 |
| 1st week - São Paulo ward |
 |
| Kathie &Winslow beside the temple |
The first ward we attended was at the church building right next to the São Paulo temple. We didn't go inside on our trip though because we thought it was closed for cleaning (though when we looked up the schedule afterwards, we realized maybe we had just misunderstood the announcement in Portuguese given in Sacrament Meeting!)
I'd hoped I'd be able to understand even better than I was able to (I have more work to do! :), but it was still great. In primary I did okay because the concepts were so basic/familiar. But in Sacrament Meetings, I felt like I could understand about 2 or 3 words in each sentence, but not usually near enough to each other to figure out what they were really talking about. Every once in a while, I'd understand the idea of a sentence or two though and feel so proud :) One Sacrament Meeting had an American missionary couple as the speakers and the sister missionary spoke Portuguese much more slowly and clearly, so I was super happy to be able to understand just a little bit more!
At each ward, there were several people who came to say hello after the meetings, and they were just super kind and welcoming.
 |
| Making plans for the return trip to our apartment (while Landon played with is new friends!), and what beautiful church grounds! |
I loved going to primary (sharing time and singing time in particular - going to primary class with Ellie and Owen was pretty tricky, because there were only just a few of us, so it was hard to not be able to answer or participate at all!). I just love primary, so it was really fun to see the little things each primary did just like us, and what things they did differently. One ward had 12 kids in their primary, another close to 20 and the other about 30 I think. In the smallest ward, I loved seeing the leaders all filling many roles. The Primary president was also the chorister and the counselor was also the pianist. :)
In the Florianopolis ward (as well as I could understand!) they were working hard to be reverent and earn a popcorn party. (Of course I could have been misunderstanding, but it seemed like when the kids got a little more rowdy, they would mention 'pipoca' again :) When we broke up into junior/senior with about 15 little ones in a tiny little classroom, I could see why the effort was being made - These sweet little ones were just as excited as can be to listen and participate, but each answer they gave was a joyful shout! (So this was quite a noisy little classroom!)
Landon amazed us at church. He was able to understand a lot of what was going on - He volunteered to participate in sharing time, and happily went off to class on his own and of course made friends by the end of primary. After two of the three sacrament meetings, he had a little group of girls so anxious to talk to him and ask him questions that he was able to answer pretty well in Portuguese even.
 |
| I sure love this boy of mine! |
 |
| They told me 'you have beautiful eyes!' |
