First Week in Brazil

We left for our mission on Monday October 13th with all our luggage flying on Delta from Salt Lake City to Atlanta.

We had a two hour layover in Atlanta and then took an overnight Delta flight to Sao Paulo.

After a four hour layover in Sao Paulo, where we had to go through customs and find another terminal, we saw a plane from Copa Airlines.

We then checked in to Azul airlines for the flight to Porto Alegre.

 

 

President and Sister Wright met us at the airport in Porto Alegre and drove us up to Gramado, which is about a two hour drive, where we checked in to a beautiful bed and breakfast inn.

This is President & Sister Wright at the front door of the Bed & Breakfast

This was the room we stayed in.

This was the bathroom we used.

This is the front where there were renovations and yard work going on.





 

This was the lovely breakfast room.

We then walked around the town to get our bearings.  It is so beautiful we wanted to share some of the wonderful sights we saw.

 Below is the famous covered street in the very center of town.

 

 This is the Festival de Filme theater where they have a big film festival yearly.

 This is another covered open shopping area.

 This is the famous Saint Peter cathedral in the center of the town.  There are statues of the twelve apostles along the left side.

 Gramado is up at the top of a mountain range so the views from certain places are spectacular.

 That pine tree with just the trunk and branches spread out at the top that you can see in the distance is a protected tree.  They cannot cut them down even for a big construction project.

We were able to attend a fund raising dinner the branch was having for girls camp and met some wonderful members.

 Theses sisters are the Young Women Presidency.

 These are some of the girls that will be going to girls camp.

While we were looking for a place to live we met a man in front of our bed and breakfast who wanted to rent us a place where he was living.  He took us there and showed us this room, but we were not too impressed, especially with the neighborhood.

The chapel here is a beautiful three story building that is so impressive.

 We spent one day with one of the sister missionaries who helped us learn how to get around and to ride the buses.

You can't go anywhere in the world without finding a McDonald's.  Here in downtown Gramado McDonald's is in a crazy building with funny architecture.

There are some areas of town where we saw some interesting houses.  We will get more pictures later of the very colorful houses they have.

 

We are having a marvelous time and enjoying life to the fullest.  We are getting close to renting a townhouse and will post pictures of it when we move in.