João Pessoa

We sat on the top level of a double-decker bus to João Pessoa, It was about a 3-hour ride. We were met at the bus station by Figueiredo and Marcelo which took us to the FM office. Marcelo then took us to lunch at Dona Paneira, which was good Brazilian food. After lunch he took us to our hotel to check in.

FM team of João Pessoa

He then took us to walk along the beach down the street from our hotel.

Beach walkers

 We then went to some artisan shops where we bought some cashews and drank coconut water straight from the coconuts.

Two desperados

Bandits Lampião e Maria 

 Marcelo then took us to see different parts of João Pessoa.

Row houses of João Pessoa

Marcelo with the car

 He took us to see a branch that was away from the city in a town called Lucena. We took a ferry to get to the other side of the bay.

On the ferry

Houses along the shore

 While on the ferry a young lady came up and introduced herself. She belongs to the small branch and has to take the ferry every day to Joã Pessoa. She just returned from a mission.

Jennifer and Diane on the ferry

The other side of the bay was very interesting with smaller country houses and landscape.Very different from the city.

Palm trees in Lucena

Houses in Lucena

 We went to an old church, Forte Nossa Sehnora da Guia. They have a festival there every October that brings people from all around. There is also a cemetery next to the church.

Forte Nossa Senhora da Guia

Decorated graves. The Brazilians seem to really like artificial flowers

There were large beds of water for cultivation of shrimp.

Shrimp farm

 We then went to see the branch chapel which was in a renovated house. It was closed, but this is where Jennifer goes to church.

Lucena Branch building

We hurried back to the hotel to change and get to our meeting. On the way back on the ferry we saw a nice sunset.

Sunset over Lucena

Karlos has been on our list as a Council Technology Specialist (CTS) for João Pessoa for a long time, but we never got word that he had been called and set apart for this position. We set up a meeting with him without saying that it was for CTS training. When we got to João Pessoa we talked to his stake president and sure enough, he had not been called. Everything lined up so he was called and set apart before our meeting with him on Tuesday night. Another miracle!

Dancing at the church

CTS Training with Karlos (Kadu)

 Wednesday was our day to visit chapels with the FM group. Marcelo picked us up at the hotel and took us to see the João Pessoa Stake building where there could be a webcast for the Lucena branch.

Transportation for the day - not ours though

While I was checking out the building with Marcelo Diane had the chance to talk to the Gomes´ from the Self-reliance Center. She needs more opportunities to speak Portuguese without my interference.

Self-Reliance crew

 We then went to the FM office and gave them a presentation about working with them for meetinghouse technology. After lunch Marcelo took us to the Santa Rita Stake building where he is in the stake presidency.

Garden in the Santa Rita building. We love this planting strips in the chapels here.

Marcelo letting us in the chapel

On our way back we stopped by Seixas, the most eastern part of the Americas.

Pointer to the east

Forol do Cabo Branco lighthouse

 There was a science and cultural center close by - not much science.

Science Center

 When we got back to our hotel room we changed and walked along the beach.

Part of João Pessoa across the sea

Palm trees along the beach

Fisherman and a boat

 We stopped at a beach-side eating place where we had a pastel (Diane), fries, and tapiocas (carne-de-sol and chocolate strawberry) . They were a lot larger than we expected so we were stuffed. We couldn't finish all the fries. A boy came by begging so we gave them to him.

We were only in João Pessoa for two days, but we really enjoyed it. We also felt good about the training there.

Goodby João Pessoa