A Week of Bugs, Buses, Babies and Baptisms

With Eric from the Marina branch

Daniel and Cristiane at the party

Elder Buhler's shoes - there's a good example of a hard working missionary!

Elder H. Silva and Felipe in the cold water of the font

Elders H. Silva and Hoopes with Felipe just before his baptism

Felipe and his family just before his baptism

Us and Felipe just prior to his baptism

Luci and President Glauber

Merry Christmas from the John Deere dealership

The mulheres dressed up for Christmas

With Lisi at the "Night of the Marrieds" party

New baby Fernando with Rosangela and Renato

Short cut from the bus stop to Julio and Rosangela's

December 8, 2014

Well, the weather is heating up here in Cachoeira!  The online report says the temperature reached a high of 95 on Sunday and the next couple of days are supposed to be in the 90’s as well.  Then we are supposed to, hopefully, drop back to the high 80’s.  And strange as it still seems, Christmas music is playing in the streets and Christmas decorations and lights are everywhere here on the main street where we live.  The Christmas season is upon us once again!  And as missionaries, we are all hoping for a “white Christmas”, one with lots of baptisms!  We got a good start on it with the baptism of Felipe this week by Elder Hoopes and Elder H. Silva in the Cachoeira branch.  That night we also met a young mother that they are teaching who wants to be baptized too.  Elder Buhler and Elder Gorham also have some upcoming baptisms as do the Sisters.  Chances for a white Christmas look good!  To summarize our week, Elder Shirley says it was a week of bugs, buses, babies, and baptisms! 

About the bugs, we don’t have them, yet anyway.  But Elder Buhler and Elder Gorham do.  They have had both hobo spiders and an army of termites marching down the walls and over their beds.  We hear that this is the season for them to be on the move.  President Castro asked us to help the Elders find someone to take care of the problem.  We found a company close to where they live.  We got them on the schedule, but it hasn’t happened yet.  Hopefully, it will this week. 

It has been a busy week.  It seems like things just piled on top on one another.  Some days, we had trouble finishing in one place before we were due at the next.  So we ended up taking a lot of buses.  With the heat, it seems like lots of people are riding the buses, rather than walk.  The buses have been super crowded.  We often times stand body to “stinkin” body.  One bus ride made us laugh.  It was standing room only, body to body.  We were towards the front of the bus when it made another stop.  We didn’t know how any more people could fit on.  Elder Shirley observed a woman coming through the turnstile on the bus.  He said, “Oh! She’s comin through, and I can’t move!”  It gave us the giggles!  Sometimes even in the heat, walking is preferable to riding a hot, smelly bus. It makes for good missionary memories though.

This was the week for Julio and Rosangela’s baby to be born.  The baby was overdue.  On Tuesday, Rosangela went to the hospital to be induced.  Fernando arrived the next day, weighing a little over 9 pounds.  On Friday, we took a gift for the baby, a flower, homemade bread and some meat and cheese for sandwiches.  Their 3 year old, Renato, was pretty wound up about the baby.  He was anxious to show us the baby’s belly button.  He was pretty concerned about it!  Now they are a family of six.  And Rosangela is ready to be baptized, just as soon as they get married.  Oh how we hope that will happen for them!  The Elders visit regularly too.  Branch members plan to take in some meals too.  Hopefully, some good friendships can be formed.  This is a good opportunity for that to happen. 

We had another good visit with Elivelton and Bruna.  Visits with them “recharge our batteries” as missionaries.  We showed them the video, “Mormon Temples, a Conversation with a Church Leader”.  It is in English, but we made a Portuguese translation.  They requested a copy of it.  Their only concern was that they had to wait for a year before they could go to the temple.  Elivelton was baptized in June and they are being married this month on December 26.  They bought the paint and are trying to get their new home painted.  Bruna found her wedding dress.  With work besides, they are busy as can be.  Elivelton’s work hours change a little this week, but he still wants to fit in more lessons. They also come to church every Sunday. It is like they are thirsty to learn more!  It makes us happy to see!

Our visits with Artur and José this week were good.  José never makes it to church now that the branch bus isn’t going around.  His health won’t permit him to walk that far and he lives with his mother and we don’t think he can afford to ride the city bus.  But he reads and studies the Book of Mormon faithfully and is always prepared with questions.  He told us this week how much he loves the Book of Mormon.  He still enjoys speaking some English to us.  He told us in English, “My mind and heart are religious”!  He had been practicing his English.  We read the scriptures with him about Nephi and how obedient he was.  So we just had to sing (in English) the chorus of a Primary song, “I will go; I will do the things the Lord commands”.  He always smiles at our attempts to sing.  We feel our weekly visits with him are important and we enjoy them. 

Visits with Artur are always enjoyable too.  His potential baptism date of December 13 is coming up.  That is the date the Elders asked us to challenge him to be baptized on.  But he says that is too close.  He insists that he wants his teeth fixed before he gets baptized. He continues to say that he will be baptized before we go home in “March”.  We actually are supposed to go home in April.  But we didn’t correct him.  He has trouble finding time to read much in the Book of Mormon.  He says that he is just too tired most nights.  He is a hard working guy.  We tried to encourage him to read, even if it is just a little.  When we arrived this week, he had just finished preparing his lunch.  So we read the Book of Mormon to him while he ate.  He comes to church most Sundays and seems to feel more comfortable there each week as he gets acquainted with more members.  After meetings, he complements speakers on their talks, etc.  He is fitting in better all of the time.  So we still have hope for him.  He also likes to participate in the Gospel Essentials class that Elder Buhler teaches. 

Another challenge for us has been and still is Rosi and Gelson and Francine.  We continue to visit there too.  They are another good family.  Rosi told us this week that they are still working on getting a car so they can come to church.  But it hasn’t happened yet.  She says that they have the money, but haven’t found a car yet.  Gelson wants to build a place to park the car first. So we don’t know what will happen with them.  They have a picture of the Porto Alegre temple on their living room wall.   It is their goal, but they aren’t working towards it very fast, unfortunately.  We keep encouraging!  We have come to love this family too.  It worries us, especially as we see the end of our mission approaching rapidly.  We could get discouraged.  We try not to. 

We ended up having two District/Zone meetings this week in order to get all of the info the Zone and District Leaders needed to get out.  The one on Friday was especially fun as they asked us to help them with a little skit.  Elder Hoopes narrated the fairy tale-like story.  Elder H. Silva and Elder Shirley used broom handles for a sword fight as Elder H. Silva stole away the princess (Sister Shirley).  At first Elder Shirley fought hard.  But Elder H. Silva kept telling him that he would never be successful and that he would never win.  Finally, Elder Shirley believed him and became discouraged and just quit fighting and left Sister Shirley behind.  Sad!  It was a good lesson on never becoming discouraged.  Keep up the fight!

The Marina branch had a party for married couples this week, “Noite dos Casais”.  That was the night of the baptism in the Cachoeira branch downtown.  But we hurried and arrived just as they were finishing the program and started eating.  We had cachorros quente (hot dogs with all kinds of trimmings).  We enjoyed the party!  Daniel and Christiane were there.  Daniel is another one that the missionaries have worked on for a long time, including us.  All of the family are members, except the father, Daniel.  Daniel attended church last Sunday too.  So this week Elder Buhler and Elder Gorham got brave and decided to ask Daniel, one more time, to be baptized.  They tell us that he thought about it and then said no.  We could get discouraged!  But we won’t!   

With other visits to less actives and non-members and English class, we kept busy.    Occasionally this week we have been stopped on the street by people who know of the church or know members and request a visit or want to know the schedule of meetings.  A walk down the street or out in the bairros is always interesting.  Missionary work continues to be amazing!  We always feel the hand of the Lord in what we do. 

We love you! We pray for you!  Be safe, healthy and happy!

Eu te amo!

A Second Thanksgiving in Brazil

Playing with some kids in the street

With Elder Burnett at mission conference

English class locked out of the church with no keys

Our dance teacher Jamir and his chimarrom

Jean Rodrigues - a future stake president?

A birthday rose for Sister Shirley from Jessica (checker at the grocery store)

Learning to dance the gaucho way

Lunch with Elder & Sister Torgan (7th quorum of the Seventy)

Our neighbor's apartment door

New look for Dione at church

An old friend from Elder Shirley's 1st mission to Brazil (Alceu Arndt)

Our apartment door, decorated for Christmas

P-day lunch at our apartment with the sister missionaries

A birthday dinner at Per Tutti

Elder Torgan with President Castro

Renato's birthday party

Singing happy birthday to Sister Shirley at mission conference

Sister Shirley with Sisters Castro, Burnett and Torgan

The sisters of Cachoeira:  Harrick (CA), Oliveira (Brazil), Foutz (Colorado), Costa (Brazil)

Riding the van home from the mission conference

December 1, 2014

A scripture President Castro brought to our attention has been in our thoughts this week:  1 Cor.15:58:  “…….know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord”.  We try hard, sometimes without success.  It is nice to be reminded that what we do in the name of the Lord is not in vain. 

We have had a good week, a busy one.  We tried to fit a lot into a shorter than usual week because of our trip to Porto Alegre on Friday for a missionary conference. 

Julio and Rosangela have been on our minds a lot this week because their baby is past due now.  We visited there several times this week as did Elder Buhler and Elder Gorham.  Julio is a member, formerly very active and a leader in the Marina branch.  Rosangela tells us that she is ready to be baptized.  The only thing holding her back is that she and Julio are not married.  Julio gives us excuses for not getting married like insurance, etc.  We aren’t quite sure of his real reasons. We do not fully understand.  He tells us that he has a testimony.  Rosangela is wonderful and the kids are so great.  They seem like such a happy family.  We would really like to see this family become an eternal family.  It is frustrating when we want so bad to see it happen for them.  Their youngest boy (youngest until the baby is born) had a birthday on Tuesday.  We stopped by their home.  They weren’t having his birthday party, cake, etc. until Thursday.  So we ran to the corner store and bought a carton of ice cream so he could have a treat on his birthday.  Then on Thursday, we returned for the official birthday party.  They had cake, salgados, etc.  We brought watermelon and a package of three little balls for a present.  He and the other kids loved the balls.  We checked with them either by phone or in person about every day.  This baby will surely come soon!  Some of the branch sisters plan to visit with food, etc.  We think that is what this family needs, some support from branch members.  Julio did mention to us, “What happens to us when you are gone?”  Hopefully, they can form some good friendships with branch members.  It just might make all the difference.  Anyway, we are excited for this baby (Fernando) to be born! 

We had another great lesson with Elivelton and Bruna.  We talked about the Book of Mormon this week.  We also talked about how nice it is to read the scriptures together and pray together as a married couple.  They are moving along with their wedding plans.  We will probably be able to get in another lesson or two before the wedding.  We have been amazed that they still want to make time to hear more lessons when they are so busy fixing up a house to live in, with work, etc.  We also gave them some of the “Share the present” cards.  Bruna went straightaway and got her computer and looked up the video. We watched it together.   By the time we got home that evening, Bruna had already shared it on Facebook.  Love it!  We have had a lot of fun passing out these cards.  “He is the present” is such a great message!  We were given a ton of cards to pass out and have already given out a lot.

There was a lot to fit in on Thursday.  But we managed to visit José and Artur.  Both were good visits.  Artur had a lot to talk about it seemed and his brother was there visiting.  We had trouble fitting in our gospel message this week.  But we enjoyed the visits. 

Our friend, Jessica, who works as a checker at the IMEC grocery store, found out that the birthday of Sister Shirley was coming up.  She had made us promise to come back.  She presented Sister Shirley with a birthday rose and a nice note.  A nice surprise and very thoughtful!

Elder Torgan of the Seventy and Sister Torgan were in Porto Alegre for a “Tour of the Mission” conference on Friday.  We all loaded into a van at 4:30 am Friday morning for the 3 hour trip to Porto Alegre.  It was an all-day conference, lasting until 5 pm.  They served us lunch there at the chapel.  We got to see lots of familiar faces of missionaries who had previously served in Cachoeira.  It was an informative, spiritual conference. It was really special.   We enjoyed it a lot.  And during lunch, Sister Shirley was surprised with a rendition of “Happy Birthday” by about 150 plus missionaries.  We also slipped away for a few minutes to visit Elder Shirley’s old friend from his first mission, Alceu.  Alceu has an office next door to the mission office.  It was a short, but nice visit with him.  We try to do that every time we are in Porto Alegre. It was a great day.

Those are some of the highlights of the week.  In between, we filled our time with Branch meetings, English classes, lots of other visits, playing ball in the street with kids, etc.  We were also invited to some gaucho dance instruction at the Cachoeira branch.  They want to do that once a week for the next several weeks.  It was fun.  They hope to have a “baile” or two in the Cachoeira branch before we go home.  We also had a really nice birthday dinner, just the two of us, at Per Tutti Grill which was all decorated for Christmas!  Speaking of Christmas, we hung a cute Christmas decoration on the door of our apartment.  A couple of days later, our next-door neighbors, hung up a very similar one.   So we are enjoying that. 

We missed being home for Thanksgiving.  It was hard not to think of what you all were doing.  Although, Thursday was such a busy missionary day that we didn’t have time for our thoughts to linger on homesickness very much.  It was just a normal missionary day for us.  We did have some turkey deli meat and made a turkey sandwich.  Some of the Elders had pizza.  Good thing for lots of work.  There is nothing like working hard to cure homesickness.  In fact, work cures the majority of problems in the mission field.  President Castro has reminded us that our time in the mission field is short, but of eternal importance!  We are happy to be serving! 

We hope you had a great Thanksgiving!  You are in our thoughts and prayers!  Now it’s Christmas to look forward to!  Remember “He is the Present”!  Love to all!

Eu te amo!

A Week of Gratitude

Lesson outside Jose's home on a hot afternoon

Bruna & Elivelton: we love this couple!

On the bus to conference on Sunday

Elders Hoopes & H. Silva: P-day lunch and showers at our place

Elders catching a bus ride to conference

Having fun playing Escravos de Jo

Fun on the bus!

Teaching a lesson on tithing to Artur

Repairing the shower for Elders Buhler & Gorham

"Grateful for you":  Love this cute card that expresses how we feel!

New pass-along cards for Christmas: "He is the gift"

November 24, 2014

We have been feeling grateful this week!  It seems like everything we did and everywhere we went, we had cause to ponder just how blessed we are in our lives.  It was just kind of a “feel good” week.  That’s not even taking into account the fact that it’s Thanksgiving this week which is a favorite holiday of ours.  In fact, if we really thought about Thanksgiving Day itself, we might be feeling homesick as it is a day when our family has always gathered together.  We have loved those good times.  We miss family a lot.  We look forward to more of those great get-togethers in the future.  But for now, we are thinking of the blessings we are currently experiencing. We have been thinking about how the Lord has blessed us with good family and friends and a great mission experience here in Cachoeira do sul, Brasil.  We have been here over a year now and have come to know many good people here.  They are also blessings in our lives.  We are grateful for the opportunity to know them.  We are also grateful for the blessings of the gospel in our lives and for the direction it gives us.   There is no better feeling than putting in a good day’s work as a missionary, especially when you have the opportunity to experience the Holy Ghost at work too.  There is no high like a “missionary high”.  We have felt it and enjoy seeing other missionaries experience it.  We are told “great shall be our joy”.  It’s true!

Early one evening as we were leaving our apartment for an appointment, we ran into Elder Freeman and Elder Lopez on the street in front of our apartment.  These two Elders normally work in the nearby city of Caçapava.  They had come to Cachoeira for the weekly District Meeting.  They along with the other young missionaries were spending the afternoon doing what is called “District Friends”.  All 10 of the missionaries combine and saturate the area of one set of missionaries, helping to scout out new investigators for the two missionaries in that area.  Elder Freeman and Elder Lopez had just finished a visit with a lady who had prayed just that morning for guidance in her life.  She couldn't get enough of the gospel message they brought.  They felt the Holy Ghost testifying to her.  When we met these two Elders on the street, they couldn't quit smiling and talking about their experience, telling us what she said and what they said.  Elder Lopez told us that it was one of the best days of his mission.  It was so wonderful to see their enthusiasm.  It’s a great feeling to bring the Gospel to someone else.  They hated to leave and return to Caçapava.  They asked us to visit her too.  We found her to be as enthused about the Gospel as the Elders has told us she was.  She is full of questions, “thirsty” to know more.  Sister Costa and Sister Harrick will be the two Sisters who have the opportunity to teach her more.  They will be perfect to teach her as she also has a 17 year old daughter who appears to be very receptive.  Anyway, it was great to witness the joy and happiness of those two Elders!

Elder Hoopes and Elder H. Silva came to our place on P-day for their showers as they were still without water.  They also stayed for lunch and to send off their emails to home.  Fortunately for them, their water was turned on later that day. Other good news, Sister Oliveira's leg is feeling better. She and her companion are able to get out and about again.   More good news yet, Elder Shirley was able to fix the shower for Elder Buhler and Elder Gorham.  They can now have hot showers again.  Although with the hot weather, they tell us a cold shower hasn't been all that bad!  Great attitudes!

   

Elivelton and Bruna invited us to teach them another baptism follow-up lesson.  We taught the Plan of Salvation.  We are feeling blessed to know this young couple.  It is so great to see them anxious to search the scriptures, anxious for more knowledge.  And it’s great to see Bruna turn to Elivelton for answers sometimes even though he is the new member.  They have set a wedding date of December 26.  We are so happy for them.  They can’t quit smiling.

It was another good visit with Artur.  We talked with him about tithing again.  He seemed to be ok with it.  December 13th is coming up.  That was the date Elder Buhler had us challenge him to be baptized.  (Elder Buhler and Elder Gorham visit him regularly too).  He says he does'’t think he is “organized” for that yet.  We don’t know what that means.  But it was such a good visit.  Elder told Artur that he was just a “dry Mormon”.  Artur enjoyed that!    He continues to tell us it will happen before we go home.  He came to District Conference on Sunday (Stake Conference).  There were lots of good messages for him.  People in the district were nice and friendly with him.  He seemed to enjoy it!

We spent a lot of time out delivering printed invitations to the District Conference (like Stake Conference) on Sunday.  We always enjoy that.  We love to visit everyone.  That’s probably why we have been feeling so grateful this week.  We have got to visit with lots of good people!  The Uniao branch also had arranged for a bus to pick up people and take them home after.  One of their stops was right in front of our apartment.  Elder Buhler and Elder Gorham came walking down the street on Sunday just before the bus arrived.  So we all rode.  It was a full bus.  Everyone was excited!  You would have thought that we were going to a party!

   

We also stopped by our favorite store, Pedal de Ouro, to deliver invitations.  We hadn't been there for a while.  We got a really warm welcome.  Gilli took us right away to Fernanda who was anxious for us to know that she was going to have a baby.  We came away from there feeling grateful for the good people there.

 

Julio and Roseangela’s baby is due within the week.  We had an especially good visit there.  We had quite a frank discussion with them about why Julio quit coming to church.  With a new baby coming, three really great kids and a wonderful wife, they need the blessings of the church.  Roseangela told us the only thing holding her back from baptism was that they needed to be married.  Anyway, it turned out to be a really good conversation.  Hopefully, some of the issues can be resolved.  We told them that we would be fasting for them on the next fast Sunday.  They are a great family!  Polite, sweet kids!  Again, we feel blessed to know this family!

 

Besides the Sunday meeting, we had a Saturday evening meeting for adults in the District as part of District Conference.  Meetings were well attended.   President and Sister Castro were in town.  We love them.  We always comment to each other about the strength and leadership we feel from President Castro.  We were just comfortably sitting, enjoying President Castro’s message, when he asked Elder and me to come up and each bear our testimonies.  He hadn't warned us in advance.  It was spur of the minute!  He said “A surprise is better”.  Not sure we agree.  It was scary, but we did it.   Then on Sunday, in addition to President and Sister Castro, President and Sister Warthen of the Porto Alegre temple came.  We always love seeing them too.  It’s nice to have someone our age to speak English to.   Sister Warthen came bearing cards and gifts for us, as usual.  It was a good conference.  We enjoyed it a lot.  We felt grateful for so many as we had the opportunity to visit with members of all of the branches. They are so friendly and welcoming!  They have truly become our friends!   We love the youth at home.  But we also love the youth here in Brazil.  We tell them that they remind us of our grandkids.  They keep things lively and also make us feel welcome!  Maybe it’s because the end of the mission is in sight., but we are now realizing that we will really miss so many people down here.  For now, we are just feeling grateful for them and for this incredible experience!

     

Mail was also delivered from the mission office in Porto Alegre on Saturday night.  That’s always an exciting time for all missionaries. It’s fun to watch!  We had some stuff too.   We are grateful to all those who sent cards and gifts!  We love you all!

 

We are excited to say that we have met a goal!  We have finished reading the Book of Mormon in Portuguese!   We have been at it a long time.  We have been reading it out loud together, along side of an English Book of Mormon.  It has been a fun way to end each day.  We have enjoyed it immensely!  Almost hated to see it end.  We put off reading the last chapter for a couple of days!  We wanted to just savor the finish!  Now we want to start over and see if we can do it again before the end of the mission!

All in all, we were just feeling grateful this week!  And this is a good week to continue to ponder our blessings!  Happy Thanksgiving to all!  We miss you!  We love you!

Eu te amo!  

Opportunities to Help The Young Missionaries

Waiting on a member's doorstep

No snow here!

A few of the youth at the Baile

A real hamburger!

Aerton and Gorete at the Baile

Baby chicks at the Cachoeira version of Cal-Ranch

Baile Fantasia!

This birds song says "Peek-a-boo"

Edi - she likes to call Elder Shirley "Presidente"

Elders Hoopes and H. Silva looking for a shower

Fun at district meeting

Saying goodbye to Elders Soares & D. Alves

Lunch at Per Tutti with Elders Buhler & Gorham

Marcio & Marta Medeiros at the Baile

On the way to district meeting with Elders Buhler & Gorham

Presidente Samuel & Vivi at the Baile

Sister Foutz making chocolate chip cookies at our place

Sister missionaries at the Baile

Sisters Costa & Oliveira:  hope the floor is clean!

Sisters Foutz & Oliveira on P-day

Sisters Harrick, Costa, Oliveira, Foutz with rice bags

Sisters Oliveira & Foutz at the Health Post

Waiting at the hospital

Young Women getting ready for the Baile

November 17, 2014

Well, the Christmas season has officially started here.  We sang “Joy to the World” in sacrament meeting today!  They don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here.  So I guess it’s ok to get an early start on singing the Christmas hymns.  We can never get enough of them!  And there are never enough Sundays to get them all in.  But it is still hard to believe that the season is upon us or at least almost upon us.    We hear of all the snow and cold that you are having and it’s easy to think of Christmas.  Then we look at our tropical setting and it is more difficult to believe.  Life is interesting for us!

Like usual, the week took a different direction than we had planned.  It seems like we did a lot with missionaries and for missionaries and because of missionaries this week.  But that is part of the work we do as missionaries too.  And we enjoy it!

Monday was the day missionaries received the official word of their transfers.  It was interesting to us to receive their calls informing us of their news.  We were happy though to hear that we would only lose two of them though.  Elder Soares and Elder D. Alves (both of Brazil) will be leaving Cachoeira.  And we are sad about that.  Both of these Elders always have big smiles and we love them and will miss them.  Everyone else will stay.  In addition, Sister Harrick (California) will be the new companion of Sister Costa.  Elder Freeman (Missouri) will replace Elder D Alves as the new companion of Elder Lopes.  And Elder Gorham (a greenie from California) is the new companion to Elder Buhler (Texas).  That puts us North Americans in the majority!  Eight of us are from the U.S.; three from Brazil; and one from Cape Verde, South Africa. 

On Monday, the Sisters came to our apartment for lunch, computers, and to make chocolate chip cookies.  We just had a simple lunch of sandwiches, chips, watermelon, etc.  It was easy for a hot summer-like day.  

Then Tuesday was the official transfer day, the day of travel.  We received a call inviting us to the bus depot to say good-bye to the two Elders leaving.  We will miss them.  It pulls at the heart strings to stand and watch the bus pull out with them.  Hopefully, we will get to see them at Zone Conferences sometimes.  We spent the day out visiting and got in about dark, just before a rain storm. Shortly after, we had a nice surprise.  Elder Buhler and Elder Lopes, his companion for the day until his new companion arrived later that night, called.  They were downstairs with a couple of milkshakes for us.  What a thoughtful, nice surprise!  As they had been out walking in the rain, they were dripping wet.  We offered umbrellas to them, but they declined.  They are still trying to earn those pretty wives by letting a lot of rain fall on them. We really enjoy Elder Buhler and his enthusiasm for everything, even the rain! We really enjoy all of these missionaries.  It is fun to watch the new ones especially.

 

Wednesday was District Meeting.  We were anxious to meet all of the new missionaries.  It was another rainy morning.  Just as we started out, umbrellas in hand, we ran into Elder Buhler and his new companion, Elder Gorham (from California).  Once again, they were walking in the rain with no umbrellas.  We enjoyed the meeting.  The new missionaries will be great.  The dinner appointment for Elder Buhler and Elder Gorham had fallen through for the day.  Elder Buhler was anxious to have his companion get off to a great start on his mission and here in Cachoeira.  So he asked if we would have lunch with them.  As usual for special occasions, we went to Per Tutti, our favorite place in Cachoeira.  It’s quite an adjustment for new missionaries. Poor Elder Gorham!  He could hardly keep his eyes open when we met with the Marina branch for Branch Council on Thursday evening.  He had an overload of a new language combined with lots of walking, time change, etc!  Hard work and little sleep!  His eyes just kept falling shut!  But he got better as the week went along!  They are just hard-working missionaries! 

We did get to meet with Elivelton and Bruna this week which was such a pleasure for us.  It is so nice to see them searching the scriptures and anxious to learn.  We just went over the first missionary lesson about the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.   They want to hear all of the lessons again.  They asked questions and participated.  It was just a nice visit!  We talked about how the gospel can strengthen families.  What a great way for them to start out a marriage.  They are still planning on being married next month.  We are excited for them.  They are a really nice couple. 

During the week, we also had a nice visit again with Isaura, a member who hasn’t been to church for a lot of years.  She greeted us warmly, especially when we started talking about grandkids, and invited us back.  She remembered that we don’t drink coffee, but wants us to come back for cake and “cevada”, (caffeine-free Postum).  A few days later, we ran into her on the street and had another short visit.  She told us that she has been thinking about us a lot and is anxious for another visit.  We also thought that we would invite her to the District Conference next Sunday.  The Uniao branch is planning on sending around a bus to take people to the Cachoiera chapel for the conference.  We hope to get Isaura to go with us on the bus.

The weather was great the latter part of the week.  We walked a lot and spent some of our time trying to spread the word about the Baile (Dance) on Saturday in the Uniao branch.  When we couldn’t find people home, we left notes. We always like to have special events to invite people to.  

Sister Oliveira (Brazil) and Sister Foutz (Colorado) are now companions.  They were out walking and Sister Oliveira fell (or almost fell) and hurt her leg.  They called Sister Castro for advice and then called us.  We met Elder Buhler and Elder Gorham at their place and gave her a blessing.  It appeared that she had pulled a muscle.  We all advised her to stay off of her leg for a bit and apply ice and to see the doc if it didn’t improve.  They were also out of groceries and had no money.  So we re-stocked them with a few essentials.  By the next day, her leg hadn’t improved (possibly because she was still walking on it).  It is hard to keep missionaries down!  To be safe, we thought she should see a doctor.  So on Saturday, it was off with them to see a doc!  We started at the HCB, the hospital.  They would only let one person in with Sister Oliveira.  So Elder and I waited in the parking lot outside.  It looked like it would be about an eight-hour wait, so they advised her to go to a nearby “Health Post”.  We went with them and were all pleasantly surprised to see a member from their branch working there.  She got in after a fairly short wait.  Sure enough, she had a pulled muscle.  The advice was the same….stay off the leg for a bit, apply ice at first, heat later.  (The Sisters had already made up rice bags, like the ones we have).  Elder Hoopes and Elder H. Silva met them at the Post also, as we had to leave to help with English classes.  So the Sisters had a lot of support!  Now if she will just stay off of her leg for a bit. She did come to the Baile for a bit and then to church on Sunday.  But, hopefully, she is off of it enough to heal. 

Speaking of Elder Hoopes and Elder H. Silva, they have had their water turned off as someone didn’t get the water bill paid.  They made some calls, but even after payment, it won’t be turned back on until Tuesday of next week.  So they are without water!  They showered the first day at the apartment of Elder Buhler/Gorham.  But the shower there has no hot water again.  So they have been coming to our apartment to shower.  Inconvenient for them.  But they have great attitudes.  Looks like Elder has another service project coming up this next week to fix a shower again for Elder Buhler and Gorham. 

We also visited with Jose again.  As usual, it was a good visit.  We talked about prayer and sang “Secret Prayer”.  He even joined in.  He likes to call Elder, “Mister Elder”.  There is a sweet Sister in the Uniao branch, who insists on calling Elder, “Presidente”.  Even when we try to correct her, she just grins mischievously and calls him “Presidente” again.  So we have given up correcting her.  It has become kind of a joke with her.  We missed Artur this week as he had to help his brother on some project.  We had a short, but good visit with Idalia and her family.  We also saw Roseangela.  Her baby is due this week! 

Saturday was a holiday in Brazil, Republic Proclamation Day.  Lots of places were closed.  It affected attendance at English class. But Idalia’s son, Artur, was there for the first time.  He is pretty good with his English already.  So it was a good time.  Afterwards, we introduced Elder Buhler and Elder Gorham to the game, “Escravos de Jo”.    Artur, who is about 12 or so already knew how to play it.  It was a fun time!  Elder Buhler has the best laugh!

Friday and Saturday was also the “Festival of Summer” in Fenarroz.  It was a kind of fair with vendors selling clothes, food, and everything imaginable.  They had displays of old cars, bands playing etc.  We attended.  We found the closest thing to a U.S. hamburger that we have had here.  We watched a band perform.  We visited with some members and non-members there.  It was a good time. 

Saturday night was the Baile (dance) called “Fantasia”.  Presidente Samuel of the Uniao branch always does things up in a big way.  The youth really love these Bailes.  They dress up.  Adults and whole families dress up as well.  Presidente Samuel had done the decorations.  (He does that kind of thing for a living.)  Attendance was good.  There were quite a few nonmembers and inactives.  Dances may be a dying thing in the stakes of the church in the U.S.  But they are alive and well here in Brazil.  Everybody dances, from the young to the old!  It is so fun to see!  Once again, the young missionaries can’t dance.  But they came for a bit to watch and to talk with people.  But Elder and I are allowed to participate.  Lucky us!    We took a lot of pics.  We were just so impressed!

The week has been a little different than usual.  We have had lots of interaction with the young missionaries.  It’s been a busy, but interesting week.   The weather has been just gorgeous!  We have had to have our air-conditioner going, but it really has been beautiful!  The adventure goes on! 

It really is hard to imagine the winter you are experiencing.  Wish we could share some of our heat with you.  But at least, it should feel like Christmas is coming for you.  So enjoy! Be safe!  Stay firm in the Gospel!  That surely is the way to happiness!  We love you lots!

Eu te amo!