Saturday April 30

 Jordan made the cover. Today we got up and headed out on a long walk. We visited all the usual sites, but they were new to Jordan and Chris. 

The old sailing ship, the cruise ship, the crabs on the rocks, the anchor.

We came back home and ate lunch. We spent just a while then headed out for a drive. We visited several other locations and then went shopping. A good picture of fresh cleaned octopus.

We still had a few minutes so we stopped and walked through a garden.

Grandma and I went out on a teaching appointment then I had a meeting. I came home and Jordan helped me prepare lunch for tomorrow. Fun day. We love you all.

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Friday April 29

 

Today we were here at home getting ready for the weekend. The branch President wanted to meet at the church to work on member records so I spent an hour there. We dropped the elders off and went shopping. We started off at one store then down to the farmers market. As we were leaving grandma noticed these workers on a tall building.

When I pulled over I popped a tire. I am getting too good at changing tires.

I got a new tire and then after dropping off the groceries we had we went to the mall and got more. Jordan and his brother in law Chris got here a little late at 7:00. We just dropped them off and went out to teach a family. 

Grandma taught part of it. As we were leaving I got a nice picture of the sunset.

Long drive home. Visited for a while then to bed. We love you all.

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Thursday April 28

 

Today we started off walking but it was cloudy and the wind was blowing hard. We walked down by the ocean and there was a cruise ship in but even it was moving a little in the waves. Not the best day to tour the açores. We arrived home and after a bit headed out for lunch at a member’s home. Next we had an appointment with a Brazilian family. We had a good time there as it is always good to understand what people are saying. We had a ward activity tonight. Not tons of people there but good enough.

Then a long trip out to drop off the missionaries of Ribeira Grande. Busy day and not a lot of pictures. We love you all.

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Wednesday April 27

 Today was cloudy and looked like rain but it held off all day. We went for a nice walk and there were no cruise ships in port but still a fair amount of tourists. There was a freighter in off loading buses and trucks.

We walked back and at the old fort or museum the men were out marching again.

We had our district meeting this morning. We came home and ate then went out on a visit. A member had called needing help getting food. The branch President has to approve it but then we went with him to purchase it. Many of the people here are barely not getting by. I sometimes think perhaps they would do better on the continent but they would just be one more unemployed person. I have been studying for Saturday’s class and it will be a hard one. We love you all.

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Tuesday April 26

 

Today was another beautiful day. A few while clouds were floating by. On our walk there were 2 more cruise ships here. These generally only stay for one day and leave in the night. I was thinking about why there are so many ships now when there were none when we were first here. I remember one tourist who stopped us to talk said the ship was not full as only every other cabin had to be left empty. Wearing a mask all the time would’ve made me take a pass. Anyway they are here now.

We had our temple preparation class and it was fun. We drove out and visited the old girl from villa franco. By assignment we tried to get the date one of our old members died from her family. I had forgotten how bad they wanted no contact with us. It was interesting to say he least. We got back in time to eat hen english class. We had a good day. We love you all. We woke up at 4 am to call Sadie on her birthday. Cool.

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Monday April 25

 

It’s p-day. We couldn’t think of anywhere to go but the elders wanted to go see this crater so off we went. We stopped off first and picked up grandma’s shoe at the repair shop in the mall. They have these shops where they fix everything. I had my pants hemmed and my iPad screen replaced and keys made and now a shoe repair. They fix suitcases and purses belts anything. We drove out and found the crater on the shore of the ocean. 

The crater is in the fourth from the bottom here I laid down and looked over the edge very deep not a good place to fall. They had a small chapel but these are everywhere. 

There were a couple of men fishing off the rocks but even though I watched for a while I saw no fish caught. Hey catch these little fish about 4 inches or less and I have seen them catch them really fast. 

We headed out and I needed some pictures of the houses.

It is really colorful. Flowers and weeds will grow anywhere this flower is growing out of a crack on a balcony.

As I often say I was born to drive here but maybe some people weren’t.

Dealing with six feet wide roads and now roads that run off cliffs at least you stay aware. We ate hen had our zoom meetings. The elders had a teaching appointment so off we went. The days are getting longer and it is nice driving in the evening. We love you all.

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Sunday April 24

 Another Sunday here. I arrived at church with not so high expectations on the number of people going to attend. I was pleasantly surprised as they kept coming until we had 76. The meeting was a bit of a replay as we have had the same speakers at least 6 times before.  But you play the hand you are dealt. After church we came back home and fixed lunch. The elders surprised us and did dishes. We drove to Ribeira Grande and dropped off those elders then home for a short break and then back out to a sacrament meeting at the church in Ribeira Grande. There were a lot of people there and 4 new ones meaning a total of 80 for the day. Not bad.

We headed on home and there was some kind of a party at the village church with calves and goats and loud music.

We saw a midsized cruise ship leaving and a bit later it passed our kitchen window.

I prepared dinner and grandma thought it looked nice so took a picture of stroganoff, tossed salad, fruit salad, and bread and butter.

We called the kids and that was really nice. The only down side was how late it was for us. We love you all.

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