Fun Times

CARMINA

This is our dear friend Carmina. She is a seamstress, but what a seamstress. She makes customized clothing. The customer gives her a photo of what they want, and she takes their measurements, but she doesn't make a pattern, she simply does the math in her head and places the measuring tape on the fabric, and then cuts. Amazing! She learned from her mother and has a shop with several sewing machines and sergers and employees. The employees do a lot of the sewing, but Carmina does all the cutting herself.

This is Carmina's son, who fell while doing gymnastics, and is now paralyzed. Several months ago Elder Alvarez gave him a blessing, and he is progressing in his treatment and regaining some movement.

This is Carmina´s youngest son. While we waited at the shop, we gave him a couple of little rubber poppers. He got real creative and put them on his knuckles, and by straightening his fingers, the poppers would then fly up into the air. He was having so much fun! 

NEW MISSIONARIES!!!!!!

Yay! We are so excited. We got a lot of new missionaries last month and this month, and we have finally filled all of our apartments (areas) again. Almost every single missionary that was already here a transfer ago is now a trainer, since half the missionaries are new. As an example, in our little branch, the senior companion has only been in Cape Verde for 7 weeks, and now he's a trainer. 

CONCERT IN KRIOLU

There is a Mexican dentist here in Praia that is married to a Cape Verdean. They have three children: 2 boys and a girl. The mother is a famous singer, and her daughter is following in her footsteps. They invited us to this private concert introducing her new CD. It was lots of fun.

This is Sara Alinho, the daughter. The mother's name is Tete Alinho.

ENGLISH TESTS

One of the great programs for foreign missionaries here is that the Church provides a system for learning English during their mission. If the missionary applies himself and studies and practices, at the end of his/her mission, they can take an English test (which Sister Alvarez administers) and receive a certificate of proficiency that they can use to help them get employment. These two awesome missionaries did great on their test. Elder Duarte and Elder Delgado.

TRIP TO SAL

Elder Alvarez' favorite restaurant in Sal. At least once every trip we have to eat dinner at the Mexican Restaurant.

The owners are an international family: The wife is from Cordoba, Veracruz, where Elder Alvarez is from; the husband is from the Canary Islands (part of Spain), and they adopted a Capeverdean daughter they named Floren.

FLYING TIME

Our flight back to Praia was delayed more than an hour. This sweet girl (her mother is in the background) had so much fun playing with the two-year-old twins (below) and keeping them entertained. We thought they were siblings because she was so loving with them, but they had never met before the airport. 

The twins live in Holland. Their grandmother is Capeverdean and lived in Holland for over 30 years and raised her children there. Then she decided to come back to Cape Verde to live. So she went back to Holland to pick up her twin grandchildren and bring them back with her to stay for 4 months. She is a brave lady! She traveled all the way from Holland to Sal, then flew on our flight to Praia, then had to get on another flight to her island of Sao Nicolau, and then probably take a van to get to her town. The boys were SO tired. When it was finally time to board the plane, they both wanted to be carried, so Sister Alvarez carried one of them onto the plane.

BOA VISTA AGAIN

The amazing branch president and counselor who hold the branch together, and the stake auditor. We love this little branch.

ACCUMULATED P-DAYS WITH FRIENDS

We don't usually take P-Days, but every once in awhile we will take a couple of days, and this time we loved spending them with our good friends, the Martineaus.

Elder and Sister Martineau (serving on Fogo) came to renew their visas. We took them to Tarrafal since they never have a chance to get away and see other places, and Tarrafal is one of our favorite places here. This is a view of Assomada.

Parque Natural Malagueta. Right on the edge. One false step, and Sister Martineau almost ended up at the bottom of the canyon :(

Elder Alvarez tried to make it into the picture by running :)

At the Natural Park of Malagueta (which means hot pepper), this bird saw himself in the mirror and thought he had found a friend. He kept pecking at the mirror from above and from the side. We would get fairly close to take pictures, and he would just continue. When we left, he was on the trunk of the car and didn't leave until he couldn't stay on any longer.

MARKET

The market in Tarrafal. This lady works all day with her baby tied to her back.

YUMMMM! Fish and couscous for lunch.

OLD FRIENDS

On the way back, we stopped at one of our usual stops, the Black Beach. The children that live there remembered us from the times we have stopped there when our children have come. One of the little girls smiled a big smile and ran up to Sister Alvarez and gave her a big hug. We always have so much fun with them.

The girls are: (L to R) Marcia (6), Rosangela (2 ish), Angela (8). Angela made us think of Rowan, who just turned 8 and will be baptized next week.

Of course, the girls also fell in love with Martineaus. (He didn't realize until much later that he was carrying a baby with no diaper)

Sister Martineau LOVES the beach. She built a castle in the black sand, and the girls started helping her.

This is their daily playground where they run and swim unsupervised.

The older girls pulled off their dresses and ran into the ocean.

It was a fun getaway.

Mission Travels

An Ocean Baptism

So it's been over a month since our last post. We have been very busy because it's audit season. We had a trip to Sal, and in Santa Maria they had a convert baptism. We walked down the streets to the ocean because there isn't a baptismal font in Santa Maria.



This sweet sister has been attending church faithfully for quite a few moths. The boy is her 12-year-old son who is already a member of the Church. The missionaries are Elder Mangeris and Elder Lunt.


In order to baptize in the ocean, they have to choose a beach where there are not very many tourists. In this case, it means a beach with lots of rocks. So it's difficult to walk out into the water in bare feet. The missionary had to help the sister go out deep enough to perform the baptism.


After the baptism. Such joy! I love this image of the missionary lifting her up from the water, lifting her up to a new life.


This is the group of young men and young women in the Santa Maria Branch. The boy in back on the left is the son of the recent convert. A cool story: This was the Sunday after the baptism, the day his mom was confirmed. He is a deacon so he was passing the sacrament. When he came to pass the sacrament to his mom, he locked eyes with her and smiled real big. It was her first time partaking of the sacrament, and her son was passing it to her. His smile showed how proud he was of her for taking this step and making the changes she needed to make in her life. This little family will be a pillar of strength for this little branch.

A New Branch President and Clerk


Training a new branch president (Elder Peterson) and branch clerk (Elder Smith) regarding finances. This is the only unit in the whole mission with a missionary branch president and clerk. The two gentlemen in the middle are the district auditors there to perform an audit. These young men are so awesome! At their tender young age, they take on so much responsibility. It is surely training for great future responsibilities.

Rain!!!!!!!


The rains came!!!!!!! Unfortunately, then they stopped. We drastically need more rain so the people in Cape Verde will have crops to get through the year. Prayers, please!!!!

Morning walk in the rain :) 


The landscape is SO different after just a little rain. Most of the year it is brown dirt.

New Friends


On our way to Tarrafal for an audit visit, we saw this couple on the side of the road way up in the mountains, a long way away from town. We stopped to see if they needed help, and offered them a ride. They were very grateful. At the top of the mountain, at a natural park, they had taken the public transportation van to go to Tarrafal, but the driver was way overcharging them, so they got out. Not even 20 seconds later, we came by and gave them a ride. They were so grateful. They are from Germany, and with their broken English, we were able to communicate somewhat. Coincidentally, we also ended up at the same restaurant for lunch and were able to visit with them some more. They had never heard of our Church before. I thought by now everyone had heard of us.

A New Missionary from Ecuador


Sister Cachiguango is from Ecuador. She served in the temple there while she waited to start her mission. So she served alongside Sister Fryer, Sister Alvarez' sister. Funny thing, everyone here has such a hard time remembering and pronouncing her name, that they call her Sister Campo :)

Mexico's Independence Day


Our trip to Sal coincided with Mexico's Independence Day, so of course we had to go to Cape Verde's one and only Mexican restaurant to celebrate.


The owner of the restaurant is from the same town Elder Alvarez is from in Mexico, so she is especially nice to us. This is her adopted Capeverdian daughter, who speaks Kriolu, Portuguese, and perfect Spanish.



One of the young adults that we are very close to in Cape Verde is Tony Fonseca, on the right. He lives in Sal now, so we invited him to dinner. The girl just started as a waitress at the restaurant, and she is from Tony's hometown of Tarrafal. She is also a member of the Church.


Sister Alvarez, Tony, Elder Alvarez, in Mexican garb :)

Fun Times


At a restaurant in Sal, Sister Alvarez started playing with a young girl that was there with her family. Sister Alvarez had a little plastic froggy that jumps. This precious girl was so afraid of bugs that it took her a long time to get comfortable with the idea of touching the little plastic frog, but she was having so much fun watching it jump!


Since we had a late flight home, and had to leave the hotel, we stopped by the greenhouse and small zoo that exhibits local vegetation and animals. It's a big tourist attraction, even though it's quite small.


At the Sal airport heading home :)

FAMILY!!!!! AND FRIENDS!!!!!

Disclaimer: Our daily life is filled with taking care of housing issues, audits and training, inventory, mission history, piano lessons, teaching classes in church, and issues related to the mission presidency. But many of those daily activities are hard to include in a blog. So here are some fun photos of things we get to do once in a while when hosting family and friends.

Such fun!!! First Tiffani arrived, then a couple of days later, Crystal arrived. Tiffani left first, so we had alone time with Tiffani, together time with both of them, and then alone time with Crystal. One of the perks of senior missions is that your children (and grandchildren) can come and visit. We are on cloud nine!

MARIA PIA LIGHTHOUSE

CIDADE VELHA

Our dear friend Javier Benito, from Spain, came to do some work in the office, and was able to join us to go visit Cidade Velha. 

There were lots of Grandma hugs during this visit!!!!

At the fort.

Tiffani brought small toys to give to the children. It was such a fun experience to see their joy!

Tiffani loves photography!



TARRAFAL

These sheltered areas are to protect turtle eggs. We were almost the first to arrive at this part of the beach in the morning, and we saw the tracks that the baby turtles leave when they go into the ocean.

The girls were swimming in the ocean without realizing that this electric eel was nearby. A couple of local boys kicked it out of the water and killed it for lunch. Needless to say, the girls didn't think it would be a good idea to get back in the ocean. :)

The market in Tarrafal.

Tiffani trying on her new African dress.

This man adjusts clothing to fit nicely. He makes the dresses and shirts. The amazing thing is that he draws and then cuts out the clothing without any pattern or ruler or anything: just freehand. Amazing!

We ran into this man who was wearing a Mexican football shirt. Elder Alvarez just had to get a picture with him :) 

Crystal trying on an African dress.

RIBEIRA DA PRATA (BLACK BEACH)

There was a German fellow (Erik) at the beach watching his two boys swim. He lives there by the ocean. We made friends with them and they gave us a bag with a papaya and some mangoes from their house. :)

These are the two boys. The tall one is a step-son, and the other is his biological son.

We don't know what this is, but it looks like maybe a corn grinder or some kind of grinder.

Elder Alvarez and Erik.

Where we park to go to the black beach, there is a family with several children. We had interacted with them before on a previous visit when Mike was here. Tiffani and Crystal gave them some fun little toys and some stickers and they were thrilled. They have the best smiles!!!

PRAIA

Sunset the night Tiffani went back home.

Melina, our fruit lady. She is so amazing. She and her family will be going to the temple in October to be sealed.

Crystal trying the Capeverdean walk :)

Kristina and her family. Cristiana, the baby, has been in the hospital a lot with pneumonia and respiratory illnesses. We have been praying for her.

Cátia, our Relief Society President. She is amazing. She has only been a member for about a year and a half, and her husband for about 2 years, and they are pillars of strength in the branch (now ward).

Elder and Sister Gerritsen's visit (from Mindelo). The senior missionary couples, including Pres. and Sister Amo, and Crystal, got together at a nice restaurant for lunch.

We took Crystal and the Gerritsens to the fort and to Cidade Velha.

A sweet lady from Senegal "adopted" Crystal.

Father and daughter on our deck.

At the lighthouse the day Crystal left.

We stopped by Edson's house (he is one of the guards on our street). His 3-year-old daughter Cibele immediately threw up her arms for Crystal to pick her up. She is very loving.

Dinner at the food court of our mini mall, the only mall in the country.

Farewell at the airport :(

A sweet story: There is a really nice lady that does alterations, and we have been taking a few items to her to have them altered. When we went with Crystal to pick up the alterations, the lady asked Elder Alvarez if he would like to come back to one of the bedrooms to visit with her son, because the son speaks English. It turns out the boy was involved in a gymnastics accident and lost the use of his body from the waist down. He was in bed, although he also gets up to sit in his wheelchair. They chatted a little bit and then Elder Alvarez asked him if he would like a priesthood blessing. He said yes, and Elder Alvarez proceeded to bless him and to encourage him to have faith. It was a sweet moment. Such wonderful opportunities we have on this mission.