Visitors! (12/5/18)

Dinner with Ryan at the Blue Awning Restaurant (one of our favorites). We took Chuck and Tami there too.

Subway ride with Ryan. Met a senior couple serving with Elder Finlinson from the Bell Canyon Ward.

View from the top of the Italia Building in Sao Paulo 

Papa, Ryan, and the view

Banking area where Papa use to work 40 years ago

More banking area

Praca da Se and Cathedral

Chuck and Tami's arrival

Straight to APRAESPI from the airport. C & T brought a homemade wheelchair to donate.  It is for little ones to use before they fit into a regular chair. APRAESPI loved it. 30 more are available,if someone can figure out how to get them here.

Trying the chair

Wheee!!!

Weaving class at APRAESPI

Enjoying a fresh coconut

Sightseeing

More sightseeing

Liberdade (Japanese area of Sao Paulo)

Singing in the rain....Downpour actually!

Nelza invited us over to visit after church.

Three old people in front of an apartment (caption courtesy of Shannon since Gma didn't send one)

Street art at Batman Alley

Funny story: We were pulled over by two Brazilian policemen after not knowing where to turn on a downtown street in the town of Indaiatuba.  We were trying to get back on the freeway after visiting the company Tami works with (Ultradent do Brasil) in the interior of São Paulo State.  The officer and his partner pulled us over because we were driving slowly and looked “suspicious.”  The reason we looked suspicious is that they couldn’t see in the back windows of the car we were driving.  Apparently, they were on the lookout for a car like ours for some reason.  The officer had their Gloch .45 caliber pistols  drawn and the whole works!  I even had to get out of the car with my arms up.  They kept shouting at me to “roll-down” the back window!  That was a new phrase for me so I wasn’t very quick in responding.  Once I understood and was able to have Tami roll down the back window, we were on our way.  Having a blond stick her head of the window and say “How are ya’?” with a Utah twang was all that was needed.  

The officers apologized and off we went. 

Just another exciting Senior Missionary adventure!

This Week's Letter (12/5/18)

More busy weeks in Brazil. November 10th Dows arrived from the USA for trainings. That same day we had our country wide Welfare training, followed by two weeks of trainings!  Here are the pictures!

Hugs!! Papa and Gma

“Remember who you are... and walk in the light!” - Papa and Gma

Country wide Welfare all day meeting

Fun with Pedro Jorge and his family. He is the little guy in the front. He is a famous rodeo announcer!  He demonstrated his skills... he’s good!

A member we met doing post wheelchair interviews.  She told us that every week, men come from her ward, to administer the sacrament to her!

Laura was born with no legs. We visited her in her home. She is happy and very independent in her chair. 

End of the first week of training. Sister Anderson, Lair and Sister Dow. 

We were in the second week of training for Thanksgiving. Pork, beans and rice... perfect T-day dinner!

Yum!

Patient assessments during training

Member came for an assessment and ended up going home with a loaner chair until hers arrives. 

End of the weeks training. Customize wheelchair seats done

Synchronized wheeling???

We are ready for Christmas!  

Rio Trip Pictures (11/17/18)

Olsens, Andersons and Fluckigers - overlooking Petrópolis

Lunch at Praia Vermelha (Red Beach) at the base of Pão de Açúcar. 

Leme Beach, Rio....  tourists, WHO’S a tourist???

At one time he would have been out there, trying to catch that wave!

Dedo de Deus (Finger of God)

Grandparents can take selfies!

Corcovado - Rio. Where else can you touch heaven at the feet of Christ and see Dedo de Deus in the distance??

Celadon Steps in Santa Teresa (Tiles are from all over the world)

Rio Temple, under construction 

Pedra de Gávea (face of a man in a tall hat - inscriptions across hat - the eyes are caves)

Breakfast at our B&B (Casa Verde) - ( All the furniture is made from reclaimed wood)

A Favela in Petrópolis - the Favela homes in Brazil use to be made of cardboard, scrap metal and wood. They are much nicer now. 

Santos Dumont airplane in Petrópolis. Brazilian’s believe this plane flew before the Wright brother’s plane did. Which end of the plane is the front???

Santos Dumont’s home. Steps are cut so you have to go up “right foot first!”

Entrance to the summer home of Don Pedro II

Catedral São Pedro de Alcântara

Igreja Evangélica de Confissão Lutheran no Brazil - Petrópolis 

Palácio Quitandinha- historic luxury hotel and former casino in Petrópolis 

Rain Forest waterfall - Alto da Boa Vista

Cute Grandma

Santa Teresa “Bondinho” (cable car): This was how we got around the neighborhood of my last “transfer” in February/March 1971. It was also on the “Bondinho” that a “moleque” (street kid) from a neighboring favela ripped the watch off my left arm in 1978. We were showing Gege and P-Pa around Rio.  Shannon was sitting beside me when it happened.  Shannon looked up at me and asked “Why did that boy do that mean thing?” I looked over my left shoulder to see the young man running up the cobblestone road in the opposite direction.  He was looking over his left shoulder with a smile on his face. I was so surprised and it happened so fast that I smiled back. When I told the brakeman what happened, he rolled up his shirt sleeve and showed me a scratch on this wrist.  He said “Ya.  He got mine last week.”  Rio is not the safest city in the world, but it is the most beautiful. 

Just before the lower terminal of the Bondinho (in Lapa), it passes over a massive trestle.  The trestle was once an aqueduct that brought water from the Carioca River in the mountains above Rio to the city center. 

View looking up towards Santa Teresa.  It is the equivalent of Greenwich Village in NYC or Sugar House neighborhood in SLC.

View of Santa Teresa near the apartment where my companion and I lived.  It was on the left side of the Bondinho tracks about half-way down the route. We actually tracted out a Chilean family living in Santa Teresa and taught them two lessons the last week of my mission. They were baptized a month after I returned home. I don’t remember the family’s name, but I remember they had a sweet 10-year old daughter (named “Marisol”) that asked her parents to listen to our message. Ellie reminds me of Marisol.

Trauma (11/7/18)

Hello to all!

I looked at the calendar and saw that I haven't written for a couple of weeks, well, almost 3! I'm sure the delay is from the trauma I suffered from speaking in our ward. A 10 minute talk in Portuguese!! It complicated things when I got a little emotional while speaking and my eyes filled with tears, which meant I couldn't read my notes!! I survived though! Papa gave an excellent talk, as always!

Right after church we headed to Ribeirao Preto (5 hr. drive) for a meeting that evening. We had a great meeting with the Stake President, Public Affair and Humanitarian representatives from the area. After the meeting we drove another hour to Franca. The next couple of days were spent in meetings and doing about 30 post wheelchair interviews around the area. We met some wonderful people and accomplished a lot, but were really glad to get back to Sao Paulo late Tuesday.

Late Thursday, we took a short trip, with 2 other senior couples, to Rio. Our trip was wonderful and we were able to do so much in our 2 days. We stayed at a darling Bed and Breakfast in the Rainforest. We kept very busy and had a ton of fun! Pictures will follow in our next post.

Now we are super busy getting ready for another 2 weeks of Wheelchair trainings in Ribeirao Pires, starting on Sunday.

All for now! We'll send this on with lots of our love.

Hugs,

Papa and Grandma

"Please don't nag yourselves with thoughts of failure. Simply do what you can do, in the best way you know how, and the Lord will accept your effort." Gordon B. Hinckley