Since returning from our last mission, we have been doing a lot of traveling. We have been to see all of our kids and grand kids and have had reunions with them in Beaver Mountain Lodge and at Lake Powell. We have traveled to China, Mozambique, South Africa, India, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Russia, and Finland. All those Scandinavian countries we visited on a two week cruise. We also returned to Brazil for a visit to the areas of our mission and some Temple weddings.

We received our call to serve another mission. We had been expecting to serve in Mozambique, but because of the plague outbreak in the neighboring country of Madagascar, and the primitive medical conditions in Mozambique, the church medical department said that we would not be called there. We then had to wait until our call letter arrived to see where we would be called to serve.

When the call arrived we were surprised to see that we were called to serve in the Brazil Area Office in São Paulo as Travel Specialists. We have since talked with the couple that are there now that we will be replacing. They said it is fun work and there are great people in the travel department.They work about 6 hours a day, 9 to 12 and 2 to 5, five days a week. They said that the things they are doing might change by the time we get there, but generally we will be helping the travel staff with foreign missionary registration and visa renewal for all the 34 missions in Brazil, and helping make travel arrangements for Brazilians called to serve missions in other countries. They also said that there are 13 American couples working in the Area Office. These couples get together often for Family Home Evenings, dinners out and excursions on Saturdays. They are always doing things together and have a lot of fun. We will also be assigned to a Brazilian Ward that we will attend on Sunday, and we could receive callings in that ward.

We are looking forward to this next mission and are getting down to the last preparations for leaving. We fly to Utah on February 9th and will be in the Provo MTC from February 12 through the 16th. We will spend the week-ends before and after the MTC visiting family and friends in Utah, while staying with our daughter Kimberly and family in Provo. We fly out for Brazil on February 19th, arriving on February 20th in São Paulo.