We just returned from the land of Cape Verde.....you might ask, where is that? Well it is a group of islands off the west coast of Africa and once belonged to Portugal, thus it is in our Europe Area jurisdiction. The church is thriving there; much like Brazil 30 years ago. The people are of African decent but speak Portuguese or Creole. We have 5 Centers there on 4 islands and were asked to go and do training with church leaders and YSAs. It takes about as long to fly there as back to the U.S. (and it is a night flight).
Our first day we were driven to the far side of the main island which is Praia. We visited a small Branch there and saw some amazing volcanic mountains and valleys.
The people in the countryside were beautiful and reminded me so much of India with their simple lifestyle.
This sweet little lady (carrying the LIVE chicken) snuggled right up for a picture and had a gigantic smile when we gave her a few cents.
Anyone interested in a fresh tuna for dinner??
Life in the big cities is quite different. We have nice meetinghouses where we conducted training meetings with local and missionary couples and YSA leaders who were fantastic. Of course every word we spoke had to be translated which made things a bit more challenging but when the spirit speaks heart to heart, all who are present (particularly us) are inspired.
We flew to Mindelo, which is another island with a large church population to do training and visits. There again we found beautiful YSAs who are faithful in missionary work and activation.
A cute local girl who shared our taxi.
We held a training conference one day with the Mission President and our 3 Advisor couples for Centers for Young Adults in the Cape Verde islands. Here again we encountered mostly Portuguese speakers but were blessed with divine translation.
The local food was lovely.
What a grand experience we had with these simple, faithful and beautiful saints. They are embracing the gospel in large numbers and moving forward with happier and more focused lives. What lessons we learned by being in their homes, meetings and country.
Our first day we were driven to the far side of the main island which is Praia. We visited a small Branch there and saw some amazing volcanic mountains and valleys.
This sweet little lady (carrying the LIVE chicken) snuggled right up for a picture and had a gigantic smile when we gave her a few cents.
Anyone interested in a fresh tuna for dinner??
We held a training conference one day with the Mission President and our 3 Advisor couples for Centers for Young Adults in the Cape Verde islands. Here again we encountered mostly Portuguese speakers but were blessed with divine translation.
What a grand experience we had with these simple, faithful and beautiful saints. They are embracing the gospel in large numbers and moving forward with happier and more focused lives. What lessons we learned by being in their homes, meetings and country.
1 comment:
what a humbling experience and I could see how that would remind you of India. Such a great testimony builder to see soo many faithful saints, living in such humble circumstances!
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