On the Beach

Fun few hours on the beach. Frisbee, paddle ball, and lots of sun. We were the most dressed people on the beach.

Prepping for the Brazilian Sun!! SPF70

On our way to the beach. We still got burned! Ouch Charlie!

A Brazilian New Years!

We took a drive today to the beach in Matinhos. We stopped at an ecohotel to see what it was like. This picture was taken by the pool. The kids are definitely loving the sun! No snow here!

Bosque Alemao (German Forest)

Prior to a wonderful time in the temple together this evening, we spent a few hours investigating the German Forest. They have a great trail with several stops that retell the story of Hansel and Gretel (Joao e Maria in Portuguese).

Annual Gingerbread (Pao de Gingebre) Competition

This year's competition was delayed until the Monday after Christmas but it was still held with much excitement and in the spirit of the season.

Christmas Eve Pageant

Our annual Christmas Eve Nativity got a little interesting when King Herod showed up dressed like Santa Claus. A few laughs were shared by all. It is always nice however to take time to remember why we are celebrating Christmas - it is the remembrance of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In our home, we believe!!

Christmas Eve Dinner

Merry Christmas!! We certainly didn't have as many people as we are used to for Christmas Eve dinner but all of the kids were here for the first time in four years. It was just fantastic. Bonnie even thought to bring English crackers for the plates!

Everyone is Finally together

Nolan comes in after finishing his internship with Azul Airlines. So Great to have everyone together!

The Great Christmas Stocking Challenge

As we prepared for Christmas, we realized that we had left all of our Christmas stockings at home. We decided to draw names and make ones for the person whose name we drew. The challenge was on. Sewing, stitching, glueing and cutting. The results were very impressive.

Stocking challenge

Dallin designed his online first and then made his design a reality. He had to hand sew the hat on the top of the stocking because the old sewing machine would not sew all those layers of fabric. Turned out great.
Heather designed Tanner's to look like the Argentine flag. She even got the sun embordered on the Stocking.
The mission home does not have a sewing machine any more. This wonderful Sister in the ward let us use her sewing machine. It was so fun! What a wonderful experience.

Swim Meet at Iquzu Falls

Amazing


The Birds loved Dallin

Capela Ucrania em Curitiba

TANNER IS HOME!!

Tanner left his mission Tuesday and flew to Buenos Aires where he had to wait two days for a visitor's visa in order to enter Brazil. He landed in Curitiba, Brazil Thursday night twenty minutes after I left for a mission presidents' seminar in Sao Paulo. They all came to the airport to pick me up Saturday night. Tanner put on his name tag. It was so great to see all of them but especially Tanner. He looks great!! We are so proud of him for serving for two years in a country that I love so much.

Coruja!

We came across this mother owl standing above her burrow where she had several little ones hiding. Bonnie approached to take this photo and the little owl about attacked her. Nothing like a mother protecting her family.

FUN IN CAIOBA!

We traveled to Paranagua for a stake conference and while dad was in meetings, Heather and Dallin took advantage of the nearby beach. Tough duty!

Zona Para Na Que? Paranagua!!

A zone united!!! Elders de Jesus, Almeida, Fonseca, Do Carmo, Barton, Jackson, Gill. P-Day in Paranagua!

Brazilian Independence Day!

Today is Brazilian Independence Day and we welcomed a new missionary, Elder Thorpe to the mission. For his welcome lunch we had to do without Angelica due to it being a national holiday. Everyone helped out to put the lunch together. l to r: Pres. Cordon, Elder Stoddard, Elder Hewett, Elder Gomes, Elder Petersen, Heather Cordon

Marching in the Parade

Dallin and Heather marched in the Independence Day parade. Dallin's head is just visible over the banner on the right side.

BRAZILIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY PARADE

This is the review stand for the Brazilian Independence Day parade. Bonnie and I were right above the Parana flag. It was a wonderful day and we met some great people. The governor of Parana was in the next section over and we had an opportunity to meet with him briefly. The Brazilians really know how to put on a parade. There were horses, tanks, firetrucks, sirens and even planes flying overhead. Dallin and Heather had the opportunity to march in the parade.

Dallin's New Wheels!

Dallin decided to take a different approach to getting to school on time. Giddiup!

Sister Mazzagardi em Colonia Witmarsum

We had the blessing of spending three days with Pres. and Sister Mazzagardi during our first mission tour. They are so wonderful. On the way back to Curitiba on the 1rst, we took a little detour to visit a very small German village, Colonia Witmarsum. It was a wonderful three days. They are a real treasure for Brazil.

Elder Young Recuperates From Surgery!

Elder Jace Young, one of my assistants had surgery and convalesced for a few days with us. It is amazing what homemade chocolate chip cookies can do!! (l to r: Elder Young, Pres. Cordon, Elder Hewett, Dallin and Heather Cordon

Greatest Missionaries!

Presidente Cordon, Elders Hewett, Petersen, Young and a recently returned missionary

Noite de Talentos

Just hanging out at the ward talent show.

Why play normal when you can play upside down?

Dallin showing his talents

First Day of School

Off to school in Brazil. Is it really 40 degrees in August? YES!!

Where's the Beach?

We took a trip down to the coast to get acquainted with the Paranagua area of our mission and Heather and Dallin found a wonderful beach on a perfect day. There were smiles all around!!

Sorry Tanner

Dallin, Heather and Bonnie put together a really nice package for Tanner only to find out at the post office that it was going to cost about $100 to send it to him. Oh well, I guess Heather will have to take care of it all

Heather's Missionary Companion Goes Home

Heather has loved going out with the sister missionaries. She spent a couple days with Sister Concha and was sad to see her leave the mission. She can't wait to have her own name tag.

Heather Finds a Pool!

Heather found a pool and got a good workout in. Yahoo! Brazil National Team next?

The Curitiba Mission is doing great. It is amazing how busy we are. I apologize for not updating the blog but we have been very involved in the work from dawn to dusk. Here are just a few things we have done in the past "almost" three weeks: 3 Zone Conferences, 2 sets of arrivals of new missionaries, 1 set of departures, multiple baptismal interviews and baptismal services, 1 branch conference, 175 missionary interviews, 1 area leaders council meeting, 2 missionary surgeries and dozens of Dr. Bonnie calls including 2 dog bites, a lot of colds and flus, montezuma´s revenge, dinner with our district president. We have wonderful missionaries. President Araujo made sure I had two of the best for my first several weeks, Elders Homero Amato and Stevan Hewett from Sandy, Utah. They were very helpful and really on the ball. They helped us get our feet well planted here in the mission. Elder Amato was transferred to be a trainer for his last 6 weeks in the mission. It certainly was not what I wanted to do but for sure, the Lord needs new missionaries trained correctly and he is one of the best. Bonnie shed lagrimas over that one!! In the last transfer we had many spiritual experiences and there are several missionaries now who will have opportunities to serve in new ways. We traveled to the far side of our mission this past weekend. It rained all four and a half hours there and was freezing cold. Mongolia has nothing on us here. Our "quaint" hotel had no heat and we about froze. We took the district president and his wife to dinner at a unique little Churrasquaria recommended by the hotel. It turned out to be a truckstop. I wish we had arrived in the Ford pickup. The beast would have felt right at home.

First Trip to Guarapuava

We had to really layer up for our nights rest in Guarapuava. The chill factor was on and we wore a lot to bed to stay warm. Heather won the coin toss and got to sleep next to the heater which worked only enough to keep her warm. One the way home we stopped at a german dairy that offered some very nice goodies for road weary travelers.

Hercules' Baptism

Ok, this was a special night. Hercules was baptized. He cannot speak or hear anything. The assistants taught him by writing on the chalkboard, reading the scriptures and hand signals. It made for a very special baptismal interview. He was baptized on Tuesday night in the middle of transfers so many missionaries attended. It was great!!

Getting Ready for the New Missionaries

Shopping for missionary items can be quite a chore. To get from the basement to the apartment Heather, Dallin and Bonnie stole a hobo cart to carry their wares.

Scouting in Brazil

Dallin is still working hard on his scouting here in Brasil. He has finished the gardening and fingerprinting merit badges since his arrival. Our mission secretary, Elder Duarte, was very big into scouting here in Brasil before the mission and gave Dallin a Brazilian scouting pin. He is wearing it here on his uniform. It is a purple fleur de lis pin over the left pocket next to the international scouting patch.

Great New Friends at the MTC

Bonnie and I met President and Sister Mecham for the first time at the Salt Lake City South Mission Zone Conference in April. Funny how the Lord puts special people in your path when you are doing his work. Bonnie and I felt a special friendship with them immediately. It was great to see them again at the MTC. They are headed to Mongolia!! We are almost exactly on the opposite side of the globe from them. They have a special assignment and our prayers and thoughts go with them. We can't wait to hear their stories in a few years.

The Obligatory MTC Picture!!

What is the MTC without the obligatory missionary picture in front of the huge world map? We finally made it here. I am not sure if all of our stuff back home is taken care of but at this point, it doesn't really matter. We are on the mission!