Dear families,
We just got home from Conference at 9:30 p.m. It was so wonderful! Yesterday when it began and the prophet spoke, we and all the other missionaries in the English session cried, because we love him and miss being close to the headquarters. Each day we had planned an easy setup for the Internet live sessions, but something happened each time to try to waylay us-- yesterday there was no computer, and today the projector did not work. We did finally find a computer. We in the English session yielded to the needs of the Portuguese session and gave them the projector we had that worked. As in all other times of using the projector and computer, we found we needed to pray it into working and getting set up right. So we did, and very shortly someone was available to hook it all up correctly so everyone could view the Conference. We had the live sessions. No Priesthood session though (it would have been at 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. if available).
Just wanted you all to know that we did see it all and enjoyed it immensely.
50 young adults came to our home this morning at 11 to have an Easter morningside service. All 8 missionaries gave a part of the lesson on the document "The Living Christ", which we gave to each attender. We sang Easter hymns and ate trail mix (homemade). Photos later.
Love, Mom and Dad, Grandpa and Grandma, Elder and Sister
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
We Finally Got A Car!!
Dear family,
We hope you enjoy our emails, and especially this one. See attached photo.
The mission finally succumbed to our pleas to have a car. We just received it this morning,
and you can see the joy on our faces! No more buses or walking everywhere!
We also received a Notice of Transfer from our mission president today, and we died inside.
Since we could not open the attachment, I had to phone him to find out about it.
It ended up being just a transfer of funds into our account from the mission account for some
emergency food supplies for the missionaries! Whew!
More later.
Boa Dia de Lies.
Love, Mom and Dad, Elder and Sister
We hope you enjoy our emails, and especially this one. See attached photo.
The mission finally succumbed to our pleas to have a car. We just received it this morning,
and you can see the joy on our faces! No more buses or walking everywhere!
We also received a Notice of Transfer from our mission president today, and we died inside.
Since we could not open the attachment, I had to phone him to find out about it.
It ended up being just a transfer of funds into our account from the mission account for some
emergency food supplies for the missionaries! Whew!
More later.
Boa Dia de Lies.
Love, Mom and Dad, Elder and Sister
Our New Car!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
We Are TV Stars
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
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
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
Friday, February 19, 2010
Baia dos Gatos and Dancing
Dear family,
We are both doing well, and hope you are also. Hope that Jen had a nice birthday!
This letter is from our journal.
On Tuesday we had an activity day with the other missionaries—we went to the beach where we had cleaned in January, and just enjoyed a couple of hours of games in the sand and walking on the beach. Some members went along also, and they went swimming.
I love the name of the beach: Baia dos Gatos -- Bay of the Cats! We didn’t see any cats, though, since they detest water! The surf was high and very beautiful, and it was so peaceful to hear the constant rushing and ebbing of the waves. The biggest reason for the trip was to get away from the city during the time of Carnaval, because the atmosphere was not pleasant to Church people’s ears. Loud “music”, drums beating frantically, people dressed in costumes with painted bodies, etc. At night all missionaries were told to stay in their homes and not have teaching appointments. The mission president is from this city and he knows what goes on during this time, so he wisely counsels us all.
Last Friday we had a dance at Outreach and 45 young people came. It was really fun to watch them—it was for the Dia dos Namorados (day for lovers=Valentines Day) and the dance committee did a fabulous job on decorating the big room, and we also had a full dinner of chicken and tuna steak at 10:30 p.m. Since we were in charge of the building, we stayed till 11:30 when everyone left, so we could lock up. We sure slept in the next morning, though!
Yesterday after a 4-month wait, we finally bought sewing machines, 5 of them, for our prison sewing project. It takes forever to get shipments of items here, and the poor man who owned the store had us asking him 2 or 3 times a week since November 1 if the machines had arrived yet., and he was powerless to do anything about getting them. Then we got a phone call from another store that day that they had machines for us, and before we decided to buy theirs, the first store owner called and said that he had machines, so we went looking. We are so glad that now we can teach the women prisoners how to sew. One of the machines was bought by me for use in this home by the mission couples—when we leave here, I am donating it to the mission to stay in this house.
We have also begun a new project, working with the Red Cross, to furnish some needed items for a home for the elderly---mattresses and bedding, a washing machine, towels, and games and books for them to have something fun to do during the day. They will need pillowcases for the pillows, and since those are easy to sew, that will be one of the first sewing projects we do with the prison ladies.
Next week is District Conference for members and missionaries from the 3 northern islands—lots of preparation is going into these meetings, and we are involved with meetings and music. Then the first week of March, our Europe Area directors will visit us here for 3 days and see what projects we have and how our life is going. A few days later, the former mission president of Cape Verde and his wife, from Salt Lake, will visit us for a week. At this same period of time, there are specialists from Salt Lake coming here in gardening and soil projects for agriculture. The first weekend of March, we will have the General Young Mens’ Presidency and the General Sunday School Presidency from Salt Lake speak at our Sunday meetings and a fireside for the youth and leaders. Having so many visitors (not staying at our house, just in our city) will be exciting and spiritually uplifting and FUN!
It never was cool here like the natives expected at this time of year; instead, it seems to be getting hotter. We have three kinds of weather: hot, hotter, and hottest. Last year they said it was really cold with lots of wind, but not this year, at least not yet.
We love each one of you and pray for you all daily.
Love, Elder and Sister, Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa
We are both doing well, and hope you are also. Hope that Jen had a nice birthday!
This letter is from our journal.
On Tuesday we had an activity day with the other missionaries—we went to the beach where we had cleaned in January, and just enjoyed a couple of hours of games in the sand and walking on the beach. Some members went along also, and they went swimming.
I love the name of the beach: Baia dos Gatos -- Bay of the Cats! We didn’t see any cats, though, since they detest water! The surf was high and very beautiful, and it was so peaceful to hear the constant rushing and ebbing of the waves. The biggest reason for the trip was to get away from the city during the time of Carnaval, because the atmosphere was not pleasant to Church people’s ears. Loud “music”, drums beating frantically, people dressed in costumes with painted bodies, etc. At night all missionaries were told to stay in their homes and not have teaching appointments. The mission president is from this city and he knows what goes on during this time, so he wisely counsels us all.
Last Friday we had a dance at Outreach and 45 young people came. It was really fun to watch them—it was for the Dia dos Namorados (day for lovers=Valentines Day) and the dance committee did a fabulous job on decorating the big room, and we also had a full dinner of chicken and tuna steak at 10:30 p.m. Since we were in charge of the building, we stayed till 11:30 when everyone left, so we could lock up. We sure slept in the next morning, though!
Yesterday after a 4-month wait, we finally bought sewing machines, 5 of them, for our prison sewing project. It takes forever to get shipments of items here, and the poor man who owned the store had us asking him 2 or 3 times a week since November 1 if the machines had arrived yet., and he was powerless to do anything about getting them. Then we got a phone call from another store that day that they had machines for us, and before we decided to buy theirs, the first store owner called and said that he had machines, so we went looking. We are so glad that now we can teach the women prisoners how to sew. One of the machines was bought by me for use in this home by the mission couples—when we leave here, I am donating it to the mission to stay in this house.
We have also begun a new project, working with the Red Cross, to furnish some needed items for a home for the elderly---mattresses and bedding, a washing machine, towels, and games and books for them to have something fun to do during the day. They will need pillowcases for the pillows, and since those are easy to sew, that will be one of the first sewing projects we do with the prison ladies.
Next week is District Conference for members and missionaries from the 3 northern islands—lots of preparation is going into these meetings, and we are involved with meetings and music. Then the first week of March, our Europe Area directors will visit us here for 3 days and see what projects we have and how our life is going. A few days later, the former mission president of Cape Verde and his wife, from Salt Lake, will visit us for a week. At this same period of time, there are specialists from Salt Lake coming here in gardening and soil projects for agriculture. The first weekend of March, we will have the General Young Mens’ Presidency and the General Sunday School Presidency from Salt Lake speak at our Sunday meetings and a fireside for the youth and leaders. Having so many visitors (not staying at our house, just in our city) will be exciting and spiritually uplifting and FUN!
It never was cool here like the natives expected at this time of year; instead, it seems to be getting hotter. We have three kinds of weather: hot, hotter, and hottest. Last year they said it was really cold with lots of wind, but not this year, at least not yet.
We love each one of you and pray for you all daily.
Love, Elder and Sister, Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa
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