A week of Hosting and being Hosted

We started off our P-Day with some wash and intent to shop for storage/filing type furniture to use for books and paper in the office.  We got an early morning phone call saying that the Elders would be needing someone to meet them at the bus stop and help be with them as one would leave and another be left alone for a period of time.  What ended up happening is.... We visited with Elders Smith and Reeves until Elder Reeves left just as Elder Een got off the late bus and he and his companion, Elder Smith were stuck at 11:30 a.m. waiting for a 4:00 p.m. bus to Irati.  Soooooo .... We had the Elders over for lunch.  Did I tell you that Elder Een came off the bus with a guitar, 3 pieces of luggage and a backpack?  They gladly walked the mile to our apartment.  We spent a few hours getting to know them, cooking lunch, listening to some great primary songs with background guitar accompaniment and learning about Elders Een and Smith.  They both have musical backgrounds. Elder Smith was a drum major for an Idaho Band at the same competition in Idaho where AF performed and then had a tragic bus accident.  Elder Een is from Ivins in southern Utah.  When they found out we had internet, they stayed a little longer to e-mail their reports to President Cordon and then e-mail their families before they were off to Irati.  

We had seen several churches in our walks and decided to get photos on Friday, October 12th when everything was closed for the holiday here. 

We took our own bus ride on Tuesday the 16th.  Upon arriving we then took a long taxi ride to the apartment of Brother and Sister Beihn (pronounced Bean).  They were so gracious and fed us many meals during our stay. Sister Beihn is dealing with a broken foot and is apartment bound until they leave for home next month.  They gave us many helpful hints, showed us apps for the i-pad, gave us three keyboards to take for me to teach piano lessons to the members, and took us to the mission office for supplies. Tuesday afternoon was pretty open so we attended our second temple session  in Curitiba after another long taxi ride. We were again the witness couple.  They do not get many couples during their sessions.  Elder Heppworth was very kind to me in the Celestial Room and urged me to be patient about learning the language.

Wednesday we went to the mission office in the morning but the afternoon was taken by a rather long bus ride to the Policia Federal to get permission to stay in the country.  Elder Valdez very patiently shepherded us through our bus ride, paperwork, fingerprinting, and return to the mission office.  On the way back we had a copy of the paperwork notarized to be sent to Sao Paulo for safe keeping. That stop took over an hour and we ran errands while waiting for a number to come up.  Then we arrived at the mission office to have our papers laminated and had some laughs with the office Elders as they wrapped our hard won paper work around the laminating machine.  After much time and taking the machine apart, they pried the papers off the machine, peeled the laminate off, re-laminated the somewhat shredded papers and then reheated them and they don't look too bad!

We finally got back to Beihns for a late supper and preparation for an early morning (5:30 a.m.) taxi ride to the bus station for a bus ride to Ponta Grossa for the Regional Missionary training conference.  I was supposed to play the piano but when we arrived at the station the bus had gone at 6 a.m. instead of 6:30. We called ahead to let the Zone leaders know we might be late.  We were able to make the bus ride in record time, get a tax, and walk into the chapel at Ponta Grossa just as the meeting was to begin.  We prayed, sang an opening song, and heard our names announced as bearing testimony as the program began. I took a deep breath and bore the limited testimony that I can in Portuguese. Elder Godoy was very kind in giving me encouragement as John spoke.  I later sat by Elder Godoy at lunch and he told me that he travels all we to teach at mission training and weekends for stake conferences.  He commented that it is a very lonely calling as his wife does not travel with him.

After a really terrific luncheon we loaded our suitcase, three keyboards, our temple distribution center purchases (mine included a scripture carrying case -- all they had was a primary one -- so mine is red, yellow and blue!), and ourselves in the van with our Zone to travel back to Prudentopolis. We had a really fun group of Elders with us---The sister missionaries were transferred out on Monday--- so no more sisters in our Zone for awhile.

We ended the week with heavy rain storms here.  Friday after we had laundered all our dirty clothes, we headed off to try and find an open Papaleria, paper store, where we could laminated things I had prepared for Primary. We had also made a contact earlier in the week that we wanted to stop and visit.  It stored raining a little and was quite overcast.  Our walk was out in the direction of the bus station about a mile away. We took our papers and umbrellas and headed out.  The laminating took awhile and it was raining a bit harder when we came out but since we thought we were close to the home we were looking for, we headed out.  After about four blocks it really began to pour and there was no home in sight for either of the people we were to contact in the area.  We ducked into a loja to get out of pouring rain.  As we began to talk to the owner, we realized that we were finally in a large enough store that they had the type of bookshelf/office equipment we needed. While we waited for the torrential rain to abate we purchased two pieces of office furniture.  We finally took of in the down pour to find a bank since the owner didn't take credit cards and needed cash.

That was another experience since none of the ATMs would take our card on a late Friday evening. Our phone wasn't working. I was able to get internet for just long enough to e-mail Philip Gunther at Bank of American Fork who tweaked something that allowed us to get just enough to purchase the furniture.
It was a miracle! The furniture was delivered Saturday morning and the internet was down from the minute we got Philip's answer until late Sunday night. Did I mention all of that wash out on the line when we left to run errands was soaked and we got to start over Saturday morning. What a week"

When we woke up Sunday morning, we found that they had "sprung forward" in their daylight savings program.  Thus we are temporarily four hours different from the western US until they "fall back" when we will be 5 hours different.  There were several families late for church.  The Elders called to see if we would cook dinner for them if they provided ingredients.  They brought meat, cheese, & tomato sauce and wanted Lasagna. We through in carrots, onions, garlic, and some spices and had a dinner that I would not have thought to try. They have no cottage cheese here so the Elders brought a cream cheese that is salted to take it's place. I am constantly learning 

Sunday, October 14, 2012

The Araucaria Tree

Above the rest

Araucaria

Cut through the trunk of the Araucaria
turned to make a nice bowl.

The araucaria tree has two types of wood in the main trunk. The lighter wood is soft much like pine and the inner columns are very hard. As you can see, the tree grows to great heights and normally sheds the lower branches as it grows. When you see an araucaria tree you will notice that it is always taller than its neighboring trees and the lower branches will be shed from the tree to the height of the surrounding trees. This is, presumably, because those branches are no longer useful to the tree since, they are no longer exposed to sunlight. The remaining branches will be long and grow horizontally to increase exposure to the sun’s rays. This long flat branch will be extremely heavy and it is supported by the hardwood in the middle of the trunk of the tree. Since I don’t have a lot of time to study down here, I will speculate that the trunk is made up of the two types of wood so that the branches have the support they need form the hard wood, and the soft wood decrease the amount of hard wood and allows the tree to grow faster and outdistance other trees in its quest for sunlight.

Lunch with Eva Oliveira

Eva Aparecida Pereira de Oliveira, children & missionaries 

We were again invited to a member’s home to meet them.  Eva Aparecida Pereira de Oliveira invited us to her lunch for the Elders. The members here take turns making lunch (which is the big meal of the day) for the elders.  From the schedule on the RS wall it looks like this rotation happens about every 2 weeks.  Eva has 6 children.  As we ate and talked we learned that she was the 1^st member baptized here in Prudentopolis.  She was curious when she saw the missionaries walking by and eventually stopped them and talked with them.  Separately her husband, Julio Jordão de Oliveira, had a dream about two young men coming to visit them.  He is now working away on a farm because there is no work here for him but we met him on the 1^st Sunday we were here.  Ezequiel Pereira Oliveira is their 15 year old son and is active at church, wearing a suit and worthy to pass the sacrament. He is also more than willing to go on visits with the missionaries.  Most of these families are willing to pass out Books of Mormon to friends and acquaintances. 

We attended a funeral for a member’s father Tuesday, October 9th. Nevair Erdmann’s father had died around midnight.  The service was held the same day.  The Lutheran church where the service was held was bright blue outside and a peaceful paler blue inside.  It was packed full to the back were John and I stood. Our walk took a little longer than anticipated and we were 5 minutes late.  The pastor gave a talk mostly from the scriptures and it was technically doctrinally correct, he then played the piano, prayed, and read the obituary. Only one other person participated, a grandchild. The group then loaded up in cars and followed the casket to the cemetery.

We were able to give Neva and her granddaughter, who was un-consolable, a hug. Neva is the only member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in her family. Her mother had died and her father remarried so there is a second wife and step-siblings.  One gentleman stopped and purposely shook John’s hand.  We think it might have been her step-brother who has at times asked about the church and been friendly with the Elders. We saw only one other member of the church in attendance at the funeral to support Sister Neva. Things really happen fast here. We only heard about it because a member had stopped by earlier in the day and told us about the death and funeral. 

Wednesday, we stopped by the house to meet with her and take a salad and dessert. A grandson took it in and put it in the refrigerator but we did not catch her at home.  The missionaries had an appointment during the funeral time yesterday.  They met us at Neiva’s and as their appointments had also fallen through, they came to our apartment for dinner and to finish off the sorbet they had left in our fridge.  They were on their way to Curitiba, a 4½ hour bus ride, so that Elder Hartley could attend the temple there before he returns home next week. 

There are a few other observations to add to this week’s list.  John and I stopped at the local version of the IFA to see what we could buy to cover our window openings.  It does get very hot here.  The windows have no screens. Everything is wide open.  We bought some green mesh and John has rigged some pretty colorful screens for our windows.

The garbage collection is also different here.  There is a small basket on the fence or wall in front of the houses in town.  You take your garbage sacks out and set them in these baskets.  As far as we can tell, about three days a week someone comes by and picks up this garbage.  Most of the sacks are about grocery sack size which makes sense because with no air conditioning, wet things could get stinky pretty fast. 

General Conference in Guarapuava

Monday, October 8, 2012

We were so lucky to have had an opportunity to watch all the sessions of conference and in both languages. On Saturday morning the Elders called early to say that they were hungry and could the come eat lunch with us. We invited them to finish off our chicken soup and some cookies. John helped Elder Affonso try to index before conference and I talked with Elder Hartley about temples while I cooked.  I am already thinking about what conference talks apply to what investigator or member and how it will help them with the problems that they have conveyed to us. Most of the members do not have internet in their homes and so could not watch the sessions at home.

I am still experimenting with cooking.  Shaliese I used your Café Rio recipes on black beans and chicken and they turned out pretty well. We have listened to two sessions of conference.  Our visit to Armando and Evette was preempted as we got to their home because John did not feel well.  

John was able to watch priesthood session early on Sunday morning before we left Prudentopolis.

John walking down our street with a suitcase
We are headed to the church to catch the bus - look at the flowered trees!

We are in Guarapuava as I type this Monday morning.  We have spent the night at the home of Elder Reed Winslow & Sister Joan Merrill Davis. Sunday morning at 11:30 we met at the chapel and we rode on a church chartered bus from Prudentopolis with members of our branch to one of the chapels here.  The other members only stayed for the first session of conference which was broadcast live in both English and Portuguese from 1-3 pm in Brazil.  After visiting with the 4 investigators who came with us, we wished them well as they boarded the bus. We stayed to eat our pre-made lunch of sandwiches and apples. We then attended a 3:30 baptism for an older couple from a branch in Guarapuava.  I was asked to play interlude music between the baptism and confirmation. It was unusual because I was accompanied by an Elder on his violin.  After the baptism, John and I met with a genealogist from the area in the small family history center. {The building itself was large and very nice!} She opened new.familysearch.org  and familysearch.org to show me. I tried to communicate that I was well acquainted with these resources but wanted to know more about local resources available in Brazil (spelled Brasil here!).  She showed me how to order films on line from SLC. I will have to do my own research in order to help members of our branch.

After the second session of conference, which ended at 7 pm here, we rode on a bus (suitcase and all) with the Davis’s to their home.  She had used a crockpot to cook a roast, carrots, and potatoes. Along with a fruit salad and a variety of beverages, we had a late meal and then prepared for bed.  They have a small home and told us how they had furnished it.  They have previously shared some great tips with us before coming and while at their home that will make things easier for us.

The reason that we stayed overnight was we were to participate in the zone conference held Monday morning at another brand new building in Guarapuava.  We got up early to purchase the buns for the sloppy joes that had been requested by the missionaries in the Zone.  I had made several batches of cookies, oatmeal & chocolate chip, to bring. (Apparently they do not have our type of cookie here and they do not have sloppy joes.  Just as an aside, there are only three other American missionaries in our zone. One young lady is from Oregon, Elder Hartley is from Ogden, and there is an Elder from Black Foot who recognized my band bag as being from AF. He was apparently a drum major there the year that we had the bus accident.)

John was asked to give the opening prayer for the zone meeting. I was asked to play prelude and opening and closing hymns.  Due to a mis-communication, Sister Davis and I spent quite a bit of time practicing hymn #146 in the Brazilian hymnal, titled Se a Vida Ë Penosa, which is not in the English hymns. Then we ended up not using it but it was pretty lively and I hope to use it in the near future.

Guarapuava Zone Meeting - October 8, 2012
There are about 10 cameras going off and everyone ran to get in the picture the last minute!!!!

Elders protecting their balloons!

The victory for some came after a great loss!

 Zone conference was all new to me since I had never attended one before.  We sang, had prayer, had announcements about Elder Hartley’s trip to the temple (He is going home next week!), the meeting on October 19^th with Elder Costa in Ponta Grossa, and other things I still can’t understand.

The different companionships took turns teaching about different points in the Missionary Handbook, Elder Davis gave a talk, we had a fun activity with balloons in the Cultural Hall where the Senior Missionaries and Zone leaders played the devils advocate trying to keep the companionships, who were tied together, from  getting converts (balloons) into the church to stay.

Now, what did we learn?

The sisters worked hard!

We then finished the training and had lunch.  Afterward while the Elders and Sisters had some relaxing time, we hurried by bus to the Davis home to take back the leftovers and get our suitcase to return by bus to Prudentopolis. We were so tight on time that a member gave us a ride in his car to the bus station where we met the returning Elders and took a 2 ½ hour bus ride. The chartered bus had taken only 45 minutes to make the same ride.

More Visits & Visitors

Sunday, September 30^th, after church we were invited to have a meal at the home of Sonia Marieade Bahls de Mello, the RS president. I did not know that she was president since we have only attended one meeting and it was fifth Sunday.  I found out later the relationship of all these members. Her daughter, Virginia Mirian Bahls de Mello Mehl and her husband, Renato, who is 1^st counselor in the branch presidency, live next door to her and she helped to cook a meal for us and the Elders.  Their son, Thiago de Mello Mehl, has been the Teacher’s quorum president and he was set apart today as a priest.  He is darling. It is said that he will be the only active priest.  The missionaries have been blessing the sacrament.  Virginia’s daughter, Thalyta de Mello Mehl, is a young adult attending college. Sonia looked at me close after church and told me that I was the only American she had ever met who had dark hair and eyebrows.  She has two sons and their families living in Boston and working on computers.

We found out that Daniel Hiramine Oishi, Elder’s quorum president, who is also the 2^nd counselor in the branch presidency, is married to Dinorah Nair Bahls de Mello Oishi , who is a niece of Sonia’s. Daniel is of Japanese descent but born in Peru.  He speaks Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, and English.  He currently works teaching English.  His mother is 82 and lives with them.  When we dropped into visit one evening she stopped to visit and said she likes me. She is small and shy but reminds me a lot of Grandma Bowen.

The members are quite inter-related and I have to learn to understand the naming system.  It seems that the a young Elder, Anderson Garcez Faccio, straightened out the ward records then left on a mission two months ago and they haven’t been changed since.

Alanna, The Elders, Evette making cookies

Sunday evening was spent holding family home evening at the home of Anderson’s parents, who are not married, and are investigating the church. The Elders brought ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies.  Armando Facchio and Evette are very gracious and warm.  She had made little meat pies, cake, and rolls. Just as we blessed the food it was mentioned that it was her birthday. So we all sang to her.  Apparently she is ready to be baptized but because there is no marriage there are complications that need to be worked out.  He is still working on his smoking habit and is more interested in making sure he makes a living right now. Apparently our picture was on Facebook since President Cordon called that evening saying he had seen it even before we knew about it. 

Faccio Home for Family Home Evening

Monday, October 1^st, was our 1^st preparation day here.  We watched The District. These are Preach My Gospel DVDs that demonstrated principles of planning, finding, and working with members in Set 1 [5 hr. 33 min.]. Set 2 [3 hrs. 50 min.] demonstrates principles of teaching and on extending commitments. These films center around the missionary purpose “to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.” These DVDs follow real missionaries, investigators, and members in unscripted, unrehearsed missionary situations.  We have watched a little before bed each evening and have not completed the whole set yet.

Since we were unable to obtain a Portuguese Bible in the US, we purchase them at the Temple Distribution Center when we were in Curitiba. I have been marking mine and adding the scripture stickers that I had bought in the states. It has helped me to compare the English and Portuguese scriptures and find references for common Bible stories.

Doing the wash is a fairly lengthen process that would have been completed in several hours at home.  The washer is small and cannot take the same size batch as I am used to. It takes about 1 ½ hours to complete the cycle. Since we have no dryer the process of hanging up clothes takes a bit of time.  If the day is hot and the object light weight, it could be dry by time I finish hanging out a load.  If the object is heavy it takes longer. If it is raining or overcast it can take a day or two in this humidity to dry.

Tuesday we again watched the District, did more shopping to get the things we need to store and cook food, clean dishes and clean the house, and then continued to clean mildew from walls, floors, and curtains.  We are able to use our credit cards here to pay for things. There is a 1% international fee for everything we pay.  The current rate of exchange is about 1 dollar for 2 reis.  

Wednesday we met with Daniel, who brought us a member calling list.  His wife, Dinorah, came along. She would like genealogy & temple preparation lessons. She has already been to the temple but felt really unprepared. She is not yet sealed to Daniel in the temple. There are several people who would like temple preparation lessons so we have lined up a class starting Saturday, Oct. 13^th.  We had to wait to get permission from President Elias, which we finally did on the 10^th.  We also have several interested in piano lessons but still do not have the keyboards necessary to do that.  The organ at the church is not a good instrument since some of the keys do not work and it is not a full range. We also fed missionaries as they brought several maps and helped locate the homes of the members and then talked about members, their activity, and their needs.

Michalina was the only member to pass us her phone number the 1st Sunday we were here. We called and ask if we could meet with her family. She invited us for Thursday morning.  We met with Paulo Henrique & Michalina Baliski Bonfim and their sons, Thiago and Otavio.  We talked about Paulo’s health.  He is on dialysis for a bad liver.  For the last couple of years he has been unable to work because of his health.  He goes into another town on the bus 3 days a week for treatment.  He then goes to a larger town once a month to be checked by a doctor.  

 

Elders Affonso & Hartley, with Michalina
after lunch & a message.

He has done this for the last three years and even though he is only 39 he is not on a donor list. They, however, seem to be fairly self-sufficient as they have a large garden and raise their own chickens. She walked us through her garden of vegetables, fruit and herbs. I could see where our meal came from.  There is clear evidence in their humble home of church activity. When you enter there are pictures on their brick walls and church music in the background.  She told me how they read the scriptures together every morning. She wants to work on her genealogy with me. She is the first of Ukrainian descent we have met.  The boys left for school while we were still there.  They attend school for 1/2 day  for five 50 minute blocks starting at 12:30 each afternoon. They were uniforms to school. The boys are happy and healthy and active in their quorums.             

Paulo, Michalina, Elder & Sister McKinney,
Elders Hartley & Affonso

Noite do Cinema - Friday, 5 October 2012:  The missionaries had rented a space to watch “The Restoration” (John found it on lds.org) and had invited members, investigators, and friends to attend. We listened in Portuguese to this beautiful film. Afterward we, all four missionaries, bore testimony of the restoration to these good people.  Many youth, 3 adult women, the Elder’s Quorum president, and 2 investigators participated. 

Prudentopolis Branch

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Entrance to the church

This was our first day at church and there were about 40 members and investigators there. 

Senior Primary Room

The range of activity in the Branch is varied just like it is at home and the knowledge of the members is widely varied also. 

Junior Primary

For this post is will simply give information about the church and we will tell about members as we become better acquainted with them. The church is a house that was converted and used as a school and then purchased by the church.

Relief Society Room

Proceeding down a very narrow hallway we find the Relief Society Room (kitchen) 

Young Women Room

and the Young Womens Room.

The door on the left is the entrance
to the Priesthood meeting room and
the window is in the chapel
(there is also a door in the chapel,
not shown)

There are several other rooms in the main building that are used as the Branch Presidency Office, storage and other classrooms. 

The Chapel

Next we proceed out the back to the chapel and one more classroom that  serves as the Priesthood Meeting Room.

The last feature is the "Salao de Futebol" that is in the back of both buildings.

Also not shown, because I couldn't open the door to the

storage room, is the Baptismal Font, which is a small,

plastic pool about 3 and a half feet deep and
7 feet in diameter that can be moved for the service.