Regional Conference on the island of Sal

The island of Sal as we arrived for the weekend.

We arrived on Friday, and spent the afternoon inspecting missionary apartments. The Sister on the right is Sister Larsen, from Provo. Do any of you know her?

Elder Clegg and Elder Bowman. We're pretty sure there's a family connection with Elder Bowman.

This is at our hotel. A lovely hotel with a beautiful view. 

This is a view of a city street in Santa Maria. Sal is a very popular tourist area for Europeans. But the tourist season is during the winter, when it is very cold in Europe and they want to get away to a warmer climate. The summer is a wonderful time to visit because there aren't too many tourists, and the climate is beautiful.

On Saturday we had a training for branch presidencies on audits and handling finances. This is a district, with only three branches on this island and another branch on the island of Boa Vista. We had two of the three branches on this island represented in the training. The third branch is in Santa Maria, where our hotel was. It is about a half hour drive away.

At the hotel. Five "musicos" giving a serenade. ;)

On Sunday there was a Regional Stake Conference broadcast from Salt Lake and Germany. General church leaders in Salt Lake spoke, and also a member of the Area Presidency in Germany. It was great. There were three different buildings in this district where they showed the transmission. This church serves two branches and both branches met here. It was super packed. In fact, there were people that came late that were not able to see the conference. Elder Alvarez was presiding as a counselor in the mission presidency.

These two sweeties sat next to Sister Alvarez through the whole conference. They were obviously best friends, but had this intense "sibling rivalry" going. The girl on the left is Andreia, and the one on the right is Bremwa. Sister Alvarez thought that giving them paper and pencil would keep them happy through the meeting, but then they both wanted the same pencil, etc. etc. They were both quite assertive, but Andreia always won. :)

This cute boy sat by the girls very reverently through the whole meeting.

On Saturday Elder Alvarez released this missionary who had just returned from her mission to Brazil. She said it was difficult, but the best experience of her life. She is so on fire. Interesting that the day she returned home and was released, her boyfriend attended the training meeting. Very diligent. He is a new counselor in the stake presidency. They will make a great couple and be great leaders in the church.

Outside the Espargos chapel after the Regional Conference.

One day we went to a restaurant for lunch and our server turned out to be a member of the Church, although he doesn't go to meetings because he works every Sunday. Can you guess his age? Can you believe he is 39? His name is Jose.

The district president and the president of the Santa Maria branch.

Sal is one long flat island and it has beautiful beaches all around the island. That's why it's such a popular tourist site. By the way, those are footprints from all the people that went walking on the beach.

Fishing boats.

The plaza in Santa Maria. In the back of the photo notice the splash pad. So fun for the kids. And sometimes they also show old, old, old movies (think silent films) in the plaza for everyone to see.

This was our happy and friendly craft market salesperson with his little girl. The sales people here try to make friends with you first and then try to make a sale. A pretty good sales tactic.

While we were eating lunch at a restaurant in town, all of a sudden we heard drumming and singing, and this group of Senegalese men came around the corner performing for the public. During the off season, there isn't very much traffic, and so a lot of people walk on the street.

We loved our time on the island of Sal. It is a beautiful place, and the church needs a lot of strengthening here. It would be an awesome place for a senior couple to come and live and strengthen the district. Hint, hint. :)