Hello, dear sons and families,
How are all of you?
We have been very busy this past week, even to being on national Cape Verde TV Thursday night--we were interviewed by the TV station at a formal presentation of the items which the Church humanitarian funds gave to the old folks' home here in Mindelo. Several people at Outreach said they saw us on TV. We never thought it would be on, and especially not so soon--the night of the same day as the morning presentation.
We will now be concentrating more time on visiting less-active members and encouraging them to return to church activity--since we don't know where anyone lives (there are no addresses!) we have to have a guide (the district president's mother) to show us where people live.
We also had Zone Conference today with the mission president and his wife and our friend, the mission nurse. We also had company overnight because of the conference--two sister missionaries live on the island to the west, and they have to come over the day before on the boat and then stay overnight. Now the house is quiet again with just us.
We had a good idea about Easter and General Conference--since we don't watch Conference until 3 p.m. live session, we wanted to have some type of Church meeting for Easter. The district decided not to hold regular meetings of the branches on Easter. So we came up with the idea of a Family Home Morning at our house for a few members of the branch who attend Family Home Evenings with us. The elders will give a lesson and we'll sing the Easter hymns, have a treat and a game about identifying the apostles with their pictures and something specific about them, like Elder Nelson is a heart surgeon, and Elder Packer carves wooden birds, etc.
Sure hope to hear from you all again soon; we are feeling lonely for our families.
Love, Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, Elder and Sister
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Dear family,
We've had a very busy month thus far. The prison sewing project is great; we really like teaching the ladies--some of them already know how to sew and they help the others. There are about 13 or 14. They are not hardened criminals; it is more like jail than prison. They will be making the pillowcases for the old folks' home to which we are donating bedding and games, etc. One of the prison guard acts as our taxi to and from the prison on Tuesdays when we go there--it was fun riding in the guard van through the town.
On Sunday, the 7th, we had the General Young Men's president, 2nd counselor in General Sunday School, and Area Seventy from Portugal, the district presidency, and wives of all come to lunch at our house for an hour between meetings. Photos are attached. They brought a wonderful spirit, and we could feel it all afternoon even after they left. They spoke and taught in our morning block of meetings, and then gave a fireside Sunday night also. One of the elders translates for me in Sacrament meeting each week--what a difference it makes when I can understand what is being said.
On Monday our Area Directors from Germany arrived and we began a week of taking them to see our various projects and meet the people involved. On Thursday we went to the next island to the west of us, the sea was rocky, especially on the return trip at 5 p.m., but no one got sick. The scenery was beyond description--so beautiful and magnanimous.
We visited the water treatment plant here, and learned about desalinization of the sea water, to make it pure for drinking and culinary use. When it leaves the plant, it is pure, but the old iron pipes and holding tanks used for transporting and storing the water to/at people's homes are the things that make the water not good to drink unless you use a filter system like we have. This couple, who are our age from South Jordan, Utah, left to return home Sat. afternoon.
Saturday night we welcomed another couple from Utah, the first mission president of Cape Verde Mission in 2002-2005. They are here for this week. None of the visitors are staying at our house--they all have hotels. But it is still very busy showing them around, etc.
We will be getting live sessions of General Conference from 3-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. Sat. and Sunday, April 3 and 4. The American missionaries here are also planning to get the sessions in English (thank goodness!) The members and native missionaries come to the chapel and watch it in Portuguese.
The language is difficult for me and I struggle to use it in teaching and communicating, but we do OK. Larry speaks and understands Portuguese quite well and is my biggest helper.
We love all of you very much and pray for you every day.
Love, Elder and Sister Goff (etc., etc.)
We've had a very busy month thus far. The prison sewing project is great; we really like teaching the ladies--some of them already know how to sew and they help the others. There are about 13 or 14. They are not hardened criminals; it is more like jail than prison. They will be making the pillowcases for the old folks' home to which we are donating bedding and games, etc. One of the prison guard acts as our taxi to and from the prison on Tuesdays when we go there--it was fun riding in the guard van through the town.
On Sunday, the 7th, we had the General Young Men's president, 2nd counselor in General Sunday School, and Area Seventy from Portugal, the district presidency, and wives of all come to lunch at our house for an hour between meetings. Photos are attached. They brought a wonderful spirit, and we could feel it all afternoon even after they left. They spoke and taught in our morning block of meetings, and then gave a fireside Sunday night also. One of the elders translates for me in Sacrament meeting each week--what a difference it makes when I can understand what is being said.
On Monday our Area Directors from Germany arrived and we began a week of taking them to see our various projects and meet the people involved. On Thursday we went to the next island to the west of us, the sea was rocky, especially on the return trip at 5 p.m., but no one got sick. The scenery was beyond description--so beautiful and magnanimous.
We visited the water treatment plant here, and learned about desalinization of the sea water, to make it pure for drinking and culinary use. When it leaves the plant, it is pure, but the old iron pipes and holding tanks used for transporting and storing the water to/at people's homes are the things that make the water not good to drink unless you use a filter system like we have. This couple, who are our age from South Jordan, Utah, left to return home Sat. afternoon.
Saturday night we welcomed another couple from Utah, the first mission president of Cape Verde Mission in 2002-2005. They are here for this week. None of the visitors are staying at our house--they all have hotels. But it is still very busy showing them around, etc.
We will be getting live sessions of General Conference from 3-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. Sat. and Sunday, April 3 and 4. The American missionaries here are also planning to get the sessions in English (thank goodness!) The members and native missionaries come to the chapel and watch it in Portuguese.
The language is difficult for me and I struggle to use it in teaching and communicating, but we do OK. Larry speaks and understands Portuguese quite well and is my biggest helper.
We love all of you very much and pray for you every day.
Love, Elder and Sister Goff (etc., etc.)
Elder and Sister Rocha (Area 70) and our district pres.
Elder Matthew Richardson (SS 2nd couns.), his wife, James
district president, Elder David Beck (YM pres.) and James Tavares (district counselor, our best friend here)
Elder and Sister Colton in front of our chapel (from Germany)
The Glue That Holds Us Together
Shared by an anonymous doctor- read to the end
A couple of days ago I was running (I use that term very loosely) on my treadmill, watching a DVD sermon by Louie Giglio... And I was BLOWN AWAY! I want to share what I learned... But I fear not being able to convey it as well as I want. I will share anyway.
He (Louie) was talking about how inconceivably BIG our God is... How He spoke the universe into being.... Then He went on to speak of how this universe creating God ALSO knitted our human bodies together with amazing detail and wonder. At this point I am LOVING it (fascinating from a medical standpoint, you know.)... And I was remembering how I was constantly amazed during medical school as I learned more and more about God's handiwork. I remember so many times thinking.. 'How can ANYONE deny that a Creator did all of this???'
Louie went on to talk about how we can trust that the God who created all this, also has the power to hold it all together when things seem to be falling apart..how our loving Creator is also our sustainer.
And then I lost my breath. And it wasn't because I was running my treadmill, either!!! It was because he started talking about laminin. I knew about laminin. Here is how Wikipedia describes them: 'LAMININS are a family of proteins that are an integral part of the structural scaffolding of basement membranes in almost every animal tissue.' You see.... Laminins are what hold ustogether.. LITERALLY. They are cell adhesion molecules. They are what holds one cell of our bodies to the next cell. Without them, we would literally fall apart. And I knew all this already. But what I didn't know is what they LOOKED LIKE.
But now I do. And I have thought about it a thousand times since (already).. Here is what the structure of laminin looks like...AND THIS IS NOT a ' Chris tian portrayal' of it!! If you look up laminin in any scientific/medical piece of literature, this is what you will see...
A couple of days ago I was running (I use that term very loosely) on my treadmill, watching a DVD sermon by Louie Giglio... And I was BLOWN AWAY! I want to share what I learned... But I fear not being able to convey it as well as I want. I will share anyway.
He (Louie) was talking about how inconceivably BIG our God is... How He spoke the universe into being.... Then He went on to speak of how this universe creating God ALSO knitted our human bodies together with amazing detail and wonder. At this point I am LOVING it (fascinating from a medical standpoint, you know.)... And I was remembering how I was constantly amazed during medical school as I learned more and more about God's handiwork. I remember so many times thinking.. 'How can ANYONE deny that a Creator did all of this???'
Louie went on to talk about how we can trust that the God who created all this, also has the power to hold it all together when things seem to be falling apart..how our loving Creator is also our sustainer.
And then I lost my breath. And it wasn't because I was running my treadmill, either!!! It was because he started talking about laminin. I knew about laminin. Here is how Wikipedia describes them: 'LAMININS are a family of proteins that are an integral part of the structural scaffolding of basement membranes in almost every animal tissue.' You see.... Laminins are what hold ustogether.. LITERALLY. They are cell adhesion molecules. They are what holds one cell of our bodies to the next cell. Without them, we would literally fall apart. And I knew all this already. But what I didn't know is what they LOOKED LIKE.
But now I do. And I have thought about it a thousand times since (already).. Here is what the structure of laminin looks like...AND THIS IS NOT a ' Chris tian portrayal' of it!! If you look up laminin in any scientific/medical piece of literature, this is what you will see...
Now tell me that our God is not the coolest!!! Amazing. The glue that holds us together..... ALL of us.... Is in the shape of the cross. Immediately Colossians 1:15-17 comes to mind.
'He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in Him all things HOLD TOGETHER.' (Colossians 1:15-17)
Call me crazy. I just think that is very, very, very cool. Thousands of years before the world knew anything about laminin, Paul penned those words. And now we see that from a very LITERALstandpoint, we are held together... One cell to another... By the cross. You would never in a quadrillion years convince me that is anything other than the mark of a Creator who knew EXACTLY what laminin 'glue' would look from the very beginning!
What an amazing God...what an awesome God...and we are made in his image...now I understand.
--------------------------------------
This is what they look like under a microscope.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Sewing in Prison
Dear family,
I'm writing earlier this weekend, because the weekend and all next week will be tied up with guests--our Area Directors from Frankfurt, Germany are coming for a week. We are excited to meet them and show them Cape Verde. Since their hotel here does not have Internet access, they will be using ours to do their computer work, so we won't have much computer time.
Another exciting happening is the visit of the General Young Men president and the General Sunday School president this Sunday. They, along with all the other leaders of this district and the mission presidency, will have dinner at our home after Church. We'll take some photos and send them next letter. The menu is simple, prescribed by the district president: sandwiches of our choice made ahead, desserts, and drinks. No veggies or fruits, because they do not want ANY CHANCE of anyone getting sick on the food! And they will all be here for only one hour before they head back to the church for an afternoon of training meetings. There will be about 20 people.
Last Tuesday we began our sewing project at the prison with the ladies. It was a very good experience. They were polite, kind, helpful to one another, and there did not seem to be any animosity among them. They looked just like anyone else. We taught them how to use the sewing machines that we bought through the Church, and how to sew pillowcases. The finished cases will then be donated to the old folks' home that we are helping through the Red Cross. We like the idea of combining projects to get the people to help each other. The prison director sent his van to pick us up at our house so we did not have to take a taxi. For this we are grateful, but it was a little humbling to be riding through the city in a prison guard van. I wonder if any of our friends saw us! Makes a good and funny memory, anyway!
The second-hand clothing store that we are helping furnished the fitted sheets and afghans, lap robes and blankets for us to give to the old folks' home. In this hot country, no one but the elderly is cold enough for such items. The Church Welfare sends whatever items are donated to them, and so we get all kinds of winter clothing and stuff that the people here cannot use, so the clothing store was more than glad to get the afghans, etc. out of their inventory.
When our guests are here from Germany, we will be going to the next island to the west, Santo Antao, for a day--ride on the ferry, hire a taxi van to drive us around the mountains and beaches, much like we have done previously when visiting there with the missionaries on activities.
We are having lots of fun with the Young Adults in Outreach--tonight is an activity of karioke which they all love! Baptisms are frequent among this age group. There are also 3 prospective missionaries in the group--3 of the finest young men you could ever meet. They are our Outreach planning committee, so we'll miss them when they go.
Our garden is growing well, the summer squash has blossomed and hopefully will produce fruit. Wouldn't that be nice for all year round?
This month is one year from the time we will return home, so tell the grandkids that we will see them in a year!
We love you all, and hope that your lives are going well and that you are all well and happy. We pray for you all every day.
Love, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma, Elder and Sister
I'm writing earlier this weekend, because the weekend and all next week will be tied up with guests--our Area Directors from Frankfurt, Germany are coming for a week. We are excited to meet them and show them Cape Verde. Since their hotel here does not have Internet access, they will be using ours to do their computer work, so we won't have much computer time.
Another exciting happening is the visit of the General Young Men president and the General Sunday School president this Sunday. They, along with all the other leaders of this district and the mission presidency, will have dinner at our home after Church. We'll take some photos and send them next letter. The menu is simple, prescribed by the district president: sandwiches of our choice made ahead, desserts, and drinks. No veggies or fruits, because they do not want ANY CHANCE of anyone getting sick on the food! And they will all be here for only one hour before they head back to the church for an afternoon of training meetings. There will be about 20 people.
Last Tuesday we began our sewing project at the prison with the ladies. It was a very good experience. They were polite, kind, helpful to one another, and there did not seem to be any animosity among them. They looked just like anyone else. We taught them how to use the sewing machines that we bought through the Church, and how to sew pillowcases. The finished cases will then be donated to the old folks' home that we are helping through the Red Cross. We like the idea of combining projects to get the people to help each other. The prison director sent his van to pick us up at our house so we did not have to take a taxi. For this we are grateful, but it was a little humbling to be riding through the city in a prison guard van. I wonder if any of our friends saw us! Makes a good and funny memory, anyway!
The second-hand clothing store that we are helping furnished the fitted sheets and afghans, lap robes and blankets for us to give to the old folks' home. In this hot country, no one but the elderly is cold enough for such items. The Church Welfare sends whatever items are donated to them, and so we get all kinds of winter clothing and stuff that the people here cannot use, so the clothing store was more than glad to get the afghans, etc. out of their inventory.
When our guests are here from Germany, we will be going to the next island to the west, Santo Antao, for a day--ride on the ferry, hire a taxi van to drive us around the mountains and beaches, much like we have done previously when visiting there with the missionaries on activities.
We are having lots of fun with the Young Adults in Outreach--tonight is an activity of karioke which they all love! Baptisms are frequent among this age group. There are also 3 prospective missionaries in the group--3 of the finest young men you could ever meet. They are our Outreach planning committee, so we'll miss them when they go.
Our garden is growing well, the summer squash has blossomed and hopefully will produce fruit. Wouldn't that be nice for all year round?
This month is one year from the time we will return home, so tell the grandkids that we will see them in a year!
We love you all, and hope that your lives are going well and that you are all well and happy. We pray for you all every day.
Love, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma, Elder and Sister
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