Let's start with a guessing game - What is this?
I had no idea when I first came here. They are basket/containers on the sidewalks.
How about this? Take your best guess for each one and I will let you know at the end of the blog!
This week, I have been working on the lessons for the Adjusting to Missionary Life Workshop that I hope to teach. I have done 3 1/2 of the 5 lessons so far and I am happy at how they look. I hope these lessons will really help new missionaries.
Last weekend was General Conference Weekend. The other senior missionaries were so nice to me! On Saturday, Elder and Sister Blazer invited me over for a brunch of eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, fruit, and pao de queijo. Wonderful!
Then we walked a few blocks to a local padaria (that's Portuguese for a bakery). But it is so much more than just a bakery! It is a deli and a small store and a cafe. We saw beautiful cakes and pastries - and I got my all-time favorite, Pasteis de Belem.
I first had them in Lisbon (remember Liza?) then in London at Borough Market (remember Sarah?), then in Hong Kong (remember, Eldon and Penny?). They are wonderful little custards in pastry cups and to me they are such a treat!
I came back and watched the Saturday "Morning" Session of Conference (which actually was at 1 pm here), then went to another missionary couple's apartment for the next session and enjoyed being with them. The Saturday Evening Session, I watched at home from 9-10:30. On Sunday, I watched the first session at home and then went to a third couple's apartment for dinner and watched the last session at home. Eveyone was so nice to me - to make sure that I didn't feel alone at Conference time.
Today I am a Green! We have four levels of functioning for missionaries to assess themselves. Green is "Great!", yellow is "Doing Pretty Well", Orange is "Hanging in There" and Red is "I'm in Trouble". Usually, I am a green or a yellow.
And now the answers to the question, "What is it?" The first thing is a basket for putting trash in.
There aren't the big bins that we have in the US. They bring their trash down to the curb. The second thing is a dedicated walking and biking track in between the lanes of traffic. No wasted space here!
By the way, the weather here is lovely. Overcast with clouds and in the 70s - perfect for me! The only problem is that it will be clear one minute and the next, a drenching downpour!! I need two umbrellas, one at home and one at the office. Otherwise, it is easy to get drenched. Someone told me to expect rain like this for the next six months. (I can't tell if they were serious or pulling my leg. Six months of downpours??)
Talk with you again next week!
Comments13
Week of 7 October 2022
I really enjoyed your quiz questions, "What is it?" I got the second one correct and not the first one. Did you create the "four levels of functioning for missionaries"? Looks like a quick and simple for someone to rate themselves. I'm glad to hear that on 10/7/22, you rated yourself as green and I hope you have more days as green than any other color. We are currently in St. Louis, Missouri, visiting our daughter Julia and her husband, Eric. So many things to see and do here. Next week we fly to Charleston, SC, to visit Katy and her family, including a new granddaughter named Truly. We then fly home to UT on 10/19/22. May the Lord continue to bless you as you serve Him. Thanks again for your post!
Glad you are having a great…
Glad you are having a great time
They are
Wire baskets and a red line!
Brazil
I was planning on keeping quiet during the quizzes since I knew exactly what everything was! Lauren and I took the Cheek family to a place to get Acai this last week during conference! Foi gostoso demais!
Your blog is great!
It’s good hearing about your wonderful mission. Liebe Grüße, Mark & Pauline
Happy for you
I love learning about the culture there including the pictures!
I am so happy for you!
So happy that you are having a great time here in Brazil, I hope to be able to visit you in a few weeks!!! You will have your first "not celebrate" Thanksgiving Day, once we don't celebrate it here, but you will notice a lot of ads about Black Week/ Blach Friday... Curious huh? And also prepare yourself for a hot time Holiday!!!! Xmas in Summer!!!
Thanks, Cheryl!
Thanks for your fun blog, Cheryl! We're so proud of you and are very grateful that you're happy, adjusting well and feeling successful! We just returned home this past week from being out of the country for about 5 weeks- 1 1/2 weeks in Deutschland (a German Castles Tour for Fun For Less), then we had a few days free, and flew to Johannesburg, South Africa to start another tour. We had 1 1/2 days free, then met a group of guests arriving there in Johannesburg. The next morning, we all flew up to Linvingston, Zambia and crossed the border (using buses) into Zimbabwe to the area of Victoria Falls. We spent 2 days there, and visited the Victoria Falls on the 2nd day. Then we boarded an African Explorer train, and set off on an 8 day train trip across a number of African countries (Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, Swasiland, and then into South Africa. The train portion of the trip ended in Swasiland, where we met two buses for our group, and continued from there by bus across Swasiland, into Mozambique, and then into So. Africa. We got to Durban, So. Africa, then had a day trip up an incredible mountain canyon, and from sea level up to 10,500 feet elevation, to Lesotho. Came back to Durban and from there we flew to Cape Town (an appr. 2 hr. flight). We spent 2 1/2 days in Cape Town (a very beautiful city, we loved being there) and then flew home. LONG flight getting home-- 12 1/2 hrs to Amsterdam, then a 5 hr layover, followed by a 9 hr flight to SLC. That last day was a long one!! It was an amazing trip for us, but we glad to be home now for a few months.
We've envious of your opportunity to serve a mission! We hope you will enjoy every single minute. If we were able, we'd submit our papers to serve another mission immediately. But now we have Diane's 91 year old mother living with us at least 1/2 of the time (alternate for several weeks at a time with Diane's older sister, who takes her mother to her home for several weeks). My mother just turned 94, and we are looking after her too, although she lives in an independent living center out in Sandy. My sister and I are primarily the 2 siblings to look after my Mom, but my sister and her husband are now getting their papers filled out to submit to serve a mission themselves! (He's an MD, so they will be serving a medical mission somerwhere in the world--we're VERY excited for them! They won't be leaving until this coming Spring sometime.) So Diane and I will be here caring for and watching over our mothers for the future. Who knows how long?
We send our love, and our prayers for your welfare, health and safety. You will always be in our thoughts and prayers.
Love, Rob & Diane
Pastéis de Belém
In Hong Kong, these pastries were called daan tart—egg pastries. My favorite also!
I wonder how many countries use the garbage baskets? We saw them in a brief visit to Uruguay..
Missionary descriptions
Those pictures of the functionality of missionaries are great. And pretty descriptive, for sure
General conference
First off, my guess would have been a dish rack for drying the dishes but that would be a pretty large dish rack. Without context to the size, I never would have guessed a trash bin.
How fun that you were able to jump around and have so many different experiences for conference. There were some wonderful messages. I’m glad you were able to enjoy it.
Mission
Wasn’t Conference great! We just loved every minute of it. President Nelson finally looked like he was as little older. Was so surprised to actually see him sit on a chair when he talked. He brought tears to our eyes with his last words. They almost sounded like a Good Bye! Sounds like you are doing well and enjoying your life in Brazil. Three dinners in two days. I’d say you are doing more than well. So happy for you! Love you, Karma Riggs.
Ratings
Always good to hear how it's going. Very jealous of the bakery!
The colour ratings caught my eye as being quite interesting. What's interesting to me is what's meant by levels of "functioning". I could see that getting quite blurry between "performance" and "how do I feel".
But in either case the pictures are fascinating - the imply that how you outwardly present is the measure of "functioning".
Not a single hair out of place. Not a spot of dirt on your shoes. A gleaming smile. I'd be most concerned about the guy on the left.