Handerdum Missionary Grandparents : They Came! (3/11/18)

We are so excited... Hummingbirds have found our feeder AND larger birds are enjoying our bananas!!! It took them awhile, but now they are spreading the word! (chirp?) We have had a hummingbird, a darling little finch and a bunch of larger bids that we have named "Banana Birds" because they cleaned us out quickly! We are excited to see what others find us. Our friends across the street have many different ones that come to snack, including parrots!

It was fun having Ryan here... he even got to see 2 monkeys running down the power wires in front of our apartment Saturday! We only had one day with him so we packed in a lot ... After the 3 of us had lunch at a nearby feijoada restaurant, Ryan and I walked to nearby stores to pick up a few things to take back to Janey and Evan. I took Ry to a store that we have nicknamed "The Dollar Store".... if you need something, they will have it... you kind of have to dig and search for things but they seem to have a little bit of everything. We went to Batman Alley that evening. Papa sent pictures of that trip already, he is quicker than me! Sunday was church and then Ry was off to his conference.

Before heading to Porto Alegre on March 3, we welcomed Elder and Sister Ketcheson. We have been emailing, so it feels like we are friends already. They will serve in Welfare doing Family Services. Great people, and we are glad they are here. We had them to dinner the first night they were here, and others took them shopping. While we were in Porto Alegre our "boss" transferred them to Boa Vista to work with the refugees. They will only be gone 3 months, we hope!

We arrived in Porto Alegre on Friday and our first meetings weren't until Sunday, so we took a bus two hours to a place up in the "mountains" (3,000 feet) called Gramado. The Germans settled in that area and so structures and people are very different ... They are famous for their chocolate and fondues! Since chocolate is now considered a "health food" and great for your skin, we ate enough to keep us young and beautiful for at least 20 years! Chocolate was everywhere... the hot chocolate was thick and rich. Our fondue dinner started with a cheese fondue, served with dried bread cubes, baby potatoes, thick carrot slices and goiaba chunks. Next was 3 types of meat that we cooked on a very hot soapstone brought to the table with 30 dipping sauces (Jellies, tartar sauce, salsa, fry sauce, bread crumbs, hot sauces to name a few). Dessert was, Yep... chocolate fondue with strawberries, bananas, apples, pineapple and oranges! We waddled back to our hotel.

We ended up hiring an Uber driver to show us the sights of Gramado and Canella, since we didn't have much time. Mariani took us all around, explaining things as she drove. We went to the Black Lake, named that because all the vegetation around the lake was imported from Europe. We went to a beautiful waterfall, visited the chocolate factory, and a famous train museum (It was closed so we just took a picture) We visited a beautiful Rock Catholic Church in Canella and then she showed us the LDS Church there. We got out and talked to Seminary students waiting for class to start. They were so cute and excited that we were there. The highlight for us was our trip to the "natural swimming hole"! We went and picked up Mariani's husband, Christiano because he wanted to go too. When we arrived at her humble home, her mother had prepared a pear dessert for us. Such cute, sweet people! Met her daughter (9) who was then off to rollerskating lessons. We drove about 20 minutes, a lot on a dirt road. We came to a road that was blocked by a small tree across the road... found out, that was the gate! Mariani moved the tree so we could enter and then replaced it! We walked down the rocks until we got to the waterfall and swimming hole. Papa taught the Polar Dip song and the men dove in! They loved it! On the drive back, Christiano told us his grandfather was one of the first LDS members in the area and his sister had joined the Church. His sister was no longer active. We talked a lot about the church and they were really interested in knowing more. They dropped us off at the bus station in Gramado for our trip back to Porto Alegre. We walked in to find the Elders waiting for a bus to Canella. We were able to tell them about Mariani and Christiano, where they lived in Canella and their phone number to contact them. Coincidence the Elders were there???? Don't think so!

It was a different world in Porto Alegre... Big, dirty city, where people kept telling us to be careful. We had no problem! We had a great meeting and dinner with the Stake President and his family on Sunday. Monday we started our visits with FEAPAES-RS. We had a very productive meeting with the State President, and got good information from him. That night we ate at a Gaucho (cowboy) restaurant with dancers for entertainment. Quite a fun evening. Tuesday and Wednesday we visited FEAPAES schools in the area. They educate severely intellectually and physically handicapped children and adults. The students were wonderful and we made some new friends! Tuesday night was another highlight. We were able to attend the Porto Alegre Temple.

We arrived home safe and sound. We are slowly coming off our sugar high!! Life is good!

While we were gone we did miss Elder Bednar's visit and the devotional he did for the office. I got a copy of my friends notes so that was cool. One thing he did say was "tighten your seatbelts, conference is going to be amazing"!! Can't wait!!

My quote for this week:

"Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts!"
- Winston Churchill

Love you forever and always,
Papa and Grandma

Meeting with President of Porto Alegre APAE Council in one of the two APAE Special Ed Schools. (There are 22 Regional APAE Councils in the state and 205 APAE's in different cities. The Porto Alegre APAE Council is the largest in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.)

Students learning to cook

Earlier in the day they had made bread for tomorrow's meal.

Dish duty

Chocolate factory

Chocolate consumer

Romantic date night

Gramado/Canela wildflowers

Caracol Falls and dense Southern Brazil forest typical of the highlands of Rio Grande do Sul.

Nossa Senhora de Lourdes Church in Canela. Beautiful stained glass and paintings.

The “Church of the Lamb” and terrestrial gospel are alive and well in Southern Brazil. Only a small percent of the population has accepted the fullness of the gospel to become “covenant” members of the Church of the Lamb, but their influence is disproportionate to their numbers.

Ype trees are everywhere in Southern Brazil. They come in yellow, red, while and purple. Lots of wild flowers grow along side the roads.

The Black Lagoon is a beautiful garden spot. It would be fun to have a “boy vs.girl” race around and water-fight around the lake! Which team would the “Handerdum Pirates?”

One indicator of golden contacts is that they feed you. Marieli’s mom had just made fresh pear dessert from their own tree.

Shafel home and family

Gma liked the cat and wildflowers

Shafel’s street in Canela

Marieli was impressed with the young women seminary students that greeted us at the Canela Branch chapel.

First you establish rapport, then you explain the principle in a way the investigator can relate to.

Then you demonstrate the principle (after checking for rocks and other hazards, of course). Papa’s demo.

Then the investigator exercises faith by experimenting upon the word. Cristiano Shefel’s dip. He’s a natural!

FEAPAES-RS: Potential Wheelchair Partner for Rio Grande do Sul (L to R: Alfonso Touchett - President; Lucia Centena - Director of Training & Pedagógica; Sister & Elder Anderson)