Time Flies When You Are Having Fun (3/28/18)

Hello family,

Time flies when you are having fun… or traveling a lot!! Both have been the case for us in the last couple of weeks. Now we are back home and back to the office, so it is time to catch up with overdue emails and work.

On 3/14 at 3:14 pm we celebrated "Pi" Day with the other seniors. There are a lot of excellent cooks here, including some of the men… I took my “vegetable pie” (Quiche)… I went for safe! Fun tradition to have on the 14th.

Pi Day

We left São Paulo that afternoon - March 14th full of “pie” and met the Dows (Wheelchair Specialists for Brazil and Southeast Africa) from the States, at the airport. We flew together to Macapá, which is in the state of Amapá near the Northern tip of the country. We were surprised to see that our hotel was right on the Amazon River… I thought that was so cool! We also discovered that the city of Macapá is right on the equator, so after one of our meetings, we drove to the equator so that we could see it. It wasn´t overly hot there, as I had expected and when we mentioned that to someone, they told us it was still winter there! Still working on wrapping my mind around that one! I thought that when you were on the equator it was hot ALL the time. Our meetings were great and we were able to set up 2 weeks of WHO wheelchair training for physical therapists in June… that WILL be summer, so I´ll let you know just how hot it can get on the equator! We will have 2 trainers come from the USA for the training. Our last training was in Riberão Pires.

Amazon River

Aerial view of the Amazon

Flying from Macapá to Porto Alegre

Beautiful Brazilian clouds for Emi

The Equator

Northern - Southern hemisphere kiss!

An egg will balance perfectly on the equator!

Meeting with the National President of FENAPAES in Brasilia

The Equator: This was 4 days before Vernal Equinox (3/20/18). That is the point in which the center of the visible sun is directly over the equator. This happens 2 times a year. Day time and night time are of equal duration over the entire planet. In 4 days the sun would shine directly through the circle on top of the tower pictured above. 

On 3/17, we flew to the southern-most state of Rio Grande do Sul for meetings in Porto Alegre. We had an enjoyable Sunday dinner meeting at the Stake President´s home with his wife and 2 darling sons. On Monday morning (3/19), we had a productive meeting with the Santa Maria Specialized Rehabilitation Center (“CER”) of FEAPAES-RS. We will most likely sign a partnership contract with them in June or July. 

Sunday dinner with Stake President Alexandre da Silveira’s family in Porto Alegre

After our Monday morning meeting, we flew from Porto Alegre to Brasilia. The next morning (3/20) we had a meeting scheduled with the President of the National Federation of Friends and Relatives of People with Special Needs (“FENAPAES”). Finding the address of our meeting was interesting. A very futuristic town. Things are laid out in sectors… all the hotels are in one sector, governmental buildings are in another… banks are in another, residences in another sector, etc. Churches could be wherever! It took us forever to find where we were meeting. Before heading to the airport, the Taxi driver showed us around a little. The town is laid out like an airplane with the main section (fuselage) and the wings… I felt like we were in the capital of that book, ¨The Hunger Games¨!

We returned home late on the 3/20. “Girl´s Night Out” was the next night! We had a great time visiting and learned how to fold napkins….Papa would have loved it!

On the 24th, Papa and Elder Barrett drove to Riberão Pires for a Pickleball game with our friends at ARAESPI. Papa gave the school a second Pickleball set with balls and paddles.

On the 26th Papa and I drove 5 hours to Batatais, where we had a closing ceremony on the 3/27. 206 wheelchairs were given out to 17 different organizations. One of the recipients turned out to be a church member with Spina Bifida. Maisa Vitoria is a 13 year-old cutie… her mom kept saying that she didn´t know that the Church did things like this!

Maísa and her mother in Batatais in her new wheelchair!

We were able to stop on the way home at the home of Brazil's most famous artist, Candido Portinari.

The home

Portinari's art

Then we drove the 5 hours home, but not before stopping at the Sam´s Club in Riberão Preto. Papa stayed in the car and took a nap!! I had a ball shopping!

Today is the 28th and we finally got to the office at 3:30! Hard to get our bodies moving today!

Happy Easter and Conference this weekend. Love to each and everyone of you!

Papa and Gma

“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.” - Mother Teresa

The Dows and the Cuellars. He was our bishop here 39 years ago!

Here are links to a couple of fun equinox videos:  

1. https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=appattach-s&p=equinox+video#id=12&vid=224c394ca5aacd29907aeb0b5086b18
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enlih8M5DN0

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)

Gaucho Dinner at the Galpão Criollo (“Country Barn”)

View looking west from top (15th floor) of Plaza Hotel São Rafael

Our favorite building in Porto Alegre

Back to São Paulo

Cordona Video (2/26/18)

This is the best video we have so far showing the first, second and third generations of our cordona project. I sure hope our family likes cordona eggs and meat. We could grow a lot of cordonas in our basement!

Beco de Batman Pictures (2/24/18)

Beco de Batman. Everyone knows who this guy is! 

Lots of people come to mingle and stroll through the paintings. Paintings change every 3 months. 

Huh?

Bright colors abound!

Loving the hummingbird!  “Beja Flor” (Flower Kisser) in Portuguese.

Remember “Petey the Peacock?  He is famous in Beco de Batman!

Have you ever seen a Gma Peacock?  She’s beautiful!

See.  Peacock’s are nice! They (the painted ones at least) don’t bite!

Beco=alley. Is that Batman flying?

“Beija-Flor” 

This is a Gma “Parrot-Kisser.”

Notice “Mamão” (Papaya) tree in background.  They grow like delicious weeds!

Yes there is green space in SP: Praça de Por do Sol - Sunset Park (aptly named). 

Nice place to stroll on a late-summer eve. 

Carnival (2/21/18)

This was an interesting week with things shut down for Carnival!  We took advantage of the time to get together with the other senior missionaries.  Every night this week we got together... lots of dinners and watching of movies in our apartments.  One night we had a great game night with lots of treats!  Many of the women and some of the men here are great cooks, so we get lots of tasty goodies.

This past Friday we were able to visit Ribeirão Pires to see our new garden project. They were so excited to show us how well their garden is growing.  They love their plants and are so thrilled with what is happening there.  The special needs students love working on the garden and take pride in their work.  They kept giving us gifts... a little "tree" that will become a beautiful yellow flowering tree in 30 years, a small palm heart tree and a tree of friendship!  Fun to have them in our apartment for now, and we will find them a good home when we leave in 11 months.  We were given lots of seeds... one tree´s seeds they rub together to make a stain they rub on themselves for an instant tan!!  I got a lot of those .... they must think I am a little too white!

Monday night was our turn to do FHE for the senior group. We had fun talking about “companionship survival”.  Fun night!  If you want to watch a great U-tube video, google, It´s not about the nail!  And prepare for a good laugh!

Yesterday I spent the day getting everything in order for our trip to Porto Alegre for a wheelchair project.  Porto Alegre is in the region furthest south in Brazil and our next trip, after that should be to Macapa, way up north.  We have just scheduled another 2 week wheelchair training there.  Our wheelchair specialists and 2 trainers from the states will join us for that one.  

Lots of birthdays to celebrate in Feb.!!  Happy partying to Emilee, Miles and Jason!! We´ll eat cake in your honor!  We are looking forward to seeing Ryan on Saturday!  

Have a great week everyone….you are loved!

Papa and Grandma

“The trouble with being a parent is that by the time you are experienced you are unemployed!”

Green is good!

Leo (She is a biologist and one of the four siblings who run the school) with Kauan, the garden manager. The bins are full of seeds to plant. 

The garden crew!

Elder Anderson teaching how to double dig a "French intensive method" garden!