Cape Verde Week 44

Boa Noite,

Well another week has slipped by and this one has been one to remember. We started out with Zone Conference on Monday. President and Sister Tolman came early in the day and we had conference that afternoon. Elder and Sister Taylor (Area medical Advisors) came for a mission tour and we really enjoyed meeting them and finding out they had many of the same friends we do; Sister Webster, Dr. Jerry King, and Dr. Tom Jones. So it was fun talking about our common ground. Zone Conference was as usual terrific followed by a nice dinner at the Tropical Restaurant. Zone Conference in Fogo: Elder & Sister Taylor, Tolman's, Waller's, 2nd row Cruz, Mendonca, Hernandez, Fortes, Marinho, Delgado; 3rd row Da Cruz, Silva, Badesso, DaLuz, Kinghorn, Thompson.Sister Waller, Elder Taylor and Sister Taylor at dinner.Sister Marinho in red and Sister Delgado.

We received word that our packages containing our household products, was on the boat Tuesday. Then we were called and told the boat wasn’t leaving because it wasn’t full. Then we told it would be here on Thursday only then to be told it was to rough and the boat had to turn back. For sure it would be here on Friday and we needed to be on the docks to get the packages. Well that was quite the scene. We had fisher men and people wanting to get their fish, dock hands wandering around. Wait just a minute something is happening outside the front door!!!

It’s Carnival Practice!!!! Yes folks we have carnival here in Fogo. There is a mass of people coming up the street dancing to rather loud music. No costumes but just people dancing to the same rhythm over and over, hmmmm. Carnival isn’t until February. Oh well it is a warmup.

Anyway back to the docks, I wait for hours watching them unload things by hand, only to figure out there was no way they were going to get to my stuff till tomorrow. So I went home. On Saturday bright and early down to the docks again, more unloading, and unloading. Finally after 2-3 hrs I said no way are they going to get to my stuff today, sure enough no luck. Then this morning I got a call from the member helping us and he said we have to go to the docks today and get our stuff. I said, not on Sunday, it will wait till Monday. We then headed off to Cova Figueira for Church. On the way home he called me and said he had our stuff, hmmmmm. On well, they are slow to learn some lessons.

This week has also been one waiting for the plumber to hook up the washer. It has been now a full week since I bought the washer and no hookup. We needed a new water valve and a drain put in, as there was no drain. Finally after 3 appointments, where we waited all day for the plumber, we finally got him here. He punched a hole through the concrete wall and made a drain and switched valves and now we can wash clothes.

We attended a FHE this week and met a nice family Senna, Arlindo, Ricky, Aisha. President Talvares was here for the weekend and gave the lesson. Then we ate good food and hoped we wouldn’t pay for it the next day. We did fine!!
Senna and her family, nice rollers!
We have been enjoying Sister Marinho and Delgado. They have been loads of help getting us settled into Fogo. We are going to miss, Sister Delgado, as her mission ends this coming week. She is a great young lady and we have loved serving with her, she has a beautiful smile and wonderful attitude. So we are now settled into Fogo and will really start working on missionary work this week. We hope to get music lessons going quickly and will start with VT and HT soon. Young lady in Cova Figueira carrying water.MeetingHouse in Cova Figueira, it sits on a cliff overlooking the ocean, along ways down to the beach. Well I think there is a beach, maybe not.Sunset from our home, overlooking the island Brava.

So love to everyone,

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

Cape Verde Week 43

Bom Dia,

Well we have spent the 1st week here in Sao Felipe. It has been adventuresome as we have had to get the apartment setup. This has taken a lot of trips to all the stores to find items. We ran into a snag on the telephone and internet and so it took an additional 4 days getting that in order.
Praca in Sao Felipe
Our apartment on the 1st floor.The counter tops are reaaly short, so you end up bending over to do anything.Plus the door to the bathroom is rather short, head butting problem.
The church is just half a block away down the road.
We woke up Sunday morning to no water, so we are having a tank installed on the top of the apartment. This will give us a little peace of mind. We have found that our apartment is on the main road in town so lots of traffic. But the dust is much better than Mindelo and cleaning a lot easier. At night the noise drops to nothing so sleep is not a problem. We still have some locks to repair and screens to get up. We are also working on getting the washing machine hooked up.

We have really notice a lack of dogs here as compared to Mindelo. We see very few and then they are always pets, no strays running around. The city is very clean and everyone seems to know everyone else. We go to a store and have an item delivered and we just say Anatoliyo’s house by Aguadinha and they all know where we live. So far the weather has been rather mild, not to hot. But I can see that when summer comes it is going to be hot here, what with the reflection off the water and the slope of the mountain.

Well that is about all the news for this week. I have lots of pictures, so we hope everyone is doing well and happy; all though I am not to please with the stock market.

Love to all

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

Cape Verde week 42

Bom Dia,

Well week 42 has been an adventure. We began the week with ending our stay in Mindelo and saying goodbye (tchau) to all our friends. It is hard to leave those you have grown close to and start a new adventure. We were really getting to feel comfortable in Mindelo, liking the people and just feeling we could get around without any problems. Then we get transferred! This has been really hard on Sharon and I know she wants to follow the desires of President Tolman but change for her comes very hard. But she has pressed forward and tried to keep a stiff upper lip most of the time.

We left a great group of missionaries in Mindelo, and we have seen the work increase and gospel grow because of their great efforts. We left on Tuesday with a short 45 minute flight to Mindelo. We traveled with the Zone leaders, who were off to Praia for a Training meeting. This worked out well as they each took one of our extra suitcases so we avoided the extra weight charge. All our suits weighted under the 20kg limit. We arrived in Praia to a dusty Broomaseca day and were met by the AP’s and Elder Lopez. Then it was off to the Mission home where we were to stay for 2 days before heading to Fogo.

President Tolman wanted us to meet the new couple coming in the next day, E/S Brewer, who will be taking our place in Mindelo. This would give us an opportunity to fill them in on Mindelo. We had a pleasant afternoon, Sister Waller & Tolman made cookies while I attended part of the Zone Training. The cookies were great as well as the lunch. That evening we had a delicious Hawaiian haystack dinner with the Zone leaders and President and Sister Tolman. Wednesday arrived and we welcomed the Brewers, who survived the long flight from SLC and a 7 hr lay over in Boston, then the 5 hr. flight to Praia. They seemed ready and alert, that lasted for just a few hrs then we sent them to bed. That evening all the couples went out for dinner, it was a nice time to visit. The Brewers are from North Ogden. He is an educator by profession and they have 4 children. The people in Mindelo will love them and they will do wonderful things and will be of such great help to the missionaries.

We were to leave on Thursday for Fogo but we had our flight time wrong and missed the plane. So we spent another night at the mission home, which was fine as Sharon really enjoys being with sister Tolman. They made a delicious lemon chicken dinner ( Sister Delgado’s recipe). We finally got under way on Friday to Fogo. But not before they tried to charge us over weight charges on our luggage. I questioned them and said they were fine in Mindelo and we had not added any weight. The check lady looked unhappy, as I insisted they weight was wrong. So she let us go without further charges. I think it is a form of skin tax!

The flight was a short 20 minutes to Sao Filipe airport where we were welcomed by Elder Fortes and Kinghorn, our new zone leaders. The airport is even smaller than Mindelo’s. You get your luggage through a window!! Soon, we were off to Sao Felipe. We arrived at our new apartment, located about 100 yards from the church. We were not impressed, if fact it just took a few looks and Sharon started to cry. This was not what she had envisioned. The kitchen was very small, the doors quite unsecured and very little to no furniture. She didn’t feeling it was safe at all and I knew I was in trouble!! I called Sister Tolman and told next time she should pick out the apartment. So we went and looked at a few apartments around and after seeing some of what was available decided well maybe it wasn’t as bad as we thought. We talked to the Landlord and he assured Sharon it was safe and that he would change the locks, added screens and plumbing for the washer as well as some more lighting in the Kitchen. I think I made President Tolman nervous about the whole thing and I feel bad about that, but it is hard when your wife is crying and you want to make things right for her. It is difficult enough to get your wife to follow you around the world and live in not so standard environments, so you try hard to make it as comfortable as possible. Well we began to look at what could be done and I think I have her convinced. But then the next morning we woke to no water, so no shower before Church, and the crying starts again. I have to work on the water as well as the other problems, got to have a happy Sharon or it will be a very long 9 months!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mt. Pico on the island of Fogo, active volcano.
Our plane from Praia.
Luggage handling through the window.

We attended Church in the Sao Felipe Branch and met some charming people. Many speak some English which will help. I had to speak for 5 minutes and gave a brief description of our family. They seem very happy to have us here especially Sharon, who brings music. When we went back to the house after Church the water was back on, that helped. We took a short walk around the neighborhood after church and the town is clean, fewer dogs and less blowing dust, both a big plus. The Branch President is to visit this evening to discuss the problems in the Branch, and then we are off to a FHE with a member. So as the song goes, “We are back in the saddle again”.

The Gospel is true and we are grateful to be able to serve the people in this part of the vineyard. We know at the end of our time here, we will have mixed emotions about leaving these beautiful people. We also know the missionaries are really happy to have us here. We are now serving with; Elders Fortes, Kinghorn, Badesso, Da Cruz, Hernandez, Silva, Da Luz, Thompson, Mendonca, De Cruz and Sisters Delgado and Marinho. They are great missionaries and we will grow to love them all.

This email will probably be a few days late as we have no internet as of yet. Love to all.

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

Cape Verde Week 41

Boa Noite

Well another week has passed and we are getting closer to our transfer. For those who missed the last message, we are being transferred to the island of Fogo. We leave on Tuesday and will spend a few days in Praia before heading over to our new assignment.

It has been difficult this last week getting things ready to go; trying to decide what to take and box up for shipment and what to leave behind. We generally have gotten along well but sometimes I really want to leave this or that and Sharon wants to take everything.

So the past week has been mostly focused on getting Sharon over the flu and packing. She is now feeling better and I have started to come down with the blahs! We have been going around saying goodbye to our friends and people we deal with, on a regular bases. We really have enjoyed the people here and they have been so helpful. The members have been wonderful and the church has a great future here in Mindelo. Sometimes we forget that the Church is new and they are just learning how things work. It isn’t SLC yet, but they are getting the idea and doing wonderful things.

Yesterday we had another great baptism day with 6 people entering the water. Today I was able to confirm my first member in Portuguese. Everyone said I did well and Sylvia was all smiles.

Well that is about it for this week. Sorry it is so short but how exciting is packing? We want to wish everyone a very Happy New Year, may it be prosperous and may you all feel the blessing of our Father in Heaven throughout the year.

Tchau!

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