Elder connecting a new shower head, again! |
This may look like a leaf but in reality is very good camouflage for a moth. |
These beautiful blossoms that we would expect to see in the Spring time at home are coming out in the winter here. |
We were shocked to learn our friend and bus driver had been shot and killed while in Guarapuava waiting for his return trip with some of the university students. Since we have felt fairly safe here it was a pretty big surprise to learn that someone actually put out a "hit" on him. We attended the wake and found a really distraught widow at the "funeral home" (for lack of a better word since it is like a parlor where people stand to view the deceased and comfort the family -- all very rapidly put together since the burial has to be within 24 hours of the death.) When we left, we stopped at the cemetery next door.
This beautiful garden is on our way from home to the church. We just noticed the statue of Mary this past week. |
We have been making plans to maximize our remaining time and wanted to line up a service project for the youth. The young man in charge of the cemetery told us he was also interested in cataloging the information on burials in the Municipal Cemetery. However, he had to get permission for us to do so. The following week he called to let us know who we needed to talk to at their municipal building. We walked there and talked to one gentlemen. He had us make an appointment with another gentlemen who was out of town. We arrived for that appointment the following Monday to learn that he had told his secretary we would need to talk with another department. Then we were told, in essence, our volunteer time would make them bring their records up to date and they are behind two years and did not want to invest the time and money to do so.
Poinsettias are not a small houseplant here -- this bush is big, beautiful and typical here during this season. |
We have walked out to see our Young Women's President with training materials and thought this view was interesting. |
This Ukrainian Cemetery has a lot of European immigrants buried here. None of the records are available online. |
We have been very lucky to be spiritually fed in many different ways over the past few weeks. We traveled to Guarapuava for the setting apart of our new "Sister" missionary. Presidente Lustoza gave her a final interview and then invited the family in to participate in the setting apart. After everyone shared some thoughts, Elder McKinney was able to assist along with her father as Presidente gave her a very special blessing that had us all weeping.
We were thrilled when our friend was baptized but sad the Elder McKinney could not participate in the baptism when he was given 2 days notice of a leadership training in Curitiba with Elder Russell M. Nelson on Saturday, May 24th. [Only stake/district leaders had been previously invited and the invitation to bishops and branch leaders wasn't extended until the last minute!] Fortunately he was able to carpool with our District President from Guarapuava. I was sad to later learn that the wives were invited to attend a session with Sister Nelson at the same time.
Thais, parents, fiance & parents on baptism day, 24 May 2014. It is hard to believe that most of the parents could be our children - thus Thais could be one of our grand-daughters. |
Very few hands don't have fancy fingernails here and these helping hands are pretty true to form. |
This
temple bookmark was the
handout for the Relief Society training session. |
This cute favor from our Primary Training Session indicate that we are the hands of the Lord. |
We have a non-member acquaintance who sells his own honey all over Brasil. Elder McKinney has been experimenting with our honey popcorn recipe so we can take him some. The zone members were recipients of his experiment at our most recent meeting and we have had a lot of them lately. We had District meeting May 20th, and Zone Meeting in Guarapuava, Tuesday May 27th, then district meeting June 3rd. Elder Moura has been good to give us a bit more notice before meetings thus keeping us from rescheduling appointments quite so often and his thoughtfulness has been much appreciated. It is a leadership quality that hasn't sunk in for some of the others.
Our current district minus Irati Elders who are in Curitiba for the day. With a mission district and a district instead of a stake our "district meetings" can be confusing. |
Sister Hermes tried to get us all in the photo at once but didn't have any luck with the timer on my camera. |
We have been praying daily for the recovery of our brother-in-law, Don, at home after finding out about his serious illness. We are grateful for the fasting and prayer that has resulted in the beginning of his recover.
This is pretty typical of the side of the rode. |
These beautiful flowers grow dangling down. There were read and yellow bushes side by side on our way to Evas. |