Christmas in Cape Verde

Christmas in Cape Verde

The missionaries are very creative in their celebration of the Christmas season.  Since we did apartment inspections on Friday, we were able to photograph a few of their decorations.

The zone leaders apartment.

The missionaries are especially excited this week since on Christmas Day they can call home and talk with their family.  The only other time of the year that they can call home is on Mother's Day.

Sister Pereira and Sister Rowen have their own Christmas tree.

This year the institute formed a choir and sang at the city cultural center.

Most of these young adults are returned missionaries.

Sunday Dinner

Elder Boehme from Utah and Elder Gale from Colorado

A New Couple Arrives

This week we traveled to the city of Praia on the Island of Santiago to meet and briefly assist a new couple that had just arrived.

Elder and Sister Neff from Utah.  Elder Neff speaks Spanish which is very similar to Portuguese.  They can already communicate surprisingly well with many of the people here in Cape Verde.  They are serving as humanitarian missionaries and will be here for one year.

We took them around to several organizations to introduce them and give them a feel for the humanitarian work.  In addition we helped them settle in and get used to life in Cape Verde.

This is a pre-school in one of the Praia neighborhoods.

A Stroll on the Beach

For us one of the highlights of visiting Praia is the association with other missionary couples.  

Sister Erickson and Sister Moraes at San Francisco Beach.

Since we are the only couple working in Mindelo, there is a certain sense of isolation that creeps into our life.  The association with other couples becomes not only a treat but almost a necessity.  Our friendship with other missionary couples is practically instantaneous.  After just three days we feel like lifelong friends.

It was especially heart warming to see Sister Moraes, Sister Erickson and Sister Neff walk and talk and look for shells on the beach together and just enjoy each other's company for a couple of hours.  We do not know when we will be together again.

Breakfast on the Beach

The couple in the center are Elder and Sister Moraes from Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil.  They are serving a 23 month mission and work in the mission office.  They do a fantastic job of assisting the mission president and keeping the mission running smoothly.  There are days (or nights) when they pick up incoming missionaries at 1 am at the airport and then turn around and drive departing missionaries to the airport at 5 am just four hours later. 

Our Family

We are so grateful for our family and we miss them so much, especially at this time of the year.  Last week we highlighted Jared.  This week our second daughter, Sarah.

Our daughter, Sarah, her husband, Roman, and their four children; Roman, Victoria, Luka, and Odin. We don't get to be there when they start kindergarten, or do gymnastics, or start talking or start crawling.  But we know that we are doing what the Lord wants us to do.  Our sacrifice is but a moment when compared to the eternal blessings of being sealed together for all time and eternity.

At this time of year, as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, may we remember him in all that we do.

From our home to yours we wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.