It is Saturday February 8th, our first Preparation Day in the mission, and it’s time to report on the action filled week we have had.

Curt and I both feel very welcomed and loved here in the São Paulo Sul Mission.  When we left Salt Lake City, I was pondering a lot about how I might be of help to the Mission President, the missionaries, and most of all to the Lord.

I shouldn’t have been too concerned because the minute we stepped into the SLC Airport a young Elder and Sister direct from the MTC approached us to say that they had been delayed on their train from the MTC and had missed their flight to Japan and what should they do?  (We left on a very snowy morning.  As Danielle was driving us to the Airport there were at least 20 cars stuck on the side of the road.  After we asked the missionaries few questions we reassured then them that they were resolving the problem correctly with Church Travel and it would all work out.

There were two more missionaries on our flight.  When we had a layover in Atlanta we got to know Elder Oto from Japan and Elder Peterson from Arizona.  They had both been in the Provo MTC and were on their way to Brazil.  Elder Oto is serving in our mission. 

We learned to appreciate Elder Oto so much.  When he arrived in Provo he didn’t speak Portuguese or English.  So he had to learn English to be able to learn Portuguese.  While we were in the MTC we noticed several volunteers who accompanied missionaries from foreign countries and interpreted for them.  Curt and I both felt like Elder Oto needed us to befriend him as he went to Brazil.  He told us that his mother was very worried about him serving in a foreign country, because he was the first in his family to do so.

We helped Elder Peterson get to his flight to Rio de Janeiro, and as we waited for our flight to São Paulo another young man Elder Hicks approached us.  He had been waiting for his Visa while serving in Arizona.  Elder Hicks is also serving in our mission.  It was interesting to me to realize that the Lord was already using us to serve the young missionaries who were flying Internationally for the first time.

Our Mission President’s daughters Renata and Hannah welcomed us Tuesday morning at the Airport in São Paulo and gave us the address of the Chapel where we would meet President and Sister Acosta.  We rented our little Renault standard shift sedan and we were on our way.  After 1 1/2 hours of traffic we arrived at the Chapel, Bosque de Saude a beautiful historical Chapel built early in Brazil Church History.

After meeting President and Sister Acosta and their Assistants and Office Elders they surprised us with about 60 young missionaries lined down the aisles into the Chapel clapping and cheering for us.  WOW!!!!  What a welcome!

This week we have been learning what President and Sister Acosta want us to do to help them.  We have been riding the Metro into the city to buy furniture, meeting missionaries to find out how we can help them in their zone,  going to a Fellow-shipping meeting in a natural preserve area that feels like you are in the middle of the forest, Finding the Chapel where we are assigned to serve,  preparing to investigate the cleanliness of missionary apartments etc.

Right now we are living in the Ibis Hotel and are hoping to be able to move into our apartment next Tuesday.  Our apartment is right next door to the Mission Office so it will be very convenient.

I wanted to finish with an amazing story to tell you all about the wonderful man who is our Mission President.  I asked President Pedro Acosta to tell us the story of his conversion.  It is quite a long story but I will summarize to say that he and Sister Acosta joined the Church in 1990 when they were a young couple living in Manaus.  He was a Military Man for his career, and he told us that he worked in every part of the Jungle around Manaus and knew the area very well.  

In 1991 President and Sister Acosta sold most of their belongings and made their way to São Paulo to be sealed in the Temple.  While their family was at the Temple they saw lots and lots of people arriving in buses and he asked what was going on?  He was told that these were caravans of members coming from far away cities to have their families sealed. 

After he returned home and serving as the Stake Executive Secretary and he asked the Stake President if they could plan a caravan to take their members to the Temple in São Paulo.  The Stake President said it was impossible.  But President Acosta couldn’t get it out of his mind.  

So he started drawing up maps of how they could take a boat for three days down the Amazon, and then they could land where the roads were more developed in Brazil and travel on a bus for 3 more days.

He also started making up lists of how much food they would need to take so that all the people could be fed, and wrote up supply lists for everyone, and estimated the cost per person. When we acted astonished about all the plans he had made, he told us that the Lord prepared him to do this.  In his career in the military his responsibility was moving large groups of people and supplies.

A short time later Elder Joe J Christensen (The Brazil Area President) and Elder Claudio Costa came to Manaus to visit the Stake there.  While they were there they asked President Acosta to give them a tour of the area.  Since he had their undivided attention he brought up his proposition to take a Caravan to the Temple.  They asked him if it could be arranged and if the members would be safe.  So he showed him all of the maps and the plans he had organized and they promised him to ponder and pray about it.  The word came back to his Stake President that they could go to the Temple.  So the members sold everything they could and sacrificed greatly, and they were able to save up a lot of money. Elder Christensen’s family at home found out about what they were trying to do, and they sent thousands of dollars to help as well.

So in 1992 the members of Manaus made their first Caravan to the Temple.  President Acosta said that the Area Presidency had told Stakes and Wards along the way about the sacrifice the people were making. So the members guided them into their chapels in Porto Velho, Paraná, Cuiabá, and Goiânia, where they could get off the busses and rest and each lunch and use the restrooms.  He said in one city the bus didn’t get to the chapel until midnight because they had some mechanical issues, and still the Stake President and members were there waiting for them.  He told us that some of the members Paraná created a huge banner that read Sacrifice Brings Forth Blessings.

I was astounded to Janis that our Mission President was the man who the Lord inspired to create these caravans, because I had heard these stories, but never from the person Responsible for it all. These sacrifices by the members in Manaus blessed the people and the Church in Manaus grew quickly because of the faithfulness of the members.  And now they are blessed with a Temple of their own.

I have come to recognize that sacrifice brings forth great blessings. I am thankful for many people who sacrificed for me so that I can enjoy the blessings I do.  I have many Pilgrim ancestors, and Pioneer ancestors who went through such challenging trials to bring their families to America, and to help establish the Restored Church of Jesus Christ on the earth.  My own mother and father sacrificed many things to raise me in a loving and Christ  centered home.  

And of course most of all Jesus Christ suffered and died for me.  I love Him so very much, and I hope I can serve Him and serve the people of São Paulo n the way the Savior has taught me.