What a week! We are
currently sitting in the airport in Praia, Cape Verde, waiting for our flight
that leaves at 12:55 a.m. for Lisbon, Portugal.
We have completed our trip to Cape Verde and we are overwhelmed with the
blessings of the Lord that we have seen and experienced in this past week.
Our week in Mindelo was full of many activities. Primary activities were the Jobs Initiative
visits with employers to build preferred partnerships with Church members
looking for work. This was the primary
purpose of Brother and Sister Adams involvement. Brother Adams and James Tavares, our manager,
had 13 successful meeting with different employers where preferred
relationships were created. With other
commitments we were able to only participate in one of these in MIndelo.
At the same time we had a film crew from Frankfurt in
Mindelo filming some success stories of Self-Reliance participants. In the end, we ended up spending most of two
days assisting the film crew. This
included the wonderful stories of Jessyka and Fredson. The filming involved their lives, recreating
past experiences and involving their families.
One of the highlights was recreating Jessyka’s baptism with a reenacted
baptism in the ocean. We also played a major
role in helping take care of Fredson’s two year old, Lehi, while he wasn’t involved in
some of the filming scenes.. Overall, we
had a wonderful experience with each of these members and a different set of
experiences than normal for senior missionary couples.
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| Elder and Sister Rueckert at the beach where we were filming the baptism |
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| Filming of the Baptism - getting started |
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| Filming Jessica with her sick father |
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| Fredson with wife and son, Lehi |
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| Sister Rueckert with Lehi, two year old son of Fredson |
Add to that multiple videoconferences with our Area
managers, full-time missionaries and finance and legal people in the Area
office. We also met individually with
one of the bishops and a few visits with the director of the Ashby Foundation,
who has been doing wonderful humanitarian work in Cape Verde.
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| Hotel with over 1,000 rooms in Sal |
By Thursday morning we were ready to go the island of Sal to
begin working with companies and the leadership of the district there. We had an amazing visit with one of the
largest hotels on the island, visiting with their six-person HR team and
receiving a tour of their facilities. They
employ 900 employees and will need an additional 500 as they open a new hotel
later in the year. Unlike the other
islands, there are more jobs available than there are employees available. However, this visit will help us to
strategize on how to balance the opportunities with the needs.
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| Meeting with HR group of hotel |
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| Another photo from the tour of the hotel facilities |
We also were able to meet with some of the leadership of the
district, and although the numbers were not as large, the discussions were
still meaningful.
All of this was the way for me to celebrate my
birthday. Since our internet access has
been very limited, I have not been able to respond to the many birthday wishes
that I received on Facebook, messenger, voice male and email. It is an amazing world that we live in where
well wishes can be shared in so many ways.
To all, I thank you for your love and wishes.
We did stay at a resort hotel on the beach, as that is what
the majority of Sal is made of. Hence
the following two paragraphs.
To begin Friday morning, I went running on the beach for
about a mile one way and then back. The
beaches are beautiful and clean, It was soothing to run on the beach and as I
saw footprints of others in the sand, my thoughts went to the poem Footprints
in the Sand. I was so thankful that my
Savior walks beside me and carries me in times of need. I came back to our room rejuvenated.
We didn’t get as much scheduled for Friday, so after a
meeting with our team, Sister Rueckert and I took a two hour P-Day break on the
beach in the morning. It was beautiful
and we had a very relaxing and enjoyable time.
We both went into the water up to our waists and then Sister Rueckert
watched as I spent an hour jumping into the waves. We took some pictures, a few that I am
sharing below.
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| Together on this beautiful beach |
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| Sister Rueckert relaxing on the beach in Sal |
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| Elder Rueckert as he is hit by a wave |
On Saturday we returned to the island of Santiago, city of
Praia. After other preparatory meetings
we held a leadership training meeting on Saturday evening. Over 40 leaders were in attendance from the
stake and district that are on this island.
One of the highlights was the announcement that a young man names
Gerson, who we had met a week earlier, had been called as the stake
self-reliance specialist. Gerson has
returned from his mission just 4 months ago and was looking for work. He will be going back to school in the
fall. As he accepted the call from the
stake president on Wednesday of this week, he was promised that he would find
work. The next morning he received a
phone call that he had been selected for an IT position, which is consistent
with his studies. He was overjoyed and
couldn’t wait to tell us. We believe
that he will serve a wonderful role in helping this stake progress even more
with self-reliance and this jobs initiative.
We had wonderful meetings once again in the Praia 5th
ward. In Sunday School, we had a wonderful lesson on the teachings of
Isaiah. When they were talking about the
mountain of the Lord and the temples, we were humbled as he asked by the raise
of hands all who had been to the temple once and a few that had been to the
temple twice. He asked those who had
been to the temple twice to share what they had learned from hearing the words
in the temple a second time. Both Sister
Rueckert and I were overcome with gratitude for the privilege we have had to go
to the temple on a regular basis and amazement on the challenges of temple
worship for a people who are many hours on an airplane from any other
temple. Later I shared my thoughts with
the high priest group, how I prayed that the day would come when they could
have a temple in their country, on their islands. One of the brothers told us that when they
live worthy to hold a temple recommend, they feel like the Lord gives them the
same blessings that others get from being able to go to the temple. Once again I was overcome by their simple
faith and strength in following our Savior, even with their limited means.
We finished our visit to Cape Verde with a devotional held
today. Overall, there was close to 200
members in attendance at the devotional.
This included talks by our manager, our Area SR manager, the stake
president and myself and included a graduation for about 30 individuals who had
completed the Self-Reliance courses, including several non-members. After the devotional, many lingered, took
pictures, etc. What a wonderful
overwhelming spirit that we felt and joy in seeing the work of the Lord
progressing so well in this stake.
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| Scene on the road on our way to the devotional |
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| Stake president addressing devotional with nearly 200 participants |
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| Graduated members of one of the Small Business groups. Half of these are non members. |
We leave Cape Verde with great hope for great people that
are building up the Lord’s Kingdom in this very remote land. Missionaries baptize each week in most of the
wards, retention is strong and they are all working towards self-reliance in
spite of insurmountable challenges.
However, they have been promised that the Lord will provide for his Saints
and they believe it, and so do we!
Memorable experiences from this week as noted by Sister Rueckert
1.
On Tuesday we were helping the film crew capture
Jessyka’s story for a video. We were
trying to figure out how we could reenact her baptism in the ocean. We had planned on doing it in the Church
baptismal font. Brian really wanted an
ocean baptism. They were trying to
figure out how to maybe do it on Wednesday.
I had the impression that I should suggest that we do it right after
filming at the cemetery. I made that
suggestion and Brian got his baptism in the ocean.
2.
We were in a taxi on our way to the leadership
meeting in Praia which began at 5:30 pm.
The main roads were closed because the cell phone company was
celebrating their first year in business.
We had to take a different route to the chapel. The traffic was horrible. At one point we were stopped for several
minutes. We were all getting anxious. I
had the feeling that I should say a prayer for Heavenly Father’s help. I closed my eyes and offered a silent
prayer. I told Heavenly Father that I
had the faith and knew that he could solve the traffic jam. I explained how important it was that we get
to the church in time to set up. I
explained the importance of this meeting and what we were trying to accomplish. Again I declared my faith without doubt that
Heavenly Father could solve the problem.
As soon as I opened my eyes cars in front of us started moving. We were soon out of the traffic jam and
arrived with 10 minutes to set up for the meeting. I silently thanked the Lord for his tender
mercies on our behalf. Later I gave
thanks and credit to my Heavenly Father
in my personal prayers before going to bed.
3.
During the Sunday evening devotional I was able
to understand much of what Mendonça was saying in Portuguese.
4.
I was overcome with emotion when I realized the
people in Cape Verde may only have one opportunity to go to the temple. In the Sunday School lesson we were talking
about the “mountain of the Lord” being the temple. Some of the members mentioned their one time
to the temple. I never realized before
then how many good members of the Church may have only one opportunity to go to
the temple. Tom and I have been able to
go to the temple weekly for several years.
How very blessed we are!
5.
It was amazing to witness the strength of the
Praia stake in Praia. The saints are
strong and dedicated to being disciples of Jesus Christ. I was privileged to be able to play the piano
for the hymns that were sung on Saturday evening and Sunday evening. The saints sang with such volume that I could
barely hear the piano playing.
6.
I had been pretty negative about this trip to
Cape Verde for a number of reasons. I
decided a week before our trip to begin praying that I could have a positive
attitude and try to be nice and pleasant to be around I prayed that I could be calm and have peace
in my heart. Every time I said my
prayers this is what I would pray for.
The trip is not yet over but the Cape Verde part is. I can honestly say that my prayers have been answered. It has been a wonderful trip. My anxiety and fears ceased and I was filled
with peace, calm and a sense of well being.
