Good day at the office on Monday, a little late going in the afternoon because the workers were in our house patching up the holes and painting, etc. FHE was by the McAllisters and was very good. They talked about themes in the scriptures - specifically about the theme of having faith and being delivered from evil/troubles. Afterward we went to dinner at an Italian restaurant by Itaim Bibi, it was very good.
Tuesday morning we walked over to Einstein hospital again for Mom's doctor appointment. He didn't charge us for the visit this time since it was considered a follow-up visit. He prescribed another new medication that is injected (but not insulin) to help bring down her sugar levels. We went into the office in the afternoon, where we now have two new interns - my guess is that they are being trained to help cover things when we leave. We taught our English class again after taking off the month of August. It was fun to see all the students, and some new ones. Afterward, Mom went to Shumways for "Girls Night Out", which they have once a month.
Wednesday we worked in the morning then came home and finished packing and went to the airport to fly to Vitória in the state of Espírito Santo, north of Rio de Janeiro. We arrived in Vitória with no trouble, checked into the hotel and got settled. Then we went to dinner - I had chosen a hamburger place that looked good in the internet reviews, but wasn't that appealing once we arrived (it had giant bats flying around outside!). So we picked another place and went to dinner at an Italian place called "Spaghetti and Company". The food was excellent and we had a great time.
We walked back to the hotel and the others (Sharmahds and Whitings) went up to their rooms, but Mom and I walked over to see what was happening in a big exposition tent across the street. Turns out it was a big showcase for Brazilian bands, and also had food carts all around. We really wanted to go back and try some of the interesting foods, but never got a chance and we were too full that night.
Thursday we walked over to the park, where they had a big turtle preserve. It was very cool, a lot of turtles and information. We even met a girl from Georgia who was volunteering her time there, so that was fun.
In the afternoon we had a tour set up and it was awesome. The guide spoke a lot of English and made the tour very nice. We visited areas in Vitória as well as the mainland (Vitória is on an island), which is called Vila Velha (old town). We also went to a convent up on one of the highest hills in the city.
We saw some very nice beaches, but they were very crowded because it was a holiday today (the office was also closed).
Tonight we went to dinner at a place called The Atlantic - which served very good seafood.
Friday was our train ride from Vitória to Belo Horizonte - a 13 hour ride through beautiful country to a neighboring state called Minas Gerais. Getting on the train was somewhat problematic since they didn't want to let us board - we had tickets, but we didn't have proof that we bought the tickets! They even had our names on them! In the end, we just went through another ticket line and they let us on board. It was a lot more complicated than I'm making it sound, but it all did work out in the end. The train ride was fun, it was long but it was fun.
We got to Belo Horizonte a bit late and checked into the hotel then went to a steak place for dinner - arriving just 15 minutes before they closed. The meal was excellent, all of us really enjoyed our respective dishes.
Saturday was a full-day tour of a neighboring old town called Ouro Preto (black gold), where a lot of mining was done before slavery was abolished and it stopped being economical to mine the gold. Mom and I went in two mines, the second one we were lowered down in a wooden car with a steel cable attached! The open market we went to had bunches of hand crafted items in soapstone. I wanted to buy a chess set, but they were way too heavy to bring home.
That night Steve Sharmahd and I went to rent our car and they didn't have it! I was pretty upset, but the woman taking care of us didn't think anything of it - trying to give us a nice Mercedes thinking that would suffice. The problem was that we had 6 people and we definitely wouldn't fit in a Mercedes sports car. Finally, five minutes later she got off work (no wonder she didn't want to help) and her replacement was nice enough to call some other car rental agencies and found us the car we wanted - and he got us a discount as well. So we got back late, too late to go eat, I just ordered a Cheeseburger from room service - which, unfortunately, also turned out to be somewhat of a challenge. The guy on the phone didn't understand "cheeseburger" even though it was on their menu! He said to me (in Portuguese), "I don't speak any other language!" So I replied back in Portuguese, "I'm not speaking another language, I want a Sheeseboorgehr (how they pronounce it!), and he understood and was actually quite relieved. But the nice thing was that being up that late I was able to find the US Open tennis on and watched a couple matches.
Sunday we went to church at the Santa Lucia ward, which is the ward where the office Elders attend. It is also the ward where the Perillo family attends - they are the family we met in Desert Book, Mom helped their son get his visa to England. It was nice to connect up with them again. The other couples went to a restaurant for lunch and we hung out in the hotel for a bit. Then we all went over to a park that was awesome - it had monkeys, birds, anteaters, lizards, fish, and a lot of vegetation.
Thursday, November 9, 2017
Mission 2 - Week 49 (Aug 28, 2017)
Monday was another good day at the office. Mom stayed home because the FM group was installing a new air conditioning unit in our apartment. This was a big issue with several of the senior couples - where they were putting it, etc. - but not with us, we love it! We had our staff meeting in the afternoon, then worked until FHE, which was presented by the Moores. They gave us their farewell talks, and it was nice. We had a pot luck meal afterward and the two pies were totally awesome, apple and pumpkin (with whipped cream)!
On Tuesday we stayed in a bit to watch over the workmen doing the patching up of the ceilings in the apartment. Then I went in to work and Mom and I both went it later that afternoon. We went to a Japanese restaurant with Ray and Marilyn Anderson, a new couple here. It was the "Nikata" by our apartment. We caught up on the Hurricane and the boys and families are all fine.
Wednesday we walked over to the hospital to get Mom's tests done, then worked and then went to the temple after work.
Thursday we worked all morning in the office, then went to 25 Março with the Sharmahds and Sister Whiting. It really took a lot longer than planned, so we didn't make it back into work this afternoon - which was fine because all of our work was caught up. Tonight I was asked by Kawai, a friend here, to help at the CTM. He picked me up and as we were arriving he said I would be teaching a two-hour class while he and his counselor interviewed all the new missionaries! I had no idea until that moment. But all went well and I was very blessed. It was a nice experience in several ways - especially since it was all in Portuguese as they had no Americans in this district. Kawai was very grateful because they had 22 new missionaries and didn't have any way of getting all the interviews done without my help. My lesson was on acquiring the attributes of Christ and adjusting to missionary life.
--missing pictures!
On Friday (September already!) we went over to the Thacker's apartment with the Passeys to help them plan their upcoming trip to Manaus.
Saturday we did some cleaning and preparing for the next week. At lunch time, Ric and his mom picked us up and we "took them" (they drove us) to lunch at El Mariachi, the Mexican restaurant we really like. The food and company were very good.
After dropping off his mom, Ric took us to a couple houses that had belonged to famous people here in São Paulo. The first was the house of a famous woman architect who designed the Museum of Art of São Paulo (MASP), which is quite famous and we have been there a couple times.
Sunday we made it to church on time... again. The meetings were very good, but still no sound system - it was stolen last week so we haven't had a microphone for two weeks now. We Skyped with the older kids and called Matt to wish him a Happy Birthday.
Love to all,
The Church is True
Dad and Mom
On Tuesday we stayed in a bit to watch over the workmen doing the patching up of the ceilings in the apartment. Then I went in to work and Mom and I both went it later that afternoon. We went to a Japanese restaurant with Ray and Marilyn Anderson, a new couple here. It was the "Nikata" by our apartment. We caught up on the Hurricane and the boys and families are all fine.
Wednesday we walked over to the hospital to get Mom's tests done, then worked and then went to the temple after work.
Thursday we worked all morning in the office, then went to 25 Março with the Sharmahds and Sister Whiting. It really took a lot longer than planned, so we didn't make it back into work this afternoon - which was fine because all of our work was caught up. Tonight I was asked by Kawai, a friend here, to help at the CTM. He picked me up and as we were arriving he said I would be teaching a two-hour class while he and his counselor interviewed all the new missionaries! I had no idea until that moment. But all went well and I was very blessed. It was a nice experience in several ways - especially since it was all in Portuguese as they had no Americans in this district. Kawai was very grateful because they had 22 new missionaries and didn't have any way of getting all the interviews done without my help. My lesson was on acquiring the attributes of Christ and adjusting to missionary life.
--missing pictures!
On Friday (September already!) we went over to the Thacker's apartment with the Passeys to help them plan their upcoming trip to Manaus.
Saturday we did some cleaning and preparing for the next week. At lunch time, Ric and his mom picked us up and we "took them" (they drove us) to lunch at El Mariachi, the Mexican restaurant we really like. The food and company were very good.
After dropping off his mom, Ric took us to a couple houses that had belonged to famous people here in São Paulo. The first was the house of a famous woman architect who designed the Museum of Art of São Paulo (MASP), which is quite famous and we have been there a couple times.
The second house was of Oscar Americano, a famous industrialist from the mid to late 1900s.
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| Oscar Americano's House (rear) - next one is a front view |
Sunday we made it to church on time... again. The meetings were very good, but still no sound system - it was stolen last week so we haven't had a microphone for two weeks now. We Skyped with the older kids and called Matt to wish him a Happy Birthday.
Love to all,
The Church is True
Dad and Mom
Monday, October 23, 2017
Mission 2 - Week 48 (Aug 21, 2017)
Monday morning we took a half-day boat tour, saw the two rivers meet and fished for 200 lb fish at one stop. We saw some monkeys where we stopped for lunch, then came back to the hotel and met up with Shirley Cox and her daughter, Cathryn, and two friends, Dean and Tyler. We went and ate at the same fish restaurant and it didn't disappoint the second time around, it was excellent.
Tuesday we took a full-day boat tour arranged by our cab driver since the tours we had signed up for never materialized - the new tours were cheaper anyway. We saw where the rivers combined again, and when we stopped for lunch we took some fruit over to find the monkeys - but they found us! They came running down the wooden ramp to get the fruit we brought. I only had my telephoto lens on the camera (thinking I would change it if we saw them close up, but didn't have time!), so I didn't get a shot of all of them - there must have been a dozen or more.
We stopped at an Indian village where the indians live on an island as they have for hundreds of years. They did some native dances for us and we got to try fried ants, which they said tasted kind of like popcorn... not! We bought some trinkets and a small doll, mostly to help them out.
Our last stop was at a spot where they have pink dolphins and Mom got into her suit to "swim" with them. Since it was later in the day, there were only a couple dolphins still interested in eating the fish they used to lure them to the spot.
Tonight we walked over to the outdoor market, but most of the booths take Tuesdays off and work the other six days. Who knew?
Wednesday Mom and I had arranged for a cab driver to take us on a personal tour of downtown Manaus. It was great. He showed us things like the first house in Manaus, and told us stories of neighborhoods and how things got their names, etc.
Then he dropped us at the Manaus theater and opera house, and we took a tour of the building. It was very cool, built in 1896, with much of the original structure in tact.
When we got back, we headed to the airport and met up with Shirley and her group and saw her off - heading home from her two-year mission. She did a wonderful job helping the young missionaries throughout Brazil. When we got on our plane, we thought we must be in the wrong place because our seats were like first-class, tons of room and fully reclining! But, apparently the $10 I paid the upgrade each seat was well worth it. We really enjoyed the comfortable 4+ hour flight home.
Thursday we got back to the office and got caught up on almost everything that needed to be done. The staff loved the candy and gifts that we brought back for them. We went to dinner with the new couple, the Andersons, who arrived while we were gone. They are very nice. They will be taking the place of the Sondereggers.
Friday we finished catching up at the office and went to the Area Presidency fireside - introducing the new member of the presidency, Elder Costa from Argentina. We then went over to the Moores to play games - the new Andersons were also there, so it was a lot of fun.
Saturday we went to a town called Holambra (like Holland), where they grow a majority of the flowers sold throughout Brazil. But instead of seeing fields and fields of flowers, it was mostly like an amusement park with attractions, booths, and a lot of food - which we ate as much of as we could 😊. We got to see a high-school marching band that was very good, and they all marched with typical Dutch shoes! We got home about 7:00pm and did some grocery shopping.
Sunday we went to the Perdizes ward, arriving early. The meetings were good, and they were happy to have us back from our trip. We came home and Skyped with the younger kids - but talked to David and James because Houston was being hit by a big Hurricane.
Love to all,
Dad and Mom
Tuesday we took a full-day boat tour arranged by our cab driver since the tours we had signed up for never materialized - the new tours were cheaper anyway. We saw where the rivers combined again, and when we stopped for lunch we took some fruit over to find the monkeys - but they found us! They came running down the wooden ramp to get the fruit we brought. I only had my telephoto lens on the camera (thinking I would change it if we saw them close up, but didn't have time!), so I didn't get a shot of all of them - there must have been a dozen or more.
We stopped at an Indian village where the indians live on an island as they have for hundreds of years. They did some native dances for us and we got to try fried ants, which they said tasted kind of like popcorn... not! We bought some trinkets and a small doll, mostly to help them out.
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| These were the fried ants! |
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| Mom got to hold their pet sloth. |
Tonight we walked over to the outdoor market, but most of the booths take Tuesdays off and work the other six days. Who knew?
Wednesday Mom and I had arranged for a cab driver to take us on a personal tour of downtown Manaus. It was great. He showed us things like the first house in Manaus, and told us stories of neighborhoods and how things got their names, etc.
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| First House build in Manaus. |
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| Interesting city park - no buildings were allowed to be built here because it was an Indian burial ground. So, they built a park on it instead. The cement mound you see in the fore- ground marks one of the old graves. |
When we got back, we headed to the airport and met up with Shirley and her group and saw her off - heading home from her two-year mission. She did a wonderful job helping the young missionaries throughout Brazil. When we got on our plane, we thought we must be in the wrong place because our seats were like first-class, tons of room and fully reclining! But, apparently the $10 I paid the upgrade each seat was well worth it. We really enjoyed the comfortable 4+ hour flight home.
Thursday we got back to the office and got caught up on almost everything that needed to be done. The staff loved the candy and gifts that we brought back for them. We went to dinner with the new couple, the Andersons, who arrived while we were gone. They are very nice. They will be taking the place of the Sondereggers.
Friday we finished catching up at the office and went to the Area Presidency fireside - introducing the new member of the presidency, Elder Costa from Argentina. We then went over to the Moores to play games - the new Andersons were also there, so it was a lot of fun.
Saturday we went to a town called Holambra (like Holland), where they grow a majority of the flowers sold throughout Brazil. But instead of seeing fields and fields of flowers, it was mostly like an amusement park with attractions, booths, and a lot of food - which we ate as much of as we could 😊. We got to see a high-school marching band that was very good, and they all marched with typical Dutch shoes! We got home about 7:00pm and did some grocery shopping.
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| Mom and I with an old friend :) |
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| Check their shoes - they all wear wooden Dutch shoes! |
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| At the end of the day, they shoot flower petals out of a big blower-thing to the waiting crowd below. |
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| It's pretty cool... |
Love to all,
Dad and Mom
Saturday, October 7, 2017
Mission 2 - Week 47 (Aug 14, 2017)
Trying to get caught up... again!
Monday we went with Sharmahd's to the transit office to apply for their bus/subway passes. All the couples that have gone with us have now received their passes - the passes actually got sent to them (we had to go to the main office to get ours!). I spent a lot of the day doing Sister Cox's travel arrangements for her trip home with family and friends (I'm pretty good at it already!). FHE was the Shoiser's, the Brazilian couple that works in church publicity. There are a lot of things being done with "Helping Hands" - which started here in Brazil!
Tuesday we took the travel folks to lunch over at the food court at the mall. After work we went over to a new hamburger joint across the street from our apartments, called Charlie Burger, with a bunch of the couples. It was good, but overpriced.
Wednesday was another productive day in the office. Spent time getting ready for the big trip tomorrow to Belém and Manaus.
Thursday marked the beginning of our trip - we left after work and flew to Belém, a city that sits at the mouth of the Amazon river in the far north of Brazil. We arrived late and checked in at the Grand Mercure Hotel (just down the street from the Mission Office). Went right to bed.
Friday we checked out, but left our suitcases at the hotel while we visited places of interest in the city. We walked down to the docks and took an Uber to Mangas das Garças, a cool park in the city.
The lighthouse at the park was closed so we couldn't go up into it, but we got a lot of good pictures.
We visited the cathedral, then walked through the docs back over to the big marketplace. It was a little "dicey"...
We had some awesome ice cream at Cairu, then took a sunset boat tour of the river. The only tour we could book, was a "dance cruise", so it had a lot of music and dancing!
Afterward, we ate at one of the restaurants at the docks, the picked up our bags and went to the airport for our 2AM flight to Manaus!
We arrived in Manaus about 4AM, and we were dead tired so we went to our hotel and asked to check in a day early. Totally worth it to rest up. Then we went to the Manaus Temple, took some pictures and went through the 1PM session. We thought that since the temple is a big one, it would have clothes to rent... Wrong! Luckily, we were missionaries so they got permission to accommodate us with temple clothing they keep on hand (the sizes were "fairly" close!).
Tonight we went to an awesome fish restaurant, recommended by our taxi driver when the restaurant we had chosen on the internet didn't pan out. It was probably the best fish we have ever eaten.
Sunday we went to church at the ward where the missionaries attend, so I could pass along one of the Sister's documents (and a bunch of candy for the Elders!). Church was great, then we rested up at the hotel and Skyped with the kids - after walking around the hotel zoo. Yes, they had their own little zoo.
We also saw a beautiful sunset, along with wild parrots:
More on the trip in the next week's report.
The Church is true everywhere.
Love to you all
Dad and Mom
Monday we went with Sharmahd's to the transit office to apply for their bus/subway passes. All the couples that have gone with us have now received their passes - the passes actually got sent to them (we had to go to the main office to get ours!). I spent a lot of the day doing Sister Cox's travel arrangements for her trip home with family and friends (I'm pretty good at it already!). FHE was the Shoiser's, the Brazilian couple that works in church publicity. There are a lot of things being done with "Helping Hands" - which started here in Brazil!
Tuesday we took the travel folks to lunch over at the food court at the mall. After work we went over to a new hamburger joint across the street from our apartments, called Charlie Burger, with a bunch of the couples. It was good, but overpriced.
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| Work group - Us, Mirian, Jouber, Daniel (Passeys in background) |
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| Charlie Burger has a "skateboard" motif - maybe their grandson helped decorate?? |
Wednesday was another productive day in the office. Spent time getting ready for the big trip tomorrow to Belém and Manaus.
Thursday marked the beginning of our trip - we left after work and flew to Belém, a city that sits at the mouth of the Amazon river in the far north of Brazil. We arrived late and checked in at the Grand Mercure Hotel (just down the street from the Mission Office). Went right to bed.
Friday we checked out, but left our suitcases at the hotel while we visited places of interest in the city. We walked down to the docks and took an Uber to Mangas das Garças, a cool park in the city.
The lighthouse at the park was closed so we couldn't go up into it, but we got a lot of good pictures.
We visited the cathedral, then walked through the docs back over to the big marketplace. It was a little "dicey"...
We had some awesome ice cream at Cairu, then took a sunset boat tour of the river. The only tour we could book, was a "dance cruise", so it had a lot of music and dancing!
Afterward, we ate at one of the restaurants at the docks, the picked up our bags and went to the airport for our 2AM flight to Manaus!
We arrived in Manaus about 4AM, and we were dead tired so we went to our hotel and asked to check in a day early. Totally worth it to rest up. Then we went to the Manaus Temple, took some pictures and went through the 1PM session. We thought that since the temple is a big one, it would have clothes to rent... Wrong! Luckily, we were missionaries so they got permission to accommodate us with temple clothing they keep on hand (the sizes were "fairly" close!).
Tonight we went to an awesome fish restaurant, recommended by our taxi driver when the restaurant we had chosen on the internet didn't pan out. It was probably the best fish we have ever eaten.
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| Sorry, no picture of the fish - this time... |
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| Started with the Monkeys! |
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| Cool Parrots (we have some wild ones later!) |
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| I think this is a Peccary, or something like that. |
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| And, of course, the Alligator |
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| These are wild parrots that were way up in a tree, but I had my telephoto lens... :) |
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| I love the coloring under their wings - caught this one in flight. |
More on the trip in the next week's report.
The Church is true everywhere.
Love to you all
Dad and Mom
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