A Visit to Ubatuba

Brazilians like holidays. It seems that once or twice a month Brazil celebrates another holiday, during which most businesses close their doors.  Because of this, on November 2 we were able to take advantage of the Day of the Dead holiday, and traveled by bus to the small coastal city of Ubatuba to meet up with three other missionaries couples and their tour guide, Brother Cobra, who had earlier traveled by van to Rio de Janeiro before meeting up with us in Ubatuba.

Ubatuba is a city, located on the southeast coast of Brazil, in the state of São Paulo, and west of Rio de Janeiro. The city frequently receives rain, hence the nickname, Uba Chuva (chuva being Portuguese for "rain").

Carlie and I, and Sister Sonia Cobra, traveled by bus from São Paulo on a Friday afternoon, leaving about 5:00 pm and arriving about 9:00 pm. This is a picture of Carlie and Sonia Cobra waiting in the Rodoviária for the bus to arrive.

Upon arriving in Ubatuba we headed directly to our lodgings for the four day weekend. We had arranged to spend our time there in a "pousada" or "bed & breakfast" that had been recommended to us by other missionaries couples who visited Ubatuba with the Cobras earlier in the year. Below are pictures of the "pousada" where we stayed.

On the second floor of the pousada is a breakfast room, where we would enjoy a great breakfast every morning before heading out. 

On Saturday morning we made a few necessary purchases of snacks and assorted items (i.e., suntan lotion) that we would need for the day, and then headed to the beach.

One of our beautiful granddaughters asked that "we take her with us" (a picture she drew of herself, that is) on this trip.  The next two pictures are of Anise, Carlie and me.

 

The following pictures are of two "beached albino whales" that had fun playing in the surf, before coming to their senses and covering up. Carlie says that she refuses to ruin someone else's vacation by her wearing a swimming suit. Perhaps I should take her advice. We still had fun!

 This picture is of Carlie, thoroughly enjoying roasted cheese on a stick (mozzarella).

On Sunday morning we all traveled into downtown Ubatuba to attend our Sunday meetings.

The first picture is of the LDS Chapel in Ubatuba,  The Church has a branch there, and we were privileged to meet and attend church services with the branch members.  This first picture is of the branch building, and the following pictures are (1) the portable baptismal font located next to the building, (2) our visiting with the members of the Ubatuba Branch, and (3) the chapel where we met for Sacrament Mtg.

 

 

The following is a picture of our group of touring missionary couples.  (From left to right, Elder and Sister Alldredge, Elder Dille and Sister Dille, Sister Jeppsen, Carlie, Elder Jeppsen, me, and Brother and Sister Cobra). Brother Cobra drove the van and Sister Sonia Cobra works at the Church Headquarters in São Paulo, along with the Alldredges and Jeppsens in the Welfare Services Department. Elder and Sister Dille work as area medical advisors at the Centro de Treinamento Missionário (CTM) in São Paulo.

While we were seated in the chapel, waiting for sacrament meeting to start, a couple sitting in front of us (Bro and Sis Malheiros) turned around to welcome us the their branch.  She then looked at me, and said, "I know you."  I was taken aback, since I had never been in Ubatuba before, and didn't know who she was, even after she told me her name.  It turns out that she was a 13 year old girl living in the city of Santa Maria, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, when I served as a missionary in that city in January of 1965.  She remembered me from that occasion 45 years previously.  

After our meetings were over, she asked her husband to run home to pick up her journal that recorded my three month stay in Santa Maria.  In fact, I had written an entire page in her journal (as had other missionaries), and had given her my picture, which she had glued in her journal. This is a picture of that page in her journal, with my picture attached.

She said that I and other missionaries were instrumental in keeping her active in the church during her teenage years.

The following pictures are of Sister Malheiros, her daughter,  Carlie and me in front of the Ubatuba Branch building.

Sister Malheiros also asked that I write a short note in her journal on the same page where my picture, my testimony and words of encouragement were written.  She and her husband are great members here in Ubatuba, and were preparing to travel to São Paulo on the following Tuesday to pick up their son at the Guarulhos airport.  He is just finishing a successful two-year mission to the Porto Alegre North mission, and is returning home to his family.

We stayed in Ubatuba an additional two days. It rained the entire day on Monday, but we still had time to visit the sites, and eat at a couple of restaurants.

We had decided on Monday nught to visit this group of eating establishments, each one catering to the cuisine of a different country.  I chose China....boy that was a mistake. Carlie chose Germany, and fared better. However, afterword, we all went to an ice cream parlor, which was great!

On Tuesday morning, we took one last group picture, before heading home.

These last pictures are of (1) our trip home in the van, (2) Carlie, standing outside of our van, where we stopped for a lunch break on the trip back, and (3) of our tour guides, the Cobras.

Brother and Sister Cobra, shown here, own the touring van, and provided a wonderful service to each of us.  They exemplify the great church members we encounter on a daily basis here in Brazil.

I will always remember Ubatuba, where the Lord shed forth another of His "tender mericies" on me, by allowing me to have another reminder of my former days here in Brazil.

Trip to Curitiba

Two weeks ago tomorrow, Carlie and I made a trip to Curitiba, the capital city of the state of Paraná, Brazil.  It was in this city that I first served as a young missionary in 1964.  

The flight to Curitiba took about an hour, and we arrived there with enough time to go to church.  I was particularly interested in doing this, since it was the same church building that I attended as a young missionary.  The pictures below are of that chapel, and the small house (casinha) that I lived in when in Curitiba in 1964 and again in 1966.

45 years ago, however, there were no other building in close proximity to the chapel.  Today, there is a large hospital right next door.

I also have included a photo of the baptismal font in the chapel.  I don't recall it when I was living here many years ago, and suspect that it has been renovated.  The scene is of Joseph Smith being baptized by Oliver Cowdery on May 15, 1829.

On Monday morning, Carlie and I, along with another missionary couple, had arranged to take a 3 1/2 hour train ride to Paranaguá, on the Atlantic coast of Brazil. It is a distance of approximately 65 miles. The pictures below will give you an idea of what it was like to take this slow ride through the mountains that lie between Curitiba and the Atlantic ocean.

The above picture is of all the tourists boarding the train in Curitiba, followed by a photo of Carlie preparing to board the train. Across the row from her are Dennis and Lavinia Aldridge from Reno, Nevada.  They are currently serving as humanitarian missionaries in São Paulo, and arrived in Brazil a few days after we did in March of this year. They made the trip with us to Curitiba. Dennis was also a missionary in Curitiba; however, he came about five years after I did.

Curitiba is known for the beautiful pine trees that are prolific throughout in the city as well as throughout the state of Paraná.  In fact, the name Curitiba is a Tupi-Guarani word which is translated to mean "Pine Nut Land".  This specific variety of pine tree is called Auraçária. I took several other pictures of these beautiful trees which I have not seen in any other place here in the south of Brazil.

When the train arrived in the small town of Morretes (see above), we offboarded and got on a bus that took us to the small port city of Antonina.  It was at this port that many of the Italian immigrants first arrived in Paraná in the 19th century. The following two photos are of Antonina; one is of the Catholic Church that was built in 1715, on a hill overlooking the port; the other is a view of the bay and the Atlantic ocean.

The bottom three states of Brazil (Paraná, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul) are heavily populated by europeans immigrants. Waves of these immigrants started arriving after 1850, mainly Germans, Italians, Poles and Ukranians. There still exist many cities that are almost exclusively inhabited by descendants of these early immigrants. 

Due to the difficulty in traversing the heavily forested mountains that border Southern Brazil, most of the early immigrants built their homes and cities along the coast. With the exception of catholic monks who began their missionary labors among the indigenous peoples, no serious  effort was made by the immigrants to forge their way into Brazil's interior. 


In 1873, african slaves were used to construct a cobblestone trail that still remains to this day. The cobblestones were originally ballast from the slave ships and the other ships that brought immigrants to their new home.  Our trip back to Curitiba was by bus over this cobblestone trail, and boy were we glad to finally get back on a paved highway!

Back in Curitiba we spent the next day touring the city,  Carlie and I both believe that Curitiba is the most beautiful city we have visited in Brazil.  It is extremely well planned and modern, and has a European feel to it.



The following pictures are of some of the sights in Curitiba.

Behind us is Curitiba's Botanical Gardens. Expansive and well laid out, it is full of beautiful plant life.  There are many walkways and resting areas.  There is also a large Velodrome connected to the Botanical Gardens. The structure below is filled with many exotic plants.

Curitiba is also well known for its beautiful parks and wonderful museums. The picture below is of Praça Tiradentes, in the center of the city. Curitiba has about 3.2 million inhabitants. When I first arrived here in 1965, it had about 800,00 inhabitants. When I first arrived, I lived in an apartment building right behind the large catholic cathedral shown below.

The following pictures are of some of the public transportation in Curitiba, including one of many bus stops in Curitiba.  They are really quite unique!

Here is another picture of the Catholic Cathedral on Praça Tiradentes in the center of Curitiba.

We also had an opportunity to visit a beautiful art museum, known as the Oscar Nemeyer Museum. It is often just referred to as "the Eye."

Our final day in Curitiba was spent visiting the Curitiba Temple, which was under construction when we visited Brazil in 2006.  The following are only a few of the photos we took of this beautiful, sacred temple.

To the back side of the temple is a huge Auraçária Pine that symbolically spreads its protective branches from one side of the temple to the other.  

              

                                         

Update From São Paulo, Brazil

I am sitting here at the computer tonight, pondering what has taken place over our first six months here in Brazil. 

First of all, I have learned a lot about myself and am thankful for what I have learned. Both Carlie and I will be the first to say that this mission has been good for us.  Life in the mission field really has taken us out of our "comfort zone."  However, it has made us much more grateful for all the many blessings we enjoy in this life.  We also have come to recognize the hand of the Lord in our lives in so many ways. And we have learned to love the Brazilian people!

As I previously reported, we were called to serve for 18 months here in São Paulo as Welfare Services missionaries, and more specifically, assigned to be Employment Resource Specialists. The majority of our time is spent in administering a weekly Career Workshop, or as it is referred to here, a Curso de Auto-Suficiência Profissional (CASP). This workshop is a 12-hour course in which we help the participants to recognize their own skills and to develop new ones, and then the need to set short and long-term goals.  We also help them (1) to explore their career options, (2) to prepare a Power Statement or 30-second commercial about themselves that emphasizes to a prospective employer the value they can bring to an organization, and (3) to develop a network of resources to use to help them find employment. Finally, we give them an opportunity to practice their power statements in mock interviews, which we film and then review as a class.

                               At the Employment Center

I thought you might be interested in seeing the faces of some of the workshop participants with whom we have had an opportunity to interact over the past few months. I have attached some photos of a few of the graduates of our Career Workshop.

As I am sure you can imagine, we have grown very close to our students, many of whom express their appreciation for our willingness to come to Brazil and to share with them the skills we have learned.  In this last photo is a young couple (he has his arm around his girlfriend) who love us and who invited us today to be with them as they were sealed as man and wife in the São Paulo Temple. We were thrilled to be there with them and their families this afternoon for this sacred event!

                              At the Mission Training Center

In addition to our service at the Employment Center, we are also privileged to serve at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) located here in São Paulo.  I have been called to be a Branch President and serve with Carlie at the MTC.  There are currently 116 missionaries living at the MTC. About have of them are young Brazilian missionaries, and the rest come from the United States. The Brazilian missionaries only stay at the MTC for nineteen days, as they do not need any language instruction.  The north American missionaries stay for a total on nine weeks before being sent out to one of Brazil's 27 missions. Once again, we really love these young missionaries, and are spiritually uplifted each week as we interact with them.

Below I have attached a couple pictures I took of some of the missionaries in our MTC branch.

                                 In Our Free Time.........

As you know, Carlie enjoys being busy.  So she also spends part of her week working with the Perpetual Education Fund (PEF) program, where she uses her typing skills to enter data regarding the success of the PEF program here in Brazil.  She also tries to spend several hours in the evening each week as an auditor for Family Search Indexing. This particular assignment was one she did before being called as missionaries, and one for which she has always been passionate.

As for our language skills, they are improving. Carlie is making steady progress and I feel confident that she will be pleased with how much Portuguese she will be speaking by the end of our mission in September of 2012.  I get an opportunity to tutor some of the senior missionary Sisters here in our home each week, and enjoy the opportunity.  I also see my language skills improving, and enjoy learning new skills.

As I intimated above, we are being s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d, and notice some discomfort, but we have faith that the Lord knows what is best for us, as He teaches us about patience and the need to be submissive.  We have come to recognize His hand in our lives and attribute it to the many prayers that are being offered in our behalf by our family and many friends, for which we truly thank each one of you!

With you, we are so excited to see the Lord's kingdom grow, and foresee wonderful growth here in Brazil over the next few years. It is truly a thrill to be part of this growth!

                                          Patience

Patience is the guardian of faith, the preserver of peace, the cherisher of love, the teacher of humility;

Patience governs the flesh, strengthens the spirit, sweetens the temper, stifles anger, extinguishes envy subdues pride.

Patience bridles the tongue, refrains the hand, tramples upon temptations, endures persecutions, consummates martyrdom.

Patience produces unity in the church, loyalty in the State, harmony in families and societies;

Patience comforts the poor and moderates the rich;

Patience makes us humble in prosperity, cheerful in adversity, unmoved by calumny and reproach;

Patience teaches us to forgive those who have injured us, and to be the first in asking forgiveness of those whom we have injured;

Patience delights the faithful, and invites the unbelieving;

Patience adorns the woman, and approves the man; is loved in a child, praised in a young man, admired in an old man;

Patience is beautiful in every age.

                                                                             George Horne (1730-1792)

Até mais.

Elder Arntsen

A Visit to the Livraria Cultura in downtown São Paulo

About three weeks ago, Carlie and I visited the Livraria Cultural, a wonderful bookstore in downtown São Paulo, where one can find a large selection of books in English, as well as in several other languages. The bookstore is located on several floors of a large office building, which also houses many other small retail businesses on Avenida Paulista in the center of the city.

Directly in front of the entrance of the bookstore stands a most interesting artistic creation, celebrating four hundred years since the first publication of Don Quixote, the famous novel written by Migual de Cervantes Saavedra. The following pictures reveal the creative genius of a team of artists, including Silvio Galvão and Sandro Rodrigues, responsible for its creation. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

The following photo is of Carlie standing in front of Sancho Panza. This particular "plastic' creation is made of recycled junk, including 4,000 beer bottle caps, bicycle inner tubes, paper and leftover polystyrene plastic scraps.

Don Quixote's horse is made of all kinds of interesting scraps, including 200 meters of scrap iron, 150 quilos of plastic parts, brushes, combs, mannequin limbs, brooms, eyeglasses, clock pieces, hats, a hubcap, computer keys, a guitar neck and strings, a toilet flush, a filter, a lantern,  toys, a toothbrush,
a medallion, an iron, etc.  See if you can find any other interesting items!

 Finally, Don Quixote's materials include 2,000 coca-cola cans, more 2,000 pop top tabs, 30 quilos of paper and leftover polystyrene scraps.

It's amazing how creative the human mind can be!

It's also inspiring for  Carlie, who loves to work with different media and can create something beautiful out of something that I usually think needs to go into the trash!