Our new home -- Prudentópolis!

Thursday, September 27^th, 2012

The Cordons, John and I filled two cars with our luggage, household items, and groceries and again began a drive in separate cars, being trained along the way, during the 2½ hour drive to our new home. We made one stop on the drive at a place called Anila Lanches – Anila’s lunches or snacks –  where we were able to purchase some honey, ham, and cheese. (It was a good thing we did because this became our lunch before our 1^st kitchen stocking grocery shop!)  One piece of advice that stuck with me was to note the difference we found in the beginning since soon we would not even notice them.

Dad, the only way I can describe our drive to the interior of Brasil is it was like riding to Mosida with you…. Only green!  The landscape had many native grasses and scrubs that I don’t have a name for and will get a picture of the next drive through the area but it was repetitive like driving through the sage brush covered undeveloped land when you used to take turns taking us to Mosida with you.

Apartment  - 1460 Rua Marachal deo Doro

Sister Cordon said it has been a dry year here and they are worried about the water for the summer months ahead.  The weather has been quite tempered here compared to their normal winter.  She noted that we may have come during the coldest spell that they have had yet. It was only in the high 40s & low 50s for a few short days.  The cold outside is not what you notice. It is the lack of heating inside. Armando Faccio, one of the investigators here, explained that heat isn’t needed because they have short winters that amount to only 10 days of bad weather. That means that inside and outside temperatures only vary by 10 degrees, so everyone dresses up in layers to stay warm and sleeps under heavy blankets at night.

Front Door & Living room

In Prudentópolis, we were greeted with a loud “Oi” by Elders Hartley and Affonso who walked around the corner with our keys just as we drove up. They had been to the apartment earlier to open it up and make sure the utilities were working.  They had even cleaned up a little and taken down the draperies for cleaning.

Courtyard - note clothes lines

Our apartment is #2 on the ground floor of a four story building with 8 units. The entrance has a living area on the left and the kitchen on the right. There are three additional rooms and two bathrooms.  There is a laundry room attached to the kitchen but accessed through the courtyard.  We also have a large outside, tiled area where we have clothes lines.  

Bedroom 

This is an unusually large apartment for a missionary couple. It was picked out by The Carters, the couple who lived in the area before us. They have been gone for 10 months, having to leave for health reasons, so it has been vacant until our arrival.  Most of the furnishings were taken by Elder & Sister Davis to Guarapuava when they arrived and set up house so everything had to be replaced except the window coverings.  I have spent several days scrubbing, bleaching, and hemming the long, mildewed curtains that cover our windows.

Master Bathroom sink 

Only source of hot water -
look at those loose wires

There is only cold running water in all faucets. The shower head (no tubs!) has a chuveiro (little rain maker) that heats the water for our daily shower.  

Laundry room looking into the kitchen

We do have a washer but no dryer. Mom, it is just like the old clothes line days. Our laundry has two big sinks with wash boards on them and indoor clothes lines for rainy days. 

I used hand soap and rubbed like crazy to remove the mildew spots on the curtains.  When the sun was out it took only a few hours to dry the heavy canvas like curtain liners but takes days when then sky is overcast and things are dried inside.

Study Room

Storage room

The walls and floors also had to be scrubbed. John has spent days cleaning and scrubbing while I washed and sewed. This place is bigger than the ground floor of our house.  He has done some repair work and we have met the cheerful, helpful man at the hardware store several times to buy tools. 

The kitchen is small.  We moved the table into the living area to make more work space.  All the cupboard and counter space is made of separate units.  We pulled them each out to clean and kill the brown spiders that are everywhere.  Opening and arranging all the new appliances (toaster, blender, hand mixer, microwave, stove, and dishes) then grocery shopping to stock the cupboards took a day.

Kitchen

You might note two things about the shopping: one, we have no car so we are very lucky to have several stores within 3-4 blocks of our home. We brought some of Rachel’s recyclable shopping bags to carry things home in; two, everything is in another language and measuring system so we had to find spices and dry goods with various different names.  We also have to wash all of our food in chlorox water so we will not become ill.  It takes 30 minutes to soak each piece of fruit or vegetable or leaf of lettuce etc. 

We have been fitting in visits with members and investigators and participation in church activities in between these housekeeping chores.  Coming in the next post…..