Meeting the Elders and Presidente

December 12 Friday
Up early to be ready for the walk to the Rodoviaria (bus station) to catch the omnibus (bus) to go to the Missionary District meeting in Gramado about five miles away (picture on right).  The bus fare is 2.35 R$ (Real is the monetary unit which is equivalent to $2.72 as of today, so the bus fare is about $.80). (Picture of the Rodoviaria on the right.)

The church in Gramado was dedicated in December 2012 (right).   It is three stories high with a small parking garage below and a soccer/basketball court behind (which also serves as parking).  The land prices here are exorbitant (prime resort real estate), so you purchase a small piece of land and build up.  It is a beautiful building.  We arrived (a little late) only to find that the meeting was being held at the Canela building.  So back on the bus and quick walk to the church to join the District meeting in progress. 

The Elders serving in Canela - Hortencia Branch are (left to right) Elder Logo (Chili), Elder Schiavoni (Argentina), Elder Piccini (way southern Argentina), Elder Vargaz (Equador).  What I learned from the discussion was that we must love everyone and learn to look for the positive, not the negative.  The example used was listing the characteristics of a Gaúcho:  orgulhoso (proud), preguiçoso (lazy), independente (independent), mole (soft, non-committal).  Looking for the positive, you find amigauel (friendly), decidido (decisive), fé (faith), and familia (family oriented).  The Elders practiced door approaches in different settings which were fun to watch, even if we couldn’t understand them.  After the meeting, David couldn’t find his keys to lock the church, so he just locked the padlock on the gate around the church.  Walked home in the rain and didn’t find the keys in the apartment door, so he walked back to the bus station to check there, called the bus station in Gramado, and called Elder and Sister Copa (senior missionaries from San Francisco, CA) who live by the church.  Keys nowhere to be found.  David then called the landlord who came to let us in.  (In pictures now - and in the future - you will find my hair in various stages of frizz.  The humidity and rain are causing great havoc!)

Ann had piano lessons to teach in the late afternoon, and we had a meeting with the Branch President, Presedente Anderson.  (We thought Anderson was his last name but later found out that everyone goes by their first name – most people don’t even know the others’ last names.  His last name is Mendez.)  He wanted to get to know us a bit and to request our membership records.  The picture is of Pres. Anderson and his wife, Camilla, who is our Wizard language teacher.  We forgot to take our temple recommends to the appointment, so we walked back down the hill to get them.  On our return, we took a different direction for a change of scenery, and got lost.  Look for the hill, go up it again, and we found the church.  Presedente Anderson is a very soft spoken, humble young man with an exhausting challenge of organizing the Branch.  They have had over 100 baptisms this year, majority of them children and youth, some with no means to get to the church and parents who work multiple jobs just to survive. 

We walked back through town, did a little grocery shopping and stopped by a little shop to get a sorvete (sherbet/ice cream cone).  We enjoyed a pleasant, misty walk home eating our sorvete.