We are Home

We spent the week getting ready to go home. Diane especially had a busy week getting in her last report.

Shredding old reports

As we said goodby to Elder Aidukaitis he said he noticed a difference as he visited stake conferences in Brazil with the technology specialists doing more and the FM doing less. Maybe our mission has been helpful for the church in Brazil.

 We had our last Family Home Evening this week. I had the lesson about Brazilian Art. It was fun for me, but may have put everyone else asleep.

Final FHE lesson

They took a group picture at the FHE so we could remember everyone.

Senior couples in the Brazil Area office

After our family home evening they took us out to a farewell dinner at a churrascaria close by.

 They have been working on the sidewalk in front of the temple for months. We wondered if they were going to finish it before we left. It isn't finished, but they paved almost all of it this week.

Sidewalk instead of dirt

Friday was a busy last day in Brazil. We got in the office about 9am and finished up some last-minute work we needed to do before we left. The ICS workers took us to lunch at a restaurant famous for trout. It was very good.

The ICS team

We then had our last Portuguese class, which finished about 3pm. We then went back to the apartment, changed clothes, and loaded up a car with a lot of luggage. Elder and Sister Hale took us to the airport. Because of traffic and several accidents it took us three hours to get there instead of the normal one hour.

A fire along the highway on the way to the airport

We got to the airport then took a 10-hour flight to Atlanta followed by a 4-hour flight to Salt Lake City. Andrea and family were there to greet us and help us haul a lot of luggage to Logan, stopping at Chuck-a-Rama in Ogden for lunch. It is good to be home with the family again.

Today (Sunday) has been a busy day. It started with a 7am meeting with the high council to report our mission. We then gave our talks in sacrament meeting at 11am. Ken and Kate joined us for our meetings and a simple luch afterward. We then had a visit with the Stake President at 3:45pm when we were released. Our mission is now over and fully reported.