Temple Trip – Testimonies - Trials

August 3^rd was our assigned day to attend the Curitiba temple. For us that meant gathering information from every one that wanted to attend, recommend interviews for the youth and the new converts as well as lining up the bus to take us there. Elder McKinney extended an invitation to the members of the Irati Branch to attend with us. Only one young man chose to go but it was a special day for him as he had never been to the temple before -- he is the only member in his family. After the pre-work was done the actual day was a long one. We met at the church at 3:30 a.m. and waited for the bus – meaning an early a.m. shower, breakfast and gathering of temple clothes and pre-packed lunch, and walk to the church.

We have been really impressed with the youth here as they tend to arrive on time and prepared. We have to be on our toes to arrive ahead of them.  Our bus was late on the 3^rd which left a large group of us waiting on the sidewalk outside our building.  WE loaded and made a stop in Irati to pick up our young man and found that since the bus station was under construction there was a mis-communication about where the bus station was – thus we were even later. When we finally arrived in Curitiba we were late for the 1^st session and they did not have room for our kids in the baptismal font. 

President McKinney was met as we came off the bus by President Fernandez who wanted to see who the twenty participants from our branch were. He was prepared to sign temple recommends if need be. It isn’t as easy to get recommend signed here as it is at home since the mission president is also the leader of our district and since he is new and did not yet have counselors – he was the only one who could sign the second recommend signature. President Fernandes is very interested in the members here and is looking for the priesthood leadership to replace Elder McKinney as the branch president so he spoke to all those who came with us.

We had 11 youth and 2 adult women (who are new converts) that wanted to do baptisms for the dead. Terezinha had spent time with me at the church entering data about her parents, siblings, and children. She was prepared several days before our trip with the printout needed to get baptisms done for her parents. Curitiba is a small temple and requires us to supply as many of our own workers as we can. So our little branch +1 filled the next baptism session and with the help of the branch presidency doing baptisms and recording information we were able to have 3 of our newly baptized members actively participating in the temple that day. I was used to help the young women and to keep the font area free of water as participants returned to the dressing area. 

By skipping lunch, we were able to participate in doing initatory work for the names we had taken, and endowment session, and a sealing session after we helped with the baptisms. Elder McKinney and I were the witness couple. It is a challenge for me to do a complete session in Portuguese but with God all things are possible and so it was. By the time we returned to Prudentópolis it was late in the evening but a wonderful day. One of our missionaries says for his family in northern Brasil it takes 2 days and a boat ride for their temple trips. We are relaly blessed that there are temples here to attend. 

   

I have not taken pictures like I should have recently so there were no accompanying pictures for our trip. We also had an impressive testimony meeting the following day as members related their temple experience. We are not allowed to take another group to the temple until November 9^th. It would be such a blessing to fill up the bus next time.

That is a pretty colorful group of cameras.

We also had another zone meeting and were again surprised to find out how much our zone had changed. The Elders were moved out of Irati and both groups of sisters are in a three-some. I get a laugh out of the elaborate zone photo preparations after the meeting and decided to include some of my impressions.

Are the timers set right?

Do we need another try?

Our results - did you notice how many other cameras might have a better more focused picture?

Our weekly routine is pretty much set. Monday is supposed to be preparation day but is often taken in working on the building with Beto or solving other branch problems so we have to fit in preparation when it is possible. I do always try to get our wash done on Monday but our shopping is often put off until we are passing the store on other errands (I prepare and carry a shopping list). 

Seminary is Monday through Thursday in the afternoons between the afternoon and evening school sessions. 

Do you think the da Silva Sisters have seen Charlies Angels?  This is a group varies from day to day.

The attendance has been between 5-8 youth for the last couple of weeks out of the 10 that have signed up. They are currently studying Acts in the New Testament. On Tuesdays we feed the Elders lunch from 12-1 and discuss investigators. Wednesday mornings we have an English lesson scheduled with one of the members. Saturdays we work at the church on cleaning and weeding etc. and have had afternoon youth activities in the past. Each Wednesday and Saturday morning we have three piano students. 

Leandro drew us this picture and hung it on the wall.

Our Friday piano lessons have pretty much stopped for lack of practice and preparation by the students and we are in the process of lining up some new students. I have challenged three of the young men to each learn one of the songs for our Primary program so that I can lead while they play. Only time will tell how that works out. Sundays are full of training and our regularly scheduled three hour block. Elder has all the regular branch president business as well as other mission chores. I have been working on preparations for the primary sacrament meeting presentation and ways to get the music and talks prepared - still a challenge for me in Portuguese. 

Mobile on baptism

The lessons for the older kids in Primary are from the D&C while the younger class is from the Book of Mormon. By time we study from the New Testament for seminary I feel like I am pretty well read in the scriptures each week.  I am having a challenge teaching church history to the primary kids and I do a lot of translating of materials to make handouts and appropriate visual aids -- often a power point with the pictures to help them understand the stories. 

Study & think, make a descision, pray, & listen for an
answer - prayer steps for primary sharing time

We are currently studying interaction with mobs in Missouri and the Haun’s Mill Massacre was last Sunday’s lesson in class while the Sharing Time was about prayer and how many different ways our prayers are answered. Meanwhile I have asked the branch presidency to sing the second part of A Child’s Prayer with the children – what a challenge to get the kids to sing out. All of the other branch needs fit in around the set lessons and appointments. Our goal would be to have a ward formed here and so we carefully monitor sacrament meeting attendance. We were excited to be back up over 50 one week but sad to be just over 40 the next. We are anxiously working with new investigators and trying to reactivate the less active.

We have several health problems among the branch members. Elder McKinney spent a lot of time helping to schedule tests for one member who is trying to get a Kidney transplant. The system requires payment before the required tests can even be scheduled. It is a challenge to get money in an account in Curitiba when the majority of members don’t even have a checking account. The phone calls required for the deposit of money and then the scheduling of the appointment etc. are also challenging since many members don’t have the capability of making the long distance calls with their phone plans. Thus as the branch president, Elder McKinney is involved in helping with many of the health problems. We also have challenges with the church system of payments here. Just transferring the money to pay the bus driver has required many calls to the church to find out why it has been over 2 weeks and the money has still not been transferred even though it was sent out right away on our end. First the payment was rejected. When the bus driver hadn’t received it and called we found out about that rejections. Then, unable to see the balance in the branch account there has to be a call to get that account balance e-mailed, then a call to find out why the last quarter’s money hasn’t been released (because one of the branches in the district hasn’t turned in their quarterly report – our money is held hostage) but we still had enough funds in our account …… and yet after being told the expense was approved, the money there, and sent to the bank…. The bus driver still hasn’t been paid. It is a bit frustrating and time consuming for us and we may lose our transportation as it is hard for him to pay his bills and we surely aren’t showing a very honorable way to deal with others as church members. So, our time is not always spent teaching the Gospel in ways that you would expect.

Clede's kitchen

My view of the wall to wall people that were out the
door of the small house - birthday girl in the middle.

Patrick in new suit. GQ?

On the lighter side, the sister of one of our newly baptized members had a birthday and they included us in the birthday party invitation. His mother, not a member, had never seen him in his new Sunday clothing—provided by the Elders-- so he modeled his suit, white shirt and tie for everyone. As an observer I was able to get some pictures there.  

John later took pictures of Rogerio to document his new LDS look. Tie tying is still a challenge. 

Rogerio - this is a Brasilian set of scriptures.

One evening as we were completing our dinner I noticed a problem with one of my molars. I found that the whole side had broken away and was faced with obtaining dental care. We learned that one of the members of the district presidency in Guarapuava was a dentist and called to make an appointment. The soonest he could be fit us in was several weeks away. We felt impressed to ask Daniel Oishi about dentists since his mother was having a bit of dental work done. He called her dentist and we were allowed to have me checked the next day. The dentist didn’t have room for the fix needed for several weeks but when we asked about cancellations it miraculously turned out that there was one for the following afternoon. I was very impressed with the modern equipment and the knowledge of Dr. Salente who did a great job of fixing me up for a very good price.

Elder McKinney has had some health challenges of his own. He had some severe pain in his heel which the area medical doctor decided was a type of bursitis after looking at photo that was e-mailed to him. 

That is one ugly looking heel!

Naproxen or Ibuprophen was prescribed to help reduce the swelling and a heel cup (supposedly available in any mall -- ?mall in Prudentópolis? - não é!) was to be worn or alternately he was to cut away the back of his shoe so nothing would rub the bursa. Well in the catch 22 situation of walking around trying to find the heel cup and/or find something to wear without a heel the situation worsened. {For anyone who doesn’t remember or didn’t know – Elder wears a size 14 shoe – pretty hard to come by in the states and impossible here so we really did not want to cut up one of his hard to find shoes.} When he began to have stomach cramps, ringing in the ears and passed out twice we found that he probably shouldn’t ever take anti-inflammatory medication since he had most likely developed a stomach ulcer from the medication for the foot.  Now we have been told he has to take it easy to recover from the results of the medication and we are to schedule test for his heart. It has all gotten pretty convoluted. Thus, we are not walking the long distances we used to when we need to see members. We have to take a cab to go much farther than the church which is about ½ mile from our apartment and they are fairly pricey as there is a minimal charge no matter how far you go or how long it takes. In talking with Sister Fernandes who is supposed to know about all health problems we found she thought we could run to Guara puava for a check the morning after we called her. However she called us at 7:30 a.m. the next morning to tell us about a 10:00 am appointment not realizing we would have had to be on a 6 a.m. bus to get there.  The member of the church and doctor then suggested that we might need to go to Curitiba for our health plan to cover expenses. Sister Fernandes then spent a day investigating our plan and replied that we would have to pay up front for anything done and try to get reimbursed later but that we could go anywhere since nothing in Brasil is covered by a plan.  So a week later we are still trying to get someone to schedule tests and haven’t been able to do so yet. It has put a cramp in some of our plans.

We are very grateful to have so many blessings and our family is our greatest blessing. We are glad when we get a chance to receive e-mail from home and especially glad when we hear that things are going well. Love to you all, Elder and Sister McKinney

More Férias & Festas

On Saturday, July 20^th we served lunch to President & Sister Fernandes and their 5 children. They came out to meet the people in our branch before our Festa Julhino. He was also able to sign recommends while he was here. He is looking for worthy priesthood holders in the branch since he does not want Elders serving in leadership positions. He has more of a sink or swim attitude toward branches than our previous mission president.

We also had a baptismal service for four investigators that afternoon just before our festa. It was a really busy day getting the baptismal program filled out and printed, talks assigned, and music taken care of. The Irati branch members had arrived even before the baptism and I feel bad that they were a little neglected while I was still gathering information.  

Terezinha, Luan, Rogerio, and Patrick will make great additions to the branch.
 Leandro was able to baptize his brother. This was the day before transfers for
Elders Santos Silva & Ferierra.

The young people had worked hard during the week to make our festa nice for little expense. The other two branches in Guarapuava have their festas in their nice LDS built buildings and the activities are held in doors. Not having that kind of room indoors in our branch building [which is a family home - turned school - turned branch building,] the members worked hard to make the covered patio nice.

Thyago, our 1^st assistant to the priest quorum, came and pressure washed the mildew off the roof of the patio and then the cement floor while we held our first primary activity for the children on the 16^th. Large tarps were tied to the patio roof to keep the storm (and it was a good one!) from getting everyone wet. The dancing and warm fruit drink ended up keeping everyone warm the night of the festa.

On the 17^th the youth got together and made decorations using crepe paper that they cut into strips and wove in a clever way that I couldn’t figure out later. (I was inside scrubbing walls and preparing activities for the children).

 

The Mehl family was responsible for the food. They served pasteis (like a tiny hand held meat pie---really yummy!) & cachorro quente (tiny Brazillian hot dogs) and two different warm fruit drinks that Elder McKinney thinks they were calling quentão. Later, there was chocolate cake and white cake with raspberries. These were served thru the windows of the Young Women’s room that open onto the patio. There were long lines at both windows as everything was really delicious. 

We had a DJ who played continual dance music for hours as people dance or sat around the edges of the patio visiting with each other. We had a pretty popular activity for the children who choose to gather in the Primary room and make popsicle stick handcarts. We had several youth have a brief dance lesson and then got thunderous applause when one of the new members asked me to dance. 

We had a really good turnout of our members, their non-member family members, the friends of the youth, the Bonsucesso Branch members who came on the bus, and the Irati branch members who drove in cars. Two non-member nieces of Maria’s family were here for several weeks and participated in many activities. They are from Imbituva which is a town not included in any of the branch boundaries and they want to be taught the missionary lessons. We have sent them home with scriptures and other church materials for them to study.

Rogerio is freezing! Behind him you can see a couple standing by
one of the windows where people later stood in line to get food.

One of the new members came to perform service as an investigator on the 19^th and he helped clean the room that we use for baptisms. The tile floor needed cleaning as did the chairs left in the room and the swimming pool we use for the font. I felt really bad after all his hard work when the water heater did not work and he had to step into some really chilly (freezing is probably a better word) water to be baptized. It turns out the electrical work fried when the water turned on and is another repair added to our rather long list.

The 22^nd was transfer day and the young missionaries went into Curitiba to make a trade. Our newest Elder – Elder Pereira is from northern Brasil and was not at all prepared for the weather when they returned Tuesday evening but by Thursday he had some warmer apparel and a snug hat and was enjoying life much more.  

How many times have I mentioned that it is winter here? It is really different because there are times of day when it is as warm as summer and then at night it can be 30-40 degrees different. What makes it all the more curious for us is the lack of indoor heating, like we are so used to at home, so the indoor temperature can be constantly chilly and make layers of clothing needed indoors when it is warmer out. I am grateful to the women that were here serving as senior missionaries at our arrival last fall.  When they found out we were coming they promptly e-mailed many good tips about the need to dress for the cold. The mission list did not include this advice. While I did not really understand until this past 6 weeks what they meant (and John was kind of incredulous), they did get me to bring several layers of warm clothes that have really helped.  

The Machados - a great part-member family the Elders have been teaching.
They had a death in the family this week. The 3 daughters are being taught the lessons.

Our young missionaries are really gungho to get the investigators in the water but they don’t do so well with their records.  It was really apparent when we wanted to work with the Rogerio and Patrick to receive the Aaronic Priesthood and prepare to attend the temple to do baptisms. Until church headquarters records their membership information you cannot add information about priesthood or recommend status. We did not have the baptisms recorded by the mission office (which is where things are recorded and sent into the church when there is a convert baptism) until Elder McKinney called and had the secretary track down the senior elder who was in Curitiba to get a new companion. Then they recorded the records. We still haven’t got all of the Elder’s information—having to look up their first names on line to fill out the records the branch needed to print certificates. We have to remember to promptly ask them for their member number to be able to record the ordinances or ordinations that they perform before they are transferred out of our area as well as the yellow copies of the baptisms that are supposed to be turned into the branch for their records. Does it sound like I want an angel or two to help out with making a well-rounded experience for the youth here? Often Elder McKinney is that person.

Leandro is one of the strong active youth. He just baptized Luan and
the missionaries have been teaching the rest of the family.

We need at least 16 active Melchezidek priesthood holders to someday make the branch a ward and it looks like they will have to wait for the youth to grow older for that to happen. They are accumulating an army of active Aaronic priesthood holders who are working and praying that their families will be touched and join too. Currently there is only one member Elder in town during the week because so many work out of town. It made it hard to give a priesthood blessing when the sisters were assigned here because he works such long hours and is not often available. Those who have served in branches probably recognize the growing pains here. Most of this is new to me having grown up in very large family ward.

This week we cleaned up after the festa taking down decorations, drying out the huge tarps used to cover the open patio area, using the water from the baptismal font to clean the floor of that room and the patio area outside while the font was draining. Again we had help from Rogerio, one of the new members.

These are primary age children we have worked with this last few weeks. Some are members - some not!

We also held our 2^nd Primary activity. We were able to paste the pictures of the children we had taken the previous week in their Faith in God booklets. The first week we talked about pioneers and played the stick and wheel game, sang Pioneer Children while we walked and walked, read scriptures and talked about the way the pioneers traveled as the kids selected what supplies to take in their wagons or handcarts. We introduced the Faith in God program. The second week we used the telephone game in the form of a race where the children were supposed to whisper to each other about the Holy Ghost having a quiet voice. We then circled the patio singing about The Holy Ghost in an effort to get them to guess the topic of the day. We talked about receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, ways we can feel the Holy Ghost, and marked scriptures in an effort to help them pass off activities in their booklets. We had 12 children the first week and more the next. Both times we had investigators present who wanted to participate. We were able to do this during the week because the youth had several weeks of férias or holidays during July.

The kids all return to school today. We will resume seminary lessons this afternoon. The break was good for piano lessons as several of the young men have come to our apartment for lessons twice a week. {Gabriel wanted to stay for lunch one Saturday and did. We have also worked with three of the young men after lessons and helped them log in to FamilySearch and begin recording their family history.} We get to teach multiple members of Eva’s family when we go to her home for lessons. We will continue with these lessons during the school year.  We find more members interested in music every week. We also had another youth activity movie night that was well attended on the 27^th. We showed Hercules and served Snicker Doodles this time. Maria has asked for a youth activity where the kids learn to make cookies.

These youth gathered to say goodbye to Elder Fereirra the night before he was transferred. I am not sure why
everyone always has to have finger motion during the pictures.

We are preparing for a temple trip for the branch members on August 3^rd. Elder McKinney had youth recommend interviews yesterday in the afternoon and we showed the 55 minute version of the Joseph Smith movie while they were waiting. [Beto, our branch repairman from Londrina, came with a projector for the branch yesterday and stayed to our branch meetings. He is not ready for baptism yet and we will keep working with him.] We were trying out the projector since it was second hand. It seems to work well with its only drawback being a really noisy fan which we can gladly put up with to be able to see the church broadcasts here at the branch and save the expense of a bus ride to Guarapuava.

President Fernandes has sent out new mission rules. We are to fill out several questionnaires about our apartment as they were pretty shocked at the condition of many of the homes the Elders were living in when they made visits to them. We will be filling them out today along with doing our laundry and shopping.

We hope everyone will have a great week!!!

June and a Little More

Last week of June:

Today I was preparing for my Primary Lesson on the Construction of the Kirtland Temple and I was having a hard time finding anything to show the children in Portuguese when I came upon the YouTube link to “Dentro de um Templo Môrmon - Curitiba Brasil”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNIHNbn4Kj0 or Inside a Mormon Temple - Curitiba Brazil with the background music If You Could Hie to Kolob. I wanted to share this with those who want to take time to watch this YouTube video for two reasons: (1) It will touch your heart because it is a beautiful house of God and (2) We have been blessed to be there several time since our arrival in Brazil. 

We walk by this tree on our way to church
& I love the combination of pink/white blossoms

These blossom during the winter here.

On July 14^th we will be having our branch conference. The themes will be “Turn the Hearts.” Last Sunday (the 5^th week in June)  we had a joint meeting with our Young Men, Priesthood and Relief Society members where Elder McKinney presented information about Family History Work.  We gave each individual a packet with pedigree charts, family group records, places to find records, and questions to ask relatives as they try to gather information to do the work of their families on earth and in the temple for their ancestors. 

Not many wall flowers for this dance!

29 June 2013 - Festa popcorn man is popular!

Members & friends on Onibus to Guarapuava for Festa Junina 

Bonsucesso Branch has the newest chapel. Prudentópolis members enjoy it!

Many of our young men are the only members in their family and they come faithfully on their own each week. We hope that through seminary class, piano lessons, service at the branch, English lessons, and games where they can bring their friends that we are helping them to prepare as future missionaries and life-long members of the church.

We have spent many hours over the last few weeks preparing to teach the leaders of the branch to lead. Our greatest concern here is that even the leaders only consider it necessary to attend church for the three hour block on Sunday and don’t know how to minister to other members of the branch. Fellow-shipping, home teaching, and visiting teaching are about nil. We can’t share with you how hard it is when members of the branch fall away because they make a mistake and do not understand the Atonement – how they can repent and be forgiven because of our Savior.

On a rainy Sunday afternoon Elders Fereira & Santos Silva were the only ones at choir practice - We had fun!
This set of Elders replaced the Sisters who were transferred. We have them to lunch every Tuesday.

We have had a lot of changes in the last 6 weeks. We finally received a new set of Elders to replace the Sisters who were transferred out and into the north mission. We had two different zone conferences in Guarapuava and since we had many transferred they were really very different zones. The last conference was the last for the Cordons here in Brazil as we got a new mission president on July 1st.  Then we were bused for another zone conference into Curitiba with the new president and his family for our first meeting as part of the new Brasil Curitiba Sul mission. 

Do you think this photo was a little unorganized?

After this group photo everyone wanted individual photos with the Cordons. 

Elder & Sister Fernandes - our new mission president - 1 July 2013
They had us on a bus to Curitiba for a Zone Conference on the 4th of July.

We have found the Auxiliary Training by the Brazilian Area Presidency that is available to us online to be inspired.  Along with sharing a packet containing their talks we are also trying to inform the leaders by showing films of the General Auxiliary trainings and World Wide Leadership Training. The topics of our sacrament meeting are from the talks giving in General Conference since most of the members only watched one session of conference. For many in the area even that was a first. They are not feasting on the words of the modern day prophets. We were fortunate to have good attendance at the latest missionary broadcast because of the efforts of Elder McKinney to obtain the equipment necessary to show these broadcasts.

Elders McKinney, Fereira, & Santos Silva with Beto. They have been working on the leaking roof of our courtyard and
baptismal font. When Elder befriended Beto he challenged him to be baptized and he has invited us to Londrina on
27 July for Elder McKinney to baptize him so that we can go to the temple next year with him before we leave.

Elder McKinney is at this moment on the roof of our chapel with Beto, who is the assigned repairman for the whole area, fixing the many leaks that we get when it rains (a daily event). He has been instrumental in helping to branch to get a new working piano for the chapel.  They will be coming to take away our old organ that frequently shorted out while I was playing in sacrament meeting. They have also promised us an old projector so we can quit borrowing one from a non-member for our broadcasts. In a separate batlle we have also have to fight to get our materials for the youth program delivered to us – here – and on time to be used-- instead of to Guarapuava or Irati where we have been routed to before.

We have a break from seminary for the month of July – scheduled by the area here since many of the schools have holidays. (Remember that it is winter here!) We are making plans to use the time to start up Primary Activity days for the children; they have not had them for years.  We are also hoping to do one-on-one genealogy work and enter data on the computers and in the Family Search Family Tree.  I have spent a bit of time researching the tree and getting up to speed on its use in Portuguese. I am learning a lot.

Elder McKinney took down the
drapes for me to wash mildew out of.

The mildew fight is constant.

This is a good drying day. My court yard
had lots of sun. The tenants upstairs hang
clothes from their windows. 

I am often frustrated by the amount of time it takes me to do laundry and cooking here because of the poor equipment made available to us as missionaries. With no dryer in this humidity, I spend a lot of time working on a batch of clothes that would dry in less than an hour in a clothes dryer.  Often, if the weather is good on our preparation day, I will spend the whole day washing and hanging out clothes.  In the summer it is easier because the intense sunshine dries them in an hour or so. Now, it is colder, rainier, and there are fewer hours of sun -- so everything takes much longer and the frustration comes when I want to be studying Portuguese and I am out hanging up clothes then moving them off the line since it starts to rain at which point they often take three days to dry.  (I can hear Phillip with his tiny violin as he thinks of his clothes in Ukraine drying inside with icicles.)  It does explain why so many of the members come to church in really varied dress, especially those with many children in their family. Sometimes when the boys (from non-member families) come without their white shirts they say things are difficult at home --- this is also another consequence of the weather and lack of modern equipment.

Our oven is so small that it only cooks one pan or tray of something at a time – thus extending the time of meal preparation. Our 4 burner stove won’t hold four pans unless they are very small. Since we are members of a small branch, we take our rotation feeding the younger missionaries weekly.  It takes almost a whole day for me to prepare food that I would make in less than an hour or two at home because of all the juggling I do with lack of counter space, a small sink, no hot water, and the need to clean all the vegetables and fruits with chlorox before their use.  I am grateful for this experience because it helps me to empathize with the sisters here and with my ancestors who dealt with similar juggling acts.

July 8th

On a lighter note I was the chorister instead of the organist in church yesterday since we had no power for our meetings and the chorister didn’t show up. I did really great (I can lead on beat – which is not true of many people here) until the closing song when I was so lost that I went to stop on the second verse and everyone wanted to keep singing and did!  Oh well, I was brave enough to bear my testimony and hope I was understood.  The primary kids were great even though I was the only one with them --- I was presidency, teacher, and music leader. Do you think they still depend on the missionaries to much?

Love to you all!

Musings about May

We walk by this lake often since we have a number of members and investigators out this way!

After returning from the United States our activities returned to normal, which means we teach weekly teclada lessons, hold seminary 4 afternoons a week, visit members, find in-actives, hold family home evenings with them, meet Beto at the church for repairs, try to download auxillary trainings for the organizations in Portuguese, try again, then buy DVDs to make copies for the newly called auxillary leaders, study to teach lessons on Sunday in Primary, Young Women, Young Men, and give talks or testimonies.  A large number of youth attend the temple with the caravan May 1^st along with 2 investigators.

John battles the mildew and dust in our apartment while I bake and wash for the week. Our washer is so small that to keep up with his white shirts, we have to wash two different days a week. Then we have to hope for enough sunshine to dry them before they are needed again. Last batch took three days to dry. The days are getting shorter and the nights cooler here. 

John does upkeep on the exterior of the church – mowing and trimming the lawn, cutting down over-growth etc. with the young men.  The flowers I planted are blooming even though it is the cold time of year here. 

 We had a break one night and projected Mulan on the wall of the church for anyone who wanted to attend – John popped pipoca (popcorn) for a treat. We had a fair turnout and one of the young men is now planning the next show – The Far Side of Heaven.

Some members live a way out - we just
walked up a hill and down this road.

We walk – a lot. Some of the pictures are things that we have noticed in our travels. We have borrowed a car to visit members who live 30 kilometers out of town and share dinner with them.  We have invited members to use our computers to do family history research and purchased family records from the cartorio in town. I had to bone up on the new Family Tree when a new, member calling was issued to be the family history teacher here.  We then stopped to visit with her and help her get connected to her own family tree. 

We had zone meeting in Guarapuava and one unusual reunion in Curitiba. President Cordon invited us to meet with a group of older, returned missionaries that were touring in Brasil. We were both invited to speak to them along with the Cordons and President and Sister Hepworth of the temple presidency.  We arrived in Curitiba while the Cordons were celebrating their anniversary by attending the temple.  Dallin let us into the apartment and showed us WWII battleship made of black Legos.

 One of our best experiences was having sister missionaries for a few weeks; the worst was losing them to go train other sisters elsewhere – they were the best!  Only another month now until we become part of a new mission and have a new mission president. 

Elder/Presidente McKinney gave a blessing to help an investigator with his desire to quit smoking and things are going well for him.

On the home front we are proud of Jay graduating from BYU and Deborah continuing her schooling through the summer after moving their apartment. We are excited to hear where Phillip decides to commence his graduate education after completing this year of teaching Latin and Chemistry. We are very grateful that the tornado in Oklahoma was 5 miles away from Jeremy and that Shaliese’s tornado warning did not materialize even though they have a great shelter at the hospital where Mike works. Daniel is training to run in a marathon and getting into shape and AJ and Cami are caring for our yard. James and Chelsea must be extremely busy with their 5 kids. It was great to talk to everyone for John’s birthday and again on Mother’s Day.  Thanks for the calls. 

Two Weeks in Utah

April was a memorable month filled with special moments. After receiving an e-mail stating dad’s health was deteriorating rapidly, and noting that he probably had only 2 weeks to live, I e-mailed Sister Cordon asking her advice – knowing she had also had this experience. The reply was to get a ticket home on the first flight out of Brasil. It turns out that I also needed permission from the Area Presidency. 

Dad - much healthier at home
than he was at the hospital.

I actually had to gamble on getting permission because I had to be on a bus to Curitiba to catch the flight before the final permission came through from President Costa. So I booked a two week stay with flight insurance, then John and I hopped on the bus for the 4 ½ hour ride, and we were very glad when President Cordon said I had the permission needed. It took a day of travel.  I flew through São Paulo and Dallas, Texas in an overnight flight to Utah where Phillip picked me up at the airport on Saturday.

A little down time from school!

We had a lot of special McKinney family moments. We were able to have a dinner at James and Chelsea’s where we had good food, great visits, and terrific hugs and I got to meet and hold Abigail for the first time. What a doll. We even played a few games. Olivia also had a special birthday and baptism. It was memorable to have all the children and grandchildren together. 

Nine special spirits - aren't we lucky!

When I first arrived Ryan was working with mom and dad to help make sure their finances were all in order. He had to return home & work knowing that he wouldn't see dad again in this world. I will never forget him giving dad a hug and telling him that he would try to be like him.

I was able to stay at Mom and Dad’s home for the duration of my stay. Jeri had chosen to take time off work to care for Dad at home no matter what the time frame was. She is an unbelievable care giver – so kind and compassionate as well as competent. She didn't get much sleep as she monitored his care 24 hours a day and tried to make his life as pleasant as possible. Mom was such a trooper as dad was moved from bed to chair and finally to a hospital bed in the living room and the hospice people became involved.

Dad spent a lot of time in this chair. James & family visit!

I was also very impressed that all of the grandchildren were able to check in with dad, one way or another. In our family, Daniel had flown in the week before me for a brief visit while dad was still alive. He really didn't get to do much since Dad was in the hospital and in a lot worse shape than after he came home and was in Jeri’s care. Jeremy and family were able to Skype with dad and he was miraculously able to hear them and reply. Shaliese came with her kids as did James and Chelsea. Deborah was able to come spend time at their home while AJ, Cami, and Phill had been here all along.

Grandpa Skyping with the Oklahoma McKinneys

The boys talk to Grandpa Smith

Allie and McKenzie and their spouses were so kind and helpful – what a trial for Regan to have to stay home because of finals at school. Jennie who came nightly to visit was able to bring her kids. Jill was probably really grateful for the week she spent with mom and dad when her foot was operated on. And so excited when Tia flew in. Tia was so helpful in many kind and thoughtful ways – I learned a lot. One thing that so impressed me was the way she added a really personal touch when she edited the obituary mom had written. All of Jeri’s kids have always been close to dad - dropping in often. Corinne and her children were at the house before the mortuary came to take dad away.

Jackson and Kennedy at
Grandma Smith's bar.

Shaliese had loaded her two kids in the car and made the drive from Texas in one long day to be able to visit with us and participate in visiting dad and staying long enough for the funeral. She was a real trooper since Jackson had picked up the stomach flu that Mike had the day they left and was not feeling well the whole time they were in Utah. She, Kennedy and Jackson stayed a few days at Grandma Debbie Sermon’s home while Shaliese took her intense 24 hour turn at not being well. They were later able to stay in the bunk room at Grandma Smith’s home.  They liked it so well that they were able to return again in May with the whole family to stay again. 

Mom fixed breakfast everyday!

Because I was at the house I had an opportunity to see many special moments. Deanna Rassmussen, her husband, and family came repeatedly to bring food, treats, and love to mom as her visiting teacher – what empathy and care – from a woman with a large family who was in school full time and taking her finals. I didn't have a hard time returning to Brasil because I knew she would be there to continue to look after mom.

A windy cold day - but the grass was green!

Dad was pretty much confined to bed for the last few days but when Jeri noticed the weather was pretty good, we were able to dress him warmly enough to go out and see the great job of lawn care that had been provided. Ryan was so inspired to hire a crew to do the cutting, trimming, etc. so that Dad wouldn't worry about mom.

Jeri talks dad down the ramp

 Then he followed through by getting some women to come in to help with housework. JaeLeen was scheduled to fly in on Friday. She let us know that she didn't need dad to hold on waiting for her to come. I think that thought, the lawn service, and mom’s loving comment whispered into dad’s ear that she didn't want him to be in pain anymore were the things that made it possible for him to finally leave us.

Bishop Warburton hugs mom at the graveside.

 This whole time friends and neighbors were in and out bringing food and love and checking on mom and dad. The last visit was from Bishop Kendall Warburton who stopped by the house on his way to work on the morning of April 11^th. He took one look at dad and mom and said, “I’ll be back!” He went home and changed into a suit, and returned with his counselor to give dad a blessing of release. That is all that was needed. It was only a few hours before dad peacefully passed away. 

Young photo for obituary

When Jill, Jeri, Jennie, mom, and I went to Anderson mortuary on Friday to plan, they thought we would be looking at a date toward the end of the next week for the funeral and were surprised at our choice of Monday. However, mom was prepared and things fell into place as we planned the program and had the newspapers print the obituary. 

Dad

Jeri was again a real trooper as she finally returned to her home for a few days before the funeral and pulled together all of the collected photos to make dad’s slide show and give a talk on top of that.  Jill did amazing things with coordinating all the music and being able to perform at a time when most people break down crying. She had helped gather together a book of cards, thoughts, and messages sent to and about dad.  Ryan was able to distill gospel principles clearly in a very short amount of time and helped outline our program into one that didn’t last for hours as it could have with us all talking about dad. JaeLeen was great at remembering dad and his personality. Jennie added a fresh perspective about being the youngest that had me thinking and all of this while setting up her new home with her husband away in Italy making a film.

We Love You, Dad!

Bowen in front of Grandpa's casket.

JaeLeen and I were able to pick out flowers for the casket as well as a spray from all of us children at Sweat Pea. We arrived there a few minutes before closing on Saturday afternoon … on the day of AF Prom…. and were treated like royalty …. Even though the selection of flowers was depleted because of prom and the manager had to come in special to have the arrangements done for the viewing.

Mom and family were always most important!

Sheepman, Soldier, and Supervisor -only a job to dad!

Then I watched as JaeLeen pulled pieces of our memories of our dad from barrels in the garage and drawers in the home as well as pictures off the wall to tell a story of his life in a magnificent display that was set up first in the basement of mom’s home and then at both Anderson Mortuary for the viewing, and later in the 9^th Ward Scout room for people to see as they waited in line to express condolences.

Dad's Life story & his scriptures tell a lot. 

Jeremy and his boys were able to fly in for the funeral and stay at the McKinney home. He helped mom and JaeLeen pull dad’s belongings from boxes, barrels, and chests. While there he learned that Karissa’s car had broken down in Texas on her way to drill and had to rent a car to return home. Mom graciously offered to lend him the green car to help them out of a bind while he and Karissa completed their semesters in law school. So he ended up missing more days of school as he drove instead of flying home.  [Since we were later able to purchase this car from mom—he will return it to Utah so it can be used by others when he is able to replace the engine in Karissa’s car.]

Dad was responsible for quite a legacy - can you imagine offering to feed all these people on fast day?

I was glad he was here to help arrange people for the photo that Mom asked Shaliese to take. Jackson was still sick and clinging to Shaliese, who likes taking photos of places more than people. Between the two of them and everyone’s patience we got a pretty good impromptu picture of so many people with the mortuary as a backdrop – just before we started the viewing.

It was such a privilege to have so many McKinney family members together at one time.
Thanks to James for taking this photo!

The funeral was tough for me. How do you fit 83 years of a busy life into a 5 minute life sketch? The highlight for me was the grandkids singing Love is Spoken Here. The men singing “Mine is a home where every hour is blessed by the strength of priesthood power….” with such power and conviction – just blew me away as I thought “How true!”  

The Smith name and tradition carry on!

Ryan gave a beautiful blessing at the dedication of the grave. 

The military rites were really touching. 

The ward had made a special luncheon and allowed us to visit with relatives. I haven’t mentioned how helpful and kind all of dad’s siblings were. Reva and Connie both brought food and love to the house and there were flowers sent in beautiful arrangements from them all. It was good to have a chance to visit with them.

 Mom, JaeLeen and I were able to drive to several monument places to get an idea of what was wanted for a headstone to be placed on the grave. With ideas in mind, and expressed to Shaliese, who was then able to design several options for mom to choose from, mom was able to order the monument quickly. The people at Nu Art Memorial Company in Salt Lake were then able to redesign or re-define the mountains of Timpanogos and the rocking R and make a beautiful headstone in time to be placed for Memorial Day.

 

I know I have left out many of the beautiful and touching experiences that we had with dad – some because they were too close to the heart to share and others because I forgot. I hope as everyone writes their Smith Family News this month that the blanks will all be filled in.  We were blessed to attend a session at the Mt. Timpanogos te

Olivia - newly baptized

mple – mom, Jeri, and I. Then participate in the baptism of Olivia before I flew back to Brasil.

What a privilege to be part of such a great family!