Feliz Ano Novo

And, just like that, it's a brand new year!

One thing that you've gotta love about the Brazilians is that they do love a good party. 

New Year's Eve was no exception.

Curitiba's fireworks 

Our temple residents' festa was a bit less grand. 😃

Don and Presidente Oliveira made a trip across town to get the "very best" fireworks for our celebration. Don was in 7th Heaven. You just can't find this stuff in the states! 

 With those preparations made, we were then ready to "party on..."

The Freires had four of their six kids here from Moringa and the Oliveiras had one of theirs, so we had a lot of little people for New Year's Eve. We enjoyed another great program and delicious dinner.

Then...it was time...for the fireworks!

 These pictures don't do it justice. The noise was incredibly loud. I feared for Angel Moroni - but he stood his ground. He seemed to be looking down on the proceedings with a smile on his face. 

The kids had a blast. As well as some of the big ones.

Some of the fireworks had to be secured with weights.

We finally ended our party at 1:00, but you could still hear fireworks for another couple of hours after that. 

On a quieter note - Nathan's family gave us this puzzle for Christmas. We really enjoyed putting it together. Our friend Raquel came up to our apartment, saw the puzzle, said how much they enjoyed quebra-cabeças (which translated means head smashers), so we gave it to her family.

And, since we had so much fun with that puzzle, we decided to get another one. We went to the mall to find a good Brazilian puzzle. We found one of the stamps of Brazil. It wasn't until we got home that we discovered that all puzzles are not created equal! The picture on the front of the box is not of the entire puzzle - just a portion. The whole picture is found on the side as a 2x3 inch image. The box contained 1,000 semi-interlocking pieces. Honestly, who knew?!

Long story short - this is a bear to put together. Maybe one day you will see the completed puzzle. Not any time soon, however. 


And what would the Holidays be without taking in a movie.
This is what we saw.

(The Greatest Showman)

On a more solemn note, the passing of our beloved President Monson came as a surprise but not a shock. We will miss this dear man so much. 

"We thank thee, O God, for a prophet"

2018

Excited to look ahead.

Grateful for what's behind.

Thankful.

So hopeful.

New trials, opportunities, and changes await us.

May we be equal to them.