An Evening at Pont d'Agua

A strange occurrence this past Monday was that I sprained my ankle by sliding off a curb.  The strange part is that this same thing happened to two elders, one here and one on the southern island of Fogo, on the same morning!  I had not heard of this happening since we arrived.  I was fortunate that mine was not very swollen or painful; I received a blessing from Elder Goff, and the next day I was walking around on it.  We got an Air Cast from the zone leaders and it worked great--no pain. The two elders had it much worse, but are also walking around doing their work anyway.

Last Saturday we had been invited to a special dinner and program for the International Day of Red Cross.  Since we work some projects with them, like the old folks' home, we got to attend the dinner at the finest restaurant on the northern islands, called Pont d'Agua, since it is right over the harbor--it would have fit right in with New York City, it was so beautiful and fancy in its decor, and entirely outdoors--nice cool sea breezes.  Palm trees grew on the patios between tables, there was beautiful native music in the background (live performers), and we were right on the edge of the sea, on a platform raised above the beach.  We liked meeting the National President of Red Cross who wanted to talk with us specifically, and meeting the other people who also do projects with them.  The lighting was also lovely, shining on the water, as we listened to the roar of the surf.

There are some very wealthy places here, but there are much more that are very poor.  However, even if the people's homes are not fancy, the people are clean, friendly and wear nice-looking clothing.  As welfare-humanitarian missionaries, we are supposed to help the people through various organizations, not as individuals.  Elder Goff is sometimes approached by persons who ask for help for themselves, but we are not allowed to do that because it would be unfair to single out certain persons. He explains nicely about our purpose in the country and why we cannot do as they request.  It is hard to see poverty and not relieve it, but we work through places like Red Cross to reach to the individuals.

We have been teaching a Gospel Principles class on Saturday morning at the prison.  Today was Lesson #2 about our heavenly family.  Right at first I could tell that the people felt touched by the doctrine of living with Heavenly Father before this earth life, and that we are all brothers and sisters.  We sang "I Am A Child of God"--there are a couple of church members in the group.  The Spirit was really strong today; I kept praying that each one would feel it and be moved to improve their lives. They shed some tears and so did we. They are not hardened criminals, but persons who have made mistakes, but are still teachable and do kind things for each other.  It warmed our hearts to see the lady prisoners showing compassion to the people at the old folks' home last week when they went with us to present the pillowcases they had sewn for them. 
Yesterday we even went to the old folks' home and played Dominoes with them for an hour, and had a great time!

On Monday we will be going with the missionaries from our district on the ferry boat to the island of Santo Antao, where we have gone before for activity day--hiking, beautiful scenery, etc.  I especially love the boat ride, about 45 minutes across the channel, and sometimes we see flying fish and dolphins.  One elder even saw a hammer-head shark last month that came swimming from under the boat.

Then next weekend we will be returning to that island on Saturday afternoon, and will stay overnight in a hotel there and attend a program at the church just for us, so we can see what their group of young single adults is like, how many there are, etc.,  The Area Seventy has plans for setting up an Outreach Center there (like what we have here in Mindelo).  So we are his "scouts".  Then on Sunday we will each speak in Sacrament meeting.  The chapel is really nice because it has padded pews. We are taking items for Sunday dinner in the afternoon which I will cook for us and the two elders that serve there; then our return boat at 5 p.m.

We especially liked the General Conference Priesthood session talk by Elder Rasband--"The Divine Call of a Missionary"--which we printed for each of the young men in our districts.  3 of them will soon be on missions.

We hope you are all well and happy in your circumstances.  We miss you and love you very much., and pray for you all every day.

Love, Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, Elder and Sister

This is a picture of one of the sister missionaries that is a granddaughter of one of Larry's Barbershop friends, Ron Norviel.

Mother, A Slideshow Presentation -- Happy Mother's Day!

For those lucky to still be blessed with your mom, this is beautiful.

For those of us who aren't, this is even more beautiful.

For those who are moms, you will love this too!

Mother

The 3 Nephites

These young men are our Young Adult Council, and the one in the middle is the one who got his mission call at the fireside we wrote about.  The other two have calls in the mail, just waiting to receive.  They are excellent young men, and make me think of the 3 Nephites.

The tomato is our only one, it is shown next to a dime, and the seed package showed a picture of a huge one.  "They grow stuff BIG here"

A Wonderful Evening

Dear family and special friends,

Tonight we had a very special occurrence--as we were preparing at the church for a missionary fireside, the electricity went out (not an uncommon thing, but always annoying).  We were an hour away from starting the fireside, and so we prayed really hard because it was so important to have it. 

Within a few minutes, the electricity was restored!  The meeting was to encourage prospective missionaries to serve, and we had a missionary choir who sang several hymns, two of which were in English.  Returned missionaries and the three who have submitted mission papers and the district president were the speakers. 

When the district president got up to speak, he reached in his briefcase and pulled out a mission call envelope for one of the prospectives, a wonderful young man named Pedro Oliveira.  We know him well, as he serves diligently in the Young Adult presidency.  He opened the letter right in front of the whole congregation--the chapel was filled--,you could "hear" the excitement and  anticipation as he read it aloud.  He is going to Mozambique, and enters the MTC in Brazil on May 27 (Dann's awesome birthday!!). 

His call was mailed from SLC on April 1, and was delayed in the mail, so he will have to hurry!  During the closing hymn the lights went out again, but the missionaries used their cell phone lights and kept on singing ("Army of Helaman").  After the closing prayer, the lights came back on. 

We had a wonderful time and wanted to share it with each of you. 

Much love, Elder and Sister Goff