Ahhhhh! The Boat to BRAVA!

 We go to the boat docks to get supplies from Praia.  One night we got 300 boxes of Humanitarian supplies: 600 school kits for children, and approx.1,000 kits (soap, toothbrushes, washclothes,etc.) to give to the recipient families whom the church is helping supply water lines to their homes. The families are taught basic principles of water conservation, safety, and usage and then given their kits.  One time we got almost 300 Bibles and Books of Mormon to distribute.  A couple of weeks ago, we recieved the new years curriculum order (37 boxes!) to take to the branches.  Friday night Grandpa was at the boat dock until after midnight loading boxes of Liahonas (Ensigns).    The traffic is... well...whatever everyone decides at the moment and it gets interesting.  But these photos are during the day when things are fairly logical and quiet!!!

The boat dock has to be seen to be believed...especially at night! We have seen trucks so loaded down with supplies that they can't make it up the hill.  Pick-ups with flat tires that just keep going.  People carry suitcases, guide goats, push against cows, balance buckets full of beans on their heads, carry fish in buckets, ugh against taped up boxes, bins, tied grocery sacks, stacks, racks, and all these are hand hefted into large numbered bins which are fork-lifted onto the boat and retrieved by the owner after the bouncy, frownsy, ride across the high seas! 

You all know that Grandpa doesn't do boats.  Bless Him!  And I don't do windy steep roads.  

EXCEPT.. the island of Brava is part of our District and you can only get there by boat and to the top of the mountain by winding-steep roads...so of course we go...and of course Grandpa gets green and sick and has a dizzy (not Disney!) bag of a time...but we are thankful that we arrive late at night so we can sleep (and become like regular real people again) before morning meetings.  Is there ever really a time when faith does not come with a bit of a price tag, requiring us to step out of our comfort into our change?  Is there ever a time when the rewards don't far outweigh the bits of sacrifice, inconveniences, and fear? And I wonder if things that really matter don't take first place... putting our 'insecurities' and 'concerns' in second...would we not just stand still? 

  

We really enjoy being on Brava.  They have some very special families in the branch there. And all of the hefting, and waiting, and bouncing, and tilting, and lilting...really are worth it...when we see how excited they are to get their Liahonas and to have visitors in their branch.  (Here are a few members waiting for parts of their families who are in a branch council meeting.)  

Grandpa gave his talk on the importance of having and 'doing' our callings, he spoke about how our callings are given from revelation and will be magnified with that same blessing if we do our part.  I spoke about how our futures unfold from what we think and do today.  

We love to spend time with the Primary children.  Often, I get to teach in Primary, Y.W. or Relief Society when we attend a branch (depends on who doesn't have a teacher), and Grandpa will attend the Priesthood meetings and Branch counsels.  Sometimes, we visit families after the trainings and interviews...or like yesterday...the year end audit!  We like to visit with Seminary/Institute teachers and encourage the students to attend. We love the variety in our mission call. 

 Coming down the mountain from Nova Sintra, Brava.  You can see where the boat docks in the inlet and also the view of silhouetted Fogo in the background. Beautiful Morning!

We were given a beautiful sunrise after coming down the mountain with its 99 curves to board the boat for Fogo. The ride was a bit rocky...but Grandpa will be great again after a nap...it's always good to be home... and this evening...our neighbor is coming over for his 2nd discussion.  I am making cookies to celebrate!

Meet Elder Haile

The Ge'ez language and the Amharic language (with more than 240 letters) were the languages spoken in the home of  Amane.  They spent their lives in a small village in Ethiopia, where they ate off the same plate and worked long hours to raise ten children whom they loved very much. From Muslim roots, Makana, with unanswered questions, taught himself to read and write.  He had heard about Jesus Christ and wanted to read scripture. He ended up teaching the scriptures in a Protestant church. One of their sons, Yonas, grew up with a heart in search of truth also.  He married Yergalem, a marriage arranged by their parents.  Into this home came the blessing of three children, the second, Fekadu, is a special young man whom we have come to love.  Meet Elder (Fekadu) Haile.  (high-lee)

Elder Haile has great respect and love for his grandfather who passed away at age 105 this past Oct.  In Dec. his grandma turned 95.   "My grandfather told my grandmother...you can stay at home with the children because that is very important and I will go to work."   Elder Haile told me that if his grandfather had a business lunch and got to eat meat...then on the way home he would buy meat so his wife and family could also eat meat on that day.  "My grandparents had a special relationship and I felt that in their home. I want that same feeling in my home one day."  

Yonas and Yergalem attended different churches. On a Tuesday, the family knelt in prayer together.  Yonas said, "I have some questions but I don't have all the answers."   On Sunday, he left at 10 am and in the evening he came home and shared with his family, "I have been somewhere today..."  

A friend had invited him to attend a meeting with the 'Mormons' and he 'felt something'.  They began studying the gospel of Jesus Christ that has been restored to the earth.  Yonas, Fekadu and his sister Tigist, were baptized in February 2007.  His mother was baptized 2 months later. Young Fekadu, now Elder Haile, was called to this mission about the same time we were.  It is quite a thing of faith for a young man to learn English so he can go to the MTC to be taught Portuguese.  Miracles only happen when they can't!

 For it shall come to pass in that day, that every man shall hear the fulness of the gospel in his own tongue...

(Doctrine and Covenants | Section 90:11)

Missionaries come to the mission field in Cabo Verde with one suitcase in hand for two years.  Needless to say, because of the limits of the airlines here, we are careful what we choose to put into that suitcase!  Elder Haile's suitcase contains white shirts, a few ties, suit pants, as well as two laminated Church News articles.  One is from August 2009 about him being the first young man in Ethiopia to earn his Duty to God award.  If you look closely you will see that Elder Holland 'just happened' to be in Ethiopia at the time for a conference and went to visit the house of this young man, who had earned this award after two years of working on it!  That visit remains a treasure to Feduka. The second treasured reminder is an article from Dec. 2009 sharing the great news about the trip his family took to the Temple in Accra, Ghana to be sealed together forever!

We are working with wonderful young men and young women
Their faith increases ours.  They come from such different lives
and circumstances...to share the same blessing with whoever
has a desire to understand three things.  

Where did we come from?
Why are we here on earth?  
and 
Where are we going?

F-U-N-N-Y!

Grandpa is a non-stop type Missionary...in fact, he doesn't even break a step for photos, so I hurry and 'snap' and catch up!   I, on the other hand, think that photos are part of breathing...    

And I really love that He is like that...and I really love that I am like this! 

So, when President Oliveira asked us to go on dates here and there just for fun...(since we are senior missionaries after all)...we thought about places we could go...someday we will go to the Volcano, (we told Pres. Oliveira that when they take a senior break and go to the Volcano with us...we will go visit it... my guess is the last week of the mission)...we like to play games...and we can take walks on the beach and collect some sparkly black sand...oh, and there are a couple of Chinese one dollar type stores that exist...but grandpa is allergic to shopping, so we decided to go to dinner for our date... (happy camper here!)  

And yup...the restaurant serves the same food that we cook at home because the same boats bring the same things to the island and the same ocean has the same fish!  (which we love--fresh tuna and swordfish--Yummmm!). We had a great time and yup...the decorations left over from their New Years made it all the more fun...look closely at the toilet paper trimmings!

I asked the clerk what kind of rice 'Corin' rice is...as I had not seen that kind and it looked like the same rice in the other unmarked bags that I have bought before.  He said, "Oh, that's not a 'kind' of rice...that is just the BRAND NAME."

We had to laugh!  What a deal!  We got the Brand Name rice for the same price as the no-name brand!

'The girl on the donkey on our way to Mosteiros'

This is one of my favorite mission photos.

I don't know the name of this girl...

she is 'the girl on the donkey on our way to Mosteiros'...
**************

To love where one is at 

and 

to love what one is doing is such a gift.

Actually one that we must give ourselves.

****************


I hope to meet the girl on the donkey someday  

I want to thank her for her smile.

Beautiful...

These fuchsia/pink flowers are on large bushes that lush the landscape in Praia on the island of Santiago, Cape Verde... My friend, Janet Cruz, loves gardens and she would put flowers out in a little unattended road side stand in front of her home with a little box where you could pay for the plants that you chose. 

This little bird is a Pasadinho...they belong to this island!  I had been wanting to see one and after 7 months...there he was...way up in a tree on our way home from Cova Figueira!  

While waiting for grandpa to give an  interview one late afternoon, I wandered down some stairs, behind the church,  and walked into such light and color!  I was thrilled with the beauty and quietness, the detailed design and stunning art gallery sem patrons.  I don't believe many have even been back there!  I smiled and took it as a personal love note...

I think we all should...

We are bequeathed with beauty just for being. 

While thinking about beauty...I must include Beba the mother of our sweet Silas.  He is preparing to serve a mission.  He is strong and a tiny bit shy, eager to learn and respectful, willing to serve in the branch (from mopping the floors on Sat. just to shine the building a bit, to going on visits to invite people to church, to showing us where people live and helping for hours with the branch reports and records).  Here he is, standing with his mother in front of their kitchen (just up the steps).  You'll see a bit of the fire from the kindling that she walks 2 hours to get each day.

What a beautiful woman to give everything she has and is to help her son succeed. She has a way of taking the blessings they have been given...and somehow making them even more beautiful. 

4 extra seconds...

Last Saturday morning, I went to the market early for some bananas. An older man was walking down the road inbetween all the other people walking, weaving, laughing, talking,  shopping, selling, arranging their wares, and I was aware of him... because of his countenance... And when he came by me...he stopped.

"Bom Dia." he said.  (Good Morning)

 then he looked at me and asked:  "Como Vai Voce?"  (How are you doing?)

I answered:  "Muito Bem, Obrigado"  (very good, thank you)

and then he said something else... (because now is the time most walk away into their walking, weaving, laughing, talking, shopping, selling, arranging their wares and back into their own lives and thoughts)...

but he stayed 4 seconds longer...

and his words have been on my mind for four days now...

"Voce precisa este..."  ..and another word that took me to the dictionary later. (you need...and 'deserve' that!)  and his lips joined the smile already in his eyes and then he and his countenance vanished in the crowded street.

******************************************

and it makes me miss my father

because...

that's exactly what he would say.

Cocoon

What blend of 'thought' and 'action' produce the sweet contentment that gifts one graciousness?  

I have witnessed such greatness, such goodness, such beauty... in the eyes of those who have time to visit without looking at watches they don' t own...without hurrying to tidy up things they don't have...without wondering what others will think...because they are thrilled to have someone come into their cement home so they can insist that we sit on their best Water jug or Rice bucket or Chair...and they look into our eyes and speak and listen  kindly...

what is that blend of 'being'...
and did they come or become that way?

I know it's not about age, money, status, or circumstance.  I have known gracious people in every place I have ever lived...being near twenty places now.  Graciousness is a curious and delicious thing to me and I love to meet people like that. Are some born with the gift that is born of gratitude?  Does one smile their way into such flight?   Must graciousness be caught by running after it with jar and lid in hand, or perhaps it flutters around until landing lightly on calmness...rewarding the giving heart with it's peace?

Some lives seem sewn together with one of my favorite scriptures:  Isaiah 32:17

Happy New Year!!!

How often do I just paint over a problem and continue on for weeks, into months, instead of taking the time to repair, rebuild, forgive, repent, the right way so I can travel ahead unencumbered?

It's a BRAND NEW YEAR!

I have great plans for the road ahead!  I love New Beginnings!

Living Water...

Are there words in English or Portuguese to describe the moment when a family turns on a faucet in their own home for the very first time?  I remember hauling water when winter pipes were broken, our children were small, we had two in diapers...but that was for 4 days.  Oh, how I love that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day -Saints is helping people all over the world with water...and with living water.   

The government officials were so thrilled to honor the opening of the water lines to an area in Mosteiros.

What an occassion to celebrate and remember.  The TV and radio were all there at the home of a blind recipient. The neighbors were all thrilled for him. They turned the knob and water came out!  Imagine...water just by turning a handle!

There is also 'Living Water' for those who have vision beyond earthly sight...and it is available for all!  Imagine...just for learning how to kneel...