Cape Verde week 53

Bom dia;

Tudo Bem? We are doing much better this week. Sharon has gotten better the last few days and so we have been a little more active. She suffered with stomach problems for a week or so and we had to change her diet to keep from irritating the stomach. Now she seems to be on the mend. During this week we stayed in most of the time as she didn’t feel up to going out. So I used the opportunity to work on my Temple Preparation Class materials. Also I have to prepare for another presentation in the next couple of weeks. So it was a good time to catch up on some computer work. Plus I was able to get my taxes done and submitted, whew….!

We are preparing for District Conference in 2 weeks. We will have to hold 2 sessions; one here in Sao Filipe and then one in Cova Figueira. Here we have been holding choir practice and they have chosen to sing “Oh My Father”. Since they generally sing without a piano they have learned the songs incorrectly. It is a real problem getting them to sing it correctly. In Mindelo we had a more organized group and they could sing in parts, here we will be lucky to get the melody correct. But they have enthusiasm and as they get more comfortable with the melody the volume goes up.

I had the opportunity to visit a return missionary this week with the Elders. He has been home for over a year and I would say he is fading fast. He is concerned over not having a job and life being hard. I asked if he was saying his prayers (no), reading his scriptures (no), working in the church (no). I told it is hard for the Lord to bless your life when you fail to be obedient and follow his commandments. He wasn’t real happy about the visit, but was in church today and talked with me after church for a few minutes. He has asked the Elders not to come visiting; I am sure he feels guilty. I am planning on working with the Branch President and see if he and I can be made HT partners, maybe a slow infusion will help. Elders Day & De Cruz

We were in the chapel today after the meeting talking and the Aaronic Priesthood boys were standing around. Finally I said maybe we should leave the chapel so they can clear the sacrament table. So we left and they closed the door. Sharon said they probably wanted to eat the remaining bread, and sure enough they came out chewing!

Sister Skinn is dong well and her Portuguese continues to improve. It won’t be long before she has left us in the dust and is translating for us. She gets right in with the youth and helps out. Sister Duarte is a good trainer for her.
Sister Skinn & Duarte

Elder DeCruz asked me to give a part in District meeting. He wanted me to talk about some of the attributes of Christ. So I chose “Humility” and used an object lesson. I gave each a color pencil and sharpener; and referenced the need to remove the pride in our lives to get to the humble center. The center (lead of a pencil) can then be a tool in the Lord’s hands. It went over well, but Sharon’s cookies were a bigger hit. When they came out Sister Duarte had the biggest smile.

Scott and Becca’s new baby has been named “Mirra Connie”, she is holding her own. It is amazing what modern medicine can do to help the babies who were just so excited to come to earth they couldn’t wait.District showing off their new pencils and sharpners!!
Sunset looking towards Brava.
Thanks again for your prayers. Love to all

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

Cape Verde Week 52

Bom Dia;

It has been a fairly busy week here in the land of no rain! We are in the middle of an ant war and at times I feel like we are losing. It started about 2 weeks ago and has continued, each day they seem to discover a new area. We spray , smash and try to make life miserable for them but they keep coming back for more. We had a soda the other day and there was some water on the coaster, about 2 hrs later the coaster was covered in ants. At least they aren’t the biting kind of ants. Sharon put out a small container of M&M’s on the kitchen table today and even with the lid on they were able to get in and have a feast.

We held our 1st Temple Preparation class this past weekend and had 3 in attendance. It went fairly well but I could see that in the future I needed help. So this week I have been preparing the lessons in a power point presentation. Using both the English and Portuguese lessons I am able to do the presentation with pictures, questions, quotes and simplified sentence structure that helps me to deliver the message. I hope it goes over well this week.

This week we also became grand parents once again. We have a new granddaughter, born on the 21st of March, to Scott and Becca. She arrived early and weights in at 2 lbs. 9 oz., which means a lengthy stay in the hospital till she is fully developed. Mother is fine and baby Waller is holding her own at the moment. We would appreciate your prayers in her behalf.

We were sorry to see Sister Marinho depart this week for Mindelo. She will be missed but will love her new area. Arriving yesterday is Sister Skinn from Montana. We have spoken briefly with her and she will do well here in Sao Filipe. We also welcomed Elder Day to the area. We served with him for a number of months in Mindelo and look forward to being together again.

We have received news about Peter, our friend in Mindelo. He is 91 and we visited with him a number of times while there in Mindelo. We asked the Brewers to look in on him and they have done a wonderful job in fellowshipping him. He is now attending church with them and reading and participating in class. He is a real joy and we are very happy that he is doing so well. Thanks to Elder & Sister Brewer, you two are awesome!!!

I have been assigned to speak this evening in our General Priesthood meeting, and I have been fretting this week on what to say. I believe I mentioned this last week, well tonight is the big night, hope all goes well.

Well continuing this newsletter; the talk went well and I was asked to speak in two more sacrament meetings and to give the same talk. HMMMM I hope they start paying their tithing like I asked.

Today I spoke in Fonte Alexio branch but couldn’t give my talk because the person speaking before me basically repeated my evening talk. Plus it was Easter Sunday and we had no talk on the Savior. So I adjusted my talk a lot and made it an Ester Sunday talk, it went well, at least no one is throwing stones at me, at this moment.

We continue to be amazed at the people, the church and how the gospel changes lives. We are so grateful for Jesus Christ and his atoning sacrifice. It is beyond comprehension and the scope of the Plan of Salvation in our lives, bring us to wonder and give thanks to a merciful Father. It has been a great privilege to share our testimonies this week of the divinity of the Lord and of his wondrous sacrifice. We pray that you all will take the time to contemplate the wondrous gift we have been giving; of His mercy and grace that is offered to us.

Love to all
E/S Waller, Mom & Dad, Bama & Bampa

Cape Verde Week 51

Bom Dia Meus Amigos,

Well, I am writing again, as time is flying. We started the week in Brava, finishing up a 4 day visit to the island. We had the opportunity on Monday to inspect the Elders apartment, visit a less active member and conduct a FHE for the Branch. It was a good day. Tuesday arrived and we basically spent the day getting to the ferry, watching the ferry unload, and load. Surviving a rough (well it wasn’t to bad) ride home to Sao Filipe, and then catching up on laundry, cleaning and rest.

Sister Waller, Elders Reis & Mendonca hiking the hills of Brava. Elder Mendonca has his fresh whole milk.Branch Members in Brava

I attended Fonte Alexio branch seminary class again and I am amazed at how well the teacher is doing. His name is Arnaldo and he is 17 y/o. He has been a member for about 1 year. The class is quite large with normal attendance around 15. When I say quite large, I mean quite large for a young man to handle. They do seem to be on their best behavior when I attend.

Most of the week was spent getting ready for the Relief Society Birthday celebration to be held on Saturday. The new District President in the RS was just call and has no experience, so Sister Waller and Sister Marinho came to the rescue. They had a week and half to pull together a program and activities. The District President wanted lots of food and activities. So Sharon and Sister Marinho focused on the program and the President worked on the food. I spent some time showing Sharon how to use Power Point program and then we downloaded a bunch of stuff off the internet. She then went to work and came up with a good presentation. She presented all the past Presidents of the RS and the purpose and objectives of the Society. Sister Marinho narrated. Most of Saturday was spent on making cinnamon rolls and setting up for the program. Everything went off well, and the Sisters seem to enjoy the activity.

I have taken it upon myself to teach a Temple preparation class. We have a couple preparing to go to the temple and a young man who has received his mission call. It ought to be a good experience and I should learn some Portuguese while I am teaching. We start tonight and I have read through it a number of times in Portuguese and seem to understand the lesson pretty good. Now we will see if they can understand me?

I have also started Clerk training as well as Branch Presidency training. I am hoping to get a program the church provides for clerks in Portuguese, but no word yet if it is available. In this whole process of training, my main focus will be on the District Presidency, so that when I leave they can continue the training. This has basically been neglected in the past. In most cases it is not because they aren’t willing, it is that they just don’t know how, or haven’t had a proper example.

This weekend is transfers and we are losing Sister Marinho and Elder Fortes. They will both be missed but we know they have great talent which is needed in their new areas of service. We get to work with Elder Day again, which is great and Sister Duarte gets to train and new missionary from Montana. That is about it for this week.
Sister Marinho performing "I Am A Child of God" at the Saturday baptism.

Solange with the RS birthday cake. We had about 50 sisters in attendance.

Top picture has Zea, who is due any day, and some cute babies at the RS Birthday Party.
Tchau

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

Cape Verde Week 50

Boa Noite,

This news letter is late because we have been in the land far far away, Brava. Some would call it the end of the world, others would call it paradise. We think it is a little of both. We have been on assignment for the past 4 days visiting the island and the Branch in Villa Nova Sintra. So without internet it is hard to get the old newsletter off on time. There is only one way to get to Brava, and that is by ferry. Unfortunately the ferry runs only twice a week. So if you leave on Friday you can’t get back to Fogo till Tuesday.

Our week started off with a great Monday, we had donuts after District meeting. The Elders and Sisters were surprised and very happy with the chocolate donuts. Some how having a treat every now and then helps the missionaries attitude. Sharon has picked up 2 more students for the piano and began lessons last week. Indy and Tony have a long way to go but we hope they will stick with the program. One of her students, Solange, has been in Praia for the last couple of weeks awaiting surgery on her 2 yr old, Melissa. We hope all goes well with the nasal surgery and they return home quickly.

Wednesday saw the Zone meeting for a walk into Monte Velha. The Elders assured us it was an easy walk about 15 minutes from the drop off point. We traveled in a van up to the Volcano Park; took lots of pictures of the volcano then travel down through the lava fields to a small village in the Caldeira. Why anyone would want to live with in the volcano I don’t know, but there it was a small village. The landscape was interesting with all the different lava formation. Where the ash has fallen and dirt mixed in they have planted grapes, and vegetables. They dig a hole about a foot deep then plant the vine in a pock mark about 2 feet wide. When the rain does come, it collects in the pock and since the soil is very porous it hold water well, the plants do okay. We continued past the lava flow to the old forest area not affected by the last few eruptions. There the van stopped and we started to hike. It was a fairly easy hike, down hill but after about 20- 30 minutes of going down we asked where the forest was. We were in the trees but not the Monte Velha (old Forest) yet, “Oh it is just a little further”. I could see that climb back up the mountain was going to get harder and harder the further we went down. Finally I stopped and let the Elders and Sisters continue as Sharon and I head back up the mountain. We had a nice day. The Sisters assured us it was nice in the old forest but not worth the long climb back up the hill. We enjoyed the cool breeze in the mountains and vistas without all the hill climbing.

I went with the Zone leaders on Thursday to continue with the challenge of Zezito. We want him to get married then, baptized. I took a picture of the Recife temple and challenged him to get his life in order so he could attend the temple and receive further blessings. We had a good discussion. We also enjoyed a nice lunch with Elders Da Cruz , De Cruz and President Goncalves.

Friday saw us heading down to the docks for our trip to Brava. We arrived in plenty of time to just sit and wait; after about 1 1/2hrs., we finally got on board, only to wait another 30 minutes before departure. The ride took about an hour and was not bad at all. We arrived and watched the interesting process of park a large boat in a small area. We were met by Elders Mendonca and Dos Reis. We were soon loaded into a pickup, Sharon got to ride in the cab, and we headed up hill about 6 kilometers. In those 6 kilometers there are 99 curves, as the road winds its way to the Nova Villa Sintra. There we found a beautiful village on about the only flat (well somewhat flat) piece of land. The 1st thing we noticed was all the flowers and trees, even though it is the dry season. Also, almost every house had a very large lot attached to serve as a garden. Most of the garden had been harvested and were filled with dry cornstalks, but here and there were active growing gardens. They told us most people don’t cultivate the ground until June or July, right before the rains begin. Those that keep year round gardens have drip systems and water tanks.

We made a visit to see Ann and have a discussion with her. She is a less active member, who like everyone else, has some severe financial problems. It was a nice visit and we were able to walk through town some. On Saturday we went with the Elders do a service project. This is harvest season for dry beans and all the flat roof tops have mounds of bean pods. They stomp on them and pound them to separate the beans from the pods, but many need to be opened by hand, so that was our service project; sitting on a roof top shelling beans from their pods. Beans are a staple food here in the islands along with rice. They pretty much eat beans everyday and at most meals. That afternoon and evening we visited with a less active family, Nashu. I gave a message and invited them back to church and they said they would come, but come Sunday no family, HMMMMM! We held leadership training on Saturday evening and had most of the Branch Leadership in attendance.

Sunday meetings were good with about 35-40 in attendance; as with many of the islands, very few priesthood leaders. I spoke on establishing a “House of God” with four basic pillars; 1. Prayer 2. Scripture study 3. Sacrifice by paying tithing, and 4. Worship by keeping the Sabbath Holy. That afternoon the Elders took us on an adventure hike through the mountains, over hill and dale. I think we walk a couple of kilometers on dirt paths to visit people. We had a good afternoon and arrived back at the apartment really tired, feeling like mountain goats.

This coming week we reach the 1 yr mark. We are now on a count down, 6 months to go.

Entering the Volcano Park. Sorry there are so many pictures this week but it was a busy active week. Elders Kighorn, Fortes, De Cruz, Da Cruz, Hernandez, Silva, Thompson, Da Luz, Sisters Duarte and Marinho.The site infront of Mt Pico is where the last eruption came out, I suppose a vent. That eruption occurred in 1995.

The outer rim of the caldeira. This is the outer wall of the original volcano probably millions of yrs ago.Sister Waller with some volcanic souvenirs.Mt Pico from the entrance to the Monte Velha Forest.

Sister Marinho getting ready for the hike. Below is a flower on a tree in the Park.

The harbor in Brava from Vila Nova Sintra about 6-7 kilomters away.

Vila Nova Sintra, BravaCentral Praca (park) in Vila Nova Sintra, BravaChurch of the Nazarene off the Central Park, Vila Nova Sintra, Brava

Chapel in Vila Nova Sintra, Brava. It needs some work but could be a nice building if repairs are made to the interior and it is dressed up some on the outside.Branch President Goncalves hill side garden, but with gardens there is always a lot of spiders and we saw a lot of very large spiders.

FHE in Brava, playing a game. I gave a short talk or story "Celestial Mail Order Bride", they loved it, tying the story into the need to pray always and keep the commandments.Sister Waller & I with Elder Dos Reis shucking dry beans from their pods. We got sunburned for the effort. They have many varieties of beans as evidenced by the picture below.To prove that we did some hiking, here are a few pictures on the trail of the members, less active and investigators.The following are pictures of the flowers around town, Vila Nova Sintra, Brava, and it isn't even the growing time of year. That will come in July - September, then we are told things really green up and the flowers really bloom.

Now this blog took a few minutes to put together but I hope everyone enjoys the sites of Cape Verde. Tchau!
E/S Waller, Mom & Dad, Bama & Bampa

Cape Verde Week 49

Boa Noite,

We have had a relatively quiet week. It started with us traveling to Mosteiros last Sunday for a speaking assignment. We were supposed to pick up the District Primary President in Cova Figueira, but she had decided not to go. At least she came out to the road and let us know but it would have been better if she had called. The road from Cova Figueira to Mosteiros is quite rough and plus it is the long way around the island. Anyway it was a clear bright sunny day and we got a few good pictures of Mt Pico. We arrived well ahead to the meeting time and visited with the Elders and members as they arrived. Mt Pico on a clear day.Lava flow and water gulley.

I was hoping to have a Branch Presidents training during Sunday School, but he was teaching the class. We had a small number of members in attendance, 40 or so and mostly young men. We only saw one family and very few children. Sharon said my talk was good but got better when I quit reading and just spoke. Somehow the words just flow better. Our trip home was nice, as we drove the other way around the island. So Sharon has now been around the island.

We had a good district meeting on Monday. Elder DaCruz gave me a few minutes to review ordinances. Many of the Elders have problems remembering how to do certain ordinances like; blessing the sick, consecrating oil. So I reviewed that with them for a few minutes. We all then were given assignments on problems in a companionship or with an investigator and how we could use the Book of Mormon to solve the problem. Sharon and I did ok, even with our limited Portuguese. The District is memorizing the Articles of Faith and reciting them in District Meeting. Sharon and I are doing poorly and have a hard time just reading them and keeping up. The Elders forget we are old and go slow!

Monday evening I had he opportunity to walk with the Zone leaders. They invited me to visit a non member living with a member. He is basically active in the church and lives all the commandments, except the common problem here. He carries his scriptures and hymn book and has been through countless missionaries, but just can’t seem to make the decision to marry and join the church. So off we went for the visit. I told the Elders, “if you give me an inch I might take a mile”. So it was after prayer and opening song, I took over I had a number of scriptures in mind but settled of Alma 34:32. We talked about procrastination and the importance of now. So I gave him a challenge for Baptism, to get his life in order and marry his common law wife, so he could move forward in the Gospel. We will see if it works. I will go back this week with a framed picture of the Temple with a renewed challenge.

Sister Waller, Duarte and Marinho prior to baptism.Baptismal group; note Large Cruz and Cruzinho. We started to get him a chair, but he wasn't going for it. Elder Da Cruz in about 5'9", we haven't been able to measure Elder Cruzinho.

We had the sisters over for lunch this week and enjoyed visiting with them. They both seem so happy. Sister Duarte is a real worker and tries to be obedient to all the mission rules. She helps us with our Portuguese as she speaks slowly. They really enjoyed the chocolate cookies. We sent them home with a dozen. Sharon doesn’t just make a dozen or so cookies, more like 8 dozen cookies. This does indeed come in handy as missionaries do drop by frequently.

We had a baptism this evening at the chapel. Elder DaCruz and DeCruz have been teaching this young man for a while and he was ready for baptism. When we arrived there was hardly any water in the font and he is well over 6’7” tall. So we added water and President Goncalves had him kneel down in the font. After the prayer he slowly bent him backwards. It worked, folding him in half allowed us to fit him in the font.

I attended Seminary this week and observed the class. President Goncalves is the teacher (need to work on that), and he did a great job. The youth did great in their scripture chase. I will start this week visiting the other branch. The teacher is only 17 and having problems with the students. I know how that can be. I will have to talk with the Branch President about get an older mature teacher, to help with the disciplinary problems. Attended Fonte Alexio Branch today, still no branch presidency meeting, slow learners, but will keep trying. We had a large attendance of young people, good singers. Sharon picked up 2 more piano students for the coming week. She is starting to get busy.

Local widelife; I believe it is a kind of "King Fisher" bird, it has blue wing feathers.Elders DeCruz (Cruzinho or small Cruz) and DaCruz.President Goncalves of the Sao Filipe Branch

Well that is it for this week. Love to all.

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