Sad News

On Sunday, June 7th, I called Wendell to wish him a happy birthday. He was surprised to get a call from Brazil. When we finished talking we had a message that Diane's father passed away. Needless to say, that changed our plans for the next few weeks. It also delayed getting blogs completed.

We were scheduled for Family Home Evening for Monday night. Diane led a discussion on the conference talk "The Music of the Gospel" by Elder Wilford W. Anderson which was followed by a cultural activity "Music of Brazil" - a presentation of traditional music from the various regions of Brazil.

During the week we looked at possible travel arrangements for attending Dad's memorial service in Washington state. Elder Costa, the Area President, gave us permission to go. Reservations all came together, so we decided to return to the USA for a week.

On Saturday Elder Hall called and asked if we wanted to go to Praça Republica with them. He was looking for a butterfly tray and there are many booths there on Saturday and Sunday.

Off we go for the outing on Saturday

There was a lot of art on display, but the butterfly man would only be there on Sunday.

Artwork on display at Praça Republica

We decided to try Praça Liberdade where they also have booths. We went through the pedestrian shopping area on the way there.

Elder Hall talking to an angel

Liberdade is the Japanese (as well as Chinese and Korean) section of town. You can even pick out your shrimp before you eat them.

This would make quite a meal of shrimp

My head keeps getting sunburned, so I decided to buy a hat.

New hat from the hat booth

We had lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Liberdade where the servers had trouble speaking Portuguese or Chinese. The food was good, however.

June is a special month in Brazil for celebrating the saints - John, Paul, and Anthony. Different areas of the country celebrate different saints at different times, but it ends up in a celebration called Junina. It's a chance to look to the country life (like Sadie Hawkins). Many dress up as cowboys or hillbillies, eat corn on the cob, and play silly games. Our ward held the activity on Saturday night.

Setting up the food for Junina

 They had a big slide for the kids.

We didn't go on the slide

 The corn on the cob was like field corn and reminded us of Canada.

Yummy corn???

 they also had a lot of other goodies to eat. They liked my hat for the party.

This is your share!

 Not everyone dressed up, but those who did had a lot of fun.

The ladies of Junina

Sunday was our Ward Conference. The high priests were responsible for a special musical number. A group of us sang "Nearer My God to Thee". We actually sang in harmony (I was bass, of course) which is not common in Brazil.