My Missionary Companion - Feliz Anniversario!

My companion is amazing!!!  Whether studying the scriptures, talking to the Leaders of the Mission, playing 'Amigos de Joe' with the youth, teaching Institute, encouraging one on one, helping Seminary kids memorize scriptures, teaching a lesson in a home, walking all over to find a rose for me on Valentine's Day, or accepting a call to become Presidente Benedito, a counselor to the Mission President Oliveira...he is an amazing Missionary who gives 100 % to everything he does.  I am thankful to learn from and to love him!  His Happy Birthday is this week! 15 official Birthdays old this Wednesday, Feb. 29th!!! 

Cabo Verdian Children

Children come to earth with happy and hopeful hearts. Teachable and easy to be entreated...It is small wonder that we must become 'as a child' to inherit a place in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Color

My heart is drawn to color much like flowers reaching for rain. My first impressions of Cabo Verde must include the amazing colors all around us and the warm, wide-open arms and smiles of the Cape Verdians who call out "Bom Dia...Boa Tarde...Boa Noite" as the day progresses...(and they are right)...it's all good!"    

Market Day...

We are safe if we soak our fruits, vegetables, and eggs in timed clorox water.  We are safe if we drink ONLY bottled water. We are safe if we never eat Pork on this island.  It is SAFE to say that I giggle at their shared happiness each time I look at the photo of these friends sitting on the sidewalk. It is also SAFE to say that I see them and become quiet inside...sometimes wonder why I was born in America free to drink from a faucet. And oftimes while timing bananas in clorox water, I wonder at the great blessing of sharing the gospel with people who are truly teaching us about 'great' and 'simple' faith (and I am becoming aware that those words are oftimes synonymous). And it is more than SAFE to say that we are very thankful.

our home in Sao Filipe on Fogo, Cape Verde

We are on the top (3rd) floor of the light aqua building here.

This is the view from our front deck.

our back deck view uphill off our neighbors.

and the view from our back deck looking down to the ocean.

  We live in a nice (aqua outside, pink inside)apartment with kind neighbors...and when the water works and when the electricity is on, it is very convenient.  The walls on this side of the island are all made of cement and/or covered lava rock... so the happy-culture sound of birds, roosters, goats, children, roosters, vendors, cars, birds, roosters, dogs, Cape Verdian music, announcements from loud-speakers atop cars winding their way through the cobblestone streets, and roosters (with no sense of time or pitch), bounce and echo-dance around us through our days and nights in this great little city of Sao Filipe. 

Our Mission President and His Sweet Wife

President and Sister Oliveira have the wonderful open Brasilian hearts that make us all want to work hard and smile alot.  They are both from Brasil and moved to Bountiful, Utah, a few years ago... so their English has a great accent and their Portuguese is native.  They come with vision and leadership, with fervant prayers that bless the missionaries, and abracos (Brasilian hugs) as well as handshakes. They are a blessing in our lives.  

Even before we entered the MTC, President Oliveira sent us an email. Following are some of the kind words in that email:

"It was with great measure of happiness that we received the news of you calling to serve with us.  What I can say is that this is a great people with much love to give and ready to receive in the same measure. To anyone truly angaged in the Lord´s cause there is no other place to be, it is just majestic the greatness and humility of their souls. Sister Oliveira and I love them with all our hearts. We love the missionaries serving with us. They are wonderful, as you will find out.

We already love you and cannot wait to see your happy faces shining in these white fields of the Lord."

NICE SURPRISE!

Devotionals are on Tuesday evenings at the MTC.  We do not know who the speakers are ahead of time, but the speakers are inspiring and fun to listen to, so missionaries arrive 1/2 an hour early and the Lorenzo Snow auditorium is always full to the brim. Those who want to sing in the choir come an hour early, yet sound as if their rehearsals began in Heaven before any of them were born!  The music and the sea of missionaries manifest an aura of marvelous.  It really is a scene quite singular and special.  

The nice surprise this evening is that tonight just happened to be the Celebration of the Jubilee year (50th Anniversary) of the Missionary Training Program!  Previous MTC Presidents and wives were present, plus many honored guests and our speakers were Elder Nelson and Elder Holland!!!  What a time to be in the MTC!  We loved being in that meeting!

And again, while the congregation is singing: "Called to Serve" I wipe at my chin and wonder why everyone else seems to have the 'D' word down.  (The D word: 'Dignity').  Everyone around me (and as far as the eye can see) stands tall and sings happily...while I am bent over using my hem for a hand-towel at my profound joy!  It really is touching to me to be a missionary.  I love to put on my little black name tag and represent 'A Igreja de Jesus Cristo Dos Santos Dos Ultimos Dias'.  That song represents everything 'family' to me and I want to serve with honor, the way our children and parents have.  It makes me want to serve the whole world and then hug each of our children and grandchildren until Eternity happens. I love our Father in Heaven and our Savior Jesus Christ.  I love our Heavenly Father's plan of happiness that makes it possible for families to be together forever. 

Tomorrow we will finish up our Seminary and Institute training.  It has been great fun to spend the last two days wading knee-deep in scriptures and sharing them back and forth with new friends. Thursday we will go to the Church Office Bldg. in Salt Lake for training on Perpetual Education for youth who want to get a college education, but cannot afford it.  What a great work!  Friday morning we will finally get up around 5:30 a.m. after a night of "just in case" checking our alarm clock to not miss the airport shuttle.  

The time flies here.  I was just pulling the curtains aside to see other missionaries leaving with their suitcases.  In just 2 days it is our turn to weigh our suitcases again, (one each... and each one only 44 lbs. according to the yellow tag from Cape Verdian Airlines).  We will arrive in Cabo Verde on Saturday morning.  The thoughts of far, far away are getting closer and closer.

MTC Miracles

The MTC mornings and afternoons are filled with lessons about love, hope, and eternal truths.  Our evenings are spent in the Parley P. Pratt building as we study with our Language Tutors.  This evening, all of those in our group who have studied languages this week assembled in room C-120 of the Wilford Woodruff building.  Those moments I have to write about and remember.  It is too easy to forget our blessings as we roam about on earth trying to keep up with them. I have witnessed a miracle tonight.

Somewhere near 70 of us shared out testimonies and feelings with each other in our 'new' languages.  My heart tried to gather the hour and put a bow on it for saving...but one cannot tie a ribbon around this night; too vast to collect into one, as grandmas and grandpas, stood to speak. German, Bulgarian, Portuguese, French, Russian, Slovanian, Czeck, Swedish, Japaneze, Romanian, Tagalag, and Italian according to my scribbles on the 3" by 5" card in my pocket.  One fellow with smile wrinkles said, "I would like to speak in French...oh, but that was our last mission...ok... for this mission...here goes... Russian."  and he spoke with halted words, teary eyes, and a full heart that touched mine.  People from all over the world, who have led professional lives and could spend the rest of them in leisure, instead chose to wear suits and nylons to unknown lands. They stood tonight to share a few intermittent and wobbly sentences we couldn't understand about what all of us here do understand.  We love our Savior Jesus Christ and want to share His words with others in their own tongues.  A woman with wavy white hair, a tall man with a limp, a plump lady with two necklaces, three rings, and a little bow about her waist, a couple who gleemed at each other with amazement when they were done, a single sister who's last mission was with her eternal companion spoke with gratitude. After the meeting we met with our friends going to India, and the Marshall Islands.

Travis told me that I shouldn't worry so much about my Portuguese until we were set apart as missionaries.  "It will come much easier after that" he calmed me.  It is true.  I am a witness...that it is true.  Heavenly Father keeps His promises.  Travis should know.  He was asked to speak Spanish when he was already in the Mission field.  There is a strong spirit here and my mind is open to the amazing sounds that are coming from my mouth.   Twenty-four year olds smile and share inspiring stories as they teach us to conjugate our sentences.

But we all know Who is helping us learn our languages so quickly. We all know.
  Eu sou grata. 

Blessings

Room 313 Jacob Hamblin Building, Provo MTC. 
4:46 a.m.

Tufts of snow flock the trees outside our window. I pull the curtains aside to see missionaries 2 stories below wade through the night with their suitcases and backpacks under glistening lights on shiny wet pavement to an airport shuttle. Finally, they will meet the real people that live in the real place that heretofore was a name on their letter from Box B. My mind wades through the emotions of the last few weeks and gratitude fills the quiet morning.

We have visited our children, grandchildren, and parents, and have been treated like royalty in each of their homes.  I tried to memorize each hug, smile, word, and home. We have witnessed miracles with my father's open-heart surgery; he is already home and healing and he gave me a Father's blessing. The January roads have been dry until last night when we were through driving on them and our preparations have been opened before us, even down to the dental appointments and choosing of shoes.  I do not take that for granted.

Yesterday morning we received our room key, our orientation, our MTC map, our schedules, and have met missionaries that are going to every part of the earth.  We've pointed to Cape Verde on a map a few times to those who, like us, are wondering exactly where it is and what it is about.

We received blessings that tuck us into the next two years of our life.  I was blessed with the gift of tongues that will help me with the Portuguese/part Creole/African language that will surround us and help us make new friends. Stan is already fluent and such a patient teacher.  We will have guardian angels assigned to help us and they will be familiar to us and they will bless and help our family as well. I thought of my grandparents.  Jonathan, age 13 1/2, oldest of  our 24 grandchildren, was touched by the words of the blessing and he also said a prayer during the prayer to ask Heavenly Father to assign those angels to protect us.  "It is my duty as a deacon to call on the administering of angels," he told his Momma later.  That made my spirit smile.

We will be protected and will return home safe in two years. Other sentences were said that soothed my soul.

I have to swallow and look away to preserve any chance at dignity, during the song: "Called to Serve".  A tear or three ran down our cheeks as we recalled singing that song many times before.  We are following in our parents' and our children's footsteps, and the many thousands of other missionaries who love the Gospel of Jesus Christ and who want to serve. 

The alarm clock will awaken us soon to our lessons, classes, and thoughts. Though my mind is a bit overwhelmed by the thought of what we are undertaking, my heart is full of peace and gratitude for the many blessings that make this journey possible.

Love you!

We have visited our children, 24 grandchildren, and parents over the last four weeks..  It was wonderful. I will not forget all of the hugs as we left their homes nor the feeling of loved ones pressed up to the airport glass, signing 'I Love You' and waving to us as we boarded the  plane.

 We could not leave them without Elder Holland's promise:  "...I promise you will do things for them in the service of the Lord that, worlds without end, you could never do if you stayed home to hover over them."   We know those words are true because during our mission in Brasil we witnessed many family blessings...and we are thankful for this day in time where we can see and talk to our family from our laptop. (What a time we live in!)    We are so very thankful for our children and their wonderful spouses who are raising our amazing grandchildren in such loving and carefully thought out ways. They give us strength and great joy... and gift us with unencumbered hearts to serve.

Open Heart Miracles



It is a tender time when you leave your family. Two Sundays before we left for the MTC, we were in California, visiting Travis and Joshua and their families.  We talked to our Bishop that Sunday afternoon by phone and told him that we had just learned that my father was to have open-heart surgery the next Wednesday and that Elder Benedict could come speak in our Idaho Sacrament meeting...but I would be in Utah at the hospital most probably.  Bishop Dickson was kind and said maybe I could write my testimony down and someone could read it for me...and then he paused...a long pause and then he said,  "I feel as your Bishop that if you will come back to speak in our ward the Sunday you leave that your father will be blessed."  I said, "I will be there."  He then asked me to give my parents big hugs from him.  Bishop Dickson is a Doctor.  (He knows my father is 83 years old and needs open heart surgery.)   The very next Sunday...I partook of the Sacrament in my father's room in the ICU.  Daddy only took tylenol after his surgery, so he would be alert and he worked so hard at everything they wanted him to do.  The doctors were amazed at his spirit and attitude.  He was in the hospital for one week!  A Wonderful Miracle!  We left for our mission the next Sunday and he is doing better than the doctors thought possible.  Truly...'All of this and the Gospel too!'