Cape Verde week 18

Boa Noite,

Week 18 has been a different sort of week here in CapeVerde. We have had a lot of illness among the Elders and Sisters which has slowed the work some what. Seems a bad viral intestinal bug is floating around. Sister Waller started on Wednesday and was pretty much down till Saturday. I started yesterday but seem to be recovering faster. It is nice to have some good ole Imodium around.

Monday was spent in District meeting followed by lunch with a few of the Elders and Sisters V&B. It wasn’t too bad, they chowed down on chicken and potatoes and Sister Waller and I tuna fillet. It all tasted good but who knows it could have been the source of the dreaded bug. We aren’t sure the ice in the glasses was filtered water, although the waitress assured us it was indeed filtered. That evening we visit Emilia and her mother teaching a short lesson. I think they understood my story, although at times there was this far away look in their eyes.

Local art work on the walls, note the afro haircuts!

Tuesday was spent on exchange with the Elders. They are supposed to have a planning meeting where they determine teaching appointments etc. I can’t understand why they schedule one appointment on this side of the mountain and the next on the opposite side. They walk me to death. President thinks it is a way to kill time, but they have appointments and are generally late.

Wednesday started our down time with illness, not much can be done when you can’t leave the friendly bathroom. I did get a lot of reading done. On Wednesday we visited an old folk’s home. There were 7 people living in this small compound. Each had their own room; there was a common courtyard with no roof, kitchen, bathroom and small dinning room. You either stay in your room or can sit out in the sun. We are working to see if we can get an awning for the courtyard for shape. While there we meet Pedro, a very spry 91 year old, who spoke fairly good English. They were all very interested in talking and visiting, I am sure they get very few visitors. We plan on set up a date for the Elders and Sisters to sing and visit in the future.
Pedro standing in the door to his room

President & Sister Tolman arrived for the weekend and Zone Conference tomorrow. It is nice to have them back in town. By today our stomachs had settled down somewhat, at least enough that we could enjoy a delicious Sunday dinner; meatloaf, mashed potatoes, carrots, and salad; Topped off with angel food cake and chocolate ice cream.

Balancing act played out everyday here in Mindelo!

Well tchau for this week. Write and fill us in on the news. We enjoy just hearing the routine stuff.

Love to all,

E/ S Waller, Mom & Dad, Bama & Bampa

President Neves and Odair at work at the church.

Cape Verde Week 17

Boa Noite;

Well this has been a slow week; although Elder Waller has been able to walk with the Elders frequently this week. I think they did about 9 discussions over all. Sister Waller has been busy in the hot kitchen again, making cookies and treats. Unfortunately she was sick for a couple of days and so things were a little slow. If you could loss pounds by sweating Sister Waller is down by 20 LBS. Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. It has been very humid and hot, we sweat profusely unless sitting in front of the fan.

The Missionaries continue to do a marvelous job and are wonderful to watch. Occasionally there is a hick up and things get a little derailed at times, but we seem to be able to work things out. The Elders have decided to go back to Santo Antao and walk down the mountain again, we are not fooled this time and plan on skipping the outing.

Tonight Sister Waller participated in a Visiting Teaching workshop in Ramo 1. They had about 12 sisters in attendance. They really need help in getting their records up to date and in fellowshipping the members.

We have had number of you ask if there is anything you could do for the members and people here? We continue to encourage everyone to contribute to the Humanitarian fund but we do have a small request. We have a Sister who teaches English classes to Adults and children. She is in need of English reading books; children’s books and simple English stories. I know many have these left over from there children and they are in some box in the attic or garage. She would appreciate any donation of children’s books that could help her develop a small library. If you send them by post in small numbers you can keep the cost down. Large boxes tend to get lost or delayed significantly.

E/S Charles Waller
Caixa Postal 433
Mindelo, Sao Vicente
Cape Verde

We would appreciate any help you can give us.

Tchau for this week.

E/S Waller, Mom & Dad, Bama & Bampa

We have many sick dogs here that need tobe put to sleep. This poor animal was outside our door the other day. They have no humane society to help with all the stray animals.

Elder Mendonca prior to transfer to be a new AP.

Sister's V & B trying to get Sister Waller to have her hair done, no way Jose!

Sister V & B frantically trying to erase their chocolate bar marks in the baptismal clothing.

Cape Verde Week 16

Bom dia:

It has been an exciting week as we have said goodbye to a number of Elders and received a replenishing supply of fresh Elders. We welcomed to the area this week, Elders Ballantyne, Swapp, Burgess, and Snow. They will be a great addition to our fine Elders and Sisters here in Mindelo. We have been extremely busy this week in preparing for Branch conference in Ramo 1. Also we now have three some of Elders and so I have been filling some of the extra time with the odd Elder. They walk fast, talk fast and eat a lot. We continue to have Elders that suffer from dehydration. They call and say, they just don’t feel good, backache, headache, nausea etc. etc. etc. I ask if they are drink water and most say yes, how about electrolytes, well no. You aren’t drinking the dehydration solution regularly, no. They don’t want to pay the 2 or 3 dollars to make up the drink that will last all week. When they do finally make it and drink, they all are miraculously cured. Good figure!!!

We are in the process of working with the employment special in the District, Sandra Neves, in getting the program going. Come to find out she is already doing everything right and proper. We just need to help her report her statistics. She has made our jobs much easier. We need to get the branch specialist working to keep the workshops full. Unemployment here in the islands can run as high as 50%. Many just don’t want to work and some how the seem able to survive on funds from relatives in the US and Europe.

Sister Bikhazi on the Day of Carla's baptism

I t is beginning to be a custom for the Elders and Sisters to just drop by for a few minutes throughout the week, a lot of times during lunch or on the way to another area. It probably has nothing to do with cookies at the apartment. They seem really disappointed when they find us not home. Usually though we eat lunch at home so they are sure to find us during those hours. Sister Waller has been good about keeping the cookie supply up.

Sister Delgado and Souza drop by last night for a few minutes and they were so excited about a contact who basically asked to be baptized with out a challenge! She had been doing her reading and praying and basically said it is true can I be baptized! Talk about a smile on Sister Delgado’s face, wow she was excited.

I have had to speak two weeks in a row in Ramo1 sacrament meeting. I think maybe they need a change of pace. Last week it was a regular Branch assignment, this week Branch Conference. I believe I have a break for awhile on talks.
Sister Vaterlaus, Carla, Sister Bikhazi- baptismal day!

This week I celebrated another birthday, they seem to becoming faster. It went by with out any fanfare, although Monday morning Sister Bikhazi, Vaterlaus and Waller made doughnuts for the District meeting. The Elders were really surprised and they disappeared quickly. I think they made probably 4or 5 dozen were made. They did kind of taste like Krispy Kreme doughnuts, hmmmmm good; so I guess that was kind of a celebration.
It was hot in the kitchen with these three going at making doughnuts!! But they were so good!

Well tchau for this week.

E/S Waller, Mom & Dad, Bama & Bampa

Cape Verde Week 15

Bom Dia,

What a busy week this has been here in Cape Verde. It all started last Sunday when I awoke with a very beet red eye. That week I had 2 episodes of nose bleeding, one that took close to 20 minutes to stop. So when my eye turns up looking like fresh ground beef, we were a little concerned. I had severe throbbing behind the eye also. Well after reviewing what I had been exposed to we came down with the thought of fiberglass exposure. We had visited a shop (if you call it a shop) where a member was making a mould for a washtub. I must have touched some then rubbed it into my eye. So I had red eyes all week. Were are not sure what caused the nose bleeds. When we got to Praia, Sister Allen, the mission nurse, suggested that if it happened again ( nose bleeds) to do what they did in the ER. They would stick a "party favor" up the nostril. For those not familiar with "party favor", they are what the Sisters in Hong Kong, where Erika served and introduced to the local Sisters, tampons. I wasn't sure whether to get the scented or unscented kind?

On Tuesday we traveled to Praia to attend some training on employment. We had Brother Serrano from Spain and Brother Martin from England, down to train us. They were from the Area offices. We had 2 days of lectures on the employment services. We now will go back and make sure the District employment specialist is trained. The workshops look really good and will definitely give a new applicant a head start over the competition.
Sister Tolaman & Waller checking out the nice grocery store in Praia.

We stayed at the President’s home and enjoyed the opportunity to visit with them. We also met the new couple in the Mission, Elder & Sister Lopes. They are from Connecticut and this is their first mission. They both speak Portuguese, as she is from Brazil and he is from Cape Verde. Although he left the islands when he was 5 and was raised in Brazil prior to immigrating to the US. He has served in many callings and was released from the Stake Presidency to come on the mission. We are grateful to have them here.


Catholic Church in Central Praia

Yesterday we had a baptism and I was asked to perform the baptism for Carla. The Sisters have been teaching here and Sister Waller and I visited there one evening. We had a nice service. She was confirmed a member today and then immediately called as a counselor in the YW program.

Today was a speaking assignment in one of the branches. I had prepared to give the assigned message but at the last minute the District President changed my assignment to another Branch. This morning I awoke knowing I had to speak on another topic, which meant speak without notes again. This time I had a missionary help me, but I think I did okay.

Sisters; Tolman, Barros, Duarte, Pollard, Silva and Waller

Tomorrow is transfer day and we have a number of Elders leaving the area; Elder’s Friaca, Terry, Burk, Thurgood and Mendonca. Elder Mendonca is being made AP. When Sister Waller said goodbye, she got a little teary eyed when Elder Mendonca said she was like his 2nd Mom. He will be a great AP. This is the young man who was called to be Branch President at the age of 17.

We had a rather quiet 4th of July, spent in Praia. We went out to eat every night we were there; President said we had to go home because he ran out of restaurant to take us to.

Well tchau for this week.

E/S Waller, Mom & Dad, Bama & Bampa

Cute Baby in the grocery store, Praia.