1st of all I apologize for not posting in over a month.

  No major incidents to report or having been to exotic places.  We were invited to 2 special Sunday dinners.  One for Fathers Day here in August in which the fathers were given a calculator and a pen, and the other for singing in the choir for ward conference.  We really did have a nice choir.  We did enjoy the practices and the performance as well.


What I want to write about is some thoughts about the sacredness of the temple as related to us by our temple president.  When you are in tune with the spirit, like the president is, you can hear things contained in the scriptures that you hadn't heard before.  Below is text from the book of Genesis describing a dream that Jacob had while on the way to Haran when his brother Esau wanted to kill him.  Verse 12 and 16,17 are of particular note for my purpose.  He is given to know that the place where he was, was sacred "Surely the lord is in this place" and a ladder connected heaven and this place with angels "ascending and descending on it."

Genesis 28:10-17

 10 ¶And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran.

 11 And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.

 12 And he ^adreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the ^bangels of God ascending and descending on it.

 13 And, behold, the ^aLord stood ^babove it, and said, I am the ^cLord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the ^dland whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

 14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the ^anorth, and to the south: and in thee and in thy ^bseed shall all the ^cfamilies of the earth be ^dblessed.

 15 And, behold, ^aI am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will ^bbring thee again into this ^cland; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

 16 ¶And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.

 17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of ^aheaven.

Our temples Holy are places where angles come and go, some on this side of the veil and some on the other side.  These thoughts have caused me to search lds.org for other talks.  I found this talk.

In  April of 1971 Elder Marion G. Romney   Of the Council of the Twelve gave a conference talk entitled,

Temples—The Gates to Heaven

in the closing part of the talk he had this to say about these verses of Genesis.

"Because he had met the Lord and entered into covenants with him there, Jacob considered the site so sacred that he named the place Bethel, a contraction of Beth-Elohim, which means literally “the House of the Lord.” He said of it: “… this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” (Gen. 28:17.)

Jacob not only passed through the gate of heaven, but by living up to every covenant he also went all the way in. Of him and his forebears Abraham and Isaac, the Lord has said: “… because they did none other things than that which they were commanded, they have entered into their exaltation, according to the promises, and sit upon thrones, and are not angels but are gods.” (D&C 132:37.)

Temples are to us all what Bethel was to Jacob. Even more, they are also the gates to heaven for all of our unendowed kindred dead. We should all do our duty in bringing our loved ones through them."

 Click HERE for the full talk.

An excerpt from President Monson's talk April 2011

"My beloved brothers and sisters, may we make whatever sacrifices are necessary to attend the temple and to have the spirit of the temple in our hearts and in our homes. May we follow in the footsteps of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who made the ultimate sacrifice for us, that we might have eternal life and exaltation in our Heavenly Father’s kingdom. This is my sincere prayer, and I offer it in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord, amen."

One other thought to ponder.
Are there Temples in Heaven?

"The Work" - Mormons and Missionary Work

The Nashville Tribute Band has released the third album in a series of albums about the Mormon culture.  The first was "Joseph", the second was "The Trek", and now "The Work" which is all about missions, missionaries and their families.
Check out the Nashville Tribute Band for a sampling of the album.






My first experience with missionaries was when my older brother set the example for me and served a mission to Brazil in the 1950's.  Then some of my friends and I served in various parts of the world in the 1960's.  I returned home, married a wonderful woman who would be the mother of my children, and we began to raise our family, all of the time hoping they would one day want to serve in the mission field also.  We sent three sons and a daughter on missions in the 1990's.  Then the many positions we held in the church and my vocation were preparing us for our first senior mission.  I was over joyed to find out that we were coming to Brazil and I would be able to introduce my wife to the wonderful Brazilian people and their culture.  But there were hurdles to cross and blessings to receive before this would come true.  Serving in the Manhattan Temple was a blessing we could not have ever have hoped to have received.  We served along side giants of men and women in the church from many parts of the world, who call New York City home, some on their 3rd and 4th missions.

Now we are here in Brazil and I couldn't believe the growth of the church and the country in the 46 years since serving here as a young missionary.  We have served with those on there 3rd and 4th missions as well.  It is a humbling experience in deed.  We live in the walled and gated temple grounds protected from outside influences and spend about 8 hours a day in the temple with those who have the same desire as we do, which is to serve both the those living on this side of the veil and those living on the other side of the veil.  It is as close to a terrestrial existence as is possible until the coming of the Lord in person to the earth again.  We are truly blessed.

Junina Festival

Junina is a festival in Brazil that is celebrated in the months of June or July.  We have attended a couple of these parties, one for the people who work at the temple and another which was a ward celebration or get together.  It is  celebrating the birth of John the Baptist.  The post below is from the 1st one for temple workers.  for more on the Junina festival check out  Wikipedia.  It was great fun and gooood good food.





Click Here to see the still pictures we took also.

Videos from Rio

I was browsing around and found some amazing video of Rio de Janeiro.  I hope you enjoy these as much as I have.




Also this one in HD



Having more fun than 2 people should be allowed to have.

Trip to Rio de Janeiro

Sunrise on the way to Rio de Janeiro

Early in the morning we left Paraty on Friday the 3rd of June to drive to Rio.  We followed route 101 up the coast and saw many glimpses of the ocean.  This is near one beach on the way.  After about a 3 hour drive we got caught in the traffic of Rio which was just like any large city in the US.  We finally were able to see where we wanted to go but didn't know how to get there.

We traveled around in the traffic asking questions and we were directed to the road that leads up the mountain which makes Lombard St. in San Francisco look mild.  We climbed and climbed until we reached the parking lot part way up where we had to get on the little van that takes us up to the statue.

After arriving we got out and headed for the statue.

It was almost about to rain but we arrived before the rain.  This picture show a beautiful sky, however looking down on the city from on top didn't give the best photos.  We were able to see everything. Sometimes the statue is in the clouds and you can't see the city below, so we were lucky again.

You can see all the photos in the web album by clicking
HERE

The yellow building with the graffiti on it is when we were lost trying to find the road that leads up the mountain.

 This is the view from on top at dusk.  It is Botafogo Bay and Sugar Loaf

 We then left and went back into the traffic to go to Copacabana Beach.  Here is a look at the traffic and the beach is on the right.

 A little of the flavor of the beach.  It was a little cool. The guys still have on tee shirts. (Remember this is winter down here)


Click HERE for more pictures

Here is the Slide Show

Back From Vacation

The temple shut down for maintenance and cleaning May 23rd until June 6th.  They had to shut down the power and water in the housing complex as well and did some spraying for bugs.  This meant that we had to leave for part of the time.  Part of the time became the full 2 weeks.  We went to live for this time with another missionary couple who have been serving here for 6 months but are still waiting for their call to arrive.  The Bro. and Sis. Mello live about and hour and a half Northwest of Campinas.

First thing when we arrived is to have a little game of pool.  Note the tile on the wall.

Front view of the house where we stayed.  All the homes are fenced with locked gates.  The house is long and narrow.    The garage behind the gate is for cars not storage and you can park 2 cars one behind the other.

We stayed in the upper room on the right with the balcony in front.  The pool table is under the bedroom. Half of the living space is outside and is all tiled.

Click Here for other photos in Rio Claro web album

Verae standing in the front courtyard after church. Since there is no heat in the church buildings and the windows and doors were all opened, Verae was freezing.  Even a dog wandered in to sacrament meeting for a while.

Notice the street signs on the corner of the house. Also there are always grates on the windows.

Next we went to the summer cabin near Paraty in the state of Rio de Janeiro.  The picture at the left is of the fishing village of Praia Grande where the family of Sister Mello makes their living.  We stopped here to get some octopus.  I don't think we will be trying any.

The tropical flowers and birds are so pretty.

Notice the little blue bird left of center.  We saw red, yellow, blue, green, brown, and black birds. We saw big black Urubu birds which are like seagulls but black and a little bigger.
Verae enjoyed the bird watching so much that she spend half a day trying to get pictures and movies of the different kinds of birds, and all the colorful plants.

We added a lot of pictures to the previous web album of Paraty.

Click Here to view the Paraty web album.

It Takes Faith

Click on map to enlarge

Thursday the 5th  I was at the front door of the temple here in Campinas.  I was doing the normal thing of greeting people as they come in.  I was unaware of what exactly was happening in the life of this family who were coming for their first time. I didn't know how far they had traveled or how long they had been trying  to come here, the struggles they had been through, or what there expectations were.  A few hours later that day he came to talk with me.  He told me something of their trip and how hard it had been to prepare and save the money necessary, and how happy he was to finally be here.  He said it has been over 10 years that they have been waiting for today.  Always when we had planned to come, something would go wrong and we couldn't come.  As you can see in the picture it is over 1600 miles from Manaus in Northern Brazil by the Amazon River, to Campinas; so it is either a 7 day trip by boat and bus, or a 3 1/2 hour plane trip.  The caravan they were in came by plane.  He hadn't had any sleep for over 24 hrs before getting to the airport.  When he arrived at the airport he found out that he was to be the leader of the caravan.  I guess there were about 20 people in the group.  He had never even been on a caravan before.  He then had to take care of some problems that had arisen.  There they finally were at the front desk, I told him his recommend had not been activated yet.  He didn't know what that meant and was devastated for just few moments, thinking he wouldn't be able to come in.  However, his wife's was just fine, which cause me to wonder for a moment.  As we talked about his experiences that day I got to know how prepared he had been.  He noticed things in the paintings on the walls that I hadn't thought of and how they relate to the temple ordinances.  I felt a special something about him and we have exchanged emails and even Skyped once since he has returned home to Manaus.
    Normally caravans leave on Saturday to go back home, but this one was staying over until Monday afternoon.  We saw he and his wife taking pictures of each other in front of the temple on Sunday and went over to offer to take pictures of the both of them.  After the pictures we visited for about an hour and invited them to come to our apartment the next morning which is our P day, to visit some more.
We found out that they had been unable to get permission from the father of the 2 oldest daughters so they could be sealed to them.  This is a second marriage for both of them.  They were heart broken to have to return without having the whole family sealed.  They still felt so very blessed and the experience of going to the temple and receiving the ordinances was more wonderful than they had dreamed.  The Manaus temple will be completed in about a year, but they don't want to wait until then to return to the temple.
    Monday afternoon we were invited to a devotional the caravan was having before returning to Manaus.  After a couple of talks they opened up the meeting for anyone who wanted to bare their testimony.  They were all so uplifting.  They related how this experience had changed their lives and strengthened their love for the Savior.  The spirit was so strong, I couldn't remain seated. Those who where leaving sang the closing song "Till We Meet Again" to the temple missionaries.  It was an honor to be there.  After the meeting we hugged everyone.
    I have learned to try to put myself in the shoes of the person on the other side of the desk as they enter the temple.  It isn't routine for them.  I am there everyday and so things become kind of routine and it shouldn't be.

P-Day Paradise

Click Hear For the Web Album

 For our P-Day on Monday the 18th of April we took 7 car loads of the temple missionaries to a private retreat. The owner used to live on the property with their family and now they rent it out for family or company party.  We didn't know what to expect, but we certainly didn't expect this paradise.
We planned on leaving at 8:00 AM but ended up leaving at 9:30 to go and have a bar-b-que and return about 4:00.  It was only about a 30 minute drive and I wondered why we were leaving so early and not coming back until late in the afternoon.  After seeing all that was here and the sheer natural beauty,  I wanted to stay longer.  The meal was a real Brazilian barbeque with pork, chicken and beef.  Better meat I have never tasted.  We started eating shortly after noon and I ate like it was thanksgiving.  Then I played some pool and ping pong.  Verae and I got a tour of the gardens by the owner.  They used to raise chickens, pigs and cows and had crops to feed the animals.  Now that the family is raised, they rent it out to help pay the costs of upkeep.
After returning from the feast and party, we prepared for the Family Home Evening which was held outside around the fountain in front of the temple.  Such a beautiful setting for a spiritual feast which was the close of a wonderful day.

Caravans Fill The Temple

These are some of the buses that come to the temple on a given day.  On Fridays and Saturdays the temple is full of patrons.  We had more that 12 large buses this weekend.  Some come with entire families so they can be sealed.  There are places for them to stay while here during the week.  It is really special to see the little children enter to be sealed.  We are getting used to walking around the temple grounds seeing these family with small children in their arms.   Caravans are organized by stakes and come with their own ordinance workers to help with the work.  We have a skeleton crew of workers during the week to make sure the temple functions.  In the evenings and on Saturday when the caravans come, then we are able to fill the temple and a lot of work is done.  It is difficult to plan when you don't know how many will be coming.