Tom and MarJean in Brazil: Mission 2

Started off a little sad, but what a wonderful week we had!
Monday morning we found out that Cristina's mom had passed away. Her mom hadn't been well for some time and it looked like Cristina might quit her job to take care of her mom. We got a ride to the funeral with others from work, but because of traffic we got there about 20 minutes late and missed it. That meant two things - (1) funerals are short (it was actually just a graveside service), (B) it actually started on time, and (d) we didn't miss too much as we got there right when it ended and got to pass along our best wishes, etc.

Cristina, her two brothers, sister, and her daughter

Not coincidentally, we ran into some people we knew afterward - including the High Priest group leader from our ward in Perdizes! It was nice to have been there lending support in a tough time. Oh, São Bernardo do Campo, where the funeral took place, is actually a different city than São Paulo - unusual because every other city is just a suburb (or bairro). It was quite a scary place and had several slums (favelas) surrounding the city.

This is what a favela looks like, I snapped
a quick picture on the way home.

I was glad we were riding with others and that we didn't have to find out own way back home! It was all just a reminder to us how our Heavenly Father is looking out for each of us, even though sometimes we may not recognize it.
Tuesday we took all the little stamp coupons from a grocery store (Carrefour) over to get our free knife. We had been saving them since we got here and had finally accumulated enough for a pretty nice kitchen knife. Of course, nothing is as easy as it seems, after arriving at the third place in the store, we were told that all the knives were gone. But, we got a certificate that we can still redeem for a knife when, and if, they finally come back in stock.
Wednesday we went over to the temple, and we haven't missed on our weekly goal since we got here - recognizing the kindness of Heavenly Father in putting us in a place with a temple close by.
Thursday, of course, was Groundhog Day! We invited the Sondereggers and Sister Cox over for Mexican food and to watch the movie. It was a lot of fun watching with them as they all enjoyed it as much as we did. Now we'll probably have to go months without watching...
Friday after work in the office, we went back over to the temple and did some sealings. It was very nice and we had a very friendly officiator, who spoke quite a bit of English. It was a bit crowded, with 13 Americans and 6 Brazilians in the room! Can't say much more than that, but a great experience. It was pouring rain, so we just went home, ate, studied, etc.
Saturday was totally awesome. We started by going to a large park, Ibirapuera (where we saw the lego display), and renting bikes. We rode all around the park and just had a lot of fun.

Biking in the Park

This was our whole group

Looking back toward the city

One of the Monuments in the Park
(This was to all the Citizens and Politicians that were
Killed or Disappeared during the revolution in the 1970's)

After the park while waiting for the bus, we saw a drum squad from a marching band practicing - brought back such good memories. By the time we got home, it was pouring rain and we were without our umbrellas (very unusual) so we just enjoyed it and walked right through the rivers of water running down our street! Too much fun! Then we met back up a little after lunch with other couples to go to El Dorado mall, get dinner, and go see the movie "Hidden Numbers" - here, the name was "Stars Beyond their Time". It was enjoyable for all of us. Afterward, we bought some groceries and headed home. It was our 39th wedding anniversary, and a great day.