Brazil-Ipenema

Sunday in Ipenema:

It took an extremely long and expensive taxi ride across Porto Alegre to get to Ipenema (one of Q's mission areas) but it was worth it. We got to church and discovered that Relief Society and Priestood were first. I bravely told Q that I would be going to R.S. on my own and, even though I couldn't understand a lick, the spirit of the Brazilian sisters was palpable. Twenty minutes into the meeting Q popped his head in and pulled me out. The really AWESOME missionaries wanted us to walk with them to contact an inactive family Q baptized and see if we could get them to come to church. Q was so excited! Have you ever tried to keep up with the missionaries in a million degrees going up a hill into the barrios? There were a few times I thought I wasn't going to make it!
{Above} The missionaries let Q do the knocking. When the family inside asked who it was, they said "missionaries," but when they opened the door and discovered just which missionary it was, they screamed joy to high heaven! The mom kept saying, "I just knew something good was going to happened soon!"

{Above} This is one of Q's favorite families. We talked for over an hour and yes, they did agree to come with us back to church! The youngest boy was a baby when Q baptized them.

They changed into their Sunday best and walked to church with us. This is a new church right at the bottom of their street and they haven't been to church in so long, they had never been to this building. Q couldn't get over how nice the chapel is.

{Below} At church, Q met up with some other member friends (who were all SO excited to see the family we brought with us). This is Q with Emerson who talks to Q on facebook and Mano (Vladmir)who graciously drove us around Ipenema after church to see of Q's area.

{Above} This is a man Q baptized that we found after church. He is now remarried to a woman whose parents were once baptized but they are inactive.

{Above} Q is most proud of this missionary apartment which he is responsible for securing on his mission. He says that when you go from a moldy, rat infested basement to this, you are really living. Then he followed by saying, "Just so you know how nice it is, the sister missionaries now live here."

After driving around Ipenema in Mano's car (a blessing!!!) he drove us an hour back to our hotel. We were so thankful for Mano because there is no way we could have tracked Ipenema by foot. Just to see Q's old church would have been impossible to walk to. Q says his old stake president used to rent a bus for members to ride to church in on Sundays.

...and the best part (well, sort of): Q took me to McDonald's for real food after it all.
I can't believe I just called McDonald's "real food."
Seriously though, McDonald's is a NICE restaurant in Brazil... and super expensive too.
Worth every penny to take a break from beans and rice.