18 Days and Counting

I would like to thank Bubbles for standing in here and being our Countdown Model to welcome the Pat and Larry home.

So Much To Do, So Little Time

Dear families and friends,

 

Our time is now down to the last 2-1/2 weeks before coming home. We have much to accomplish and finish up, but things are going smoothly for the most part. We have lots of help from the Lord and His tender mercies. We are trying to finish everything by the first weekend of March, because we have visitors coming from Germany and Utah during our final week (not staying at our house, though).  Since there is still no replacement couple for us, we are having to prepare copious notes and instructions on everything, from who to see for what project, where and how to pay the monthly bills, and even how to turn on the washing machine which has a broken button.

 

Even with all the work, we are still having some fun activities:  Outreach is having a party on our last Friday, and one of the young men and I have been practicing some songs on his flute and me on piano for us to entertain the group.  He also plays the guitar and sings the beautiful traditional Cabo Verdian music called "Morna".  He is burning me a CD of some of the music--it is very soulful and relaxing to listen to (good dishwashing music at home).  One of our friends is a school principal here and we are doing a project with him to provide a cement playing field (for soccer) for his school children--they just played in the gravel and dirt before and it was hard, especially during the rainy season when everything flooded.  He wants to drive us around this island tomorrow for a couple of hours and show us some of the beautiful, but out-of-the-way sights.  Our friend who is the doctor at Red Cross has invited us to a special luncheon for his birthday.  And the district president wants to have a fireside for our farewell on our last night (Mar. 13), with the choir singing and us speaking and other speakers, and then a big cry session afterwards.  We will take our box of Kleenex!  How do you say goodbye for a lifetime?

 

I have been writing thank you notes (on the cards you sent in the box, Matt) to our special friends here (in Portuguese).  We also have made invitations to the fireside to share with non-member friends, of which we have many here.

 

A couple of weeks ago, we bought and delivered some school supplies for a very poor elementary school in this city.  When we got there, we noticed a badly broken window in the library, and the curtains on the window were in sad shape.  So we hurriedly went to town, bought glass for the window and fabric to make new curtains, which I did the next day. 

 

You know I have been teaching piano lessons during the whole mission, and now I am leaving the students in the capable hands of one of the students who now plays for sacrament meeting, and the other one is already a great pianist and he plays for the other branch in our building.  One of the plusses about them doing the teaching is that they speak Portuguese (and I don't do so well with that, although I did manage to do enough).

 

Last weekend we traveled to Santo Antao island to train a couple as the new Outreach leaders, and to speak in church.  The man in the couple was the branch president there for 17 years, and he knows and loves all of the branch.  They will be so great!  We stayed overnight in our usual hotel there and enjoyed a relaxing break from all the work here.  On Sunday we each bore our testimonies.  We then caught the 5 p.m. boat back to our island, and the ride was very windy, and other people got sick, but we don't, thank goodness.  We were actually cold, an unusual feeling here.

 

Speaking of cold, we are going to be very cold when we arrive in Boston and Salt Lake, so please, whoever comes to the airport to get us, bring us each a winter coat and hat or scarf.  Our blood has thinned in 1-1/2 years, so it will take a while to get used to the weather again.

 

We hope to get a chance to write another update before leaving.

 

We will fly to Praia on early Monday morning, the 14th, and spend the day in the mission home in a devotional meeting with other departing missionaries and the president, have a special dinner with the president and his family, then go to our hotel for the night.  On Tuesday we are free to do whatever until 2 p.m. when we go to the airport for the flight to Boston.  When we get to Boston, we have a hotel for the night, and get up super early on Wed. morning to return to the airport for our flight to SLC, arriving there at 10:15 a.m. (hopefully).  We attach most recent photo (Feb. 2011) so you will recognize us! (ha ha)

Please call the airport to see if the flight is on time--it is Delta 1224 from Boston.

 

We plan to get a phone that afternoon and visit Mother Sanchez, then have the appointment with the Stake President that night for our release.  I wonder what that will feel like....

 

Davy just called us on Skype from his school, and that was so nice to see him! 

 

Please write to us again before we return home.

 

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

We Are So Excited!!

It seems real now, we are coming home!

We will arrive in SLC on Wed. morn, March 16, at 1015 a.m. MST.  Delta flight 1224, from Boston.

We look forward to seeing you all.

Tidying Up and Getting Ready To Come Home

Dear family and friends,

 

We are experiencing a "true" Cabo Verdean winter:  lots of cool winds with haze, which comes from Sahara desert winds blowing the sand our way;  today we even had rain and so cannot hang out the already-washed laundry, and I wear a sweater whenever we go out, especially evenings.  Last year there was no winter; the "cooler" temperatures of December just kept getting hotter all through January and February.

 

Yesterday afternoon we went teaching with the Zone Leaders to the sister of our favorite elder(who is now on a mission in another part of Cape Verde), she was baptized a few months after he left.  It always feels good to be in a teaching situation with the missionaries, as the Spirit is so strong!  We also bore our testimonies about the Sabbath day, the topic of their lesson.

 

This morning we went shopping for school supplies for one of our projects to help a very poor school in the city--we went even though it was raining, but we were blessed to find all that we needed in just one store.  We had previously gone to many stores to buy supplies, but today we only had to go to one.  Every time we buy these supplies, there is so much that we have to get a taxi home.  We should now have enough to prepare them for delivery.

 

For the past two weeks, there has been a lot of election campaigning going on.  The rallies are in the afternoons and nights (sometimes till midnight)--the elections for governor were yesterday.  Therefore, last night was very quiet, and early this morning it was so quiet that we think everyone was home "sleeping it off".  Election committees construct large platform stages downtown in the streets and have programs of music, etc. to entertain the people and promote their candidates.  The stages also make havoc with bus routes, which have to change to other streets, so who knows where to catch the bus??  Anyway, it is all over now.

 

We have also been very busy cleaning the apartment, cupboards, shelves, etc., and spraying for bugs.  We are doing this now so that when our last week arrives, we will not have to do it.  We will be having guests from Germany (the head man of Europe Area) and also the earlier mission president and his wife who now live in Utah.  Hope that we can manage all of the work and guests--we know this is the Lord's work and we are on His errand, so are entitled to His help, which we ask for daily.  We are doing just fine, remembering to eat our veggies and fruits, and sleep enough!

 

For Christmas gifts to the missionaries in the northern islands, I made a simple 16-page cookbook of easy recipes with things available here.  I also gave one to the mission nurse and the president's wife.  They wrote me the other day that they liked the booklet so much that they wanted permission to copy it and place a copy in each missionary apartment (to remain there) in the entire mission.  They told me that the elders had even bragged to them about pizza they made using my recipe.  I had no idea it would go so far, but am really glad to help them out.  Most of the recipes are ones I had at home, with just a few I got from here.

 

We should be informed of our travel itinerary for home pretty soon, and will let you know.  Presumably Wednesday, March 16, in the morning, but wait for further notice.  Yes, we are getting excited, but with all the work to do, there is not much time to think about it, which is as it should be.

 

We think of each of you so often, we enjoy the family photos on our wall, and we pray for each of you every day. Can't wait to see you again and share hugs!

 

With much love always,

 

Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, Elder and Sister