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 4th 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 4th 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 37th 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.
