Guess what? We now have a new branch. Our tiny little "group" was finally made into a branch, and this past Sunday our attendance was really good. Lots of people who haven't been to church for a while are coming, and we had investigators too. Last Saturday we had an "Atividade de Integração", or Integration Activity. The whole purpose of the activity, which happens almost every Saturday, is to invite less actives and investigators to come and have a good time with the branch members. It's also to help recent converts make friends in the branch and hopefully stay and be strong. First we have a mini-spiritual meeting, with a hymn, prayer, and spiritual thought. Then we play games, and then we all clean the church and have refreshments. It's a blast! We played fun games we had never played before.
Above, the girl in the black sweater is our new Relief Society president. She is only about 20 years old, and has only been a member since January, but she is one of the pillars of the branch. She is amazing. She knows the gospel well, and is always finding ways to friendship others. Her fiancee, sitting next to her, is the branch clerk, and is another pillar, together with his sister next to him, in the blue shirt. Our branch president is the man with glasses in the lower left corner of the picture. He is also pretty young, as are most of the church leaders here in Cabo Verde.
Above: These beautiful girls come to every meeting and every activity, even though we haven't started the Young Women program yet. We were told that the Sunday after General Conference we will have enough rooms to have our 3 hour block. We've only been meeting for Sacrament Meeting and Sunday School since the group was formed about 5 months ago. There is the branch president again on the right. His wife, next to him, is expecting a baby in October.
Playing ªPretty kittyª. :)
Beautiful brown eyes! This is Marcelina. Her mom was one of the first sisters I visited as a visiting teacher, and the baby was a newborn. She hadn't been coming to church for some time. But recently she has come a couple of times.
After church on Sunday, we gave Lenifer and her family a ride home. She got a piggy back ride to her house! Look who the piggy is. Hahaha! Lenifer now has a small cast on, and will next progress to an orthopedic boot. Once her foot has completely healed, they will operate on the other foot. Most of the school girls have newly braided hair with colorful beads now that school started.
We were visited by Carlos' cousin Lety and her husband Miquel and two boys who live in Barcelona, Spain. It was so good to see family! It may be hard to believe, but at the same time that we were showing family around the island, we were locating, contracting, and furnishing three apartments for a senior missionary couple that came while they were here, and two more that will be here soon, and we were in the middle of the audit season. Whew! Talk about busy! But it was so much fun!
Elias and Iker were enthralled by Jessica and Melina, sisters who come by the apartment three times a week sell us fruit. Melina is a member of the Church. The boys made fast friends with them and wanted to go down to see them every time they came.
This is Lety with Jessica on the left and Melina on the right. Lety was sad the day she had to say goodbye to them.
Yummy ice cream downtown. The sign in the back says: You can't buy happiness, but you can buy ice cream, and it's pretty much the same thing. :) We agree!!! When Lety lived with us for a year in Highland, she used to say, "You Mormons don't drink or smoke or drink coffee, but you sure do eat a lot of ice cream". Haha. So true!
A visit to a wonderful restaurant in Cidade Velha.
This gentleman lives in Cidade Velha. He stopped and chatted for quite a while with his sweet little daughter.
The pillory, historic centre of Ribeira Grande (currently Cidade Velha), former capital of the island of Santiago. The Pillory from 1512 recalls the history of the slave market.
This sweet lady peddles her wares at the town square. She is from Senegal, straight east of Cabo Verde, where they speak French.
View from the old fort above Cidade Velha.
On the San Francisco (CV) beach.
View from the Praia lighthouse.
They wanted to visit one of our churches, so we took them to the building where most of the stake events are held, Achada Santo Antonio. The stake presidency meeting had just concluded, and they got to meet the stake presidency.
Pizza in Tarrafal, our favorite town on the island.
This is a lovely Natural Park of the Serra Malagueta, where many people from all over the world come to hike.
The corn is growing! They plant it everywhere, even on steep hills.
In this photo you can see people planting and weeding.
Island tour to supervise audits and train auditors. This is on the way from Praia to Assomada.
There are two seasons in Cabo Verde: Windy Season and Rainy Season. This is the rainy season, and most of the island turns green.
This is the baptismal font that was built in the garage of the building rented for church in Riberao Manuel.
The chapel in the Riberao Manuel church building.
Auditing. The two young men in the middle spent the week with us doing audits. They became like family: Tony Fonseca and Jair Varela, both recently returned missionaries. Tony served in England, so he speaks excellent English and wants to be an English teacher. He is the auditor. Jair served in Brazil and wants to become a policeman. He is a counselor in the District Presidency.
This is a home that was built kind of like a castle in Calheta. It was built by a Capeverdian who migrated to Europe. But the house has never been finished, and apparently nobody lives there.
Tony and Jair and the Branch President in Calheta.
Taking advantage of every opportunity to teach and train.
The Branch President's wife and baby girl. They are awesome. They plant corn and beans and then harvest and save for the dry season. They also fish and sell fish at the market. They pray and hope for rain each year so they will have enough food to not go hungry. This year they planted, but the rains were slow in coming, so the seeds dried up. When it finally rained, they had to go out and plant again.
Missing the grandkids!
Mealtime with Tony and Jair.
Audit in Chao Bom.
Audit in Assomada.
In Espargos, on the island of Sal, looking for an apartment for a new senior missionary couple. Thank you, Sister Lopes and Sister Neto, for your help. Sister Neto is from Manaos, Brazil, and Sister Lopes is a mini-missionary preparing to go on a regular full-time mission soon. She has just been a member a few months, and is SO excited about the gospel.
Cobbling the streets and the plazas by hand!
The church building in Espargos.
