Featured in the Brazilista Publication

Dear Family,

 

The is part of the Brazilista publication that we receive regularly.  In it Alf Gunn talked about the cruise they took from Italy to Brazil.  This is what he wrote about their stop in Cape Verde.  This goes out to several thousand returned missionaries from Brazil in my general period of time, the 60's and 70'.

 

If you want the whole story, I can send it to you.  Have a Merry Christmas.  We love all of you dearly.

 

Love, Dad

 

We had a warm day in Mindelo, Republic of Cape Verde, about 400 miles off the coast of Africa. Mindelo has a deep water port that is an old volcano crater. A senior missionary couple, Elder Larry and Sister Pat Goff, had arranged with a member, Mauro Reis, to provide two busses and four members who speak English as well as Portuguese to give us a tour of Mindelo and the mountainous island of São Vicente. The day’s highlight for those of us who did it was to attend a baptism service in one of the two chapels we visited. A fine young man was baptized. We met Sister Jamilee Lords from Washington and Sister Peralta from Portugal who had found and taught him, and four Elders too, two from the USA one from Brazil and the other from Portugal but raised in Australia. The Sisters are confident that the young man who was baptized, Saturnino Rodrigues, age 20, will serve a mission.   

  Elder Goff had served in Brazil during my mission in the mid-‘60’s. He and his wife Pat are serving a welfare mission in Cabo Verde.

  Others of our group who attended the baptism included Elder Kent Jolley, former member of the Second Quorum of Seventy, and his wife Jill, and Lynn and Kay Wallace, who presided over the Florianopolis Mission and the Maputo Mozambique Mission when it was organized.

  Cape Verdeans are mostly of African descent and were left impoverished in 1975 when they gained independence from Portugal and the Portuguese took or destroyed the wealth of the area, so it is pretty bleak now, but improving. My guide, João “James” Tavares (who was born in Santos, Brazil), and the other principle guide, Mauro Reis, a Cape Verdean, were very impressive returned missionaries and spoke excellent English. Brother Tavares is in the district presidency at Midelo and is strong in the faith and excited to see the Church growth. One of Brother Tavares’ former mission companions, Manoel Coelho, was another guide.

  The gospel of Jesus Christ is beautifully simple and simply beautiful and changes lives when lived, in any part of this world. I am thankful for what the Lord has provided at great cost for me and for all who will accept and live it. The gospel is true. The Church is true. That is our faith and there is nothing like it in this old world. What a blessing and privilege to be a member of this Church and have that testimony and the association of men like João “James” Tavares.

 

This part was also included.

 

Item:  Here is more information from the Goffs concerning their mission in Cabo Verde, from a note sent last June: “My wife Pat and I are currently serving in Cape Verde as the welfare couple there in the country. There are about 10 islands in Cape Verde. We are on the island of São Vicente, in the city of Mindelo.  All this is located about 400 miles off the west coast of West Africa in the Atlantic Ocean.  Naturally the language is Portuguese, and I had to get my rusty Portuguese out and brush up on it. Pat learned a little at the MTC before we left, last September, and is still trying to understand what is going on here. We are involved with the Outreach program for young single adults, age 18 to 30. We meet two nights a week at the chapel with them. Wednesday evening is Family Home Evening night where we try to have a religious message delivered to the youth. On Fridays we meet and have an activity night. Last Friday we celebrated birthdays for all who had them during the past quarter of the year. We played games and then had cake and waffles. Other weeks we have movies, debates, talk about Pioneers, service projects etc. We are also involved with the Perpetual Education Fund helping the local institute leader. This also includes the employment specialist calling which we will over-see. Then there are the humanitarian projects we are working on such as supplying school kits to needy children in the town, helping at the local prison by teaching sewing to the women prisoners, helping paint a local school, helping the Neo-Natal doctor who came over to teach the local doctors, set-up a clean water project and then supervise it etc. Needless to say, we are keeping busy and loving it.”

--Elder and Sister Larry Goff (BSM 64-66)

 

The Goff’s are hoping for a couple to replace them early in 2011 when they complete their mission.

It's a Wonderful Life

Dear families and friends,

 

The past two days have been full of surprises from and for our friends here.

 

Last summer I ordered 5 small practice keyboards (about one foot by four feet, 4 octaves), and we heard nothing more from the Salt Lake Music Committee until early November.  The keyboards had arrived on the boat in Praia, on the main island.  It took another month for them to get here to Mindelo, but they were stuck in Customs.  The only way out was to pay big fees, because the name on the package was "LDS Church", instead of "A Igreja de Jesus Cristo SUD" (which is the recognized customs-free name).  Our friend here went to the airport two days ago and paid the fees and brought the keyboards to the Church and surprised us! When I saw those keyboards, I asked his wife who was sitting nearby, to give him a kiss from us, and she did.  We will also do another good deed for him this week. Now my students can have a keyboard to take home and practice on!  Today after church we invited the three students who are most dedicated to music, and brought them to our house, without telling them why.  They were intensely joyful to receive the keyboard and the simplified hymnbook!  We felt so much happiness for them also.

 

Also, today after church the other chapel in the city brought to us in a truck their electric piano for us to use at our Christmas choir concert tonight.  (The pianos in our chapel are not good--one is completely useless, and the other is very old and does not play well enough for a good concert.) So now we are all set for tonight's concert.

 

Christmas is happening here, believe it or not.

 

Yesterday at the Gospel Principles class at the prison for the men, we had a Christmas lesson, sang carols, told Christmas stories, and read the scriptures in the Book of Mormon and the Bible.  Then we had lots of brownies.  It was a big class--22 men.  We usually have between 10 and 15.  We felt the Holy Spirit very strongly as we testified of Jesus Christ, and also of Joseph Smith and the Restoration.  Every week, someone asks to learn more about "this wonderful church we are teaching about".

 

As far as an update goes, we visited for 5 days the first week of December to Fogo Island, west of Praia.  The hotel was magnificent, a beautiful pool, and view of the ocean from our window.  We needed some relaxation, and got it.  We also trained two missionary couples about working with young single adults.  That was the purpose of the trip, so the mission paid for our transportation and hotel.  Since we have been back home here, we have run and run every day, all day, trying to get everything done.  I am glad it is Sunday so I can have a Sabbath for my mind, and not think of all the stuff yet to do.

 

A young adult sister just received her mission call this morning--the mission president brought it to her in Sunday School, since he is visiting here today.  She is going to Lisbon, Portugal, starting in February.  She has served here as a counselor in the Relief Society for the past 6 months.

 

Time for me to stop writing, and take a rest before a big meeting this afternoon with the mission president and leaders here, and then directly to the choir concert.

 

We would love to hear from each of you.

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

CHRISTMAS IN CAPE VERDE, 2010

Dear  families  and  friends,

                Merry Christmas!  Feliz Natal!  Larry and I are living in Mindelo, Sao Vicente island, country of Cape Verde, serving as humanitarian/welfare missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We have been here for fifteen months and have only three months left:  yes, we will be home in Utah by the middle of March 2011.

                Since we are very close to the equator, west of Africa in the Atlantic Ocean, our weather is consistently  HOT and often humid.  The rainy season is only two months long, and the rest of the year it is dry.  We like living on our “desert island” which is very beautiful with palm trees and beaches and sunshine most of the days.  The mountains are rugged and the sea is beautiful; there are many tropical flowers to enjoy. 

                This past year we have been leaders in many projects to help the people of these islands:  distributing school kits to students on this island and others; providing wheelchairs for those who need them; organizing a Neonatal Resuscitation program at the hospital here, to which doctors and nurses from all the islands of Cape Verde group (there are 9) were invited to attend.  The training was given by doctors from the USA. 

We have taught women prisoners at the local prison how to sew and have provided sewing machines and materials for them:  they have donated their finished  products to homes for the elderly, hospitals, and schools.  We have also worked closely with the Red Cross.  Members of our church worldwide voluntarily contribute offerings to fund the various projects around the world.

Christmastime here is much less commercial and less stressful and hectic than in our home country.  It is a very religious observance, and centers around family gatherings.  Last year on the Sunday night after Christmas, we went to the park where the town band plays a concert every week and watched the children ride around the park on their new tricycles or skate on their new roller blades, and the parents sat and watched them happily.  Music is a big part of life here, especially during Christmastime.  Our church choir will have a program before Christmas, and the other churches do likewise.

Trips to other islands in Cape Verde have claimed some of our time—during the first week of December we went to the island of Fogo to train some youth leaders and enjoy a lovely vacation by the sea.  In November we traveled to Frankfurt, Germany for a conference with other humanitarian/welfare couple missionaries serving in Europe—it was wonderful, and it was cool, so we had to wear coats for the first time on our mission.

Christmas Day will be spent hosting 20 other young men and women missionaries here at our home.  Dinner, skits, gifts, games, lots of conversation:  we help them be less lonely for their families, and they do the same for us.  They help us prepare the meal, and they write their own skits and perform them.  When we are finished, they all will go to their apartments here and call their families at home for a long chat.  We plan to do the same, hopefully using Skype so we can see each family member and see how the grandchildren have grown!

Although there is no snow here, we do have Christmas trees and every young person likes to sing “Jingle Bells” in English.  (The language here is Portuguese.)  We have a little artificial tree and lights around the windows and several Nativities.  I enjoy baking a few Christmas treats and sharing them with friends (that way, we don’t eat them all ourselves!)

We love being here and living among these wonderful, kind, friendly people.  We love them and they love us.  It will be difficult to say Goodbye when our time ends, but for now, we keep busy with our work and do all the good we can in the time we have left.

We are trying to serve as the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ  would do, and we reverently celebrate his birth at this time of year.  The slower pace of life helps us to see more clearly the real meaning of Christmas, and to feel peace and love.

We love each one of you, and wish you much happiness in the New Year!

Love,    Larry and Pat Goff  (Elder and Sister Goff), (Mom and Dad), (Grandma and Grandpa)