First Training Excursion

We just returned from Ribeirão Preto where we had our first training event. We spent the week getting ready and celebrating more birthdays. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we usually have exercise. It helps to stop for a few minutes to move our muscles.

Exercise time

We enjoy it when families come by to visit the office. On Wednesday Henrique´s family came by.

Enrique with wife Tatiane and daughters Alice and Rebeca

Wednesday evening we had a birthday party for Sister Hale. We gathered at DaPaula´s apartment for cake and ice cream (including gluten-free). 

Elder and Sister Hale

The group

Emerson had his birthday on Friday so more cake (not gluten-free, but they had some chocolate for me). 

A sparkler for a birthday candle?

Sister Wheeler honored with the first piece of cake

This weekend we had our first formal training in Ribeirão Preto. Our traveling companions were Paulo (supervisor at ICS), Helemã (volunteer at ICS), and Breno (Paulo´s son). 

Packed up and ready to go

Ribeirão Preto is in the interior of São Paulo state, about 318 km from São Paulo and takes about 3.5 hours by car. We were glad to have Paulo as the driver and Helemã with the GPS as a navigator.

A long road, but beautiful countryside

 We arrived in Ribeirão Preto about 10 am. We were able to check into the hotel, but not go into our rooms yet. The let us have the buffet breakfast, however.

Breakfast in Ribeirão Preto

We then went on to the Ribeirão Preto East Stake (there are two stakes in the city) to prepare for our training.

Ribeirão Preto East Stake Center

 Our first step was to set up for presentations in the high council room and in the chapel (the two rooms with air conditioning).

Setting up in the high council room

We were invited to give training at the Ribeirão Preto Coordinating Council which consists of the Area Seventy (Elder Pinto), eight stake presidents, and the mission president. The stake presidents came from stakes that are up to 327 km away. A 2-hour lunch was planned to let them arrive any time during the lunch. We sat across from President Goes from the São José do Rio Preto Stake (205 km away). His daughter dated Elder Araujo (before his mission, of course) and his first missionary companion was Elder Grahl Baptista´s father. We worked with Elder Araujo and Elder Grahl Baptista in Salt Lake. It´s a small world.

Talking with President Goes at lunch

 Our first training was to help the stake presidents understand what technology is available for them to use in the church and the need for calling a technology specialist for the stake.

Sister Wheeler training the stake presidents

 The second training session was for technology specialists and stake clerks. Only one attended, but it gave us a good chance to try out the training. It was a long way to travel for the others.

Valter  (right) with the training crew

After the training we went back to the hotel and settled into our rooms. Brazilians like to eat late so before dinner we went to get a swimming suit for Breno so he and Helemã could go swimming in the hotel pool. It looked tempting, but they said the water was very cold. We then went to a "Shopping" (mall) and found some dinner about 9 pm.

Swimming pool at the Oasis Hotel in Ribeirão Preto

On Sunday we went to visit other chapels to learn more about how technology is used in the church. We started with the Vila Virginia Ward in the Ribeirão Preto West stake. It is the oldest and smallest chapel in the city. The classrooms are separated from the chapel.

Vila Virginia Ward building

 We interrupted the missionary coordination meeting they were having with the bishop. They were gracious enough to take a break and show us around. I won´t bore you with all of the pictures and explanations of the technical systems in the building.

With the bishop and missionaries

We then went to the Planalto Verde Ward, the largest in the stake. It isn´t the stake center, but has the satellite system because it´s the largest building. 

Satellite dish in back of the chapel

Planalto Verde Ward

 The power was out in the building (actually the whole neighborhood), but we were able to see the equipment in the cabinets even though we could not test anything.

No electricity doesn´t stop the primary

We were able to get some good views of Ribeirão Preto. It was a nice city. We liked the way the tiled houses swept up the hillsides.

Ribeirão Preto

Tile houses

We then went to the Américo Brasiliense Branch about 30 km outside of Araraquara. The chapel was a house made into a small chapel. 

Américo Brasiliense Branch

This was a chance to check the level of technology in a small branch.

Carrier pigeons?

 It was a very friendly branch. We stayed there for sacrament meeting.

Branch members gathering for sacrament meeting

 It was Mother´s Day. The girls made flowers for their mothers. One of the girls gave her flower to Sister Wheeler (with her mother´s permission, of course). Is´t that just like mothers?

Mother´s Day flower

One of the reasons we stopped at the branch was that we noticed through church software that their Internet was not connected to the firewall. Paulo came to the rescue and fixed it.

Now why isn´t the Internet working?

It must need crawling on the floor!

I felt like I was back in the olden days of my Brazilian mission.

Is there a cost for horse parking?

It seemed like a long ride home. I´m glad Paulo did the driving. We passed a lot of sugar cane fields.

Sugar cane

At times I wondered about the GPS. Was it really taking us on the shortest route?

Passing Rio de Janeiro?

Passing New York?

We stopped by a refueling station alongside the tollway for a late lunch. There was a big fire across the road (cane burning?) which added a little ash to the food. 

Smoking on Sunday

Three hungry boys

A queen in the garden

We ran across the bat-mobile. It would have been a faster way to get home. 

They seem to like this car!

We got back into São Paulo in the evening as it was getting dark and starting to rain. We were glad to be home before the rain caused flooding in the streets. We were tired, but we are certain Paulo was even more tired.

Don´t worry, he survived!

A Visit by an Apostle

I missed creating the last two blogs because I couldn´t get pictures from the camera to the computer. It connects by Wi-Fi which stopped working. For this reason you will get two blogs in a row (Yes, I finally found out how to get them on another computer).

This was an exciting week (April 27 - May 3). We received visits by several general authorities. We had our Family Home Evening as usual on Monday, but it wasn´t like others we have had. Bishop Caussé of the presiding bishopric and his wife gave our lesson. It was kind of them to take time out of their busy schedule to visit with us. They brought a wonderful spirit with them.

Bisho and Sister Caussé

On Tuesday Bishop Caussé gave a devotional for all of the church employees. He talked about the church needing to simplify as it gets larger. We received several ideas that will help us in our call as technology specialists here in Brazil. As part of the devotional we were able to see the first showing of the new video of the church "Sealed Together: The Manaus Temple Caravan" It told the story about members of the church in Manaus giving all they had to make an 8-day journey (half by boat and half by bus) to be sealed in the São Paulo Temple. Now there is a temple in Manaus.

Click here to see the video

Wednesday night was the big night - the 1st Celebration of Religious Liberty.

Brazil: one voice for the world

According to the Pew Research Center, Brazil is listed as number one in having the fewest regulations restricting religious freedom. The United States comes in about number eight. The celebration was held in the São Paulo Mosque, the first in South America.

São Paulo Mosque

Elder Hall was one of the major organizers of the event, which included many different religious traditions, including Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.

The Wheeler´s, Zaugg´s, and  Hall´s

 Our little senior missionary choir had been practicing for the occasion, but we were preempted at the last minute. It was a good thing, however, because we were preempted by Liriel, a popular Brazilian singer who had soloed with the Tabernacle Choir. We were able to have a nice visit with her while waiting for the event to start. She is delightful.

Liriel with Elder Wheeler

It was interesting to hear the different points of view of the speakers, including a chanted prayer, but there was a common theme that we are all children of God and should work together in spite of differences in belief. The highlight was the keynote speech of Elder D. Todd Christofferson, an LDS apostle. His speech was in Portuguese.

Elder Christofferson meeting the Imans

On Thursday we went through a temple session on Portuguese. It was like going through for the first time. Wagner´s 12-year-old daughter came by to see him in the office so we were able to meet her.

Wagner and Leticia

Friday was another national holiday - Labor Day (Andrea´s birthday). They actually call it Worker´s Day, but no one works. We started the day with a pancake and maple syrup breakfast at the Zaugg´s. We still need to perfect the gluten-free pancakes in Brazil. We then went to the Feira. It´s a lot of fun to interact with the people there as we buy fruits and vegetables.

Paula - the fruit vendor

Marco sells potatoes

In the afternoon we attended a missionary conference with Elder Christofferson. Everyone had the opportunity to pass by and shake his hand. He told us that sometimes we may not get an answer from the Lord on what direction we should go. We should get started the best way we know how and the Lord will let us know if we are going in the wrong direction.

On Saturday we stayed in the apartment to catch up on a lot of odds-and-ends that we have not had time to do. In the evening we had a special couples conference (for all couples in Brazil) by Elder Christofferson. Our senior missionary couple choir was able to sing "I Am a Child of God" in Portuguese. It went very well. We really enjoyed the informal, candid way Elder Christofferson led the conference. 

We decided to attend the São Paulo 5th Ward (it´s where we actually live) for our meetings rather than the Morumbi Ward which is smaller and where the other senior couples attend. In the evening we attended a devotional at the CTM. Elder Hall was the speaker for the missionaries in the CTM. They are young, but have a special spirit about them.

As I said, this has been a special week with general authorities. We had some type of activity every day.

It's like pulling teeth!

Brazil has a national holiday on my birthday - Tiradentes Day (pulling teeth day). Joaquin José da Silva Xavier (called Tiradentes because he was a dentist) was a patriot of the Brazilian independence movement. Each year they celebrate the day he was hung, quartered, and had his body sent to the four corners of Brazil. They call it Tiradentes Day which is easier to say than Joaquin José da Silva Xavier Day.

Several in the office took Monday off as well, so we decided to do likewise. We went to Livraria de Cultura (bookstore) to see if they had any good books. We got a São Paulo tour book and a new dictionary (ours is well worn).

Sample a book before you buy

We surprised everyone by going to the office later in the afternoon since we had Family Home Evening at 5:30 there.

Tuesday was Tiradentes Day so we went to the zoo as a group of senior couples. Getting there involved watching reflections of buildings while waiting for a bus ride, a bus ride, three metro rides, and another bus ride. 

Modern example of Cubism art form

Bus ride (with the Hales)

Metro ride (the uncrowded leg of the trip)

Another bus ride

 Because it was a holiday all of the 22 million plus inhabitants of São Paulo were going to the zoo. The traffic was worse than San Jose, California during rush hour (why do they call turning a road into a parking lot a rush hour?). While we were on the bus we had a real downpour. Once we got there (3 hours after starting a 20-minute car ride on a normal day) the rain had stopped and we had a nice day.

Rainstorm on the bus

We really had a good time. We had lunch and saw a lot of nice animals.

Turtles and crocks

Monkeying around

Behold the hippopotamus 

Bengal tiger

A Mormon Missionary

The fish was this big!

 As part of the zoo we had a dinosaur exhibit with animated dinosaurs.

Watch out! It's the dinosaur's hatchday

Do I dare go in there?

Sure, it's no big deal

Unless he eats my companion

 It took a lot less time returning home after the zoo. My birthday dinner was "pomanha" a typical Brazilian dish made out of corn meal wrapped in corn husks.

Have some pomonha

 We also had a Brazilian version of strawberry-banana pie (tastes better than it looks).

This is not a birthday cake

My brother, Richard sent me some gluten-free licorice that arrived in time for my birthday. I also got some American Cheetos (they have gluten in them in Brazil) and a Meet the Mormons DVD from the family.

Birthday gift

I also got a birthday card from the grandkids and a lot of Facebook birthday wishes.

My birthday card - crazy bunch!

On Thursday Elder Hall came by with a request. He was asked to give the devotional at the CTM next week and asked if we could make a Power Point out of a talk by President Hinkley. I turned it over to Diane to do. By the end of the day she had it ready in three versions - English, Portuguese, and Portuguese with no quotes so he could choose the version he wanted to use. His response  to her email with the Power Points was "WOW". He was so surprised how professional it looked and how quickly she did it that he said he cried. I have a great companion who can do anything!

On Friday we took off a little early and went to a produce market down the street to get some fruits and vegetables. We then got an invitation from the Hales and DePaula's to see "The Avengers" for dinner and movie night. It was sold out so we saw "Fast and Furious" in 3D which started earlier, then ate at a pizza buffet afterward (I couldn't eat it so I got a regular buffet for half the price). 

On Saturdays, after cleaning the apartment, we like to go out and explore the city. The goal this week was to see Liberdade (the Chinatown of São Paulo). Actually it is where more Japanese live than anyplace outside of Japan, but if I called it Japantown no one would be able to picture what it is like - and there are plenty of Chinese there too. There were crowded streets and even more crowded arcades selling all kinds of "stuff". It did have an Asian flavor to it, but nothing like Tokyo and Beijing.

Everyone wants to buy something (except for us)

We waited in line for a quick photo in a small garden

This is São Paulo - busy streets and tall buildings

You are now in Liberdade

 We decided to go see the Municipal Market. We passed Sé, the main cathedral on the way. The praça was even more seedy than when we visited a few weeks ago.

Cathedral Sé

 We passed by a house of a wealthy Portuguese family, now a museum. It was fun to walk through.

Museum of early São Paulo

Internal courtyard

A guardian of the streets of São Paulo

 We stopped at another museum that was the actual founding site of São Paulo. We looked in it, but because of time we left it for another day.

Museum of São Paulo

Courtyard by a restaurant

 We walked along 25 de março (they don't capitalize their months), a street known for it's Middle Eastern markets. It was very busy and crowded with people selling all kinds of things on the street as well as in stores on both sides of the street.

Approaching 25 de março

We finally got to the municipal market, which is another busy and crowded place with a lot of wild foods. Everything is indoors. By this time we were peopled out. Maybe all 22 plus million people of São Paulo went to the zoo on Tuesday, but they were all downtown on Saturday. Such is big-city life.

Municipal Market

Does she look like she has had enough?

One section of the indoor market

 It was nice to get home in our peaceful apartment complex. As we entered we saw a man at the top of one of the palm trees pruning off the branches.

Look out below!

Sunday is a nice, peaceful day in our neighborhood. We can even find breaks in the traffic to walk across the street without fear of getting run over.

View of our apartments (left) taken from the temple

With shops closed on Sunday we get a full art exhibit on the way home from church.

Greetings!

 Everything closes down on the street next to our apartments

A row of closed stores

Tonight we had a stake missionary fireside. Current missionaries and former missionaries were asked to attend and wear their name tags. They went around and had everyone tell their names, what mission they served in, and what years they served. We were very impressed with all of the returned missionaries in the stake. Most of them served in Brazil. The church is in good hands in Brazil.