More Fun With Missionaries

Our Missionaries, who are completing their missions, taking the de-worming pill before the farewell dinner and testimony meeting at out house. Elders Nunes, Rowland De Sousa, Sister Longo, Elders Margenta, and Cézar .

A final visit to the Porto Alegre Temple.

Another group of missionaries, on their last day.

Some of our beautiful Sister Missionaries.

Farewell to Elders Bradley and Yancey.

Missionaries, missionaries, missionaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

We were traveling the whole mission one week, giving trainings in every Zone. On the last day Curt got up to begin the training and I realized how tired he was. He had worn the suit coat from a black pinstripe suit with the pants from a gray plaid suit. When he sat down I whispered to him about it and we laughed and pointed it out the the missionaries. At the break we went out to the car to get the right suit coat.

Our Missionaries in the Bagé Zone

The Pelotas and Pelotas North Zones

The Rio Grande Zone. Sister Modesto on the right is popular wherever she goes because she brings brownies to the meetings.

I liked this photo showing Elder Hardy with a suspicious look, getting money out of the safe.

Our Missionaries

Our Missionaries who are serving in Cachoeira

Some of the Elders who are serving right now in the office.

Brownie Sundaes with hot fundge Sauce.

Elder Suzarte decorated the chalkboard for one of their baptism services.

Lunch at McDonalds in Pelotas with a few of our Elders.

Some of Our Friends Here

We started the week with some news that we were hoping we wouldn’t get. Our Temple Presidency was missing a counselor because Presidente Arius was called to be the Temple President in Curitiba. So the Temple has been running without a 2nd Counselor for about 2 months. They called our Elder and Sister Pereira (who were helping us in the mission office) as counselor in the Temple Presidency. Those of you who have really good memories might be thinking - didn’t Elder Pereira already serve in the Temple Presidency? The answer is, yes. When they were released last November we invited them to come serve with us in the mission.

The Perreira’s have been just wonderful, Elder Pereira helped us with renting our apartments, and fixing them up, and Sister Pereira helped me with doctor and dentist appointments. Sister Pereira is an amazing seamstress, and She helped me mend/wash all of the donated missionary clothes that we received. She also loves to fold things and have all of the cupboards really organized and beautiful. I also kept Sister Pereira busy with making Dentist appointments. We have lots of missionaries who have fillings fall out, and root canals, and even one whose crown fell out. I'm glad that our boys didn't have those problems on their missions.

In the photo below we were celebration Elder Pereira's birthday. This is a view of our living room. I wanted you to see it so that you can compare our Armoire on the right side of the photo, with the furniture in the Knightons home in the next photo.

These are the other American couples who are serving here in Porto Alegre. Brother and Sister Schade, President and Sister Knighton (Porto Alegre Temple President) and Brother and Sister Blackham.

We were invited to FHE with President and Sister Knighton, (Temple President.) The Blackhams are from Saint George, the Knighton's are from American Fork, and the Schades from Naperville Illinois. While we were talking to the Schades, we realized that we lived in the same ward in Chicago, but I honestly don't remember them. We know a lot of the same people though. I feel silly that I don't remember them. It was fun to speak English all night. I made an apple crisp, and we took our chicken-foot dominoes to play with them.

The Knightons also invited us over to watch General Conference together (the Sunday Session.) We are also planning to get together to have a Thanksgiving dinner in two weeks.

A funny part about visiting the Temple President's home, is that we have the same furniture in our home. We both have the same dinning room furniture, and living room couches. The upholstery is different, but the style is the same. We have an armoire for our TV and even an umbrella stand/entryway piece that is the same. We are lucky though because we have a beautiful baby grand piano in our home. Bayard, the man that takes care of our home says that he thinks the piano was here when Curt served his first mission.

This is the Luis Eugenio and Cátia Asconavieta family. He is one of our Stake Presidents in Pelotas. The Asconavieta family is a very strong force here in the church. There are three brothers right now in Pelotas, Luis Eugenio, Victor who is an Area Seventy, and Francisco who is Curt's first counselor in the Mission Presidency. Cátia and Luis Eugenio always invited us over for lunch after Stake Conference, and give us some of the famous candies from Pelotas to take home with us.

Some Funny Things That I Want to Remember

The one good thing about traveling, is that Curt and I are on a quest to see a capybara. There are signs on the highway that say they are around, but we have never seen one. So the more Stake Conferences we go to, the better our chances of seeing a capybara in the wild. We had a fun 5 hour drive to Bagé for their Stake Conference. As we got farther out into the far reaches of the countryside we started to see a lot of Wild Turkeys. We counted around 8 which we saw on Saturday, and on Sunday during our return trip home. It is getting close to Thanksgiving, hummmm . . . I wonder if we will have time for another trip to Bagé towards the end of November? When we were returning from Pelotas one night we saw two Foxes, kind of silvery gray colored with their eyes gleaming in the headlights. Curt also thinks by the laws of deduction, that we saw 3 capybaras near Bagé. But as a former high school science student I feel that just because they were too small to be a calf, colt, or sheep and they were standing in water (which capybaras LOVE) we can't actually count this as a capybara sighting. I feel that the distance was just to great and we need stronger evidence. I feel inclined to call it a hypothetical capybara sighting.


With that aside I would like to confirm a true capybara sighting. When we were in Pelotas I talked Curt into driving to the bus station to check out the capybara that the missionaries say lives there. HE WAS THERE! The only problem is that it was very hot that day so he was napping inside a concrete culvert, keeping cool. We'll have to do another drive-by on a cooler day to see if he is hanging out in the open. There were also two Emu there (the large bird that looks almost like an ostrich.) It was fun to see them. Our Elders told us that here they are called Ema.


A week ago, Curt and I were touring the mission with his two assistants, and by Thursday we were all getting a little sleepy. We were on the beautiful highway between Bage and Cachoeira - there are lots of hills, and forests of eucalyptus trees (which they use here in construction.) Curt rounded a corner and there in the middle of the road was the funniest looking bird you have ever seen. It was about 3 feet tall - a seriema. He/she was so startled and we were so startled. Curt slammed on the brakes and he/she ran away. We got a good laugh about it all because he/she reminded us of the big bird, Kevin, in the movie "UP," with the colorful tufts on top of it's head.


I had to share this photo of the amazing maid who works across the street from our building. All of the maids here in Brazil wash the windows weekly. Usually they invent ways to clean the outside with a long squeegee or a broom or mop. But this courageous maid across the street from us just climbs right out onto the window ledge (3 stories up) and cleans the outside of windows. Since I am afraid of heights, I have great admiration for her skills and courage.

And lastly, for all of you who think that Coca Cola will rot your guts out, you might enjoy this sight that we saw at a gas station one day. I thought it would give you a laugh.

During the Months of October and November we have been enjoying the "Parada de Vacas" the "Cow Parade" here in Porto Alegre. There are over 100 cows at different locations in the city, decorated in different ways. This one named Vaxi is located in the Rodaviaria (Bus Station) It is painted exactly the same way the taxis are painted here. You can see a map on the base that shows where all of the other cows can be found throughout the city. Some people have been driving around the city, and taking photos by each of the cows.

This next cow is at our Moinhos de Vento Park. It is decorated with all of the different Bairros (Neighborhoods) in the city. Curt is pointing to Moinhos de Vento.

Here we have the Leão-de-Vaca

This is Mumu, the name of one of the big milk producing companies here in Rio Grande do Sul.

This one is probably our favorite cows. ZERO HORA is the name of one of the two local newspapers. At every main intersection in the city you can buy a newspaper from young people who walk up and down between the stopped cars. We have a favorite sales girl that we pass every morning on the way to the mission office. She walks past our car with a huge smile and always says "Bom Dia."

It is Springtime here in Porto Alegre. Curt and I just love all of the beautiful trees. We have a park near our home in Moinhos de Vento (Wind Mills) that is almost like an arboretum, it has so many different kinds of trees. Check out this Jacaranda tree that Curt is standing by. I especially love the carpet of lavendar petals on the ground. They call these trees Ype here in Rio Grand do Sul.

I just loved this flower, it really looks tropical doesn't it?

You don't find bouganvillea like this in Utah.

I love the flowers on this Callistemon. It is nicknamed Bottle brush tree, and you can see why. If you want to take a trip to southern Brazil, you should come in October. Everything is so green and blooming and beautiful. The temperatures are just perfect too.

Elder Gramosa, Sandra, Odair,Elder Nascimento, Presidente & Sister

We had the opportunity to go to a wedding and baptism of a couple here in Porto Alegre, Odair and Sandra. Odair told us that he had been praying about a church to go to and one day he found our Temple here in Porto Alegre. it was a Saturday, and there were lots of people around. He wanted to go inside the Temple but found out that only church members could go in. He said that the people all seemed very happy, and it made him want to find out more about the church. He went home and told his "wife" about his experience, and that he knew what church they should join. She said, "Is it the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday saits?" (She had never even hear that name befor, the Holy Ghost just put the name into here mind. They just showed up at church the next Sunday. WOW!!! After their baptism, they thanked the Bishop and the R.S. president for everything, and told them that they were ready to do their part. . . . . how often do you hear that?


We drove down to São Lorenço to attend Church. We stopped on the way in Camaquã to pick up an extra tanquinho that the Elders there didn't need, (A type of washing machine the some of the apartments have. It is basically a big bucket the swishes the clothes around. Some of the missionaries have real live washing machines which they love, because the actually wring the clothes out and they dry faster.) so we could take it to the São Lorenzo Elders whose tanquinho was broken. I get a kick out of seeing 29-25 year old young men getting excited about washing machines. We arrived a little early, and were sitting out in the car reading our scriptures. Along came some of the members driving to church in their horse cart. It was so fun to see.

We love seeing the men wearing their dressy Gaucho (cowboy) clothes!

Last week-end we met with the wonderful people of Bagé and Dom Pedrito. They are in a struggling Stake about 6 hours away from Porto Alegre. We enjoyed a terrific Ward Conference in Dom Pedrito They had 80-100 members there. It was Father's Day in the USA, and their theme was "Strengthening Families." It brought back a lot of memories to me from my childhood, driving out there through the farmlands, it looked a lot like Pullman where I grew up. I was thinking about how most of my memories of growing up center around Family Prayer every day, Family Scripture reading, and FHE. When you think about it, all of these day by day things seem very small and insignificant, but over time they build the traditions, bonds, the strength of the family and the atmosphere of the home. Alma 37:6 By small and simple things are great things brought to pass.

We were invited to lunch by President Zombrano, the Stake President. The people there live very humbly, they had two sofas that were covered with sheets, and some patio chairs, also a kitchen table with 4 chairs. Their home was very clean, and the food was delicious. They had pictures on the wall of the Temple and other church related themes.

President Zombrano shared their conversion story with us: Their 14 year old son made some friends at church and was the first to be baptized. Sister Zombrano said that she went to her son's baptism to support him. She said she sat on the hard bench for an hour, and that she would never do that again. Then the missionaries came to their home to give their son the new member lessons. President Zombrano said that at that time he was so shy, that he would not sit in the room with the Sister missionaries. His wife was there with their son, and he was in the kitchen sitting at the table listening. They both gained their testimonies from having the Sisters in their home teaching their son.

When I first came on the mission, I had the opinion that it was not a good thing to baptize these 12-16 year old youth that come and play soccer at the church with their friends, but more and more I am realizing that many of our strong Elders and Leaders here were baptized as youth, and the only member of their family at that time.

WORLD CUP 2010

On your mark get set, GO! We are getting geared up for the Brazil games in the World Cup. As you can see the stores are selling all sorts of yellow/green items so that you can be patriotic when Brazil is playing. We even bought a package of Peanut M&Ms that had only yellow and green M&Ms.

Where do your loyalties lie? I'd say Italia is a little out-numbered here.

We have asked our Missionaries to decline any invitations to go watch the games at the homes of members, and use the time instead for studying or for District Meetings. This is causing some discomfort for a few of them. They are trying to decide if they will be obedient, and experiment on the promise that Sacrifice brings blessings.

ARRIO DOS RATTOS

We have a fun city here named Arrio dos Rattos, which literally translated means: River of the Rats. It was settled many years ago by a German family, (Ratte.) There is also a beautiful River running by it. It seems that the city is trying to change it's image. They have a watermelon festival every year, and the last few times that we have visited we noticed these new decorations that the city has purchased. Above you can see one of their new Bus Stops.

-Garbage Recepticle-

-Fancy New Sreet Signs-

I love the new look, but I really think they need to change the name.

BRAZIL the Land of Beautful Produce

When we have interviews in Pelotas sometimes they fall on Wednesday which is the day for Feira (market.) This is the street market that fills the street in front of the Princesa Isabel Chapel in Pelotas. Feira is also the word they use for days of the week. Monday/(2nd)Segunda-feira, Tuesday/(3rd)Terça-feira, Wednesday/(4th)Quarta-feira, Thursday/(5th)Quinta-feira, Friday/(6th)Sexta-feira, Saturday/Sabado, Sunday/Domingo. I always get mixed up and call Sunday Sabado (because it reminds me of the word Sabbath.)

I love to see all of the beautiful produce.

We have a Sister, Anna in Pelotas who cooks amazing lunches for us every Zone Conference, which is every 6 weeks. She always has very colorful foods. One thing she enjoys in particular is dying eggs (you can see the green ones here.) She dyes the egg itself, not the shell.

Bom Apetite!

We LOVE baptisms!!!

We love to attend baptisms anytime we can.

This is the baptism of Eloe. Her husband Alfonso was re-activated

their son Leonardo was baptized, and then Eloe was baptized.

Two of our wonderful Sisters taught them, Sister Badger, and Sister Ruzzene.

Alfonso, Eloe, and Leonardo are members of our home ward. Curt challenged

them to set a date to go to the Temple next year to be sealed.

Celso, Eloe, Leonardo, and Alfonso.

We are often invited to baptisms at the Chapel near our office.
Here we are at the baptism of Maria. She was taught by our Assistants:
Elders Valeriano an Pourre on the left, and Elder Xavier on the right.



Bispo Isaias Santos likes to play his saxophone at the baptism services.
We've heard him play "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus," and
"How Great Thou Art." It is very sweet for the new
members to receive this gift from him.

A day at the ocean:

In May we drove out to Torres (towers) to spend some time at the beach.

Here is a one of the towers we saw. There is some great wind for para sailing.

Curt getting some R & R

We looked and looked for creatures in the tide pools.

There were some good waves for surfing, and surfers in the water,

but we didn't see anyone catch a wave.

Back home again - here is one of the many beautiful sunsets
we see from our Dining room window.