Mission 2 - Week 15

Hello Everyone!
Here is the recent news from down under - no, not Austrailia!

We had another "interesting" FHE on Monday night - it was a lesson on a church motorcycle group called Temple Riders or something like that.  They ride their Harleys and Gold Wings from one temple to another.  Like I said, interesting.
Tuesday afternoon we had a great experience in going to the airport and meeting up with Elder Mercês, a missionary that we worked with in Cuiabá.  He´s the one that drew the picture of us and the Davises in the Pantanal wrestling an alligator, and he drew pictures for Emma and Melanie to hang on the walls in their rooms.  Anyway, he was kind of semi-famous when he went on his mission because he had a web site called "Chronicles of Wesley", kind of like an on-line comic strip ("I know, can you believe it?!")  So, we get to the airport and find out that the church commissioned two guys to follow Elder Mercês around and video tape his return home!  So, we met him and gave him a hug and it was all being taped - yes, it was a little awkward. 😉  But we got over it quickly by eating a BigMac at McDonalds, yes, with fries from anywhere... I mean, McDonalds.  It was so fun to see him again, and we took Elder Freire (his old companion who lives here in São Paulo) with us so it was a great reunion.  We decided to take Uber to get there in a half hour instead of two and a half hours.

Elder Freire, me, Elder Mercês

With Mom... like you couldn't tell!

You don't need a caption here... :)

Wednesday we went to the temple after work, very great experience as always.  Then we called Grandma and sang to her on her birthday, in Portuguese, on both of her phones.
Thursday night we decided to go up to the El Dorado Mall because we were looking for a cable for the iPad, so afterward we went to the movies and saw Moana in Portuguese.  It was super fun.  Afterward we tried a crepe place that we had seen before but had never been to.  It was really good, we got one that was ham and cheese, and one that was strawberry and chocolate.  Delicious.

Ham and Cheese

Stawberry and Chocolate

Friday night we went to the show again (I know, I know) with the couples and saw La La Land, which was fun for the most part but she dies in the end - no, that's a different movie!  But really (spoiler alert), Mom and I didn't particularly like the ending, we're more the happily ever after types.  After the show we found another new place to eat and it was kind of like Cafe Rio - you could make your selection of Mexican food and what to put on or in it, etc.  We had a grilled steak burrito that was really good (of course, we have been here three months now!).
Saturday we had the Elders from the mission office of the SP West Mission over for a breakfast of French Toast and it was really nice to feed some missionaries again (like we did a lot in Cuiabá).  It was kind of "funny" because Mom invited another couple over and I have a hard time with the husband (I won't go into why), and the Elders left a message about not judging and looking for the best in everyone - OK, they got me, did they get you - they may have gotten both of us...  Then we did some shopping, cleaning, mom made some cookies, and then we ended the day playing some games with Sister Cox.  She is a great lady and we have just really enjoyed her company - she's the one that Lizzie met at the St. George airport, and Jenny met up in Orem and she brought back a bunch of stuff for us from the US.
Today we went out to our ward assignment in Perdizes and Mom was asked to lead the music in Sacrament meeting and did a great job, of course.  I taught the priesthood lesson in High Priests and it went pretty well.  One of the high priests afterward said that I have a "very impressive" command of the Portuguese language! (head swelling...)  I'm sure I'll be brought back to reality soon. 😎  It was the second lesson in the President Hinckley book and I just was so overwhelmed by his preparation throughout his life to be in the role of prophet.  That first story about being the executive secretary of a church committee with 6 apostles on it, right after he got back from his mission, was pretty amazing, but very telling of the Lord preparing his elect.  And it reminded me of how Mom and I were prepared for both of our missions and how each one of us has been and is being prepared for future service, even if it's not recognized at the moment.  Keep up the good work!.  
We went to lunch at the house of one of the ward leaders (as we do each Sunday afternoon) - it was great!

Here's the Lunch Crowd - left back is counselor in Bishopric and Wife, Middle is Us, Next Lady is from the Ward, last two are the renters of the apartment (it's their house and their meal!) and kids

I love the flowers here so I threw this one in!  With a small part of the SP skyline.

That's it for this week
Love you all, the church is true
Dad and Mom