Matt and Drew´s visit

Looks just like them!  It was super fun watching this artist do this caricature of the boys.

The boys and the magestic waterfall (the picture doesn´t do it justice)

In our hotel for a late night pizza fest!  We had fun with Kaitlin (Matt´s friend from Brasilia)

Love this boy!

A really cool waterfall (that we are standing in front of)

Gramado with our boys!

Mission Activities

Grêmio Soccer Stadium
stadium to 1 of the 2 soccer teams here in Porto Alegre.

There are a lot of Mc Donalds here, but not many have salads.  I´ve only seen one (we go to a lot, although we NEVER go there in the US)  It just feels so American!

Sister Macena and Sister Hansen with their recent convert!

We were glad to discover, they have Açaí in the South!  Davis will be the happiest.

We did a split with the sisters to this family.  Dee challenged the father to get himself worthy to baptise his sons.  He didn´t quite make it so Dee was plan B.  (father isn´t in this picture)

Sister Henriques, Chile and Sister Passos, Brazil

Sister Santos (love her accent) she´s from the North

Sister Soeiro

President and Sister Pimentel

This is an awesome family of one of our Stake Presidents in the Mission, President Pimentel of the Passo Fundo Stake (the farthest area in our mission, about 4 hours drive).  This is his wives family, a sister and her kids and her parents (far right) her dad is the patriarch and 3 neighbor kids that they feed every Sunday.  Oh! and a couple of our sister missionaries, Sister Bartels and Sister Silva.  They were so kind to feed us after Stake Conference.

Elder Basset from the Area Presidency and his wife, Angie, did a mission tour.  They stayed with us and it was a great experience.  They helped us so much and inspired our missionaries!  We had 2 gathings of missionaries, one in Porto Alegre and the other in Gramado.  At each location we had a training and a lunch (group photo to come).  The other couple is a Senior Couple, Brother and Sister De Paula.

We stayed overnight in Gramado after the conference and went on the town with Elder and Sister Basset.  This was a one of the many Churrascarias in Gramado!  It was super fun to have Matt and Drew with us and a friend of Matt´s from Brasilia.

Our first group to finish their missions!

We became so attached to this group in just a short 6 weeks.  It was so sad to see them leave the field.  We hope to have a connection with them for years to come!!

Crepes com frutas vermelhas e molho de limão Siciliano.  The dessert we served at the departing dinner of this group of missionaries and one of our favorites......so far!  One of the greated blessings of the mission is when we arrived, I discovered that Sister Campos had hired a couple from one of the stakes in our mission to do the dinners for missionaries arriving and departing from the mission.  This has taken a huge load and worry off my hands!  It is such a blessing to be able to relax a little and just focus on the missionaries with out the stress and pressure of making and serving a dinner.  The price for the service is very reasonable and we have been very satified with their work.  They have done other things for us as well.  They hosted a dinner that we had with all the Stake presidents and thier wives and just recently they prepared all the food for 2 lunches that we served at our mission tour.  That was 2 lunches of 90 + missionaries and leaders!!  

Sisters returning home.  Sister Alverdes (American far right) went home 9 months earley with health issues. 

I think they are excited to have fulfilled a great mission!!  Elder Gonçalves (in front) taking selfie.  He is our Financial Secretary in the Mission Office.  Amazing Elder!! 

Our First Transfer.......receiving our first group of 20 missionaries!

Also a trip to the temple just to visit the grounds.  Our missionaries that are in the close zones can attend the temple on P-Day once a transfer.  The Sisters from farther out zones can go every 3 months.  We feel blessed to have a temple in our Mission!

We took them to have a little tour of the Mission Office.  They also had dinner at the Mission Home.  Our new assistant Elder Martinelli, with Elder Pimenta and Sisters Hoover and Milhomen serving as Sister Training Leader Trainers.
 (front row)

Our first group of new missionaries fresh from the São Paulo MTC.  There are 20 of them.  Sixteen Elders and 4 Sisters.  In this group there are 3 American Elders, 2 Argentine Elders, 1 Elder from Mexico, 1 from British Columbia and a Sister from Ecquador.  All the other Sisters are from Brazil.  Such a nice group!