Treasured Island-- What I Discovered in Cape Verde-- Price Family Update--29 August 2006

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Treasured Islands—What I Discovered in Cape Verde

An Abundance Without Boundaries
In 1656, Portuguese sailors landed on a few barren rocks jutting out of the ocean about 400 miles (640 km) west of continental Africa. They found no inhabitants except for a few birds, probably like the sailors, stopping to rest on a long journey home. In the hopeful fancy of early European travelers who tried to put the best image on their discoveries, they named this barren, uninhabited rock “Cabo Verde” or Cape Green. Today, Cape Verde is anything but barren.

This group of ten small islands comprises a modest country of 1550 square miles (4030 km2) of 450,000 citizens. Each island has its own unique culture, specialty foods, and landscape. One island is all sand and beach resorts (Sal), another is home to a volcano (Fogo), and on another is situated the hometown of my Regional Director (Brava). On maps used by ancient navigators, Cape Verde is greatly enlarged and right in the center of the world. Discovered by these ancient mariners, this country is a crossroads between four continents—Africa, Europe, South America, and North America. It is no surprise that there are more Cape Verdeans living on these other continents than on the islands. It should also be no surprise that the Church of the Nazarene in Cape Verde has planted the first churches in Senegal, France, Holland, and Portugal, as well as offered leaders to Brazil, Indonesia, New England and Kansas City in the United States.

Cape Verde has many leaders—lay and clergy—to offer the world who have excelled in ministry, government, business, finance, and education. After church service each night, I shook hands with the secretary of the leader of the National Assembly, the former minister of justice, bank leaders, business owners, Ph.Ds, embassy workers, etc., etc., etc. I spoke with many in English, since Portuguese is only one of the languages taught from early on in the government schools along with French, Spanish, and German. Just how easy is it for Cape Verdeans to move between languages? On the island of Sal, where there is an international airport and many vacation resorts, there is a church where 70% of weekly attendees do not speak Portuguese. Another example, I usually just found a random seat before each evening service. I waited, but it never took long for someone sit beside me. Every night but one the person next to me was able to give me the gist of what was said from the platform. Amazing.

Cape Verdeans are descendents of Europeans, Pan-Americans, Africans, and Asians, yet they do not belong to any of these places. Humanity has many shades and on these islands I saw them all. This once-barren island has produced an over-abundance of spiritual fruit that the sandy beaches and rocky seaside cliffs could not contain. After more than a century of its existence on Cape Verde, the Church of the Nazarene here has extended the influence of the Gospel and the optimism of the holiness message to five continents.

While I was there, church leaders received a phone call from a Cape Verdean in Norway who has planted the first Church of the Nazarene in this Scandinavian country whose boundaries extend into the Artic Circle. (I don’t think Kansas City knows about this yet, so do not say you heard it from me!) Is there any place these island people have not gone with the Gospel? I saw Lebanese and Chinese among many other nationalities that traverse these islands on their way to or from home. Did I mention that a spouse of a pastor who is also a local Sunday School leader calls Cuba her homeland? The route into many countries around the world, I believe, might just begin on these islands. Sure, we might have churches in some of these sensitive places, but where will their leaders be developed and nurtured? Maybe right there in Cape Verde.

An Old Church with Young Leaders
Early in the week, I asked the District Superintendent, David Araujo, if a Youth In Mission team had ever come to Cape Verde. Youth in Mission is a Nazarene-sponsored program founded in the late 60s that sends small teams of university students to points around the globe for five weeks every summer. He thought for a moment and said, ‘No, I don’t think so.’ I thought that was pretty incredible. I mean, how is that possible, since this part of the Church of the Nazarene is 105 years old? I started right then working on a plan to get a team there, not because Cape Verde needed them, but young leader-type, university students from North America needed to experience this place. On Thursday night, during the NYI (youth) service, I realized that Cape Verde didn’t need to host a YIM team as much as it needed to send out at least four teams. But, I can still gladly say there’s a YIM team going to Cape Verde next summer (if there’s enough student volunteers to fill up a team). By the way, the West Africa field will have three teams: one to Cape Verde, one to Senegal, and one to Benin-Togo.

This place is packed with young and talented leadership. Pastor Francisco Vaz, the NYI (youth) president, with his guitar strapped to his shoulder led a thirty-voice, swaying choir singing a song he wrote, “You’ve heard of John Lennon, You’ve heard of Bob Marley, Let me tell to you about Jesus Christ, He is greater than all of them, He is my Champion, He is your Champion, Because of Him I am a Champion.” How cool is that?!? The former NYI president, Orlando Crispim, translated this service for me in impeccable English. He is a layperson who works for an oil company there.

I think I counted six women among the 60 ordained or licensed ministers—a good start.

During reports from youth, Sunday School, and missions lay leaders, I think maybe 70-80% were 35 years old and younger. Many gave their reports without notes.

Another Orlando last-named Baptista led a worship band most nights that played incredibly cool, bluesy, jazzy versions of familiar hymns and choruses. One time I caught him playing a little classical guitar between day-time sessions. Almost every night I saw different people at different instruments, playing mostly without sheet music, but with a whole lot of natural talent.

What More I Learned
So, with all this talent and leadership there, you might be asking yourself, ‘So, why in the world was Matt there?’ I asked myself the same question several times that week. Officially, I was there to speak at the seminary graduation ceremony (I spoke from Mark 4) and conduct two days of seminars on holiness theology. Besides the official reasons, I came to the conclusion that I was there most of all to learn. I remember spending time with many people, including David and Eunice Araujo, Soccoro Fontes, Odette Pinheiro, Aderito Ferreira, Sergio Duarte, Orlando Crispim, Antonio Paulo Almeida (from Brockton, Mass.), Antonio Barbosa Andrade, Lottie Gay, Debbie Jefferson, Antero Fontes, Edelyze Ferreira, Sharnian Araujo, and mostly with Jorge and Manuella de Barros, who were presiding over the District Assembly. Jorge is from Cape Verde.

Jorge’s grandfather, General de Barros, was an island governor from Portugal who married an African woman. There’s a street in the capital Praia named after him. Jorge’s father was one of the pioneer Nazarene pastors on these islands. One day his father went to a seaside village to evangelize. The people in the village didn’t want to have anything to do with him. And, none of the hotels would offer him room. So, he went to the beach and lay down on the soft sand to sleep. Around midnight, some villagers came to bring him into their home—they couldn’t stand the thought of an old man sleeping under the stars. Did I mention I met the current pastor of the Nazarene church in that village now a small town? I also heard about the turbulent years prior to independence when Jorge was pastor in Praia and the church was persecuted by the former dictatorial government. From this week, I remember most strolling down the cobblestone streets of the Platô district surrounding Praia First Church, with Jorge holding my elbow and telling me stories of faith from his seven decades of experience. I soaked it up like a sponge, man. You can’t put a price on an education like that.

One day we were eating lunch in a restaurant. The owner-manager walked up and tapped Manuella on the shoulder. She said, ‘You probably don’t remember me, but I was one of your French students when I was in high school.’ They hugged and reminisced of that time forty years ago. This kind of thing happened several times that week to Jorge and Manuella. Jorge and Manuella left Cape Verde and moved to Kansas City in 1972 to head up Portuguese translation and literature production. I didn’t mention that I was just learning to walk about that time. During services, we’d sing hymns that either Jorge or Manuella translated from the English into Portuguese. Jorge’s travel schedule sends him all over the globe. We usually don’t recognize “apostles” as a ministry option in the Church of the Nazarene, but I think Jorge comes pretty close to a modern-day apostle, one who is sent to cross cultural and language barriers with the Gospel. Did I mention that Jorge was the Faith Promise (missions day) speaker at Sonya’s home church in Anderson, Indiana last April? That’s where I first met Jorge. Small world, huh?

What I Remember Most
I also remember the incredible tuna, fish cakes, cachupa (a traditional mixture of beans, rice,and potatoes), and the amazingly strong coffee from the island of Fogo, Also, mangling a mango at dinner almost as much as I mangled the local language Crioulo to the amusement of my table mates; and, the free finger food banquet given to the assembly by the restaurant hosting the daily meals. I remember the fact that I stayed in an amazing apartment overlooking the National Assembly building, the residence of a prominent US embassy worker, and the Atlantic Ocean. And, I remember the fact that the district paid all of my expenses except for travel to and from Praia. I left with many gifts, such as four sacks of that incredible Cape Verdean coffee and two tins of their delicious tuna, three good-looking shirts, hand-made wood work by the Cape Verdean pastor who planted the Nazarene church in France, and lots of memories.

I will wrap up this very long newsletter by quoting a novel by Orson Scott Card that I was reading during this trip. Valentine says to her younger brother Ender, “You are what you remember.” I hope that’s true for me after my short time among the amazing people of Cape Verde.