A Week of Conferences

Mindelo Stake Conference

We attended our first stake conference in Mindelo this weekend.

Sister Dias, a recently returned missionary who served in Brazil, shared her testimony in the Saturday night session.

Isamira is ready to be called on a mission and is awaiting her call.

On Sunday morning we started walking to the Stake Center which is about two miles away.  To our surprise we met a group of members waiting at a bus stop.

Unbeknownst to us, the stake had hired about 8 buses to bring members to the stake center from all over the city.  So we jumped on the bus and stood shoulder to shoulder with everyone else.

The stake center is out on the edge of town.  Since only two families in the stake own cars, the buses came in quite handy.

This chapel has two buildings; the chapel and cultural hall on the left and the classrooms and offices on the right.

Ten minutes before the Sunday morning session began.

The stake choir is on the stand.

We continue to be impressed with the growth of the Church in Cape Verde.  28 years ago the first baptism occurred.  Now there are three stakes, two districts and one mission.

A conference attendee.

The program was just like any stake conference in Utah.  The choir sang the prelude music, five young men were approved to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood and two women were sustained as leaders in the Stake Young Women presidency.  The speakers were selected from the leaders of the stake including the Stake patriarch.  Two returned missionaries also shared their testimonies.

A grandmother and granddaughter in pretty dresses.

Called to Serve.

Nataniel leaves on Tuesday to serve a full time mission in Porto Alegre, Brazil.  That is part of the same mission in which Elder Erickson served 45 years ago.

In addition to stake conference, zone conferences were also held this week in Mindelo.

The Mindelo West Zone.  Sorry, but the picture of the East Zone did not turn out.

A few amazing couples

As a part of our weekly blog, we would like to share with you some pictures of the fantastic couples that we have met on our mission.

Elder and Sister Schultz have been serving as humanitarian missionaries in Slovakia, part of the Europe Area.  They are returning to their home in Las Vegas this week.  Elder Schultz also served as branch president.  We met with them at the humanitarian aid conference and were touched by the experiences they shared with us. 

Sunday dinner with a special couple.

Our mission president, Presidente Julio de Amo, and his lovely wife had dinner with us today.  They are from Brazil.  Presidente Amo joined the Church at the age of 15 and Sister Amo joined when she was 14.  We love to hear the special conversion stories of the missionaries with whom we serve.  Sister Amo, whose maiden name was Maria Cristina Cavalin, was baptized in Meier, a suburb of Rio de Janeiro, when Sister Erickson (the former Sister Potter) was serving in Rio with President and Sister Oakes. The word 'amo' means love in Portuguese.  They truly exemplify their name.