Sao Paulo--Days 3, 4, and 5

On Monday, Todd and I headed into the Church's Office to meet Raquel, the legal office's assistant. She is this bubbly, energetic, fun woman who took us around for the first 3 hours of the morning and introduced us to practically everyone in the office building--from the perpetual education fund workers, to the women who process missionary passports in the Brazil Area offices, to the temple housing staff, to the records office that houses one binder for every property the Church owns in Brazil.  It was incredibly interesting to meet all of those people and hear what they do for the Church. Many of them speak good English and are so enthusiastic in the work of the Church. It was great!

Todd and I headed back to our apartment for a simple lunch, and got settled into the office in the afternoon. That evening, we went to Family Home Evening with many of the local senior missionaries and it was a RIOT! One couple is in charge of the lesson portion,while another couple does the food, and then they rotate. The Clarks gave a great lesson centering on America (because it was the 4th of July). We really felt the love for America in the room. We played a very fun, and competitive, game of American trivia, and then headed upstairs for hot dogs and potato salad. The missionaries here have continued to be incredibly inviting and friendly. Just as a side note, the locals here call them "casal misionarios" which translates into "married missionaries." They don't really have a nice word like "senior" to use as opposed to "old." :)

Tuesday morning Todd and I went to the temple. The SP temple has sessions in English every Tuesday and Wednesday morning, so we both will be going on Tuesdays and I'll go on Wednesdays too. It's fun to be there with a group of American missionaries attending the Missionary Training Center in Sao Paulo.  We also have been trying the local food here, such as cozinhas (okay, I mix up the spelling), which is like a potato batter filled with meat and cheese and fried....yummm! We have also had rice and feijouada (basically a Brazilian mixture of beans), which is good as well.

 (these potato things...they are not cozinhas...that's the word for kitchen...I'll figure it out someday!)

(feijouada)

On Wednesday, the Church office had a going away party for a set of Brazilian casal missionaries. One of the American casal missionaries made enchiladas, which were DELISH! What's funny is that we found out Brazilians don't really eat or like Mexican food. However, it's widely known that it's hard to find GOOD Mexican food around. However, we all ate up those enchiladas! Plus, this missionary couple dropped off a pan to us later that day. We are really being so blessed by everyone's kindness!

Today, I stayed home while Todd went to work...apparently I am distracting or something :) I felt guilty for just lying around at home, but then I remembered that is my SUMMER VACATION and that I worked all of June and will go right back to work a couple of days after we get back. So, not as much guilt now :) Tonight, Todd and I walked around and partook of some Brazilian pastry...very yummy!


I think we will be embarking out of Sao Paulo this weekend to travel to Embu, which is known for its arts and crafts fair on the weekends. The missionaries rave about it, and our neighbors, Elder and Sister Call, are kind enough to show us the way!

Stay tuned for more Brazilian fun!