Who Knew?!

This city is just full of surprises.

 Yesterday we had to go to the mission office to pick up our passports. (That's not the surprising part.)

President Hart is the mission president for the Brazil Curitiba Mission.

The surprising part is this little gem across the street from the Brazil Curitiba South Mission office. 

There's this small triangular park dedicated to the Prophet Joseph Smith. I'm not sure what the story is behind it but someone had a great idea - and made it happen! One side of the "monument" says:

“The prophet who received and translated the history of the people that inhabited this continent between 600 BC and 400 AD.”

Another side quotes John 10:16 about one fold and one shepherd.     The last side says Brazil is a blessed land and quotes Ether 2:12 saying that the land will be free if the people serve Christ.

(Praça recanto means square alcove)

I know - who knew?!

And since we were already downtown and near the IMAX we decided to take in a movie.

Rogue One

May the 'força esteja com você!'

Just so ya know, when going to movies in Curitiba,you want "Legendado" not "Dublado" in order to get the ones in English with subtitles. BTY - we did.

Tour de Curitiba

Mondays are generally a good time to get out and about in the city. There is so much to see and do here! So far, our adventures have been AWESOME!!

#1

Barigui Park is just five bus stops down the road. It is the most frequented park in the city - by joggers, bikers, strollers, soccer players, you name it. It also has a beautiful lake in the center of it. 

(The little brown fellow is called a capybara. He is truly a ROUS - rodent of unusual size.)

#2

The Jardim Botânico (Botanical Garden) has French style paths leading up to a glass greenhouse that looks like it came right out of the 19th century. 

#3

The Oscar Niemeyer Museum is one of the largest in Latin America. Its structural shape looks like a giant eye observing the city.

#4

After the visit of Pope John Paul II to Curitiba, a Polish Memorial was built in his honor. Many Polish immigrants settled in the state of Paraná. These little log houses are nestled among the pines and reminded us a lot of our Mormon pioneers.

(Kay and me at the little church. Don conversing with President Oliveira)

#5

Up next - the beautiful Wire Opera House (or as they say in Brazil, Ópera de Arame)

And yes, this tube-like structure looks like it was

 made out of wire. Many great concerts have been performed here. Don, Sister Oliveira, Kay, President Oliveira, and Sister Medeiros are just waiting for the next one to begin!!

#6

Fifty-plus years ago (when Don and Larry were missionaries here) this was the mission home/office. They hardly recognized the area - things have changed so much. Anyway, this was a high priority on their "must see list".

#7

No tour would be complete without including a great place to eat. This little hole-in-the-wall serves up delicious pastels (they taste kind of like a deep-fried empanada filled with everything from cheese to meat to fruit)  and coxinhas (little ranidrops of fried goodness usually filled with chicken and a very creamy cheese called "catupiry') all washed down with a bottle of Guaraná. (I prefer water!)

I have included the street sign just in case you ever get down here a would like to partake of its deliciousness.

Well, there you have 7 spots to include in your "Tour de Curitiba". There will surely be more to come! 

And just in case you missed them the first time, one last look at the darling ROUSs.....

 

Feliz Ano Novo

Feliz Ano Novo

Happy New Year

2017

We Mormons enjoyed a relatively quiet celebration of the new year.

We had a pot luck dinner in the Common's Area, played games, and at midnight went out into the parking lot to listen to the city and its residents shoot off fireworks for at least 40 minutes. The loud pops and whistles actually lasted most of the night. Our little group didn't! (We had to get up for Church the next morning!)

 Bishop & Sister Oliveira (Temple Recorder, as well) Elder & Sister Brown, Elder & Sister Mac, Elder & Sister França, Elder & Sister Medeiros, President & Sister Oliveira)

Christmas in Brazil

What a special time of year - and how fun it is to experience it in a new way! 

Our "neighbor" Christmas party was held last night. This included the four sets of temple missionaries, the temple presidency, and temple recorder - with some family members who live nearby. 

Mormons do it a bit differently than the rest of Brazil but, basically, this is how it works:

We gathered at 8:00 pm to meet and greet each other. When everyone arrived we enjoyed a wonderful Christmas program put on by the President's family. 

Dinner began around 10:00. This is a lot like our Thanksgiving - a real feast! Favorite Christmas foods include pork, ham, and roasted Chester, (Think of a super-sized chicken. Most ovens in Brazil are too small to roast a turkey so they developed a big chicken-like poultry that will feed more than just a regular chicken would. BTY, Chesters are very tender and moist and have a lot of white meat on them - hence the name chester.)

Also served, cold potato salad, fresh and dried fruits, cooked vegetables that have then been refrigerated, tomatoes and cucumbers. Everything is served with rice cooked with raisins and a good spoonful of "Farofa" which is seasoned manioc flour. 

The most popular Christmas dessert seems to be chocolate cake with coconut filling and ice cream.

And always, there is the ever popular Panettone which is a sweet bread filled with dried fruits or chocolate. Since Kay and I were new to this, we were assigned this item. I guess they figured we could buy them and cut them up without much damage!

Then, at midnight, the tradition is that everyone makes a toast to a happy Christmas and exchange presents. You can hear fireworks going off all over the city. By that time I was ready for bed!

In Brazil, Santa Claus is called Papai Noel. He looks a lot like our Santa but his outfit is of a lighter weight because of the summer season. Ha. The kids leave out their shoes so that Papai Noel will fill them with gifts and sweets. It is also a tradition to hide wrapped presents around the house for the children to hunt for and open. They actually only get a couple of things for Christmas.

The most popular Christmas song in Brazil? "Silent Night"

Today, after Church, we enjoyed Christmas Day dinner with the Browns.

P.S. Yesterday we actually had our first company. Don's tutor from the MTC (Arthur Silva) with his wife and aunt came by. 

Once again, Feliz Natal, and may all your Christmases be white. (Ours was 88 degrees with a 70% chance of showers. Welcome to Curitiba!)

Deck the Halls in the Malls

So far we have made it to two of Curitiba's shopping malls. Both have radiated the Christmas spirit with their decorations and music (all American, as far as we can tell). We are so lucky to have another American couple serving in the temple with us - Kay and Larry Brown from Roy, Utah. They beat us here by two weeks so we have taken advantage of their superior knowledge of the area! It has been fun having someone so share our adventures with. 

Bariqui Mall

Estação Mall

Don keeps telling me that this is not the Brazil of 50+ years ago. Haha. 

I am really liking this new Brazil. 

Home Sweet Home

Thought you might like to take a tour of our home for the next 18 months. It is really quite nice. We live in an apartment building on the temple grounds just left of the temple itself. Our home is on the second floor, left side, in the back. There are sitting areas on both floors for visitors. We even have a little balcony.

There are seven apartments - for the temple presidency, two American couples, and two Brazilian couples.

This is the living room, dining room, and bedroom. 

(Note the family pictures above the TV!)

The tiny kitchen and bathroom. There is no real stove and, besides, all the instructions are in a foreign language! And in Celsius as well!!!

And lastly, this is our apartment from the back of the building, our view from our balcony, and the laundry room. (Again, all instructions are in Portuguese! Who knew?!)

Hope you enjoyed your little 'Home Tour'. We are feeling quite 'at home' in our little palace and are enjoying all of our wonderful new neighbors, all of whom we work with every day.

We EMBARK on our adventure!

We said Goodbye to friends and family on December 12th and spent three fabulous days in the Salt Lake Temple training for our service in the Curitiba Temple. And then, on Friday the 16th, we said Goodbye to Utah, the United States, and everything familiar for the next 18 months.

And just 6,082 miles later (it seemed much longer in hours!!)  we arrived in Curitiba. What a beautiful city! We haven't been inside the temple yet but here are some pictures around the grounds. The temple is surrounded by very tall and very expensive apartment buildings. 

And yes, it is summer down here.