Brasilia and their Solemn Session

Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving's not celebrated in Brazil, of course, so it's a regular work day here. But after work the American's get together and we do our best to celebrate. We fix a 'turkey' called a Chester or Peru, (like a big chicken) and bake pumpkin pie if someone has a can of pumpkin filling from the states. (If we are really ambitious or desperate there is a pumpkin-like squash here that can be made into a pie.) And there is always mashed potatoes and gravy.

This year our Thanksgiving Day was really unusual. Marsh was invited to attend a Solemn Session of the Brazilian Senate where they planned to honor the Church for it's 80 years of service here in Brazil. This was initiated and organized by Senator Labao who was recently hosted in Salt Lake City and Provo by the Church. There he met with Church leaders, toured Salt Lake and Provo, Welfare Square and so on and came away so impressed that he has since sponsored the Solemn Session. The Church has done such a great service here having donated over 4,000 wheelchairs to the needy, and Relief Societies and Young Women’s Auxiliaries making many sheets and pillow cases and giving them, along with blankets, to hospitals (there is no heat in many of them, and often no covers for the beds). Also, on September 7, Brazil's Independence Day, the stakes here have a day of service where they paint, clean and repair schools, hospitals, parks, and so on. This year there were over 60,000 Brazilian saints involved in the 'Helping Hands' program and the Senate wanted to recognize all the service given.

So, Thanksgiving morning Marsh and I left our apartment about 6AM to catch an early flight to Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. That is one interesting city with very unique architecture. It was designed by an architect who'd won a contest and then built mainly by his contractor friend in just 41 months starting in 1956. From the air the city's shape looks like a bird with open wings or an airplane.

The actual ceremony at 2 pm was impressive. We sat in the senator's seats on the floor of the Senate while the two scheduled speakers, Senator Labao and another senator, spoke about the Church in the most positive ways for about an hour. At it's completion we started to file out when it was announced that two more senators also wanted to speak extemporaneously. We sat down again and listened while a third speaker spoke with much heartfelt emotion about the Church and it's blessing to the families of Brazil. The fourth and last Senator took advantage of the opportunity mostly to rant and rave about President Lula with a good comment about the Church thrown in every now and then for good measure. All in all it was a wonderful afternoon and it was so nice to hear positive things about the Church and to be appreciated for the good we are doing here. I’m so thankful I got to tag along.

We caught a plane back to São Paulo in the evening and arrived safely home at our apartment around 8:30 that night after a full and fascinating day.

Where We Live!

Sao Paulo, Brazil; sprawling, noisy, congested, sooty, graffiti-covered concrete megatropolis; home to about 19 million diverse people. It's a city of contrasts, with the very, very wealthy living amidst the very, very poor, and with natural beauty that takes your breath away beside man-made squalor that breaks your heart. This is the city where Marsh and I live and work right now.

Our apartment is in one of eight 23-floor concrete apartment buildings that make up this nearly one hundred acre complex of Portal Morambi. Security is a huge concern here in Sao Paulo and this compound is surrounded by 10 to 12 foot vine-covered walls topped with both barbed wire and electric fences and guarded at the two entrances and at each apartment and garage entrance round the clock. But once inside it's like a little Garden of Eden, beautiful, safe and peaceful. We love walking on the many paths throughout the grounds. It's a family place, filled with children and their white-clad nannies, joggers and walkers, and scores of pampered and pedigreed dogs on leashes. It's unique because of it's parklike grounds of green lawns and flowering trees in a city where every inch of space is precious. It's a very international place. The neighbors that I've met so far are Brazilian, Dutch, English, French, Swedish, American and Korean. It always amazes me to hear a little three year old speaking better Portuguese than I do. But that's a whole different blog. These pictures are of our apartment and the grounds around it. This blog has taken two months for me to figure out but I think the next one will be a little faster. I am excited to be able to share some of this wonderful adventure of ours with you.