Two Kinds of Treats!

I had two kinds of treats this week- one was seeing family/old friends and the other was eating some wonderful food.

On Wednesday (August 31), President Brian Ashton of BYU-Pathway came to Sao Paulo! He had told me when we talked at the Pathway office back in June that he would be here in August. Then Elder and Sister Pace, who are missionaries for Pathway, told me that he would be here on the 31st. I asked if there was any meeting he was speaking at that I could attend- I just wanted to say hi.

I thought that President Ashton would be speaking to a big group in the chapel and I would be just sitting the back. I was surprised to see a small group (20 people) at the Caxingui Institute building and they asked us to move to the front of the room! Then I saw that it was a Zoom call and there were so many missionaries that I knew! It was so fun to see so many familiar faces! I was surprised that the zoom meeting was so short. I thought that President Ashton was going to

take questions from the missionaries, so it would be an hour, but it was only 30 minutes.

After they closed the zoom meeting, we all went downstairs and sat in a circle. President Ashton only talked for a few minutes. He told me earlier that he was really tired from the week's traveling.  Then, our visitors all had to go to catch a plane. They shook everyone's hands and got their photos taken with everyone and they were gone.  I don't think that President Ashton had much more energy left anyway. He was polite and kind (as always) but seemed very glad to be going home.

 I am really doing well here. It is really nice that things are pretty slow here right now. We are supposed to get more Americans in October and things will pick up then, I think. I am finding that I really need about 10 hours of sleep at night. If I get that much sleep, I feel really good the next day. I feel a little guilty that I am not up bright and early in the morning, even though I go to bed every night at 10.  I am sure that as more missionaries come and my work picks up, I will need to be up earlier. But I am enjoying the pace right now – who would have thought that a mission could be relaxing??

I also had a treat today of talking with Jack and Sarah, Joseph and Rosa, and emailing Rachel. I hope to talk to more family next Sunday (they are traveling today and can't talk). I love my family so much!

This week, I worked on a training that could be used with anyone working on weaknesses. It was based on an athletic coaching model and had five lessons, with readings and questions to answer. When I had it finished, I realized that, although I found it personally very helpful for me, I didn't have a strong background in sports. I needed some advice if I was going to use it to help someone else. So, I called Matt to ask him to look at it. He has such a strong background in coaching that I value his input. We talked about 15 minutes. I love being able to talk with him about something we are both passionate about - helping others to realize their full potential.

On Saturday,  I went with Elder and Sister Jefferds to El Dorado Mall and we had Mexican Food! Nachos! Enchiladas!  Corn!

Corn is nearly impossible to find here. It just isn’t that popular. I finally found some corn meal. It is actually for polenta, but I am desperate! Because I can’t eat wheat, the hard tostadas were my staple for sandwiches – so I will have to be creative and make my own. I could order a tortilla maker on Amazon Brazil- but they would be $40-60 here. I ordered one  from Amazon.com in the US ($14) to be sent to the house of a fellow missionary who was home for a few days and was coming back – but it arrived a few hours too late. He and his wife will be back there in three weeks, though, for a family wedding and he promised to bring it to me.

Ah, corn tortillas! I am missing you. Now I understand why, when Matt got home from his mission to Brazil, the first thing he wanted was Mexican food – and root beer.

It is cold here today. The temperature ranged between 52 and 57 degrees and the humidity is high (86%). It rained most of last night and, because the houses are not heated, the temperature inside my apartment is probably in the low 60s. I have space heaters going in three rooms to try to warm things up – and I am wearing a sweater. I am sure it will be warmer tomorrow! I know that those temperatures sound pretty good to those of you who are in 90 and 100 degree heat!