Monday February 28

 

Today is p-day but the weather is cloudy and going to rain. This picture is one I hadn’t used yet and I was saving to use on a day like today. It got so foggy we couldn’t see the ocean from our window. Well we just stayed in for the morning. After lunch we decided to go shopping. As we made the first turn the tire went flat. What is it with tires over here. 

It wasn’t my first time to change a flat and being here probably it won’t be my last. Going to the tire store they were closed for lunch. Most businesses here open at 10:00, close from 12:30 until 2:30, then close at 8:99. This makes for what I think would be a miserable work day, but they are used to it. We went shopping. Pictures of my favorite fish section.

We got finished just in time to get the tire fixed. Minutes later we were on our way and the rain was pouring down. We drove down to the harbor but the visibility was so bad we couldn’t see across to the other side. So we came home and I made cookies for the activity this week. We had a couple of zoom meetings and we talked with Hunter for a while. We get to go out so much it is not the end when we have to stay in for a day. We love you all.

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Sunday February 27

 

Today is Sunday. I like this day of the week because we get to go to church and visit with everyone. There were many visitors today. I guess the tourist season is starting. We had lunch at the church after with the young adults.

The only differences between lunch every Sunday was location, 4 more people, and  1 more bottle of  soda. Oh and we only washed the pans we brought the food in. Our next item to do was haul the elders back to ribeira grande. The waves were huge. After dropping them off grandma and I returned and watched for a while. I realize that we do this often and then talk about it. But it is still amazing to us and so different than Idaho. 

We returned to our apartment having over an hour before needing to return to ribeira grande. Today was our monthly church meeting at 5:00. As usual we were late starting. The people in Portugal seem to arrive 15 minutes or so late for everything. Difficult for me, but it seems to work for them. I figure if we need to follow a schedule we should start half an hour early. There were people there who don’t get the opportunity to attend at Ponta Delgada. After the meeting the people hung around visiting and the kids played. Grandma said it was the funnest church meeting we have had.

Membros were talking about how much they loved this chapel and how many fond memories they had here. I am reminded of some of the fond memories I associate with places in my life. We left and came home and started calling our kids. Good visit with them. This was another Sunday that lives up to my expectations as my favorite day of the week. We love you all.

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Saturday February 26

 Today we get to visit several people. We also prepared for the linger longer we are having after church tomorrow. I made a batch of stroganoff and grandma prepared oven roasted potatoes to bake tomorrow. We had lunch with all the missionaries at the home of a member. We had their form of shepherds pie. It was good. For desert we had chocolate bunt cake. While driving we saw a cruise ship leaving the harbor and yet later the same ship was against the dock unloading. 

It rained part of the time then turned of really warm until almost hot. I drove with the window down. We went to visit some members with the elders from ribeira grande before dropping them off. It was still early and having some time left we stopped and went for a short walk where the river flows into the ocean.

The funny looking stone is an old mill stone as there was an old water powered mill here for grinding wheat or corn. It was fun to get out and see so many people. I still am amazed at all the people men, women, and children who just sit on the sidewalk or on the doorsteps. They sit and talk and look like they have nowhere to go. They are not homeless just people with nothing to do. If we could figure out a way to get them to listen we could teach them like alma and amulek did. Good day. We love you all.

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A clarification on the elk antler nativity. The figures inside are not carved in, but are glued in and made of material other than antler. The antler just is carved out to form a cave like opening.

Friday February 25

 Today because we were blocked from visiting all of the people we wanted to visit due to covid. So we decided to go out for a nice walk. The weather was even nicer than ever. About 60 degrees it was perfect for a walk and soon even grandma had put her jacket in my backpack. There was a huge sailing ship in the harbor. From Oslo it was some sort of cruise ship as buses were loading up for a tour.

It looked like it could carry quite a few people. We walked on down the coast watching the waves and the boats. The yacht that looks so fast was out.

We were not in a hurry so we just kept going. Looking back at the harbor from a distance I think it looks impressive.

I still think these pine trees are so symmetrical they look fake.

We headed back wanting to buy some food at the farmers market. We were passing a souvenir store when I noticed a small nativity set with the stable carved out of an elk antler. In reality probably a red deer which is an European elk. It was sort of neat so I entered and asked the price. $132. Maybe all those antlers in the shop are worth more than I thought. 

We bought the food and wandered back home. I cooked lunch and we had a zoom meeting with president Barcellos and the senior missionaries. Good meeting, the young missionaries and the members and leaders here on São Miguel make us look good and we get a little credit we really haven’t earned. After the meeting we went out for a walk just at sunset. The day was spent in limited contact but we had a nice day. We love you all.

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Thursday February 24

 Today was another day where not much happened. We were up and because of things to do here we passed on the walk not having time and needed to get ready. Then just at the last minute our appointment canceled due to covid in the family. We don’t have anymore people to visit as everyone has covid in the house. The only good news about it is the government has decided after all this that the only ones who have to quarantine are the actual people who test positive. The rest can carry on going out attending church and such. Unfortunately many take advantage and stay home from church. We decided to go out for lunch, a good idea, but a bad choice of restaurants. The food was good if a little pricey but there was just too much. This is the only picture we took. After stopping for some groceries,we headed downtown. We had names of members who had died but in order to get their records closed out we needed dates of their deaths. We ended up in the registrar’s office. It is surprising how much things remain the same no matter where you go. I could have been in Blackfoot Idaho at the courthouse. They move at their pace and with no intention of helping you only doing what they have to. After all you came to them. For all this after the fellow tried to complain and realized I wasn’t leaving he got going and we got the information they could find. We may have to go to other cities to get some of it done. We came back and I tried to think of someone to visit, and couldn’t come up with anyone. I can’t imagine what it must have been like when the virus first came and the country isolated themselves from everyone. Makes me grateful we were sent home during that time. Well this one is ready for the blog. Just glad to be here and if we had known at the start we would have gone somewhere. We love you all.

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Wednesday February 23

 

We went out for our walk today and it was back. It isn’t exactly tied up the same, but lt still is here. The sky was very overcast and at times it sprinkled, but we had a nice walk. 

We sat on a bench for a while and watched the waves. The tide was on the rise, so I enjoyed watching the waves get higher. We headed home to get some lunch and get ready to go on visits. When we left it was really raining. It continued to rain fairly steady for the rest of the day. We eventually ended up at the weekly activity. This time it was in ribeira grande, and was well attended. Some of the games were very entertaining.

After the games we had refreshments and everyone sat around and talked.  This doesn’t always happen so I was impressed. After a fair amount of time we headed home. This was a fun day. We love you all.

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Tuesday February 22

 

I have to say at times writing this blog in the morning is work. But I like sharing the neat things that happen so I need to report the happenings of each day so as not to miss recording something neat. So it was chilly again this morning and for the first half of the walk I wore my sweatshirt. We headed down to the coast and as we entered the street that paralleled the water I noticed the large 3 masted black sailing ship motoring out of the harbor.

This is amazing. This ship has been here for months. I actually thought it could be where she would stay permanently until she decomposed. We were glad we arrived in time to see her leave. Many days we encounter this woman out walking her dogs down here barefoot. I didn’t think she was homeless, but homeless don’t have a couple of dogs. Well today we figured it out. There is this one catamaran, a large sailboat that is two boats joined together by a center part keeping them separated and where the large mast for the sale sets. This setup makes them very stable. Anyway you can tell someone has always lived on board as there is often laundry hanging out 

The barefoot lady got off the boat with her dogs so mystery solved. We kept walking making a large circle back to home. I got a picture of a political sign. This one was from the communist party and didn’t include the socialist party as the other ones have.

Okay back to work we ended up back visiting one of the members who live in villa franca. She had orange hair. To see what she normally looked like see November 28. 

I have often described her as an old hippie, I think it still fits. She had pretty flowers in her yard and picked one for grandma.

We drove around trying to locate some members and ended up going down a steep street that would be difficult to go up down to the beach where we stopped for a moment.

We only stayed a few minutes then back on the road again. This evening we had leftover roast and potatoes and gravy. Even better than yesterday. Good day. We love you all.

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