São Nicolau!!!

We just returned from visiting the island of São Nicolau. It is one of the northern islands inhabited by about 8000 people. We - Robert, me, the two assistants, Elder Bruce and Elder Fogulberg, and the Thompsons, the humanitarian couple - left early on Thursday morning and spent most of the day in Mindelo on the island of São Vicente. We spent some time with the Demkes while we were there and had lunch with them.Later we meet up with President Fortes, a member of the stake presidency. He joined us on our flight to São Nicolau that afternoon as the island is part of the Mindelo Stake. The airport in São Nicolou is the second smallest on the islands - next to Fogo. You take off fast and you land with the brakes on.

Here are all the people who were so excited to see us. Not really - or maybe they just don't know it yet.

We rented a car to hold 7 people. Three got in the front and three in the back and that meant the smallest got to sit in the very back with all the luggage. This was my view leaving the airport. After we got the luggage out, the missionaries were kind enough to sit back there most of the time.

The city of Ribeira Brava, the largest on the island, is nestled in the mountains in the heart of the island. There are no real hotels only what they can pensãos, sort of like a bed and breakfast place. This was our view from our bedroom window that opened onto the deck.

And here is the view from the deck.

And this is where we ate each morning. It was upstairs and had an even better view.

The next morning we hit the ground running - well not literally because the town is very hilly - it was more like panting. The Thompsons went with Elder Bruce and had immediate success. They found a Red Cross office, which asked for a hundred hygiene kits, and told them of other food kitchens that serve the poor. They visited one or two and are assessing what the church can do to help them. They also visited one of the schools. We began looking for a place to hold church the coming Sunday. We also started looking for apartments and buildings in which to house the missionaries and a future church site. We weren't having great success. But finally the owner of the hotel consented to let us use a small covered area on the roof of the hotel as a church for our Sunday morning meeting.
With a place for a meeting, we started earnestly looking for members and making calls using the list the stake had given us and a local phone book. We were getting concerned as we seemed to not be able to connect with anyone. Finally by late afternoon we made contact with literally the last person on our list. His name was Emanuel. He said he was busy but might be able to visit with us later. Later the missionaries went with Robert and President Fortes not expecting much of a response from him. He let them into his home and upon seeing President Fortes everything changed. Emanuel is a police officer who had served in the military. He had a beloved Sargent who just happened to be ... President Fortes. After a sweet reunion he started helping the missionaries by telling them where all the members lived and which had left the island. He knew everyone and had pictures on his police computer of everyone. Elder Bruce drew a map of the city and Emanuel outlined the different zones of the city and showed in what zone each member lived. It was such a relief.
The next morning, Saturday, the missionaries started tracking people down. They went to the different zones on the map and just started asking if anyone knew the member the missionary knew lived in that zone. Remember there are no addresses here. A crazy drunk man stopped them and asked what they were doing. They said they were looking for a man named Yuka. The drunk man pointed to another man walking down the hill and said, there he is. And it was him! Yuka was eager to help and even took the missionaries to his home to show them a picture of him on the day of his baptism. We ran into them later and he showed the picture to us. It had been several years and he had had little church contact since then but he was eager to have more. As the missionaries continued to track people down we found a unique apartment which ironically was owned by the couple who own the hotel we were at. It has two bedrooms upstairs, a bathroom, and a large living room. To go downstairs you go outside and down the stairs to a private courtyard and then you enter into a little building with a kitchen and laundry room. It will be a great start for them as they can hold church in the living room until the group gets larger and hold activities in the courtyard. It is really very quaint.

With Ribeira Brava covered we went to another city nearby to find more members. There we kept driving around and asking anyone we saw if they knew someone on our list. We actually knocked on a door thinking it was a member's home. It wasn't but the people let us in and tried to direct us to people they knew on our list. They even said the missionaries could come back and visit them anytime. As we continue to drive around we kept asking questions of this one lady who was walking with her young son. She finally realized that she knew someone on our list. - they use nick names here so searching for people is somewhat complicated. We got out of the car and followed her and her young son to a home, but no one was there. As we walked back to the car she and President Fortes started talking and suddenly realized they were cousins. Her is a picture of her, her son and another cousin. They aren't members of the church but they came on Sunday.

 The next morning the Thompsons and I set up the roof for the church meeting. Robert and President Fortes took the car and picked up a few members in the town close by and the Elders gathered members in the city who could come. It was a humble beginning but a beautiful beginning. Now 9 of the 10 islands are opened.

 After that we did a Sunday drive over the mountains to a town on the coast called Tarrafal. The drive was beautiful.

From the last two picture you can see the other islands of Santa Luiza and São Vicente, and Santa Antão if you look really closely. It was beautiful.
All and all it was perfect trip. Here are just some random shots of the town with its old buildings, narrow streets, gardens and mountains..

The last picture is of Balthazar Lopes, a teacher who made a big difference in the educational system on the island. Gotta love that hair and those glasses.

There were only two draw backs. There were these plants and if they hit your clothes they stuck to them like duct tape. The wind was blowing so my skirt would hit up against them. They were impossible to get off without leaving grass stains on my skirt. Finally President Fortes saw me trying to get them off and staining my skirt. He kindly explained that if you wait until the plant drys then it will just fall off. But I was a mess until then.

And the other thing was ... a million of these everywhere.

But we loved the trip and were so excited to be part of opening another islands. That makes 3 more this year!