New building for the group

Today was the last day that we meet in this home. Next Sunday we will meet in a rented building nearby that has been remodeled to house our little group. Now we will be able to have a 3 hour meeting, with Priesthood, Relief Society, Young Men and Young Women :) And what is just as important, the members will be able to have callings.

Seeking the lost sheep after church.

Delivering a washing machine

We invited Lunts to go with us to deliver a new washing machine to the elders in Tarrafal, at the other end of the island, so they could get acquainted with the island. It was a long, bumpy, windy trip. They were good sports. One of the elders, Elder Maughan, is the son of a good friend of Sister Lunt's, so that was fun.

In front of the missionaries' apartment after delivering and installing the washing machine.

Our favorite spot on the island is the beach at Tarrafal. Tourists like it because it is away from civilization, a very quiet and peaceful get-away. In the van, and with a couple of stops, it took us about 4 hours to get there, and then about 2 hours to get home from there, because it is a circle route around the island.

New Couple. Hurray!

We have a new missionary couple! Hurray! This is Elder and Sister Lunt. Elder Lunt is from Duncan, Arizona, and Sister Lunt is from Salt Lake. He taught seminary in Snowflake and taught Sister Alvarez' cousins, the Shumways. He was also principal of the Mountain View seminary in Orem and later Director of the UVU Institute. They are CES missionaries. We took them to visit Cidade Velha, the first settlement on the island.

Elder and Sister Lunt with Sister Alvarez in Cidade Velha.

A lot of the vendors are from Africa. They speak English and try to make friends with the customers before trying to sell them something. It's a very effective sales method :)

Rocky beach at Cidade Velha.

Sister Alvarez and Sister Lunt at the fort overlooking Cidade Velha.

Healing

After going to the hospital twice a week for a month to try to get scheduled, Lenifer finally had surgery on one of her legs to correct her club feet. This was the day of the surgery, and she was still in pain. She is such a sweetheart. It was hard to see her suffer.

It was so good to see Lenifer smile and laugh and play a week after her surgery. She has a full length cast on her leg, so she has to be carried by her pregnant mom or her dad. After this leg heals, she will have the surgery on the other leg.

This is Lenifer's younger sister, who will turn 8 in October and will be baptized. They were enjoying playing with play dough. Most children in Cabo Verde don't have any toys or colors or anything like that, so this was fun for them.

The day we went to visit Lenifer, a lady came over. She asked to talk to Lenifer's mom privately, and apparently asked her if she could ask Elder Alvarez to come to her home to give her baby girl a blessing. She is not a member of the Church, but two of her children are, and also Katia, in the picture, who is her son's fiancee. So we walked over to her small home and Elder Alvarez blessed the baby, who had been lethargic. They had taken her to the hospital, but at the hospital she perked up and acted normal, and then when she got home she was lethargic again. After the blessing she got better. This lady's son, Steven, is a counselor in our group. Katia has only been a member for about 6 months, but she is one of the pillars of our little group. She has a very strong testimony and a good understanding of the Gospel

Stake Marriage Devotional

Two weeks ago the stake we live in had a devotional on marriage. A couple of months before, the stake president had invited Elder and Sister Alvarez to meet with him to discuss what could be done to help married couples and families in the stake and we discussed some of the challenges they are facing. As a result of that conversation, a series of devotionals was organized, interspersed with a dinner/dance for married couples. So for the initial devotional, the stake president asked Elder and Sister Alvarez to give a presentation on marriage. The devotional began with a message from the stake president, and then we divided the men and the women. Elder Alvarez took the men, and Sister Alvarez took the women, and for the next hour, we taught about eternal marriage and about how we can make our spouse happy. :) Can you believe that Sister Alvarez was able to lead a discussion in Portuguese for one whole hour? (Well, I guess it was actually a mixture of Spanish and Portuguese.) It was an awesome experience. We forgot to get photos of the meeting, but this is one of the couples that attended. Next week is the dinner/dance, but we will be out of town. :(