Wednesday & Thursday, March 22 & 23, 2006

Once when I was 19 my girlfriend and I wanted to watch the sunrise, just as something special before I went on my mission. For some reason I slept in that day and never saw it; since then, I still have never seen a sunrise… until today.

It was a little before 6 am – after less than an hour of sleep – when a faint glow began making its way over the ocean waves. Last night’s bonfire still roared at our feet – protecting us from the morning’s chill. The faint glow soon spread through the heavens; the cumulonimbus clouds in the distance made for an impressive silhouette against the colors of the morning sky. Purple, red, orange, pink, blue – like the man on Saturday mornings who painted “happy trees” and “fluffy clouds”, it was as if we were watching God paint the morning sky. Unlike a sunset that loses its color with time, this sunrise got more stunning.


My camera was safe in our hotel room, so I was unable to capture a high quality image, but I was armed with the ERS video camera that I was borrowing to take some memories home. This video camera also takes low-resolution pictures – good enough just for a memory – hence, the above picture.

Matadeiro is a beach on the southeast side of the island; the same beach we made our campfire a few weeks earlier. This time, about 40 institute-aged guys and girls sprinkled the coastline. Under the illumination of yellow park lights we played sand soccer, beach dodge ball, the group pretzel game in the ocean, and a variety of other activities. It wasn’t until a little after midnight that the all-nighters began sifting themselves from the early birds.

Those who stayed, moved away from the artificial lights and started a bonfire – well, tried to. Not to bash their techniques, but leaning big logs in a triangle shape, dousing them with alcohol and lighting a match is not the best way to get an effective fire going. Since I was in charge of the last fire, I figured tonight I would let them handle it; after the picturesque fire and roaring alcohol flames died, I quickly stepped in to give my support and some advice. After a few minutes of old fashioned huffing and puffing, and thanks to the help of those collecting kindling, the fire was a success. It was such a success, that 5 hours later, as the sun rose, we were still toasty.


As the blues in the sky began overtaking the reds and oranges, we too packed up camp. Daisy took a carload of us to the downtown bus terminal, while a few others got stuck taking a bus. By 8:30, Dave and I were crashed – sound asleep in our beds.

You’d think after a night like that we’d need a day to recover, but no. My alarm was set for 11 am – but I slept in. Ten minutes to noon Dave and I woke up panicked; we were supposed to meet Leandro at the downtown terminal at 12. When I called to explain, he was understanding and said he’d wait a few more minutes. We quickly got ready and got our bus downtown.

Thursday, March 23, was the 280th anniversary of Florianópolis, and thus, a holiday for the city. To celebrate, after our beach party, we had a churrasco (barbeque) at Débora’s. Her uncle was nice enough to be our personal chef, while the rest of us helped w/ the side dishes and what-nots. Since most everyone was dragging from the night before, card games seemed to be the popular activity, letting our bodies rest. But that doesn’t mean some of us didn’t play a game of sand soccer with the locals, or toss the Football around.

We had the barbeque area reserved until 5 pm, when we had to clean up and make room for the next people. Shortly after, Dave and I said our goodbyes and left with Dudu, Luana, and Natália, back to São José. Natália is our friend from Itajaí, and she came down to Floripa to hang out for the weekend and say goodbye to us. So tonight, after getting cleaned up, we made our way over to Luana’s house for ordered in pizza and movies. Our other friends, Deborah and John were also there. It was a fun night; though I had a hard time staying awake during the movie.

On a side note: we learned today that we would not be traveling to Joaçaba to teach, like we had planned. Honestly, I was disappointed, I really wanted to go; it would have been our last CASP course. But it turned out they were unable to confirm there would be at least 10 participants, so Humberto thought it was better to mark for another week.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

It takes eight quick minutes to get to the Florianópolis Institute building from the bus terminal downtown. This evening we met Rodrigo (same Rodrigo as last night) in front of Comper Supermercados in São José and went together. Classes are held every Tuesday night and Saturday morning; they have a pretty good turn out, filling up most of the classroom downstairs.

Presidente Perrotti is the instructor; I really liked his style of teaching – relating every teaching he could find to our daily lives and helping us see why it’s important to read our scriptures every day.
Today we are studying the Book of Mormon, just after Lehi’s Dream in First Nephi. They made this life size Tree of Life and each student was encouraged to put their name on a ‘fruit’ and hang it on the tree as a reminder throughout the year.


Domini’s Pizza was where we went after class to ‘kill our hunger’, as they say in Portuguese. When Débora sends me the pictures, I’ll post them here, but until then, let me try to remember who was there (going around the table): Muriel, Débora, Flávia, Élida, Rubens, Daisy, Rodrigo, David, Leandro, and me. Again, it was a rodizio pizza place, but paying R$20,00 a plate insured it was quality, and tasty pizza – which it was.

Earlier in the day, Dave and I worked at the SRE office, training the Cossios and making follow-up phone calls.

Monday, March 20, 2006

With a box of individually wrapped chocolates, two socks, a fork, a knife, and a die, 6 of us stood around their dining room table; each took turns rolling the die, hoping for a 1; when a 1 was rolled, that person put the socks on their hands, and then, only using the utensils, unwrapped and ate the chocolates. Meanwhile, the other 5 continue rolling the die; as soon as another 1 is rolled, that person receives the socks, and they continue. The game goes on until all the chocolates are eaten. It was pretty fun.

This wrapped up my day, but here is how it began…

After a lunch at the local ‘by the kilo’ café with the Cossios, I went to the SRE office for the rest of the afternoon. Dave and I agreed that I would work today at the office while he did homework, and then tomorrow we would switch.

From 1 to 6 this afternoon SRE files were updated, more instructions were written for the Cossios, I gave some teaching tips and helped them prepare for when they will be teaching by themselves here in a few weeks.

Twenty minutes on the phone with BYU Travel left me a little surer of my plans for the next two weeks, but then I called Porto Alegre.

I called Humberto, in Porto Alegre to confirm our trip to Joaçaba this weekend, and was given the green light for renting a car for our trip – thus, saving at least four hours round trip of our travel. Regarding more details, including our last day in Porto Alegre, Humberto requested we call him tomorrow morning. He wants us to stay in Porto Alegre until the 8th to help with a Stake Career Fair, but we are technically released on the 5th, and the 8th is the only weekend we have to sight see and visit people and places.

Sister Burrup, from Porto Alegre, also shared w/ me their trials from today – everything in their office was going haywire: the Internet wasn’t working, copy machine on the frits, etc.

At 8 pm David and I arrived at the house of Rubens & Family for another FHE. Valdmiria is always so nice to fill us with food before the message, and then Rodrigo, there recent RM son gave the spiritual message, and Tiago was in charge of the game. This is when we played the chocolate game described about above. Good times!

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Last week I taught Sunday school, this week it was David’s turn; he was asked Thursday night, but he gave a good class, especially for the short preparation time.

Contact with home via Skype, AIM, and MSN was what my Sunday was all about. The webcam conference w/ Scott and Ashley, my newest niece, wasn't very successful, but here is an updated picture:
What a doll!

After church I visited Irmão Pedro Pimentel’s house to see how he was doing; he had eye surgery this past week – a weird film was building up over his eye, almost like a snake, so he had it cut off. They were thankful for my visit and invited me to eat lunch w/ them – what a nice family!

I got a hold of Joaçaba this afternoon; Joaçaba is a city about 6 hours west of Florianópolis, and they have been trying to schedule a CASP class for 15 church members who are trying to take advantage of the Perpetual Education Fund. We scheduled for this coming Saturday, but they are still going to get back to us to confirm.

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Though the sun was sizzling and the ocean looked gorgeous, we couldn’t convince anyone else to go to the beach with us today. Instead, after Institute, David, Leandro, Daniel, Helamã, Flávia, Élida, and I went to the Beira Mar Shopping mall for lunch and hung out for a bit. The mall was beautifully designed with at least 5 floors and has been nicely maintained. The stores were similar to those in the U.S. (everything way too expensive), the only obvious difference I spotted being the jewelry – which have more of a Latin flare expressed by its colors, size, and design.

From downtown Floripa, Leandro, David and I took a taxi back to Leandro’s place on the mainland where we watched the Crusades – an awfully bloody movie that also had a surprisingly profound and deep script. I really enjoyed the message it passed about the importance of being a better person and making a difference in the world, not just for yourself, but helping everyone around you.

Since Leandro wasn’t too big on cooking, I used his food and made us some ham & cheese hamburgers, along with his cheese bread and Fanta – grape soda. He’ll be the first to admit he doesn’t know how to make anything.

Getting home was rather interesting. To get back we had to catch a bus over the bridge to downtown (going further from our hotel), where we’d get another bus back to the continent and up to São José, where we live. The bus stop by Leandro’s house is located at the bottom of a curving hill and consequently, it took us over thirty minutes to recognize and flag down the right bus before it zoomed by. We got to the downtown terminal at 11:30 pm, just as the last bus to our neighborhood was rolling out! Unsure what to do, we decided to take another bus that would drop us off 15 minutes from our hotel; luckily as we waited for that bus, we learned of another that was not on the departure screen, but that would go past our hotel at midnight.

We made it home fine.

Friday, March 17, 2006

As the waitress set them on our table, the golden, breaded, platter of shrimp smiled at me. Okay, maybe it didn't smile, but I was happy to see it. It came accompanied with an overflowing platter of French fries, and it was all chased down with a 2-liter of Kuat guaraná. Leandro, Carol, David, and I enjoyed ourselves at Boka’s Restaurant, just on the continent side of Florianópolis. Boka’s is famous for serving big platters for a table’s worth of hungry visitors. Probably the most interesting part of the evening was adjusting to eating finger food with a toothpick - each shrimpy shrimp, and crispy fry.

We had a nice time, leisurely eating and conversing, even for an hour after we were done. It's a pretty common practice in Brazil to comfortably sit around the table chatting; unlike in the U.S. where the waiters rush you out to make room for the next visitor, here they leave you at ease.

Knowing we would be riding in Carol’s car, I remembered my iPod and car-radio adapter; I was surprised to learn these car-radio adapters were a new concept to Leandro and Carol and probably most Brazilians; they enjoyed jamming to my iPod selection of both Brazilian and American music.

Dave and I spent the night at Leandro’s; we watched War of the World’s, my first time – good movie. Leandro’s roommate is in the Rio Grande do Sul, so it wasn’t any inconvenience to crash at his place. We plan on going to Institute and the beach tomorrow.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Small yet powerful – the answer I would give someone if they asked me, “How was your CASP group this week?” Honestly, Dave and I haven’t seen better mock interviews – their Power Statements and overall performances were impressing!

Here’re a few snaps of the crew. The first was normal:

The second was supposed to be a funny picture; I think I was the only one that got the message.


Tonight we arrived a little after 6 at the Institute, and Irmã Bete was already there with an Italian dinner waiting for us; she’s such a sweet lady.

Due to the smaller number of participants, we were able to have longer debates and share more personal experiences, I think they enjoyed that. Over all, it was a successful CASP this week!

This morning, I was awaken by a phone call from the Sisters asking if we could sit in on a lesson they would be giving Anchieta at the chapel. It was 10:00 am when she called, and Dave was already at the SRE because Paulo and Caroline from the CASP course wanted to use the computers and telephones in their job searches. I was already planning on switching places with Dave at 10:30, so instead he was nice and stayed in the SRE while I sat in on the missionary lesson.

Shortly before heading off to teach our course this evening, we got an email from Curitiba saying their CASP had been canceled and that we didn’t have to make the 5 hour trip up there this weekend – to be honest, I was relieved.

The night ended with some interesting conversations on MSN – ha.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Bete made us Brazilian pancacas for dinner tonight!

We arrived at the Institute building a little after 6:00 pm in preparation for our 6:30-6:45 start to class. Bete, a motherly like participant of our CASP course, made us Brazilian pancacas (fluffy, thick tortilla type shells rolled with meat and cheese and out of the shells) with a small dessert and a 2-liter of Guaraná. That was so nice of her! So we scared down the pan full of pancacas as fast as we could, did the dishes, and then went upstairs to begin the course.

We had a few new participants tonight, and one that didn’t show up from yesterday. Everything went great – once again, I think this group learned the Power Statements faster than any other group.

We finished tonight’s course by 10:30 and proceeded by walking the Cossio’s to the nearest taxi so they could get to the bus terminal faster and now miss their last bus home. Dave and I, along w/ two other participants, Paulo and Caroline, walked to the terminal together.

The streets were congested with high school age kids just getting out of class. In Brazil they go to class for half the day, either in the morning or in the evening. The rest of the day is free for them to work, do homework, or get into trouble.

Home by 11:20, I finished the night with a good read of the Book of Mormon, and then got online to talk w/ some family and friends. Well, when I say some, I mean… enough to keep me busy until 4 am! Okay, so maybe tonight was a little extreme and I should have gone to bed, but that’s okay, I just won’t do it again. They were productive conversations – arranging my flight plan home, and my living arrangements for when I get back to school.

Though I finished the day staying up late online, it began being a lot more productive. Dave and I went by Anchieta’s house and followed up from the lesson he heard yesterday from the Sisters. Together we read the Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith pamphlet and tried to clear up any doubts he had. Anchieta is an amazing guy and has really noticed a change in his life since he has begun going to church and hearing the lessons. He liked us so much that he even recorded our discussion on his 10 X 12 inch boom box and said that the tape was a present for us so we could remember him for when we went back home. It’s hard to put into words just how neat this man is, and how gratifying it is to be his friend and help him understand the importance of Jesus Christ in his life.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

CASP at the Institute Center in Florianópolis tonight went well granted we only had five or six participants. To be honest, that was a disappointment. I know there are lots more people needing to take the course to be eligible for the Perpetual Education Fund, but I guess it wasn’t advertised very well – which is our own fault. But, thankfully, the participants we did have were ones would brought a lot to the class – experiences, excitement and energy, and it was a fun night.

After the course, we helped the Cossio’s get to a taxi and find their way home, and then Leandro, Daisy, Dave and I went to Habbib’s – a fast food, Arabic restaurant. It’s an interesting place, pretty good actually. Good friends, good times.

At 10:30 this morning, Dave and I went to Anchieta’s house so sit in on a discussion he had with the Sister missionaries. What a strong, peaceful spirit. It was fun to be in on a discussion in Portuguese again, and share a little with Anchieta.

Not much else was accomplished today, except the fact that each of the Cossio’s taught a part in the course this evening. I challenged them to teach for a few reasons: first, they will learn faster if they get involved and teach, but second, because I wanted them to realize they need to work on their Portuguese; Elder Cossio thinks he speaks only Portuguese, when really he’s speaking about 60% Spanish! But they did a great job, and both of the objectives were achieved.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Ten years ago, in an old house two blocks in front of the Kobrasol chapel, my sister Jenna lived as a Sister missionary; tonight we held a joint Family Home Evening in that same house – now owned by fairly new members of the church, Pedro and Suelange Pimentel. Together with the Pimentel’s (Pedro, Suelange, their older son and two younger daughters) came two other families: Aldo, his son Tiago, and his son’s friend, along with Anchieta, Aldo’s neighbor and yesterday’s visitor at church. The sister missionaries were also present.

We arranged ourselves all cozy like in the big room that multi-served as their kitchen, living room and playroom. Tonight’s message: David’s Game of Life, of course. As routy as we all were, by the end of the game a great spirit was present – the game’s subtle messages and “judgment day” at the end left everyone in think-mode.

Today was also one of the Sister’s birthdays, so after the message/game we sang happy birthday and enjoyed the refreshments – a Brazilian classic of mini-French bread filled with a hot dog sauce, accompanied with a cold plastic cup of Guaraná.

Here’s a picture of us all. Please ignore the gang signs, ha..., and poor Irmão Pedro had surgery on his eye today, so that's why he's winking :



One of the best parts of the night was the friendship we were able to make with each of the families. Anchieta especially was fun to talk with – his many life experiences, Spanish backround, etc. I was quick to invite myself in on his missionary lesson with the Sisters on Tuesday.

Other than the FHE, most of the day was spent resting or at the SRE office. We left Leandro’s apartment about 10 am as he went off to work. I was dead tired once I got back to our hotel.

And how could I almost forget, I received an email from the Visual Arts department of BYU; I have been accepted into the Photography program!! I wasn’t expecting to receive the announcement for a few more weeks, nor was I expecting it by e-mail, but it definitely made my day!

Sunday, March 12, 2006

The sunset was gorgeous tonight, but I missed it by 10 minutes. I rarely leave the hotel with my camera equipment, but tonight we were already going downtown and I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to get some sunset shots of Florianópolis from a walkway that stretches over the highway and looks directly at Floripa’s skyline of skyscrapers and her classic suspension bridge. The bus from São José took longer than expected; thus, I missed the sunset by 10 minutes.

Teachings of the Prophets: Wilford Woodruff, Chapter 5: The Holy Ghost and Personal Revelation –the lesson I taught to ten or so members of the Kobrasol Elder’s Quorum this morning. It actually turned out being a pretty good lesson – most everyone participated and many personal experiences were shared which for a pretty interesting class. We even had two visitors, Israel – a man in his early twenties, and Anchieta – a man in his mid sixties.

After church I did my usual routine of curling up on my bed with my powerbook and my General Conference DVDs; I set the language to Spanish (another language I’m trying to pick up), and then not more than five minutes into the first session I usually fall asleep – not waking up until the battery has died. Today was no different.

At 3 pm we had our first visitors to our hotel room – Rodrigo (the oldest of the Ruben’s family that just got off his mission) and Eduardo (an 18 year old who became our friend from the CASEI), our hometeachers. That’s right, we have home teachers. Actually, we were hometeachers last month, but they already traded us this month.

It was about 6 pm that Dave and I got a bus to downtown – we were meeting Leandro at the bus terminal at 7, but I wanted to get some shots of the sunset before, which proved to be a bust.

From there, Leandro and us two caught a bus to Deborah’s house, where other friends were, or were soon to arrive. From what I remember, the following people were there (thinking around the circle from our game of STOP): Thiago, Aline, Élida, Flávia, Patia, Deborah, Luiza, Daisy, Leandro, David and me. We played a variety of games – STOP (a brazilian version of scategories), the winking-murder-game, question-random-answer game and uno. Some of the girls left about 10, the rest of us stayed a bit longer. Long enough to realize we had missed the last bus to São José, so Daisy was nice enough to give us a ride with Leandro to his house, and that’s where we spent the night. Leandro’s a super cool guy – I might get to hang out w/ him and his family in April when I go down to Rio de Janeiro, since that’s where he’s from. That’d be fun if it works out.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Words cannot describe the emotions that were felt at the end of today’s course. As the closing prayer was said, a sound was heard that I didn’t expect – noses sniffing, and tears crawling down cheeks. They were truly grateful for what they had learned, and it made my heart content; just another of many reasons why I’m so grateful I am apart of this program.

Here is our group photo:

8:00 am class is tough, especially when you get in about 2 in the morning, but I was impressed that most of the class arrived on time – only three people from yesterday’s class didn’t bother showing up. The rest of us had a great time: sharing experiences, learning, and completing the course.

By 4:30 pm we were getting a ride from one of the CASP participants to Maiko’s house where we were invited to hang out until we caught our bus for São José. They had a pirated version of Narnia that we watched – good message, but not sure how much I liked the movie; I actually slept through the first 30 minutes.

We called a taxi and rushed to the bus terminal by 8 pm and said our goodbyes to Natália who was going back to her house. Twenty minutes later our bus came, and back to home (São José) we went, arriving a little after 11:30.

The rest of my night and early Sunday morning was spent preparing for Sunday’s Sunday-school lesson I had been asked to teach.

Friday, March 10, 2006

The rain poured as we climbed out of the taxi in front of the Itajaí chapel; it was locked, so we scurried to a nearby shelter. Also patiently waiting were three other soon-to-be CASP participants.

From São José, Dave and I took the 4:30 pm bus to Itajaí, arriving a little before 7. Walking through the bus terminal, by chance, we ran into two of our friends from the CASEI (the single adults conference), Natália and Angelita. Dave served his mission with Angelita’s husband, Maiko, and so the five of us were planning on hanging out after the CASP course tonight; since they were going somewhere near the church, too, they hitched a ride and we dropped them off a few blocks before the chapel.

At 7:30 pm, in a side classroom with 15 or so desks filled to capacity, we started the evening’s course. I was pleased with the turnout – everyone participated well and seemed to really enjoy the course. Before we knew it, 10:30 arrived and we were saying our goodnights, reminding them about their few pages of homework and that class would start the next morning at 8.

Waiting in the cultural hall was Maiko, Angelita and Natália, who accompanied us to our hotel (Ibis) and waited as Dave and I got out of our teaching-clothes.

By 11 or so we had walked a few blocks to a nearby Pizzaria – but don’t worry, it was nothing like yesterday’s. This pizza was good!

We had a fun night just hanging out, joking around. I don’t even remember what time we finally got in, but it was early – in the morning.

Thursday, March 9, 2006

“Hey, do you want to eat some really bad rodizio pizza with us for only R$5,00?” Who could pass up an offer like that? After a long day at the SRE office, Dave and I went to a buffet (rodizio) pizza restaurant with a few kids from the ward. Well… actually we got there and there was a long line outside and I told them that it wasn’t worth waiting to eat bad pizza (they were pretty confident the pizza there was bad, but it was cheap, so they couldn’t pass it up). So everyone who knows I’m cheap will be happy to know I passed up the R$5,00 pizza buffet. When Dave came home later that night he confirmed it was pretty bad. Ha…

Most of the day was spent with the Cossios; they’re such a cute couple and it’s fun to see them try so hard at their new callings. They may not speak much Portuguese, have computer skills, or teaching experience, but they sure try. We spent most of today making follow-up calls with last year’s CASP participants. Sister Cossio, with her sweet, happy, half Spanish / half Portuguese phrases was very brave, as today was her first day calling..

When I wasn’t making phone calls I was typing more detailed instructions how to use the computer. This is where Elder Cossio keeps himself busy. Tadinhos (poor guys), computers are not their strong points.

Since the information from the phone calls had to be sent to Porto Alegre by Friday, I was making calls until about 7:30 and as I was typing up the information, some of the kids from seminary stopped by. They invited Dave and I to go out to pizza w/ them, so I called Dave at the hotel and he met us at the front of the church. After waiting for 20 minutes for someone to come w/ a key to lock up (we only have a key to the back door), we were off.

Oh, the Photo-editor of the Daily Universe (BYU newspaper) offered me a position as a photographer for Spring/summer/fall terms!

Wednesday, March 8, 2006

Twenty meters off the coast, the warm water foamed and spat as the waves crashed against us. The half-watermelon-shaped moon shown through the thin layers of dispersed clouds; the cove where we swam was encircled with rocks and forest; a 15 meter beach bunkered the shore. Northward, across the water, lights shown, marking the line of houses along the coast.

Welcome to Armação Beach, where 16 of us from the greater Florianópolis spent late Wednesday evening and early Thursday morning. Two, full cars met in front of the bus terminal downtown – Dave, Daniel, Leandro, Deborah and I packed into Daisy’s car, while Flávia, Aline, Naíra and Lucas comfortably road with Luiza. The twenty-minute ride went fast and we met another carload at a supermarket near the beach.

Another twenty minutes was clocked as we meandered the paved, lightly lit trail - under, over and around - arriving at our spot. The next task was finding wood to accompany our bottle of Gel Alcohol and box of matches. We felt lucky to find a sufficient amount of broken boards and kindling as it seemed the shore had been regularly combed for firewood.

Somehow I got put in charge of the fire – me and my ZERO experience with beach fires; but that’s all right, with Flávia’s help we got a solid fire started that lasted the entire night. (Sorry if that bench-like board we burnt was yours.)

The soft sand and crashing waves were accompanied by Daniel’s guitar skills, Brazilian freeze-tag, the Weave game in the water, campfire jokes and stories, and stargazing.


It was after one in the morning when we packed up camp and headed out.

Seriously, it was a gorgeous place and just a fun time. Good memories.

As Daisy's full car was about to cross the bridge into São José, an uncommon traffic stop forced us to pull over. After a quick chat with the officer, Daisy, Daniel, Lucas and I were off to drop Lucas off at his house, as we then returned to the bridge, picked up David and Leandro, and Daisy took the rest of us home. Poor Daisy, she was pretty shaken up.

Before the beach, Dave and I got plenty of work done at the SRE office – helping Elder and Sister Cossio with more training, making follow-up phone calls, and planning our trip to Itajaí this weekend.

Tuesday, March 7, 2006

The 18th of March will be a memorable day for two CASP participants from two different cities; during our routine phone calls I talked to Sônia from São José and Márcia from Joinville, and they were each very eager to share that they’re getting baptized on the 18th! Through CASP, we have become good friends - always calling to see how their job search is coming and trying to do anything we can. Oddly, they don’t even know each other, but I’m happy for them both.

Okay, so last night I stayed up a little late chatting and I didn’t wake up until about 1 pm; but that doesn’t mean my day wasn’t productive. By 2 I was at the SRE office helping the Cossios and trying to get in touch with Humberto, the Porto Alegre director. Unfortunately, for the 2nd day in a row, we couldn’t get a hold of him.

After typing a few things I ran to get a bite to eat and bought some Cds – I told Avaí F.C. that I’d send them the pictures ASAP. Before running to the post office I stopped by the office to make sure everything was going good. By 5 pm I was at the post office; luckily the Brazilian postal service works until 6pm.

Talked to some friends from home on Skype (evan and darah) and then went to the office about 8:30 to make some follow up phone calls.

Tomorrow we’re going to have a bonfire at the beach; our friends here are awesome! Even though they’re all busy with work and school, they make plans that Dave and I can participate in, since we are out of town on Fridays and Saturdays.

Monday, March 6, 2006

I went to the Telestial Kingdom this time! What luck.

Dave and I were invited to a joint FHE with Valdmiria & Ruben’s family (the same family where we’ve been having our other FHEs) and Valdmiria’s sister’s family’s house – Eliane & Eber and their four kids. Their little girl gave a great 10 minute lesson (I was very impressed) and then we played Dave’s game of Life, just like we did two weeks ago. This time I didn’t get the results I would have liked and ended up going to the Telestial. Ha…

After FHE, Eber started asking me questions about what kind of camera he should buy and other photography questions – well, of course that got me going and I was eager to help.

It was a fun night. When I get the group picture we took, I’ll post it below:

This morning I was up, showered and at the SRE by 10 to 10; Dave and I helped the Cossio’s with more training and organizing of the SRE office. After lunch, Aldo came by and I helped him with adjusting his work fliers, and Ingridy came by and showed us some great websites where we could find more information on job openings in the state. She herself found quite a few; it was a productive day. It ended with Dave and I being called by a brother from the church to help him move his fridge… that we did with Aldo.

Sunday, March 5, 2006

Why is it we always forget to buy food for Sunday? I was taking a shower after the dance and realized, “shoot, the stores are closed and tomorrow’s Sunday.” We ate light today; we’ll just leave it at that.

Before church began I went by Pedro Pimentel’s to see how his family was doing. (Reminder: Pedro is my Home Teaching partner.) The mother was getting the two little girls ready and the teenager was playing with his birds. They were happy to see me, which made for a nice visit.

Church was actually really good today. The Stake President gave a combined RS & EQ lesson that was really powerful. The testimony meeting was so full I barely had a chance to share a quick word towards the end.

At 5 pm there was a special fireside – the men met at the Kobrasol chapel, while all the women held a conference at the Forquilinhas chapel. It was an inspirational missionary fireside where each family was given a Preach My Gospel book.

My Sunday was finished its usual way – catching up on my blog, and chatting with family and friends until late into the night.

Saturday, March 4, 2006

The cloud’s white halo glistening in the pink and blue sunset made my heart ache. I don’t think I’ve ever loved a country more than I loved Brazil at that moment; and I ached knowing that in a few short weeks I would be seeing the same setting sun from a very different point of view.

Driving through a deserted countryside with nothing but my own thoughts and music in my head – now that’s my idea of relaxation. And as I relaxed on our way home from Tubarão I realized just how much I loved Brazil. I remembered my first impressions – São Paulo, hot, humid, dirty, over-populated. It was my first time out of the United States and my outlook on life was pretty narrow. I realize that I now look at the same scenery but see a different picture – people like you and me, families, love, hard work, happiness. The dirty streets and half-constructed houses don’t seem to be in focus as I look around; it’s a great feeling to love a place and people as much as I’ve come to love Brazil.

And if I was feeling this much love on 5 1/2 hours of sleep, just imagine what it would’ve been like if I were well rested. The hotel wakeup call rang at 6:30 am and I quickly hoped in the shower and got ready for the day. Dave went downstairs to get on the net and get an early start on breakfast.

We started the course at 8:10 with merely three participants present. A half hour later, six more arrived, and we finished the day with nine total.

Dave and I have been really blessed – each group we teach seems to be getting better and better in the final, mock interviews. This group did a great job practicing their power-statements and was quite impressive. Unfortunately, in our mad rush leaving yesterday, we forgot the cable to watch the video camera on the TV, so instead, after we closed the course, we let them all gather around the 2-inch LCD screen on the camera and watch. They enjoyed it, nonetheless.

The class was happy when we finished a few hours early. Then, instead of taking a bus back to Florianópolis, we arranged to get a ride from Cabral, a director from the Institute in Floripa. He was in Tubarão training the new institute and seminary teachers; he’s a very nice guy who speaks good English and is quite spiritual.

To Dave’s disappointment, riding with him probably wasn’t much faster than taking the bus – Dave was anxious to get to the dance at the Institute center. As we were leaving Tubarão we had to stop at one of the stake councilors house and he invited us all to come in and participate in his son’s 8th birthday party – eating lots of pasteis, salgados and bolo.

The ride home was great, and it was fun getting to know Cabral better. He was nice enough to wait 5 minutes for us to get cleaned up a little at our hotel and then give us another ride to the Institute center, where he had to go anyway.

We got to the dance about 8:30 pm and it was already rockin’. To be honest, it’s a different feeling to walk into a church dance and be excited to be there; but the friendships I’ve made in the past week have been unforgettable. It was fun to see everyone and try to bust-a-move. Ha… okay, so I didn’t really dance too much, but what I did dance, Ingridy helped me perfect my Forró moves.
This picture was after Simone cup and I crossed paths... oops. ha.

Much of the dance was spent conversing with Élida and then before I knew it, it was all over. Dave and I bummed a ride in a loaded van that would be passing by São José – it was nice of them to give us a lift.

Friday, March 3, 2006

I had a few neat experiences today; part of me wants to share them because it illustrates a bit better how life in Brazil is, but part of me doesn’t because I don’t want it to appear like I’m talking myself up, or anything like that.

With that, I’ll get to the stories later…

I was awoken this morning to a phone call from the Cossios. They were wondering what time we were leaving for Tubarão; I told them 14 hours and maybe it was with the company Catarinensse, but I don’t think they understood me. At 12:00 noon, when Dave went to the SRE office to gather the equipment and I stayed behind to shower and get ready, I got a phone call from Dave – the Cossios were already at the bus terminal, waiting for us! It appears they contacted the bus agency Catarinensse and learned that their bus was leaving at 12:45, not 2:30 pm like I had said. Unfortunately, I had told them the wrong agency, because there really was a bus leaving at 2:30, but not on Catarinensse. So Dave and I decided to rush as quick as we could and try to make it in time for the 12:45 bus. Well, we didn’t. We arrived by 1:05 but the Cossios were their happy, smiley selves and didn’t seem to mind the miscommunication.

They are such a sweet, old couple! I’m not sure if I’ve described them, yet, but they are originally from Argentina, and have been living near one of their children in Floripa for the last two years. They still speak with a STRONG Spanish accent, much of the time it’s hard for people w/o Spanish knowledge to understand what they’re saying. They have a number of children who are married and live in the United States and are just the nicest people! They will make great service missionaries.

As I was talking w/ Elder Cossio, a woman who appeared about four months pregnant came asking for food. I knew she was being sincere when she didn’t even ask for money, so I offered to help. I took her to a restaurant on the second floor where you pay by the kilo and I told her she could get R$4,00 worth of food, thinking she’d probably get a little more. As she filled her plate I had my eye on the nearby soccer game; bad idea. Before I knew it, her plate was bulging with food; “that’s at least R$8,00” I told her. And sure enough, the balance read R$8,45. I informed the man I was merely helping the woman and that I’d asked her to get less food; the man took pity on us both and lowered the bill to R$4,00. The woman quickly sat down and ate. The next awkward moment was paying for the R$4,00 meal with a R$50,00 bill. It was all I had for the weekend trip, but to the man I looked like a con-man since I had just talked the meal down from 8 to R$4. ha… oh well.

Dave and I ate a quick bite at a cheaper snack place. Interestingly enough, when I entered the bus terminal there was a crippled man with no legs sitting outside the door. His sunburned skin and dreadlocked hair were a few of the obvious signals that he was homeless. As I passed him, I couldn’t help but think how difficult his life must be. As I finished my snack I bought an extra pastel to-go and carried it out to him. He was very thankful but was still eager to ask for the half liter of water I was carrying.

So we took the 2:30 pm bus from Flrorianópolis, non-stop to Tubarão. Dave paid for our four tickets (which he’ll get reimbursed) and we sat in the very front of the big charter bus. Our four seats were the front of the bus, as the driver’s cab was underneath. It made for quite the view as we drove along the coast. On the way, I worked on my own resumé that I was preparing to sent to David’s mom and as part of an application for a summer internship in Washington D.C. Dave’s mom works in the BYU library and seems to be looking for someone to fill an recent opening.

So we got to Tubarão about 5:00 pm and Richard, an 18-year-old member, picked us up from the bus station and after a quick stop at the chapel, he took us to our hotel – the San Silvestre Hotel. I got cleaned up, Dave checked his email downstairs, and all four of us went across the street to a hotel; not knowing that it was REALLY expensive. Since we were in a hurry, we just bought a few appetizers and split them.

We were trying to be at church by 6:45 pm, since we were informed the course started at 7. The taxi got us there by 7, but to our surprise only two girls had arrived. We were told at least 30 people were expected; by 8:20 there were 12.

But they were a good group and we got a lot done in the 2 + hours of course. Elder and Sister Cossio used the course as a training session and took notes as we went along.

By 11:15 pm we had gotten a taxi and were headed back to our hotel. I was asleep by midnight – exhausted.

Thursday, March 2, 2006

We’ve made some good friends from the CASEI trip. This evening we got to hang out w/ some of them: Daisy, Leandro, Flávia and Luiza. We met at the Floripa bus terminal at 8 pm where Daisy picked us up and we drove out near the Historical Center of São José. There, we picked one of many restaurants along the shore and bought some shrimp appetizers, fried cheese cubes, and French fries, along w/ our variety of juices.

It was fun company; we played a variety of games… if only I could remember what they were called. And then walked along the beach to a little peninsula of rocks were we all sat and enjoyed the lights of the Island and the cool ocean breeze. We got home about 12:30 am.

Like my Avaí jersey? It's what I got from the team. :)



Earlier in the day I slept until about 1 pm, since I had stayed up until about 4 am chatting online. The rest of the day was spent at the SRE helping the Cassios and doing other odds and ends. I really need to find more time to do my homework! :)

Wednesday, March 1, 2006

I can’t say I’ve had many experiences when I’ve arrived at home late, and reeking of alcohol; but tonight was one of those nights. I guess I can say it was a true “Brazilian soccer experience.”

Today I got to take pictures of the Avaí F.C. stadium, new uniforms, and match against Joinville. Unsurprisingly, it all started off pretty hectic. It was 3:30 pm and I was at the SRE office w/ David and Elder and Sister Cossios; I was expecting a phone call from the Avaí team so I called the hotel to see if I had any messages. They said that I didn’t, but that two men were in the lobby waiting for me! I guess they had called earlier and I wasn’t there, but had come to escort me to the game. It was Thiago from Marketing, and Aldeciu from Print Relations (?).

Needless to say I sprinted to the hotel, got my stuff together as quickly as I could, and we were off.

For a few hours I merely wandered around the stadium, inside and out, taking pictures for their official website.

After that, Thiago took me onto the field so I could take pictures of their new uniforms that they’re going to release in a few weeks. The pictures I took will be used for their marketing campaign.

Thiago was actually really worried about taking pictures of the uniforms because he didn’t want the press to see. But, as I did the shoot, a man came up and began chatting all natural like w/ Thiago, and before he knew it, the man was on live radio and talking about the new jersey I was photographing. Ha… ooops.

When it came to game time I was given a fluorescent-orange, press penny and meandered around the field snapping pictures. I made friends with an experienced photographer, Malfra, who has shot three world cups and now has his own agency that supplies photos to papers and such. He was way nice and very willing to answer my questions and give me tips.

Unfortunately, the stadium wasn’t lit as well as I would have liked, and most of the pictures game out pretty grainy. The game was a 0-0 tie, with about 8,000 in attendance. (13,000 is the stadium’s max capacity I believe.)

With about 20 minutes left in the game, I asked one of the security guards to open the gate behind the goal so I could go up in the press box and take pictures from above. As I waited by the gate, a half-full (instead of half-empty) cup of beer was pelted at my back. I’ll be honest, it ticked me off, but I didn’t give them the satisfaction of knowing it did. Instead I didn’t even flinch, and continued watching the game. When the gate was finally opened I walked off the field to the sound of these same fans cussing me out. Ha.. why? I don’t know, but it made for a better story :).

Here are all of the pictures that I took and submitted to the team:
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To get home after the game, I had to wait for a few hours until the entire stadium was cleared out and they were done locking up. I sat in their main offices, chatting online and checking email until about 12:30 am.

The cool part was receiving a free, official, long-sleeved Avaí jersey! I was pleasantly surprised. The guy, who gave me a ride home, also bought me a hot dog.

While I was busy taking pictures at the game, David was busy showing off his dancing skills at the local, Kobrasol church dance. From what I understand, he taught quite a few people how to swing dance and seems to have quite the following now!

So that was my day. Early in the day, after sleeping until about 10 am, I got showered and made my way, with Dave, to the SRE office to help train the new missionary couple, Elder and Sister Cossio.

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

When I was little I used to get motion sickness in airplanes and in the car. My mother used to always tell me to concentrate on the road and that would make me feel better. As we road home from Mafra, the young boy behind me got sick. Yeah, it was pretty gross; I could hear pretty much everything. But I quickly remembered my mother’s council and went to talk w/ the bus driver. He, “Alemão”, is a very nice guy and said there was no problem letting the kid sit in the front of the bus. So as I went and talked to the boy to sit in the front cab of the bus, Marcelo Dalla Rosa was a nice friend and carried his puke to the bathroom (sorry, did you not want to know that?).

Since nobody went to bed until after 4 am, we got a late start on the day. After a late breakfast we had our closing ceremonies; we got to vote on a few awards from the Conference. They were… biggest flirt, life of the party, best new couple and funniest. David won the ‘life of the party’ award. His crazy break dancing and other skills made him the hottest partner to dance with. To end, we had a more spiritual message and then I was asked to share my testimony with four other people; it was a nice experience.

Here’s a picture of the CASEI 2006 group (minus Marcelo Carioca who flew back to Rio early in the morning):

Monday, February 27, 2006

I now have one of “those” stories to tell. So after lunch some of us were out on the lawn taking a nap under the shade of a big tree, when I suddenly felt this little “plunk” on my chest. At first I thought somebody tapped me, and I lay there, not wanting to open my eyes. But to my surprise, when I did open my eyes I was greeted by a half-dollar sized bird turd, foaming on my white t-shirt. I rolled over to the person next to me and asked, “um, do you mind telling me what this is?” He laughed, then everyone laughed, and then some pictures were taken. When I get those pictures I’ll post them below…

By 9:45 am the charter bus was loaded and we were off to a nearby water park for the whole day. Two, large outdoor pools, indoor pool and five/six water slides were spread between the lush, green Brazilian trees and rolling hills. Behind the pool area was a fishing pond, a sand volleyball court, futsol (soccer) court and another spacious field.


Marcelo, Leandro, Élida and I started off playing volleyball. We soon had quite the crowd watching our games, as our team kept winning “King of the Court” style. It wasn’t until after a few hours of playing, when the sun was hot and we were tired :) that we lost to the older adults (they were good). I was ready for a break.

The pool was refreshing and fun. After lunch, our nap, the bird poop and more swimming, Luiza, Flávia, Kuka and I started a game of truco; of course we (Flávia and I) won… ha. I think we played three games undefeated, and then Leandro came we I was on his team as we helped him remember how to play.

One of the guys had an American football; that brought some excitement from Kuka, as if you remember from the Joinville trip, Kuka plays American football there. He is a huge guy but can still through a hard, tight spiral.

Other games were played in the afternoon, and then we had dinner.

While the girls took forever taking showers, Rafael, Carol, Marcelo, another guy I don’t know his name (but he brought the American football), and I convinced the park to turn on the biggest water slide; even though it was dark and getting chilly, we enjoyed ourselves doing some crazy dives down the slide.

Once everyone was clean and ready, we had a fireside. Probably the most interesting part of the fireside was when Flávia and Élida made a bet with me. There was a man sleeping on a chair by the front door, and they, for some reason, thought the man was a woman… ha, he “has curves”, they said. Ha… well, after a pretty funny conversation, the man woke up, and they realized their error.

After the fireside (FHE) we danced until 3 am. It was a good time.

Here are some pics from the dance:
Natália teaching me how to dance!

Me and Élida!

Flávia and me!

I didn't say I danced the WHOLE time... 3 am is late.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

TRUCO! Who knows how to play? To close out a nice Sunday, Marcelo (Carioca) and I were on a team against Flávia and Élida; with great patience they taught me how to play Truco and amazingly Marcelo and I ended up winning! But I’m getting ahead of myself… let me start from Sunday morning.

Everyone arrived to joint Sunday school dragging; most were running on just a few hours sleep. After Sunday school all the women and a few men loaded in the charter bus, the rest of the men (me included) walked the 5 blocks to the Mafra chapel where we participated in the Mafra Branch sacrament meeting. It was quite a sight to see the attendance of 120+ members when it would have normally been 30+.

After a quick change of clothes we packed into the bus again and rode a good twenty minutes to the Rio Negro park in Paraná (a neighboring state). From the leakage on the ground, you can see the bus had some troubles getting there.

But we were served a great lunch in a large meeting hall; everyone enjoyed each other’s company. Afterwards we had time to meander around the nearby forest (forests like this are rare in Brazil) and rest.


Here’s some pictures of my friend Flávia and I on some swings in the woods. We were unaware that probably as we took this picture everyone else was starting the guided trail walk through the park:

What was supposed to be a “spiritual walk” through the park ended up being a grudging hour for many of the girls who were unprepared – their platform sandals and shoes were a nuisance.

But we caught up to the last group; but during the walk Flávia and I got a little carried away taking pictures and got left behind again. We found them in the historic Catholic Church, taking a tour. I actually learned some pretty neat things on this tour – inside the church and also through a museum of ancient artifacts.
Sweet! An old fireplace!

The day finished with dinner and a fireside from an Area Authority. Everyone who was there knows what I’m talking about when I say this man had a BOOMING singing voice. Ha… They also know what I’m talking about when I say he talked about the “usual subjects.”

Many of us finished the night chatting in the lobby until midnight struck – then the games started. Truco was a fun game to learn. I actually became quite addicted. Ha…

Saturday, February 25, 2006


The picture says it all – I danced… sorta; but Dave's mad dancing skills were the big success. I have to admit, Brazilian dances are fun. The music played is often the same as American-dance music, but the big difference is the Brazilian music – Forró, Pagode, Samba, and others I don’t remember, require a certain type of dancing, which at first is a little complicated, but when you’re a foreigner, it makes for a good chance to get to know new people. It’s humbling, I can tell you that. Just look at my face in the above picture… ha… Me, a guy who has probably participated in less than five church dances in my life, had to crawl out of my shell and try something new. The fun guys and cute girls made that change a little easier. J

By 9 am Dave and I were packed and on our way to the Kobrasol chapel to catch the 9:20 bus to Mafra. But first I quickly stopped by Pedro Pimentel’s house (my home teaching companion) to explain that due to our last minute decision to participate in the weekend’s conference, I wouldn’t be able to do our scheduled visits with him.

A little after ten o’clock, the CASEI 2006 bus left Kobrasol and was on its way. I’m the first to admit, I felt a little awkward in the bus, especially when Rafael, one of the directors of the conference, introduced us to the entire bus and said that we had served missions there and “didn’t know why we were back.” Ha… I could just imagine what people thought – what fubekas (slackers).

They didn’t tell us we were to bring a little extra money for food stops, so as most everyone ate a quick lunch, I stood outside the rest-stop restaurant conversing with some soon-to-be friends.

By the end of the bus ride, a few friendships had begun: Leandro - who served his mission with Viviane (who I know from her home town of Colatina, Espírito Santo) and also lived in California for his senior year of high school; Carol and Simone - who speak fluent English; Daisy and Rafael – the main directors of the conference; Flávia – university student studying English and interested in photography; Cristiano – a cool guy who gave me a cool coconut ring. It was clear to me that if we made this many friends in a quick bus ride to Mafra, this weekend was going to be a lot of fun!

The Sussin Hotel in Mafra was a perfect place for our group of 90 and it felt as if we were the only people in the entire hotel.

Dave and I roomed with Lucas, but probably spent more time in Leandro’s room where he, Rafael, and Marcelo stayed. Marcelo’s a fun story – he’s from São Gonçalo, my first area from my mission, his brother was my Ward Mission Leader, and we often ate at his mother’s house. We had a fun time playing the name game and tossing back and forth memories and questions about people there. One of his best friends is engaged to Angelica, an awesome girl I taught and helped baptize.

The meals at the hotel were very good!

After dinner everyone got ready for the first dance of the weekend – and that’s where the picture above came from. Here's a picture of my friend Aline and I:


Thirty minutes into the dance I looked up to find an ex-mission companion staring at me with this look of confusion. I smiled and we exchanged a big hug. Marcelo Dalla Rosa was my fifth companion, and we served for a short time in Campos dos Goitacayzes, Rio de Janeiro.

After the dance him and I and a few others (Ingridy, Carol, Leonardo, and a different Ingridy) conversed in the lobby. To end on a spiritual note we each shared our favorite scriptures, and then went to bed.

It's been a week since I last had time to write, but the wait is worth it. Last weekend David and I went to the CASEI (the Single Adults Carnaval Retreat) and got home on Tuesday. Wednesday I had quite the experience at the Avaí v. Joinville soccer match. Here are some photos I took:



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Oh, and just to warn you - they asked me to take general pictures of the stadium and of their new uniforms they will release later in the year, so there are 57 pictures in all.

And here are two other sites you can see my pictures: http://www.avai.com.br/ and http://www.avai.com.br/?secao=MostraGaleria&galeria=151

Today David and I are traveling to Tubarão with the newly called, senior missionary couple (the Cassios) to teach CASP and train the new couple.

More details are on their way. Feel free to ask questions.