Sunday July 31

 

Today we were up early practicing our talks.it will be a good thing to have done. Finally we were there and doing them. Grandma did greay. The members love her. I just rambled and pretty much looked at the member’s confused faces. We came home for lunch it was stroganoff and rice with tossed salad and then cake for desert. We had our second sacrament meeting today. Best one yet.

What fun. We came home had leftovers for dinner, and while we ate called the kids. More fun. We love you all.

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Saturday July 30

 

Well today was a lazy day. We were supposed to go to the airport to get the new elder at 10:00 but his flight was delayed and canceled and he arrived at 10:00 tonight. Meanwhile we got ready to go early and then worked on our talks. There is no way we will be ready to give them in a manner that everyone will understand. But we do what we can. We had lunch with members at 1:00 then a couple of trips to Ribeira Grande separated  by talk prep.

There was an interesting car in our parking lot.

We were supposed to return to the airport at 8:00 but he didn’t arrive until almost 10:00.

For a Saturday which is normally one of the better days of the week this one left much to be desired. We love you all

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Friday July 29

 

Today was cloudy and humid and hot. No rain fell on us and because the temperature varies so little here when we were out of the apartment it felt hot. I did my solo walk, then we headed down th coast. We went to our normal turn around then up to the farmers market. We bought lots of food then turned for home. They are having another festival using portable statues and hanging huge balls in the trees.

It takes crews of men to put up and take down all these decorations. And where do they store them? Last year the whale tail was blue. They either did a paint job or have more than one. The Big Truck was loading up so I got a picture. 

We got home and spent time on our talks. This evening we had branch council. It went fantastic. Not sure what to think. No fights no lectures. Not as entertaining, but much more productive and no stress. We love you all.

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Thursday July 28

 

Today was another nice day. After my early morning routine, we waited a while before leaving for our walk. We drove out to pinhal de paz for our walk. It is so pretty and peaceful here. 

We visited the deer.

The Guinea hens were out.

The pizza ovens looked ready

A quick picture for Drew.

We came home and worked on our talks. I probably worry too much about it. We got our flight itinerary for our flight home today. Looks good. We nearly missed the activity tonight, but we made it. 

We came home had our dinner late and off to bed. Good day. We love you all.

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Wednesday July 27

 What a day. This one was hot. I went for my walk then we walked down by the ocean. The day was already starting to be hot. Lots of tourists today. We just kept going.

We had district meeting and it was good then a quick stop by the apartment and we went to the airport with Elder Leonardo. 

He is headd homc. We then bought lunch and had a little down time.our next event was having dinner with the family of Dolce our most recent convert. What a fantastic time. The food was great. Lasagna,  potatoes with bacalhau, feijoada, green salad, and french fries. Very well cooked. We then talked and her dad sang.

They had this loud karaoke machine. The elders danced

. Even I sang. 

We finished up and drove home late. It was a nice evening. We love you all.

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Tuesday July 26

 

Today was very busy and lots of fun. I had my short walk first then we set out. Grandma chose to go to the park way down he road from us as one of the things on her bucket list, so we sat out. It is close to 3 miles away and since we had appointments we left early, too early. We had to wait for it to open. We finally got in and played a game of checkers.

Grandma had the white pieces and the game progressed fairly smooth and even at first.

Then I managed to get the advantage and I won. Sorry Ashlee. 

There were pretty flowers and strange figurines.

We walked back to the apartment and we saw a billboard calling for the end of cruelty to bulls. We don’t even have bull fights here.

We hurried as we were needed to take a member family to the store to get food they needed. Just another part of being a member leadership support. We finished up with that just in time to go to our appointment to help teach a sister to read. Every week we read 1 or 2 chapters out loud with her. 

There was a car with a bumper sticker that got a little confused in the translation. 

Instead of making child plural by adding a s it needed to be children. We had a quick lunch, then off to villa franca for a visit. We have a few members here who were left alone and abandoned when the branch closed a few years back. They are still not happy about being left all alone. It is hard for us to remember to visit regularly as we should. The missionaries asked why the branch was closed and I gave a poor excuse and she informed me that we should have found a way to keep it open. We have too many closed areas here on the island. We got back in time to have dinner with a member.

The food was wonderful 

Oven roasted potatoes and chicken, pasta salad, and bread. The members here love grandma and I get in on the benefits. As we left it was beginning to rain so the missionaries decided to try their favorite jest in finding people of getting an umbrella and a Book of Mormon.

Not that it ever works, but they love to have fun with saying it. We ended up back home late and we had a full day. We love you all.

17911   7 miles.