Hello family!
Good Monday morning Sao Paulo!! Work starts early on Mondays here, with an 8 am devotional...a very early wake up for some of us!
We arrived here 6 days ago! (Aug. 8, 2017) It´s hard to believe it, since we have done sooo much! I´m going to give you an overview of our first 6 days, so you will get an idea of our new life!
Tuesday morning around 9 am we arrived in Sao Paulo.(3 hrs ahead of Utah time) We had about 14 young elders on our flight, all headed for the MTC here. They were so cute and so excited and I think sooo scared! Elder Passey (Our district leader) picked us up. Crammed ALL our luggage and us in this tiny car and we were off! Driving is civilized here... so refreshing after the DR. Dropped everything off at our apartment and went shopping and to lunch at the mall (McDonalds!! Exactly the same!)
They ran out of the church owned apartments, so they rented us one behind the main complex I was a little sad because I was excited to be with the other missionaries, but our apt will be fine. They are still working on it. We are hoping for screens and air conditioning! What we do have is a washing machine that is also a dryer!! We need to wash clothes tonight so we will see how that goes! AND we do have a very firm new bed...Grandma Gege`s twin beds hard! Our apt is very small. I will send pictures when I can. All white tile with white walls, white couches and chair....we need to get some color going and it will be great. We use the ``non-rev`` blankets on the couch for color and warmth. We were freezing the first couple of days....now, it is a little sticky. I think it is much more humid than the DR... but my hair doesn't know it yet!
That first evening all the seniors went out for pizza. Yummy! So far the food has been really good...We have only had a little of the beans and rice, but they were sooo good!
Wednesday we came into the office and met everyone and started working on getting things set up...phone, computers etc. We left early and walked to the store to pick up a few things...what we can carry!! We walk everywhere. At the grocery store we ran into one of the YW, who babysat Shannon and Shayne! Papa had no problem recognizing her.
Wednesday I had my first Portuguese class. Our assignment for this week was to study the story of Moses and next week we will be putting on a play about Moses, including a song, costumes and all...and filming it! .... in PORTUGUESE! I think I am in over my head!
Thursday night, after work, we took our first bus ride with another couple.. They showed us ``the ropes`` of bus riding. Seniors ride free here...they love us older folk! What really impressed us was that they treat seniors so kindly. They immediately gave us their seats... so nice. Brazil is clean and the people are so welcoming.
Friday we played games with 2 other couples after work.
Saturday morning 8 couples jumped in a rented van and drove 2 hours to a Dutch Village flower festival. Flowers, entertainment, lots of foods to try, rose petals shot from a cannon. We got home about 8pm and then walked to the store with another couple to get a couple of things.
Sunday, up early for 9 am church. Ran into more people at church from the past! It is exciting! We had Sunday dinner with the 2 area doctors and their wives. It was a good day. The Brazilian saints are solid. The lessons and talks were excellent. The spirit was strong. The RS just finished a service project where they stuffed old jeans and turned them into support chairs for disabled kids.
We look forward to our boss returning sometime, so we will know what we are doing! But as you can see, we are keeping busy! We love the other seniors...I think we are going to ``work hard, pray hard and play hard``!! We miss seeing our family, but we are so glad to have facetime and phone calls to keep us connected. Can`t wait to hear from ALL of you!
Love you to the moon and back!
Gma and Papa
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