We left Lisbon on the Thursday morning, the 21st and arrived early that afternoon in Praia, Cape
Verde.
Elder and Sister North are from Ogden, Utah. They arrived in Praia the first part of November. As soon as they arrived they went with the couple they were replacing, Elder and Sister Neff and a technical specialist to visit some "water" projects.
We drove to our hotel, dropped off our luggage, and then the North's took us to their apartment. They have a lovely apartment - two bedrooms and two baths with a fantastic view of the ocean. We started our training almost immediately as they had lots of questions that they wanted answered.
Wednesday afternoon, all day Thursday and Friday morning was spent in reviewing projects and learning how to negotiate the Church Humanitarian database system. We also spent quite a bit of time helping them to develop skills so they can enter the correct information in the finance reporting system.
Elder North has a truck rather than a car. This is great since they are working with several member welfare projects which require them transporting chickens and drive on very rough roads and off-roads.
Each evening we went out to dinner - the only problem was that most places do not open for dinner until 7:30 pm. This being the case we went to the same restaurant three different nights for earlier meals. The other nights we ate at the restaurant in the hotel.
Friday afternoon we visited one of their ongoing projects with a local NGO and discussed a potential new project. The project that they are working with right now is helping people learn how to learn industrial sewing so the program participants can get a job and become more self-reliant.
On Saturday we did more training and then we all went to a stake baptism. There were 7 people who were baptised this Saturday. It was a little bit crowded at the font. There were two sister missionaries serving as witnesses at the baptism. The mission president said that 7 people at a stake baptism is not unusual. They have had as many as 12 and as few as 4. People in Cape Verde are willing to listen to the missionaries and actively looking for ways to improve their lives. The gospel is really touching people's lives.
After everyone was baptised they had all the missionaries come up and sing "Lord, Dismiss Us with Thy Blessing". Our only problem was that they sang it in Portuguese/Creole. We did the best we could in the signing, trying to blend in.
The missionaries reported that they have a baptism every weekend. We were told that it is one of the highest baptising missions in the church. Certainly it is the highest baptising mission in the Europe Area - yes it is in the Europe Area even thougth is is just off the coast of Africa.
When we walked into the baptism we ran into one of our Self-Reliance Managers (Mendonca) who was there with his daughter who had been practicing for a primary program the next day. We were very grateful to see him and renew our acquaintance from when he was in Frankfurt a few months ago.
On Sunday we went to church with Elder and Sister North. After church we drove around the island and saw some beautiful sights.
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| Gary and Elder North |
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| Susan and Sister North |
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| Sign at the site of the future Cape Verde Temple |
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Preparing the site for the future temple in Praia, Cape Verde   An active lighthouse in Praia, Cape Verde   
This was the view from our room.
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You will never be completely at home again. Because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place." Spirit Science
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