Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Dedicated to Elder Duarte & Elder Barbosa

I had a scare last week.  My computer shut down and would not let me log back in to Windows.  I thought for sure I'd lost everything - all of my pictures.  I wanted to cry, but held out with a little hope.  Rick did some searching on the hp website (from his computer) and followed some "procedures" and miraculously got my computer up and running again.  And I didn't lose a thing.  Woo hoo!!  Glad I didn't waste any tears.  Computers are amazing creatures, but can also cause a lot of stress.  I will be trying hard to get "caught up" on a few of our past events.  Rick's mom and dad arrived today and will be here the following 2 weeks.  We will spend the time enjoying the sites and just being together again.  So, not much time will be spent on the computer, more than likely.

Last week was a good one.  After the Easter Sunday experience at church, I was feeling very spiritually exhausted/depleted.  But, this past weekend has bouyed us all up.  Let me start at the beginning with last Monday.  Our missionaries, Elder Duarte & Elder Barbosa, both got transferred to other areas – which is called “white washing” (both missionaries leaving the area).  They actually found out a little earlier than usual because of Elder Duarte being our branch president.  We have 2 new Elders.  I have not met them yet.  Elder Duarte, being the nice guy that he is, wanted to make us a "traditional" Cabo Verdean meal before he left.  His mother had picked a huge amount of corn and sent it to him.  Cabo Verde corn is not the same kind of corn that we have in America.  It is a different texture and color, more like a bean of some sort.  They came over with our branch mission leader, Antonio, and cooked us a great meal, called Cachupa.  I was impressed.  I’ll attach a video clip. 

After our “last meal” with the Elders, we took them home so they could pack up their things.  Tuesday we spent the morning picking up and dropping off missionaries to various places.  Elder Duarte went to the Tomar train station, Elder Barbosa went to Abrantes, Elder Christiansen (from Abrantes) went to the Abrantes train station (he was being transferred to Lisbon).  It was a full morning spent with the missionaries.  I love missionaries.  I hope someday, if any of my children decide to serve missions, they carry around the same attitude and spirit that these missionaries do.  I guess I’ll dedicate the rest of this post to our great missionaries who got transferred.  I hope that one day we will see Elder Duarte again.  We have known him the longest and have learned of his sincere heart and love for others.  He has been an extremely patient Branch President who has shown love for the people he has served.  Good job, Elder Duarte, you are my hero!!





Elder Duarte with Ceasar & Elder Walter at Ceasar's baptism.












Havin' a little fun at the Maingot home.  What boy doesn't like a good game of Foosball?!











We finally got across to see the Castle of Amoural (the one I told you about - in the middle of the river).  The river was low enough to cross without a boat.  On shore:  Elder Barbosa - In the water:  Elder Duarte (and Tanner)









Group pict at the top of the castle.
Tanner, Kaylie, Rick, Elder Agee, Elder Barbosa, Elder Christiansen, Devan, Elder Duarte.  And, of course, I'm the designated photographer!!
What a fun day!!!!!







Funny story - when we were crossing over to the island, a fisherman said that the river was rising and that crossing without a boat wasn't a good idea.  Well, we ignored him - not smart!!  When we tried to cross back over it was quite a bit deeper.  Elder Barbosa crossed, but ended having wet shorts and then he slipped at the end and cut his toe open.  Rick & Devan both crossed, and ended up soaked.  Rick and Devan went over to get the boat guy to go pick the rest of us up, while Elder Barbosa used a pocket knife to cut part of his toe nail off that had bent back.  Gross.
















PicNic after the castle trip - notice Elder Duarte is on the phone - poor guy, he is ALWAYS on the phone trying to solve one problem or another.










At the dam (near our home).  Elder Duarte almost gave me a heart attack - pretending he dropped his camera over the dam.  Hmm - if he was my son, I would've spanked him.











Elder Barbosa serenaded us for the evening.  So cool.  He and Elder Duarte sang traditional Cabo Verde music and original works by Elder Barbosa and his brother. 
"Daya, Say you love me"....
Fun evening!!










Elder Duarte, Antonio, and Elder Barbosa












So funny, Elder Barbosa!!!  Best picture yet.












Some of the people in our branch - Elder Duarte & Elder Barbosa last Sunday (Easter)  - we will miss you!!













I think they are happy to be getting transferred - what do you think?















Men - cookin' in the kitchen - gotta love it!!













Yummy Cabo Verde food.











Beans, corn, cabbage, ham, sausage, spices - true island food














The 4 amigos (literally)- Devan truly wants to be black - I know he thinks he was born into the wrong family.
















Our good-byes at the house.














Dropping off Elder Duarte at the train station.

















Saying good-bye outside of the train station.














Buying his train ticket - with not much time to spare.



















Rushing to the train - Good-bye Elder Duarte!!













Elder Duarte's final good-bye to the branch.  Funny guy - he posted this flyer in the church building on the cork board for everyone to read the following Sunday, after his departure.  In the picture, he's wearing a fake mustache (hilarious - missionaries are not allowed to have mustaches on their mission).  But, he wrote this really nice letter to the members of the branch.  The following video clip is Elder Duarte reading/translating his letter for us.

Good-bye Elder Duarte!!!



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