on the edge of the mountains?

The next day Robert did some training at their zone conference and we had lunch with the 8 missionaries that make up this tiny zone. It was great. The next day we headed back by ferry to Mindelo. We took two missionaries back with us because of some health issue. The one on the left is serving here from Mozambique.

Once back, we did some more repairs on apartments, the purchasing of a new stove and other things they needed. Then with nothing else to do, and no hotel to go to, we just wondered around Mindelo looking at the sites - and finding an ice cream shop. We finally ended up sitting in the praça where we picked up the free internet to check our email and were able to facetime with Danielle. Randomly she was making 'purple-licious" cupcakes and we were able to see the purple dough on Ava and Ella's faces. I love technology! By late afternoon we were more than ready for George to pick us up and take us to the airport. That night we flew into Praia. It is always good to be home. That would be the big island at the bottom of the group. I loved this globe in Mindelo. I think they think these islands are a bit bigger than they really are.

Volcanoes and Hurricanes

We headed back to Fogo last week to follow up on the training  with the Elder's Quorums and on the apartment inspections.
The first thing we noticed is that it had rained in Fogo and things were getting green! Whoever named these islands must have arrived just after the rainy season.  Here is the picture of the first night we arrived.

But there was only one problem - it was still raining. It was just on and off but trust me when you are on the only road going around this island - which is part dirt, part cobblestone and hugging cliffs with no guardrails -you are paying attention to just how much it is raining. As we traveled on Saturday to visit apartments and participate in a District meeting with the missionaries in Cova Figueira, the rain wasn't bad.

Note the boulder in the above picture. That was not there the last time we passed through here. Maybe we should have been worried about more than the rain.

By Sunday it was a little worse and made for some interesting interactions as we had to go back and forth between the towns on the east side of the island a few times for training. Here is a picture of us coming up on our first town early Sunday morning.

And here is the view in the town right under the volcano. I was standing by the church when I took it. Those clouds looked eerie.

 There are a few slopes on that side of the island coming down from the volcano that are somewhat dangerous in the rain. They are where the past lava flows have made ditches in the side of the mountain in which the rain water comes down in a rush. (you know - the places I have spoken off in past post where cars have been swept off the road and carried all the way down the slopes into the ocean - true stories.) We came on one such place as the young men of the nearby town were trying to clean off the dirt and rocks that had washed down onto the road. It is a narrow road with a steep drop off on one side and of course with no guard rails. And it doesn't help that the tires of the car spin a bit in the mud as you pass over. We went through it 3 times trying to get back and forth to our different meetings. Obviously the worse had passed by the time we took this picture.

The above picture is an attempt to take a picture of the drop off and the ditch down to the ocean. It isn't a very good one as I am not too keen on hanging my head out the window when the wheels are spinning in mud on the edge of cliffs.
We made it back to the hotel at 6:30 on Sunday night. Long day considering we left at 7:30 that morning. I was ready to relax but no. That is when the rain really hit and it come with some serious wind. This was the scene outside our window  just before it really hit. Looks a lot different than it did the first night we arrived. We couldn't even see Brava or the ocean!

We don't have access to much TV here - nor do most people on these islands - so we didn't realize we were being hit by the beginnings of Hurricane Humberto. Most hurricanes in the Atlantic start with a tropical depression near or around Cape Verde and then move on to more open waters to become a real Hurricane, but Humberto was packing a punch already. We didn't know what it was until we received an email from our sweet Stake President in Kingwood the next morning. The storm stayed with us Sunday and Monday. I must have received 20 phone calls from missionaries all over the south islands complaining about water coming into their apartments - and they were all on upper floor apartments. The rain was coming in from the balconies that have little or no drainage and through the roofs. One apartment on the top floor had standing water in it from the rain was coming through the roof so fast. They only get a few inches of rain a year here so they build their homes and cities accordingly. The roads became ditches in such situations. The water was so powerful on some roads that the dirt under the cobblestones was washed away and the the very stones themselves tumbled down the streets.
We were supposed to leave Monday but our flight was obviously cancelled. The airlines put us up in an hotel. It was actually nicer than the one we we had been staying in so we couldn't complain. We spent the day walking around looking at the mess the rain had made. Here is a picture of it coming through a ravine in downtown Sao Filipe.

 We ran into the missionaries and they said they had been to the ravine too. They told us the people were so fascinated by the water force that some teenage boys threw a small refrigerator off the bridge to see how far the water would take it. Apparently all the way to the ocean.

The next morning they managed to get us home but oh what a ride. Fogo has a very tiny airport, with a very short runway and the wind was howling. You know you are in trouble when you feel turbulence and they haven't even started the engines. That tiny plane shook with every gust of wind. It was a bumpity ride but fortunately it only lasted a little over 20 minutes.  Praia never looked so good!
Those of you who know my fear of winding narrow roads near cliffs and of flying know I would only do this for one cause. It reminded me of the hymn, I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go Dear Lord. Remember the line -  It may not be on the mountain height or over the stormy sea? Well it has been!