Cape Verde Week 70

Bom dia meus amigos,

We enjoyed an eventful week that began with our 1st and probably last, Zone Conference. President and Sister Neves arrived safe and sound on Saturday and started interviews with the missionaries. I started trying to orient Sister Neves on them medical issues in the mission. Unfortunately she will not have a medical person here for quite some time. But I assured her that her greatest asset is that she is a MOM!!

Monday, we held Zone Conference and it was indeed different than our previous experiences but all the same enjoyable. President and Sister Neves seemed quite comfortable and the Elders and Sisters seem to enjoy their messages. Not too many rule changes yet!!! Picture of our full zone and then our district: Elders Segueira, Gunn, Fernandez, Tuttle, Wyson, Ray, Da Cruz, De Cruz, Sisters Skinn & Silveira ( Note Elder Reynolds & Luthi home sick)President meeeting the Elders in the Zone

Sister Waller, Silveira, Skinn, Neves & Daneili

Zone Conference Luncheon, always a highly, although it was extremely hot!!

We were missing one set on missionaries at the conference due to illness, so after conference and a few interviews, President and I headed to Cova Figeuira. Elder Luthi was under the weather with stomach problems. So we gave him a blessing and he also got an interview. President and I had a long talk on the way to and from Cova Figeuira.

We continue to hold dance practice, we are now up to 3 a week, and continue to have good groups of youth show up. The new dance this week was the “Macarena”, I am starting to loosen up the hip and back. I am told they want to teach Sister Waller and me the “Funana” dance. I believe it involves hip motion, we shall see!

Putting on the moves!!!

We have continued with visits and teach opportunities around both branches which are always enjoyable. We love the island people and their friendly smiles and easy going attitudes. Life is laid back here, unfortunately sometimes to lay back. Care package from the YW in our ward back home, thanks Sisters it was fun opening and reading the scriptures.

Sharon is getting excited about going home and is worried now that we might miss the plane in Praia. They are closing the airport here in Fogo, to resurface and widen the runway. So we will probably be taking the ship to Praia, a 7-9hr boat ride. This is the same company that has already lost 2 ships this year, should be another adventure. I think though we will have to leave a week early as they are not very good at schedules, just to make sure we can catch the plane.

Well Tchau for another week,

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

Cape Verde Week 69

Bom dia,

Time marches on and we draw another week closer to our release date. This has been a busy week in just doing little things. We were busy getting pictures of the RS activity to put up on the bulletin boards, I am sure they will disappear quickly, and I had a picture prepared for Alberto & Zita of the Recife Temple.

We held FHE with Lilina’s family again and had a good discussion about the plates of brass and faith in God. We plan on turning over the teaching of the lessons and activities to them this coming week. We will see how it goes. Pedro drew some pictures for a concentration game, he did really well, he also drew a picture of Sharon and I, hmmmmmmm; I have blond hair!

We started our 1st dance practice with the youth. After they had so much fun learning `Oh Johnny Oh’, I decided to teach them the “Virginia Reel”. So I go on line find the music and watch a few videos and I am ready to teach. Tuesday was the 1st practice and they were all late, but we ended up with about 16 youth. We had fun and they got the basic idea. We then set up time for Friday to continue with the ‘Virginia Reel and start learning the Cha Cha Cha”. So Sharon and I have been downloading music for that as well and watching videos, although we still can swing it, we can’t swing like the videos. Friday arrived and we had about 30 youth. Wow try keeping them all quiet was a trick, plus we had to re-teach the ‘Virginia Reel”, but they soon caught on and had some good fun. I had downloaded “Turkey in the Straw” to dance by, hand clapping and hoot and holler soon was added by all. We have a problem as some of the youth don’t know their lefts from their rights, but after numerous repeats they caught on. We gave a little demo of the Cha Cha to a very fast beat number, they were amazed I could swing my hips. We then started the process of step by step Cha Cha. Again some caught on and some look totally confused. Oh well they all enjoyed the hour, I think they would do it every day if I offered. Sharon and I have been practicing the ‘Waltz” and have a dance routine set up for them. I might have to make the class a little smaller. We plan on having a Big activity in August, where both Branches are invited to dance. We will demonstrate the Reel and teach the whole group. Should be fun, they need activities here and so this is a start. I was also thinking of teaching them the “Charleston, swing, and some simple square dances, we will see how they do. Yes this too is missionary work, at least for couples!

We are preparing for our 1st zone Conference with President Neves this weekend. We have a lot to discuss and share with him. At the present there is no couple in the pipe line to replace us, which is very sad. So we will have to either close the apartment or move the Elders in and close their apartment.

Last week I had to speak up at Fonte Alexio, spur of the moment type talk and come to find out they posted my name to speak in the other branch this week. They just started posting speakers on the bulletin board for Sacrament talks. I suppose that is okay but they should ask first. I will have to talk with the BP. I will be talking of reading the scriptures. One problem we have here is many non readers. So I will have to come up with ways for them to get into the scriptures. We want to start the literacy program 1st and also see if we can get the scriptures on CD’s so the non readers can at least listen daily. This is a big challenge here, as many don’t attend as they are afraid of being asked to read or participate; just another of the challenges of the mission field. These are pictures of the RS activity, play, dance and food. It made for a great combination and everyone had a great time.

Well that is it for another week. May God bless you. Tchau

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

Cape Verde Week 68

Boa noite,

Well another week has flown by and we are wondering where the time went. We have had a busy week that started with our Sunday night Temple Preparation class. I have worked hard to get the class in Portuguese on the computer in a Power Point Presentation, which helps immensely with the presentation. Plus I have added photos of the different temples. Although my Portuguese is bad with the help of the slides the presentation goes over fairly well. We are preparing Alberto and Zita for the temple in September.

Alberto is a Cuban, who came over to the island to help with the agriculture development. He found Zita and decided to stay. This did not make the Cubans very happy and he has had some difficulties getting established here. He has been a member for over a year now and is functioning in the Branch as the Elder’s Quorum President. He has a University degree and is a solid individual. He speaks excellent Spanish and really rolls his RRRRR’s.

Monday found us at Lilina’s home for FHE. I had prepared cards to play concentration with the children. I used photos of Gospel topics and the life of the Savior. We first started out discussing each card and what the picture represented i.e.; Lazarus, Mary, Jesus being baptized, the crucifixion, resurrection, Joseph 1st vision, restoration of the Gospel, etc. They caught on really well and liked the game. Sharon and I prepared a FHE board to show who is to do what, for them and will present that this week. We commented that we didn’t even have one for our family, oh well; missionaries sometimes go the extra mile.

This week was a little depressing for me, I enter the realm of the aged, I turned 60!!! I was surprised when the Elders and Sisters came with a birthday cake, in the shape of a golf green. It even had a miniature golf ball and flag. It was nice to be remembered and cheered up the day. It is amazing the older I get the further away the senior status gets for me. To get senior rates on the golf course you now have to be 65!!!! Well here they are surprising me. Elder DaCruz and Ray even were able to point out that I am 60. Elder DaCruz is quite happy to have 6 fingers on each hand. He can truly hold up both hands and say, " We have 12 apostles"!Preparation Day found us entertaining the Elders and Sisters with home made donuts and games of UNO and concentration. They enjoyed the time together. Plus they went through alot of donuts!!!

We finished our preparation for the RS activity. The play, dance and meeting all went well. We had some trouble with the handcarts and the icing glue didn’t set up well and the electricity went out so we couldn’t use the hot glue gun. Oh well, they enjoyed eating the cookies. Elder Wyson played the part of Joseph Smith in the RS play. I think he needs a little more hair for the part, oh well mission rules and besides it is comfortable and cool!Sisters working on their hand carts at the RS activity. Cova Figeira Sister singing as part of the program. I din't get a good picture of the bonnets Sister Waller made and will search through the missionaries photos. they came out real cute. Although Sister Ginha got suck with the large bonnet and it looked like a bonnet walking up on the stage. Photos later.

Today we attended the Fonte Alexio branch and the BP was absent again!! His counselor was in a dilemma as he had no program, so we quickly put one together. Dani and Neia returned from the Recife Temple on Saturday, so we had them speak and bare their testimonies, then, I took up the rest of the meeting. It went very well. Dani and Neia were all smiles and tears as they talked about the beautiful Temple and encouraged everyone to prepare to go. Their trip went very well and they enjoyed every minute.

Well that is about it for this week. Except we got our travel plans home. Seems the travel dept. didn’t make any arrangements for us until this past week. Normally it is done 4 months in advance. Well all the good flights were booked, so now we will have a horrendous flight home. Well over 27 hrs. with 3 stops. Plus the possibility exists that we will have to take a 9-10 hr boat ride to Praia. They are closing the airport for a month and it very well could affect our trip. Since the boat only goes once every week to a week and half, we might be leaving here early, only to sit in Praia waiting for our plane.

So Tchau for this week and let’s all pray they finish the airport makeover on time, please!

Love to all,

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

Cape Verde Week 67

Boa Noite,

Happy 4th of July!!! We didn’t celebrate here in Cape Verde, but we continued to be busy with all the changes. 1st , President & Sister Tolman left very early Monday morning for home. President and Sister Neves arrived late Saturday night and had a good day on Sunday learning about the Mission. They are now shell shocked. I am sure their phone has been ring off the hook with, all of a sudden priority needs, of the missionary. None of which are real priorities.

To top it off poor Sister Neves now has the ear of the non English speaking missionaries about medical care. Most of which requires; take 2 aspirin, go to bed and call me in the morning. It is amazing that missionaries really in many ways are still little boys. They call because they have a headache and wonder what to do; take 2 aspirin and lay down for a minute then go back to work! Actually I enjoy talking with them and helping them out. I made a chart that walks them through basic treatments before they call but it is more of a refrigerator decoration. Anyway, Sister Neves will get a run down next weekend as they visit Fogo.

President and Sister Neves will be wonderful. It just takes time to get in the saddle and feel comfortable. They have 2 very capable AP’s who have the office running smoothly. Plus they have Elder Lopez who is turning out to be quite the minute man and go do this type of helper. He is greatly appreciated.

Sunday evening we were invited upstairs to our neighbor and landlord, son’s birthday party. He turned 26 and is very comfortable at home. The party was mainly an adult affair and we just dropped in for a visit. The view from the roof top garden was great. We stayed long enough to give away some chocolate cookies and eat a piece of BBQ chicken. This Anatoliya and his son Pedro. I asked him if he eats sunflower seeds and he gave me a strange look. Hmmmm maybe my Portuguese wasn't just right.

Our FHE with Lilina and children went well and a few attended church. We are hoping the trend continues and have invited them all this Sunday. I have been working on a set of Concentration cards with gospel figures for our next FHE activity. I think they will like the game. Pedro drew the tree of life story we had the previous week on a paper, wow he did a good job and they all remembered the story and what each object represented. So that is progress. We played swap after a short lesson and Sharon and I were watching Jo, the oldest, he played so as to help others win. He was so excited when Joselini won, which was really his doing. Nice Youngman!!

We have been excited all week for Dani and Neia, as they head for the Temple this week. They are nervous and excited, and we are excited for them. This will be the first time they have left the country. We look forward to their return and report. Our other students in the Temple prep class are doing well and should be ready to go in September. We are truly grateful for the patrons fund and those who help these sweet people get to the Temple.

On “P” day the Elders talked us into to going to Mosterios with them and go fishing. Actually I think they wanted us along so as to cut the cost of the van. Anyway we head out early picking up the Elders in both Cova Figueira and Mosterios and finally head to the fishing grounds with one pole, two hand lines and no bait. We drive back up the road to Cova Figueira, we start climbing and end up a couple thousand feet above sea level to a trail that leads back down to the coast. We have to hike almost straight down to the beach. By the time we get down both Sharon and I are feeling the knees quiver. We then watch the waves and after a few attempts of fishing, the elders decide to go back to town and play soccer. So up the hill we go, a long climb but we made it!! Sharon’s legs have hurt all the rest of the week!! Oh well such are activities on Fogo!

This is just about at the bottom of the trail.

Sister Waller is still smiling but starting to feel the burn!!!
Okay we are down here now what? What do you mean no fish bait?
Okay so let's sit and watch the waves. Elder Gunn tied a rock to the line to see if he could catch a bigger rock!
They made me walk all the way down to the beach to then decide to climb back up!! Elder's!!!!!
Well you are almost there Sharon. Only another 3oo ft straight up to go.

We had rain on Thursday!!!!! Tropical storm Bertha blew by and let us have a day of rain and wind. It wasn’t a fierce rain but on and off most of the day with spurts of wind, but it rained!!

Well that is about all the excitement we can handle for one week. So until next week, tchau!

Love to all

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