District Meeting and Walk Through Gramado

January 23  Friday

The District Missionary meeting was held in Gramado again today.  We were on the bus by 8:30 to arrive by 9:00.  I purchased a pair of sunglasses from a vendor at the bus station.  I had several pair in the car before leaving Salt Lake, but somehow didn't get here with a pair.  The sun can be direct and bright - the sunglasses have really helped.

Front:  Sisters Ramos, Rocha Copa, K Egbert, A Egbert, Justino, Costa
Back: Elders Munos, Spadari, Oliveira, Copa, M Egbert, D Egbert, Ribeiro
Very back: Piccini, Lagos
 

The Copas started the English game by having the first person begin a sentence with one word (in English).  The next person adds a word, and so on around the room.  The first sentence was "Begin to pray today in the house and in the garden with my dog and with my faith and yellow bird, and I baptize everyday."

Sister Costa and new Sister Justino

The next:  "I am sick and want to sleep on my skateboard because I love you." Crazy missionaries!

The theme of the lesson today (taken from Preach My Gospel) was "How can I recognize and comprehend the spirit?"  Revelation is essential.

Group pictures were taken and a yummy dessert was prepared and served by Sister Ramos.  She gave me the recipe - in Portuguese (chocolate cookie crust with a lemon cream gelatin layer with chocolate mousse on top).  It was delicious!  We learned that Sister Costa had been in the hospital over night due to difficulty breathing.  The Sisters' apartment has carpet (a rarity here), and apparently pulgas (fleas) had taken up residence.  She had been breathing the pulga powder used to kill the pulgas and caused her severe respiratory problems.  She was at the meeting and doing better.

After the meeting, we walked to towards the bus station and the colonial bakery.  The smell of fresh bread enticed us to purchase something more to eat. . . I got a concord grape muffin, and David bought a moranga kuchen (strawberry sweetbread).  Both were delicious - and both gone in a few short minutes.  I don't know how the people working there can tolerate the hot weather and the hot, hot ovens.  The build roaring fires in the ovens and wait for them to turn to coals before putting the bread in.


Then to our favorite artisan shops inside the Espaco de Feiras.  Ann and I both had to check out the new ribbon scarves (and purchase a few more). 

Every trip to and from Gramado, we pass an overview area of the mountains and valley surrounding the city.  Today we decided to walk to the overview and take some pictures.  Ann had a headache from the night before, so we took the walk slow and easy.  She was being a real trooper.  The first stop on the way was a gaúcha loja.  It was a great store. . . we sampled cheese and white grape juice that was incredible.  Merl purchased a DVD of the "recommended" best representation of gaúcha music.  Ann and I looked around the store and found our favorite - hand made corn husk nativity sets - that were a little too pricey for us at the moment (we hope they will still be there when the time is right).

On to the overview.  Photos have a hard time of doing justice to the landscape - deep jungle valleys with trees 100 feet tall along the fence. 

 A custom of "lovers" locking a padlock on the fence was very evident.  There were hundreds of locks all along the barrier fence.  I told Merl that we needed to get a lock engraved and attach it - see if we could find it again if we are to return here in the future. 

We continued our walk for some distance further.  I am sure we walked a few miles today - looking for shade and darting in and out of air conditioned stores.  Ann wanted to get to a store that we only see from the bus - Mundo do Sapatos (World of Shoes).  It looks like a huge store with shoes everywhere.  Luckily for us, a member of the Branch (Paul Cesar Heidrich) saw us in the shade of a bus stop and stopped to see if we needed a ride home.  The shoe store was still another couple of miles up the road.  We welcomed the ride!

The evening included a veggie pizza for dinner and a walk to the photo store (which was closing when we got there).  Instead, Ann and I went to my favorite gelato shop and purchased four cups to hurriedly take home - the sun was still hot at dusk.  Skyped with Alicia, good to see her and the family.  Lucas is changing so fast - miss being there to see him and all the grandkids.  Three months left - the time is flying!