A bonus day in Recife

Because we came back a day early from our trip South 

we had a bonus day with the rental car to see some sites in Recife. 

We decided to drive out to one of the great Recife museums.

The Brennand Armament Museum is marvelous. 

The building housing the collection is a replica of a medieval castle.

Over the years Brennard collected knives, swords, 

and all types of mid-evil armament.

The grounds surrounding the museum are equally impressive.

 In places like this you  forget for a moment 

that you are surrounded by millions of people, 

cars, high-rise apartments, and busy streets 

crowded with cars and vendors.

We could have sat in these surroundings for hours, 

it was so peaceful.

There must be hundreds of different kinds of palms in Brazil.

The Brennard Art and Sculpture Museum is located in the same park.

I usually carry the camera but Vernon got this shot off.

In the outdoor walk ways I could take photographs of the art.

The cafe is charming

The grounds are filled with sculptures.

When ever we visit museums we usually see groups of students

Five exact replicas of Michel Angelo's David 

were commissioned, because the original is deteriorating.
This is one of the four that was not selected to replace the original.

The third building behind the sculpture is used for receptions

It use to house the pottery that is in a different location.

We posted photos of our visit there last April.  

Vernon/Grandpa always finds someone to talk to. 

He is very out-going in Portuguese!

The water throughout the park added

to the peacefulness and serenity we felt

Imperial Palms line the road leading in and out of the park 

Temple closed form April 5 through April 21

Here we are on the beach at Maceio, 

it is about 4 hours south of Recife.

 We were invited to go on a road trip during our two week break 

with another couple serving at the Recife Temple. 

Elder Anderson has a Brazilian drivers license 

and they had planned to drive around the Recife Temple district

visiting the towns where many of the Patrons come from.

Most cities on the beach have a big open air markets

 that cater to tourist

after a while it all starts looking alike

The beaches that we have seen in Brazil are beautiful 

and generally quite clean. 

Here in Maceio they have a lovely walk way that extends for miles. 

Sister Anderson and I walked for an hour or so along the beach 

planning to meet up with Layne and Vernon at the point. 

We got our points mixed up, however, 

and ended up waiting for an hour or so in the dark

at the end of the walkway under a street light until they found us 

Here is the car that we drove around in 

and the hotel where we spent our first night.

We drove through many little towns

stopping along the way to eat, take pictures, and stretch our legs

Even in the big cities you will see horse drawn carts

on busy streets filled with cars

I love taking pictures of clothes lines

There is a lot of cattle ranching in Brazil.

These white Brahma are typical. 

You often see little homes along the roads
with fruit,vegetables, or handmade items for sale.

A lot of people leave the country

 to try and make more money in the big cities.

These people often are the ones that live in the poor housing

 you see all over Brazil

We ended up driving back to Recife at the end of our second day out. We had heard that April was not the high tourist season so we did not make reservations ahead of time. We stopped in three towns along our route only to find that there was "no room in the inns"  By now it was 8:30, so we decided to just drive back to Recife

We still had lots of munchies in the car to keep Layne awake. We also kept him awake by answering open ended sentences like: If I were to write a book it would be about. . . , The thing I remember most about my childhood is . . . , Knowing what I know now . . . etc. (my friend Geri had sent me 100 of them) We kept the conversation going until we got into Recife at about 11:30 P.M. Everyone enjoyed learning more about each other and we vowed to make reservations for our trip North.

The summer break from school is over here in Brazil but the youth still come to the temple on Saturdays.

We had fifty young woman in the 9:45 A.M. session and 25 young men in the 11:00 A.M.

Then the girls dryed off and come back again at 1:30 P.M. 

The boys returned at 3:15 P.M.. 

Sealings take place throughout the day on Saturday. 

In Brazil you have to get married civilly first then you can be sealed in the temple.

The fountain is a favorite spot for photos and for the kids.

Sometimes the kids can not resist and jump right into the water.

Of course the guards remind them that the fountain is not for wadding and splashing in.

The  built up ground around the fountain is the second most favorite spot for the kids. 

They roll and slide down them and get very adept at dodging the sprinklers 

that come on automatically on the back side of the grassy knolls 

Playing tag around the grounds is also something the kids love to do when their parents are in the temple

The temple has the best grass I have ever seen in Brazil. 

The gardeners work six days a week to keep the grounds beautiful.

These boys have been here for a week. 

They are from Cabo Verde Africa. and were sealed to their parents

Young and old enjoy the benches that are placed throughout the grounds

The walls around the garden areas also provide a lot of seating

and of course the mango trees provide a lot of shade

Coming to the temple in Recife is definitely a family affair.

Often times couples take turns tending the kids so they can attend as many sessions as possible.

 Many of these wonderful people are only able to come to the temple once or twice a year 

so they stock up at the distribution center.

Some, like the families from Cabo Verde, may only get to come once in a life-time.

 This Saturdays we had six bus loads patrons. We were worn at the end of the day, 

but it was a good day.

Festa Junina is a big party in Recife

Festa Junina lasts the whole month of June in Recife. 

They stack piles of wood along many of the streets 

and on June 24th celebrate with large fires. 

It is similar to Sadie Hawkins day in the States. 

Young and old dress up like hillbillies

 with plaid shirts, straw hats, pig tails or braids and mustaches.

This was our wards celebration of the holiday.

Our bishop and his wife, Flavio and Rebecca Escobar, love to party and this was a fun evening with a great turnout. Bishop Escobar is also the temple recorder

We fell in love with Elder and Sister Luis. They just finished their mission here at the temple and will be greatly missed. The young sister missionary also just left. She is from Argentina. She met and developed a friendship with a missionary from Brazil going to serve his mission in Argentina, while they were in the Missionary Training Center. 

This holiday celebrates with lots of corn on the cob, corn bread, sweet corn soup, and pop corn. There were all kinds of other food like chicken stroganoff, rice and beans, fruit, cake and milk pudding.

We bought hats at the market and tried to get into the spirit of the festival.

There was a live band that played non stop for the whole evening. The whole ward family came as well as many less active members, investigators and other people from other wards. It reminded me of the old days in Boise when I was growing up and my parents took me to ward dances throughout the stake.

Here are our wonderful senior sister missionaries

 g

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I am dancing the Virginia real with sister  Gala Hansen.

We love the sister missionaries, Sister Maxwell is from Michigan. We have them over for dinner once a month. They are terrifc missionaries. Since we have been in the ward they have had at least two or three baptisms a month. They brought investigators with them to the celebration

There is a park right next to the church where there was a celebration also going on.  This one was sponsored by the City of Recife.

 They have dance completions all month long in the parks.

We walked over and watched for a while during our wards celebration.