Mission 2 - Week 3

It's always so hard to condense a wonderful week of events into a single blog entry, but one must make sacrifices :)

Monday evening our FHE was exercising with the Oldies, which was fun.  We left the couples' FHE early (not because we couldn't keep up!) to meet Ric Davids (our foreign exchange student) at a mall not too far away (5 bus stops).  He said to meet him outback, so we were asking people where the back of the mall was and really no one could tell us.  Then we saw the Outback restaurant!  We sat inside waiting because we had arrived early.  Finally twenty minutes later I sent him a message and he said he was already inside!  The food was delicious (better than USA) but not as good as the gelato that we had afterwards - possibly the best we've tasted, except maybe for Italy.

Tuesday evening we went to the temple with one of the Elders that served in the office in Cuiabá, and we got to meet his parents.  It was a lovely experience.  Each time we go to the temple we understand a little more (that might go for everyone!).  Elder Freire has wonderful, kind parents and it was fun to tell them what a great missionary he was.

Us with E. Freire and his Parents

Wednesday was so fun for me, I went on a field trip with my Portuguese Class.  Dad stayed and tried to do all that was needed in the office - including my work!  We rode the bus to the subway where we took the yellow line to the red line then to the Center of town to the Metropolitan Theater. While there we listened to the Metropolitan Choir perform.  The acoustics were awesome and the choir was pretty good as well.  Video:

The area is neat because several of the streets are now sidewalks where people set up and sell different things, sing songs, and attempt to entertain. 

One of the artist street vendors that we saw

Then Wednesday afternoon Dad and I taught the intermediate English Class for one of the Sisters who was out of town, it was such a great experience!  We have way to much fun when we teach together. Dad invited a person he met on "Hello Talk" (an app where to can talk to others in their language) and he came to the class.  I think he really enjoyed it and will come again with his fiancée.  We had about eight students and only two of them were members.  I need to tell you the story of an older blind lady in the class who is not a member.  She was so grateful for the help as I sat next to her on occasion.  After class I got her walking stick which she called her Pole-e-Anna.  I asked if that was what a walking stick was called in Portuguese, and she smiled.  She said no, then asked if I had ever seen the Disney movie, Pollyanna, and I said it was one of my favorite movies.  She then explained that she had not always been blind, and when she realized she had a disease and would lose her sight she lost hope for a time.  But then when she learned to use her walking stick it gave her freedom to get around, something that she never thought she would have again.  She named her stick Pole-e-Anna to remind her of all the good she is still able to experience (if we look for the good we will find it).  I am hoping that through this class and other experiences with the church she will be able to have her spiritual eyes open and find the gospel.  Right after class we went to the mall to get a few things, and unfortunately Dad left his nice Eddie Bauer shoulder pack, with his prescription sunglasses, so we think they are gone forever.  The blessing is that we didn't have any of our documents, any money, or other important things that we would normally have in his pack.

Thursday we spent the day at the Federal Police department trying to get our legalization papers (called our first registration, required of foreigners within 30 days of arrival).  Nada é fácil (nothing is easy) here with the government.  We were there five hours from 8:00am to 1:00pm, then you have to add the hour driving each direction... Anyway, Dad will be legal in a couple months but not me- they wouldn't let me register because I didn't have a scheduled appointment...  (thanks for the experience).  Bottom line is that we have to go back again through the whole mess again.

This is what it looked like in all four directions

 I knew it was going to be bad when this showed up on the monitor:

It was a pretty unlucky day for us :)

Friday night the ward had a wonderful high priest dinner and dance. I wish we would have had our phone or camera so we could have shown you the tables of food - it was beautiful and yummy.  I cannot say enough about the wonderful feeling we get as we interact with the beautiful people here. As dad and I walked around the room to meet and greet everyone (the custom here), hugging (Mom) and kissing (Mom), laughing and conversing, everyone was so sincere and kind and they all tell me I am speaking well, which is pretty fun I will admit.

Stake High Priest Social (we are right front)(yes, we did dance!)

Oh, we also had a huge storm Thursday night and the power was out 9 or 10 hours - which was "fun".  We had flashlights, and our power packs for our phones, etc. but of course the phone service itself was out too.  I am including a video clip of the water running down the street outside our apartment, it was taken from our window.

You can see how hard the wind was blowing.

And here's a video of the water running down the street:

We sure love you all, we are having a wonderful experience already where it took awhile in Cuiabá to adjust.  We think the mission president is going to assign us to a different ward or brand outside the city, so that should be interesting.  

Here they don't try to hide which products are better than others! :)

We also found out that we can only legally drive here for 6 months on our US drivers license.  A Brazilian license costs over a $1,000 reais (about $300) with all the taxes.  Mom still doesn't have a phone and I'm trying to convince her to just let me get a chip like I did - you just pay $3 for a chip and load it with money when it starts to get low.  I put $15 (US) on mine when we got here and I still have nearly half of it left after three weeks, not bad.  On the good news side - Mom loves it that they start Christmas even earlier here because there is no Halloween and no Thanksgiving.  We have already bought a bunch of stuff for the apartment, etc. (This tree isn't one of them!)

Mom with a Christmas Tree in the Mall

Today at church we saw this sign commemorating 50 years that our stake here has been in existence.  That's pretty awesome - the first stake in São Paulo, first in Brazil, and first in South America!  I taught the priesthood lesson in High Priests today and it went pretty well.  There were only 7 high priests in attendance (usually about 15-20), so I started by saying "I guess everyone heard that I was teaching today!" - which shows that I am funny (and they weren't family or friends [yet]).

Celebrating 50 Years as a stake

The church is true.  Stay faithful.  We are grateful for your wonderful examples as you face challenges, we always wonder why we don't have any. :)

Mission 2 - Week 2

This week was awesome, as usual.  We received more training, although not as much as we had hoped - everyone is busy so they quickly show us something and then say "Let us know if you have any questions."  We feel a little nervous because we don't want to make mistakes - we are working with Brazilian missionaries and their visas to Argentina, as well as renewals of visas for all foreign missionaries serving in Brazil.  Our office is nice and Mom and I are working side by side now since one of the employees quit last week (hopefully not because of us!).  Sorry about the shades in the picture, we were headed out for lunch (hence the backpack also).

Our office setting.

Really, as you can see, the office is comparable to an office in the US - good internet, nice computers, color printers (HP), and whatever office supplies one needs.

So, there were three highlights of the last wek:
(1) On Wednesday there was a Brazilian holiday so nobody worked in the office - we had it off, so we went with several other senior couples to a place called Campos do Jordão which is like a small German village in Brazil.  

One of the german houses in town

Looking down on a street where we had lunch

Another set of shops in the shopping area

There we went to a garden area called Amantikir (ah-man-che[ese]-key-er, kind of).  It was beautiful, here are some pictures for your enjoyment:

Mom in the middle of a grass maze

Emerald Pool from walkway above

Greenhouse next to flower gardens

The second maze - all hedges, very cool

On bridge in the "Lake of Bridges" garden

We were framed!

Fountain in the English Garden

Beehive in the welcome center to the gradens, you can even see the layers of honeycomb

It was about 3 hours from São Paulo, about midway between here and Rio de Janeiro, well worth the trip and a lot of fun to be with the other couples.
A few more pictures (by Mom's request):

Mom next to a Dragon in the Japanese Garden

Cactus flowers in the Desert Garden

See the beautiful yellow bird in the middle of the picture?

(2) Friday night we went to the temple again, and were a little worried because it was difficult at the veil the last time, and the session wasn't easily understood because they use a very formal Portuguese.  When we got there we were asked to be the witness couple, so we may have been even a little more nervous.  When we entered the endowment room we found that there was a deaf man in the group so they had set up a TV screen, so the entire endowment was displayed on the screen word for word as it occurred.  It was such a blessing to us because we could read and understand almost everything, including instructions about the veil.  It was such a wonderful experience, Mom said she's going to pretend to be deaf whenever we go! :)

(3) Of course, the biggest event was the birth of another beautiful little granddaughter - Mackenzie Jean Beckstead!  Such a cutie, and just born this morning 10/16/16 (if only it had been 16/16/16!).  Thanks for calling us Jenny, all the best for your quick recovery.

Here she is!

Another highlight was the Fort Collins temple cultural celebration - which we may have stayed up late and watched - not sayin' that's what we did...  It was awesome to see them build the temple out on the field and the kids were great in all the performances.
I was asked to teach the lesson in priesthood next week on keeping the Sabbath Day holy, so that should be interesting...  Oh, we met the mission president finally - he spoke in church.  President Thomas is very nice.  We think he's going to assign us to an outlying branch or ward on Sundays, but we'll have to wait and see.
Ric Davids called us today, so I'm sure we'll do some things with him in the next little while.

Love to all, the church is true.
Dad and Mom

Mission 2 - Week 1

Well, we made it to Brazil, as you probably already know by now.  It was an interesting trip - meaning we wouldn't want to do it again!  And all our jokes about them not knowing we were even coming turned out to be more reality than we would have imagined.  Aparently the area office found out Monday morning that we were going to arrive on Tuesday!  There was then a bit of a battle over which department we would be assigned to, and it turns out that the travel department either won or lost, we're not sure which, but that's where we're assigned!  Kind of ironic, right?!

This is the office building where we work, security guards, access keys, etc.

The apartment we have is very nice.  It's funny because everyone let us know that they only had one day to fix everything, paint the whole apartment and bring in all the furniture - I think they were up quite late on Monday night preparing.  Here are some of the pictures (random order), sorry if some rooms are messy, we were still moving in.

Kitchen (we have a dryer and hot water this time!)

Bedroom

Study (spare single bed)

Front room (notice TV and DVD player on left)

Dining table and chairs

Our apartment building, we're on the third floor

This is a pretty gazebo in our courtyard area (enclosed)

We have been receiving training this last week, and it's really been nice.  Everyone in our department speaks English, and all but one speak it very well - some having spent time in the US.  Our supervisor, Deborah, is very nice and eager to make sure we're happy here.  She had a special meeting to introduce everyone and explain what they are responsible for, then asked us how much we'd like to work - like how many days a week, and what hours each day - and I really think that any answer we gave would have been acceptable.  But "you know your mom", she said every day and 9-5 (actually she said 8-5 and I talked her back to 9-5 so we could try and get some "study" in the morning).  Since we're in the travel department we have a fleet of about 20 cars that we oversee and we can check them out for use whenever we need/want them.

Us with Elder William from the Cuiabá mission.

One of our elders from Cuiabá came by the office to visit so we took him to lunch with us.  It was great to see Elder William again, he teaches at the MTC and the missionaries come over to the temple once a week, I think.

When we arrived, we also got a tour of the area office and it's pretty impressive what all they do here, including making garments for members throughout Brazil.  We got a tour of the factory, and the distribution center for Brazil.

In the Area Distribution Warehouse

The senior couples here are all very nice, there must be 10 senior couples in various areas - we're the only ones in travel currently.  Others are auditors, preparedness, health, IT, etc.  They are very active and we do a lot (will do a lot) together.  They have FHE on Mondays, go to the temple, have Portuguese classes twice a week, and visit areas around São Paulo.  

Most of them eat over at the temple every day for lunch, but we are avoiding it a little since we are trying to keep our weight down.  This last Saturday, we went to a feira (open market) with some of them, then I went to a tourist artsy (yes, I was going to say fartsy, but I resisted!) area with some, while mom went shopping with others.  

Mom at the open market

The "Artsy" place, very fun - got to hear Simon and Garfunkel played live.

A good time was had by all.

Our current ward building

Today we attended church at the stake center next to the temple and it was very nice.  
Their wards are super strong and well led.  After church, I met up with mom and she had no less than 5 of the sisters come up afterward to tell her that her Portuguese was "excellent", "well-spoken", "very good", etc.  She is doing a good job learning and our office staff is also very helpful, trying to speak Portuguese first then resorting to English if necessary.  We ran into the mission president's wife this week and she said that he will likely assign us to a more remote ward or branch to attend and watch over on Sundays.  I did get a couple nice temple shots this week.

Day Shot of the São Paulo Temple

Night Shot of the São Paulo Temple

That's about all the news across the nation(s).  We had almost forgotten what wonderful blessings come in serving the Lord as a full-time missionary.  We ask the Lord's wonderful blessings upon each of you and love you very much.  The church is true.
Love, Mom and Dad

Mission 2 - MTC Week

Dear Family
Week one in Brasil has been amazing but I wanted to go back and write a few memories of the MTC experience.  The Spirit in the MTC is a scared experience one I wish you all could have shared with us. I liken it to living in a terrestrial kingdom experience because everyone's desires were for you to succeed and feel good and come unto Christ in a better way.  I really enjoyed this time in the MTC  so much more because I knew that teaching the "investigators" would be a good experience and not as scary as last time.  Monday we heard a talk by Sister B...  about her mission experience.  When they opened their call to work in the New Zealand area office their daughter told them she was expecting her fourth child.  At five months they discovered that the baby had spina bifida.  She was selected to have a experimental operation on the baby while it was still in the womb. They all fasted and prayed and felt that the operation would help.  Her daughter had to be on complete bed rest.  It soon became apparent that she could not leave her daughter because her other children, the house and other duties were impossible for the daughter to take care of.  So, after a long discussion, she and her husband decided to delay their mission - they would call Salt Lake the next day. When she told her daughter that night of their decision, her daughter said, " Mom, do you think Heavenly Father has forgotten that he called you on a mission?  Do you think He forgot that I am having a baby with spina bifida?  No, you must go.  We are desperate for the Lord's blessings!"  It made us both cry (and me again as I'm writing this for Mom!), and it was a tender mercy for Mom to hear as leaving the grandkids is one of the hardest things to do.  And so is leaving pregnant daughters and daughters-in-law!
These are a couple pictures of our MTC group (1st week) and district (2nd week):

The Church is true!

Here we go again!

As most of this blog's followers know, we are headed back to Brazil for another 18 month mission.  This time we will serve in São Paulo, in the Area Office, which oversees all 34 Brazilian missions.

We leave September 19, and will be in the MTC two weeks for training before heading to Brazil.  Our "Farewell" talks are Sunday September 11, at 9:00am.

We'll keep you posted!!

Enduring to the end?

Dear Family
Elder Maxwell "Enduring is more than lasting: We are to endure well and to endure valiantly D&C 121:8&29.   The Lord sets the terms, He promised all that He has.  Endure in happiness to the end, Love to the end, Sacrifice to the end, Improve to the end, be kind to the end, be obedient to the end.  Enduring to the end means living to the very best you can each day.
So we are coming to the end of our mission and I want it to be the best.  I just filled out my last planner and it makes me sad.  We had such a spiritual fast and testimony meeting and I cried just thinking about leaving- so I could be falling apart as we speak.
 September seventh is Brazils independence day so we decided to go to the parade.  Very interesting, we enjoyed ourselves but let me say it was so hot no amount of water was enough and even though I was sitting under an umbrella and thanking Heavenly Father every time we got a breeze, I was actually happy when it ended.  A good experience one I do not want to repeat.  They let go a ton of black balloons I am not sure whether for those who had died in wars or in protest to the current government either way it way fun to see.   Some big old trucks and a helicopter that was pretty fun with a couple of guys hanging on.
 We had a wonderful family home evening with Renata and Marcello, Gilberto and Adriana and their family.  What a fun time!  We made Brazilian hot dogs and peanutbutter cookies and watched the movie called to serve, and had a fun lesson.
  Saturday we had a famly history activity at the church and alot of youth came and several other families.  Dad and the missionaries did a great job and I held the babies so they could. Good job mom right?
Tonight we will have sisters staying with us and again on Sunday and then it is transfer week and so, so much to do.

Visit of David and Jessica 2015-08-24

Dear Family,
We had such a wonderful time with David and Jessica and Eli.  We loved every minute of their visit.  We saw all kinds of animals.  Dad will include pictures. When we were at the park we saw little monkeys and an iguana.  In the Pantanal, we saw a river otter, all kinds of birds, rodents of unusual size, monkeys and a ton of alligators.  We hiked in the Chapada and shopped and ate at the windy hill restaurant.  David and Jessica made chicken pot pie for some of the members and they loved it. We went to the center of South America twice, once in Cuiabá and once in the Chapadas.  We went on a couple of boat rides on two different rivers. David and Jessica visited Rio and the falls at Iguazu and I kissed Eli as often as he would let me.  David and Jessica learned a few new Portuguese words and are miss-using them, sorry to say! We had such a splendid visit and now they are gone and we are missing them and are back in the thick of mission work.  We fed a bunch of elders and sisters lunch today because dad is a softy.  It was fun we had tacos, then cinnamon rolls for dessert.

                           A few pictures from their visit:

We saw this guy along the road to the hotel in the Pantanal

Iguana hiding in the bushes

I got this sweet shot of a very peculiar bird at our hotel

There were a lot more where these came from, luckly not too close!

We had an awesome dinner on this floating restaurant, yes, we tried some fried alligator.

Mom's favorite bird, the tuiuiu (pronounced two-U-U)

Cachoeira (waterfall) in the Chapadas

David, Jessica, and naked Eli playing in the water in the Chapadas

Does this look dangerous to anyone? ... Anyone?

Not near as dangerous.  This was in town

This is one of the monkeys Mom was feeding apples to.

One of the many beautiful sunsets when they were here.

We had a wonderful mission tour with Elder Mazzgardi, he was great.  He is a  first generation Mormon, as is President Oliveira, and their conversion stories are wonderful.  I so love meetings that remind me to keep trying.  And I especially appreciate Elder Harris for translating little words here and there that keep me on the right wave length.  Remember how that feels to get some things and then be completely lost for others.  Here are a couple of the thoughts that I think I understood and even if they're wrong they were fun thoughts for me. "We often admire Nephi but behave like Laman and Lemuel."  "If you want to make the Lord laugh just tell him  'your plan'."-Jeffery R. Holland.  "If you think you can or you think you can´t, you are right."-Henry Ford. Then this cool story about Elder Mazzgardi's conversion and feelings about the first vision.  He was confused about why there was so much religious unrest in a small place like Palmyra, NY, as after six years of study, he went to Palmyra to find out about the restoration and see if he could get answers to his nagging questions that had bothered him for so long.  While at the Peter Whitmer farm (the day before he had to come home) the senior missionary guide - who was a history buff - answered his questions and opened his understanding (without being asked the questions).  His question was about the huge contention over religion at that particular time and especially in Palmyra.  Answer: in New York at that time the Eire canal was being built.  They needed experts in many fields. People were brought in from Canada, Germany, England and all parts of the United States bringing with them their strong religious beliefs, so the contention became very heated and that contention was needed to help Joseph Smith ask of God. The headquarters for the Erie Canal construction was in Palmyra. He then told of the Smiths plight and all that happened to get them to Palmyra so Joseph could be there at this time of great confusion.  We often have challenges so the Lord can help us stay on the path we previously covenanted to be on.  Anyway, you can see the meeting was wonderful.  We feel the wonderful workings of the spirit often and are so grateful to all of you for you support. We love the mission and the beautiful people of Brazil and we love you all very much. The church is true.
Com Amor Dad and Mom