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.



Mission Training Center (MTC)

After our first day we settled into a routine of classes in the morning and afternoon.  We were free most evenings, with a devotional Tuesday evening where Elder Brent Nielson from the Seventy spoke to us.  It was a great talk motivating us in our missionary endeavors.

All the senior missionary couples met in the Stadium Avenue Chapel just outside the fence from the MTC campus for our training. Here is a picture of the chapel and the building we were staying in right behind it.

 

There were 40 senior couples and 4 senior sisters in our group for training this week.  We were divided into smaller groups called districts for the training classes.  Our district had four couples, Hales, Ellis, Libutti and Copa. In the morning we were instructed by Brother Zundel with Brother Smith assisting.

 



Here is all of our district with Elder Zundel.

 

 In the afternoon we were instructed by Sister Pace. Here is our picture with her.

On our breaks we would walk around the chapel and enjoy the beautiful mountain scenery.

 We had all our meals in the MTC cafeteria which was in the main building on campus.  It was a very large room that would seat about 2000 people.  There were many choices of food and they were very efficient at serving all those people.  We were not allowed to take pictures in the cafeteria, so we tried one through the small window on the door, which does not show a lot.

Also in the main building was the map of the world where pictures can be taken showing where your mission is located.  Here are ours.

There was also a map showing all 34 missions in Brazil.

 

We took a few pictures showing the security gate and a small part of the campus.

On Wednesday evening we went across the street to the Provo Temple for a session.  Here is a picture of the temple from the grounds of the MTC.

We had a wonderful week and learned many things that will help us while on our mission.  We are now back at Kimberly's for the week-end where we have been getting together with family to say our good-byes.  We have one more family gathering today after church and will then finish our packing and fly out of Salt Lake City tomorrow for Brazil. 

First day at the MTC

We entered the MTC today and are having a wonderful time. Here are the pictures.

 Here we are at the main entrance.

 This is the MTC Bookstore

 We were assigned to room 335 in the building next to the main entrance.

 This is the view from our window.

 We have a great view of Y Mountain out the window.

It is a very comfortable room and we are blessed to be here.

Set Apart, General Conference and Eden

 

Set Apart and Travel to Utah.

 

This is the group that was with us as we were set apart as missionaries. After being set apart and given beautiful blessings for our mission on October 2nd by our Stake President Tim Score, we flew to Salt Lake City October 3rd to spend General Conference weekend with our daughter Kimberly and her family in their beautiful home in Provo.  We were able to watch all the sessions of conference with them and were richly blessed with great council from our leaders.

This is Kimberly's home in Provo where we stayed.

This is where we watched General Conference.

Eden has arrived!!!
While at Kimberly's we received a call from Carleton informing us that our grandchild number 19 was born on October 5th.  Eden weighted 8 pounds 9 ounces.  She and her mom Robyn are doing well.  Here is a picture of the new born and the proud mom and dad.

 

We will enter the MTC here in Provo tomorrow morning October 6th and attend five days of training classes on Preach My Gospel.