Happy Birthday Seth

I hope you are having a happy day today. Please send me some pictures of your party. Grandpa and grandma Chris. . .love you lots.

beach vollyball Brasil style

These are firemen playing soccer volleyball on the beach right behind the fire station. They build up a little mound of sand, place the ball on top of it and kick it over the net with their foot. The net is a little lower than normal volleyball but the players kick the ball with their feet, hit it with their heads or chests but no hands are allowed in trying to get the ball over the netThis is the fire station with a helicopter pad we could see it from our hotel room in Rio. Our room was on the tenth floor We really enjoyed our time in Rio and especially hearing the waves brake against the shore all through the night. The best "white" sound in the world. Breakfast was provided by the Hotel and for lunch we enjoyed going to the local market and buying fresh baked whole wheat rolls, avocados as big as cantaloupes, oranges, mangoes and bananas. We especially enjoyed eating on the balcony. Watching the wind surfers from our apartment was also great. We decided that the Windsurfing boards must be somewhat like snowboarding boards. Sometimes the surfers are air born when they jump over the waves headed out to sea but the board stays with them. This is a view from the beach with the colorful kites lined up along the shore. The beaches are beautiful here. The general public usually fill the beaches on Saturday and Sunday but Thursday and Friday they are almost empty. This is some of the wedding party on the beach the morning before the wedding This man is fishing with a net. He never caught anything while we were watching and his friends on the pier kept telling him to throw the net out further.

The days we spent in Rio were perfect. We enjoyed every minute of our brief R&R (rest and recuperation) from our missionary work. We were grateful that we were allowed to take the trip. We road the bus rather than fly. I was so impressed with the buses. They have three levels of buses. We took the second level which was very comfortable. The seats stretch out like a lazy boy recliner, leg rests and all. The company provide all the passengers with a very nice blanket and pillow and a box of treats and a bottle of "Guarana", the most popular soft drink in Brazil. They also show a movie. I can't quite imagine what the first class bus offers.

Happy Birthday Isabella Noelle

We hope you have a fun day planned. We miss you and would love to see some pictures of your happy day today.

Family Wedding in Rio . . . what an experience!

Jerry and I had the opportunity to attend the wedding of Ryan Parker and Camila Pereira da Souza. Ryan is the son of Webb Parker my (Vernon`s) cousin. They met when Camila came to the US to work at a ski resort near Lake Tahoe. We received permission to take three days off to travel to Rio de Janeiro. It was a wonderful chance to be with family and to experience a real piece of Brazilian culture.

The man pushing this wheel chair is the partner of the bride`s father, both are MDs. The lady in the wheel chair is the great-grand mother of the bride. She is 97 years old and although she is unable to walk her mind is still sharp. I had a long conversation with her and was fascinated with her memories of the "old days" in Brazil.

All of these photos were taken inside the "Nossa Senhora do Monte do Carmo" Catholic Church in downtown Rio. This church is next to another large Catholic church and I'm talking just a few inches apart. Both were hosting weddings at the same time. We entered the wrong church when we first arrive and didn't even know that there were two different churches there. Both cathedrals were hosting weddings at the same time and we could hear the music through the thick stone walls from time to time.


This is the best man and the brother of the groom along with his wife. He and Danny spent some time together when he came to spend a week or so together when both were young boys. They are about the same age. Everyone who participated in the wedding made the long walk down the aisle and each group seemed to have special music according to the role they were playing as members of the wedding party.
These cute little girls are related to the bride. The little boy is Jack Thomas or JT . He is Kevin's (brother of the groom) oldest and is four years old.Here is the bride and her father are slowly making their way down the long red carpet. Most of the people there were either friends or relatives of the bride's family. Her father, Jose and Camila acknowledged people on both sides as they slowly made their way to the altar.We were amazed at the pageantry, the trumpets and trombones and violins and singers.The actual wedding ceremony was both in English and Portuguese and lasted about an hour and a half. Because of the heavy traffic in Rio the groom and his family and friends which came from the hotel in two vans were late. In stead of starting at 8:00 P.M the ceremony did not start until 9:30 P.M.. There were thousands white flowers everywhere mostly roses, lilies and baby's breath. There were hugh bouquets surrounding the altar, on both sides of the aisle and hanging high up the walls of the cathedral in large ornate vases. After their vows were made a shower of white rose peddles fell from the top of the dome, which was about sixty feet above the altar.After the ceremony was completed, American jazz music filled the cathedral as the couple walked down the aisle to the large doors that opened onto the busy streets of Rio. If you look closely you can see the singer standing in the box half way up the wall. The trumpeters were standing on the benches and everyone was waving to the beat of the music while smiling and cheering for the happy couple. The whole wedding party moved across town to a reception center where another extravaganza commenced. By now it was 11:30 P.M. and we were both tired. We did not take the pictures we wished we had to show you in pictures the amazing celebration. Wine, champagne, horderves, and literally hundreds of different kinds of hand made candies of the most ornate kind greeted us as we entered the reception center. There was a large cadre of waiters serving liquor, soft drinks, juices of every kind and a wide variety of fancy horderves. This lasted for some time before the guests were treated to an elegant dinner There must have been about 400 or more people there. During the whole time lively dancing was taking place on the dance floor. The partying intensified after the dinner when a carnaval style samba band arrived to beat out the same kind of rhythm the Brazilians dance to during their Carnaval Parades. We were some of the first to leave at about 3:30 A.M. The Brazilians loved the dancing and music, but Jerry and I could hardly keep our eyes open.

We came away glad that we had gone, but also grateful for the Gospel, our family and the principle of getting to bed and arising early each day. (We were unable to sleep in. Old habits are hard to break)

Happy Birthday Danny

Thirty-five years you have been on this earth! What a blessing you have been to our family! We love you lots.

Family Home Evening Group

Jan Van Norman is the executive secretary for the Brazil area Presidency. He and his wife had originally been call to the CTM but when they called him to serve in the area offices we were called to take their place at the CTM. Dr. Lindford has served both as the doctor for the CTM and the area doctor at the church complex by the temple. President Woodward has his back to you in the Picture. The leadership here in Brazil is wonderful I took this picture of the temple to show you how beautiful the fountain is. The temple has opened up again and we were able to go last week with the missionaries. We take turns with the Linfords going with the American missionaries on Tuesday. Time before last when we went their were no temple workers that spoke English so I had to do it all in Portuguese. Wow was that ever hard.
Because of the rain the skies are clear much of the time and smog does not seem to be a problem. This is the route we take to get home from the temple and area offices
you see high-rise apartment buildings like these all along the way, mile after mile
The motorcycle riders fill the streets and zip by at high speeds. They fill the space between the six to eight lanes of traffic. If you crowd them they kick your car and sometimes brake off your mirrors. They are the only aggressive part of Brazil that I have observed. The motorcyclist make their living caring mail and packages around the city. The faster they are the more they make. It is rumored that five cyclist are killed everyday in Sao Paulo.

this is the driveway of one home. The plants, wood, stone, and tile that is used in these neighborhoods are just wonderful.
here is the front door of the same home.
Most of the homes have iron gates that separate the home from the sidewalks
this home is where President Faust lived when he was in Brazil and it is rumored that in this home is where the first Black Elders of Brazil were ordained. Missionaries still live here and there are also some mission here. Very few cars in this neighborhood. This man was out walking his dogs. The sisters told me that they go walking in this neighborhood every morning. It is quite, safe and friendly. Many people are out walking in the morning.

On our walk back to the temple complex we encounter this man sound a sleep on the sidewalk. Many people commute from long distances to Sao Paulo for work. People steep when and where they can. I was impressed that he did not wake up and that he did not seemed to be bothered in the least with our walking by.
Here one of the lovely homes in the neighborhood next to the temple
here is another home you can see a tall high rise building in the back ground where many people live and buy apartments
this is the driveway for one home

once or twice a month we get together with the other senior couples serving at the Brazil church headquarters and have a family home evening lesson or an activity which is usually going out to dinner or day it was going out to lunch at a restaurant in the neighborhood that surrounds the temple and the church office buildings
two sisters and one brother is missing. They drove to the restaurant rather than walked because sister Morrell has fallen twice now walking on the uneven sidewalks (everyone here in Brazil is responsible for their own sidewalks--homes and businesses. Many of the side walks are tile and they often have uneven surfaces. The advise to new senior couples is look down while you are walking to avoid falling.
This is a Japanese restaurant in a complex of about five or six other restaurants. The land use to be a nursery and was developed by a member of the church into this complex and restaurants. He use to run them all but now leases them all out except for the Japanese restaurant where we are eating.
Here Vernon/grandpa is talking with the owner. The other two men are the two doctors for all the missionaries in Brazil. Dr. Linford on the left is at the MTC and Dr. Newman serves the rest of the country. We anticipate that Dr. Linford will be replaced by a Dr. Hall sometime before Thanksgiving and we also hear that we will be getting another Doctor so that we have three doctors instead of just two.
We walked to the restaurant. It was delightful to see that there are some very lovely, quite, safe areas where you can walk right in the middle of Sao Paul0