We had rented a car while in Sao Paulo so that Jared could drive us to Itatiba, the area Jared served the last 8 months of his mission. But before that we drove to eh CTM, the missionary training center in Brazil, for a tour. What a highlight! Such wonderful kind sister tour guides there! and seeing where Weston trained, and the similarities and differences from the MTC I work in at Provo, was just so delightful. We drove the Sao Paulo Temple and were an hour early for our session so we were able to park the car in the temple parking lot and walk across the street to a lovely shopping center that had a nice brazilian buffet. I just want to try everything! Ate too much. We walked through the visitor center and then went to our session. So beautiful! I was feeling the spirit very strongly there, almost as if I might return to Sao Paulo someday. Maybe I'll serve a mission there with Jared. The rain finally stopped and the drive to Itatiba wasn't too bad, but the Airbnb there was probably my least favorite of all the places we stayed. Only one night though. We didn't lose any time, we went straight to the church and it was three times the size of what Jared remembered, now a stake center for 16 stakes in Brazil. The missionaries just happened to be there and were delighted to talk to us and show us around the church. We also met the bishop who was there on a sautrday night somehow, and he was thrilled we came back and knew Portuguese, especially me. A lot of people are impressed I took the time to learn their language. Jared humbly had to ask him to arrange lunch for us the next day which Bishop graciously did, contacting a member Jared knew named Antonio. It was dark now but Jared was determined to find some of the members he knew, and we had to do some searching. I got a little nervous with my son and husband clapping outside of strange houses in a strange place hoping to find someone they knew, but they did! They found Ila and Sarah, sisters of a lady Jared baptized named Barbara. They remembered him and invited us into their home and Ila went to the store and got us bread and meat and cheese to eat for dinner. Those ladies visited with us and showed us their home like we were their best friends. I've learned a lot about Christlike hospitability from visiting Brazil.
No comments:
Post a Comment