Week #14, Sao Paulo, October 23-29, 2017

It's been a great week in Sao Paulo!  We had a cool streak of weather this past week that made everyone happy and some rain that made everything even greener!  Just a reminder to all of you that are heading into winter, we are heading into summer here.  It is a bit of an adjustment but I think we can handle missing the snow for a couple of seasons!  We can definitely handle the wonderful fruit that is available here year round!  Here's some of what we get each week at the local street fair.

We are in the Sao Paulo Brazil Oeste (West) Mission and are under the direction of President Thomas.  He can assign the senior couples to different wards or branches within the mission area and a lot of the couples have those assignments.  Some are assigned to serve at the CTM (MTC).  He asked if we would be willing to serve somewhere outside the home ward and we of course said yes, however, the Bishop of the Morumbi Ward, which is the home ward by where we live and work, requested that we be able to stay in that ward.  Mike is in the Sacrament Meeting piano rotation and is going to teach the High Priest group (at least once :)). I have been asked to assist in the Primary nursery!  I mentioned to one of the Primary leaders how much I missed my grandkids and they told me I could help out in there.  I LOVE IT!  I really think that I will be able to learn so much more Portuguese from them and they are so adorable. It really is so fun to be in there.  It fills a hole in my soul and I am being useful.

I love this picture of of the Temple spire and the Angel Moroni looking out from the Area Office Building with our apartment buildings in the back.

On Wednesday, we were invited to have lunch at the Oeste Mission's zone conference.  A cute sister missionary came up to me and asked in Portuguese if I knew Hannah Moore?  I didn't quite understand her but I understood Hannah Moore.  Her name was Sister Nascimento and she was one of the young women from Santa Rita in the Joao Pessoa Mission where Hannah served.  She said she recognized us from pictures on Facebook and from our name tags.  She loves Hannah and loved going out with her to teach when she was serving in her home ward.  I sent her picture to Hannah and she was so happy to see that she was on a mission! 

 Since Mike has an October birthday, he was honored and given a box of chocolate candy.
Here he is with President and Sister Thomas.

And here he is being sung to with the other birthday Elders!  The mission has these lunches catered by a local family and they are always so delicious and so it is fun to mingle with the young missionaries.

 It is a small world in the church.  We had some visitors in church who were here on a welfare assignment and it turns out that Elder Dow served here when Mike was here as a young missionary.  Mike found these pictures of them singing together in a quartet!  Elder Dow is on the far right.  They sang as part of a children's Christmas program for NBC radio that aired throughout the whole country.

On Friday, I got to go out again and teach with Sister Thomas and the young sister missionaries.  We did some street contacting and the sisters were amazing.  They talked with everyone and they were so excited to share their message about Jesus Christ and His gospel.  People were very kind.  Not everyone was interested and a lot were in a hurry, but some were open to hearing us and they even got an appointment to teach someone in their home later next week.  I also taught a lesson with a different set of sisters to Josalia who works in the Family History Center, but is not a member of our church.  We taught her about faith and repentance.  She's wonderful and I can't wait to go back next week and teach her some more.

I took this picture of these cute turtles who live in this water feature in front of an apartment building!

Sister Soares and Sister Thomas street teaching!

We took the sisters to lunch (their choice) to Feijao de Corda which is food from the Nordeste (North East Brazil).  It looks awful but it was seriously so delicious!  Rice and beans, meat, bacon, ham, sweet potato, pumpkin and some kind of really good sauce.  This was supposed to feed four people but we had enough to take two boxes home with us!

Friday night was the Sao Paulo Stake's annual High Priest social.  It didn't start until 8:00 p.m. and it was dinner and dancing!  They had it catered and the food was really great, lots of meat dishes, pastas, salads, out of this world cheese and meat antipasto and ice cream and brownies for dessert!  The young men came around and kept our glasses filled with soda or water and served us our dessert.  The dancing was a blast!  They played American music and the mix was really great.  Mike and I were the first ones on the dance floor but after a couple of songs there were quite a few couples dancing too. 

Saturday, we had a zoo excursion with some of the other senior missionary couples.  We met at 7:30 am, took a bus, then two subways, then another bus and arrived at the zoo around 9:30.  It was a very pleasant ride and the zoo was a lot of fun.  Here are some of my favorite pictures of the day!  The professional looking closeup ones were taken by Tom Harris.

 

We got to take a safari ride through the back part of the zoo and get up close and personal with some of the animals!

It was a perfect zoo day.  The animals were lively for the most part and the company was superb!

John and Stacey Thacker, Tom and MarJean Harris and Ruth and Brett Barrett

There were some cute girls there who started talking to the Barrett's.  It's amazing how friendly people are to all of us.  I think they are curious about our badges!!

Another week has come and gone.  Some days fly by and some roll by more slowly, but they are all worth it.  We are happy to be here and hope that we are making a difference!  I really believe that we are happier when we are working hard than when we are hardly working.  Somedays I have to be more creative than others, but there's always something to be done!

I think back to my mission mantra, "Wherever we are, be there with all of our hearts!"  Some days I honestly question what we are doing so far away from home and family and then I remember the feelings we had when we were asked to come here and the many answers to prayers we received that all would be well while we are gone and the immense peace I felt in those answers.  I'm only human and I doubt my inspiration sometimes, but I can't doubt definite answers to prayers.  I know we are supposed to be here and I am here with all of my heart, not one foot in and one foot out.

I can't believe Halloween is in two days!  It is definitely not the same here.  It will be interesting to see what it's like.