EASTER SUNDAY - 4/20/2014

Easter dinner with the Nogueira family!

Nuno and Monica

Barbara - age 3

Beatriz - 20 months

and... the sister missionaries,

Sister Juilfs and Sister Shumway

They have a very long and narrow back yard...

this is actually the neighbor's garden... they utilize every inch!

 The baby rabbits... so glad we had fish for dinner and not rabbit, LOL! 

They have a small zoo there... chickens,

guinea pigs, dogs, cats, rabbits, birds... 

The yummy desserts... the one on the left is a

meringue pie with strawberry sauce (cooked strawberries)

 and the other is chocolate with what looks like

 grated cheese for the bird nests, but is actually egg yolks

 put through a strainer and dropped into

 boiling water to create the look of the nests.

 

TRANSFER DAY - 4/14/2014 - 10 a.m.

Saying goodbye to Sister Lybbert...such a great missionary!!!

We will miss her.

Photo bomber in the background...LOL!

Love Sister Shumway... so much fun!

Excited for new people to meet and experiences in her new city... 

final wave goodbye ...

...and she was gone!!!

 

We had about an hour or so to wait for our new Sister's arrival

(or so we thought)...

Looking, looking....

...hmmm, no sister on that train!

 

Found out it would be another couple of hours until

the next train from her old area,

and, since it was P-day, we took

Sister Shumway for a little fun at Portas do Sol

(an old castle wall in Santarem with a park)

 A fun break from missionary work.

 

Back at the Train Station, again... only to find out

 we still had another hour or more to wait?

 These 2 were getting bored ... LOL!!!

Watch out...the water fountain really put out the water!!!

Trying not to worry and studying Portuguese... 

 Enjoying the beauty of this arbor and wisteria...

 

Posing for the camera... 

...and after about 4 hours,

finally, she arrived, tired, but safe and sound!

SISTER JUILFS

(pronounced like "gulfs with a "J" in front)

A happy greeting!!!

 

PORTAS DO SOL IN SANTAREM - 4/14/2014 - 1:30 p.m.

While awaiting the arrival of the new sister,

we went to check out this cool place here.

 

Portas do Sol

...a castle wall around part of the city of Santarem 

 

Not sure how old these walls are, but pretty amazing place

 right here in our own city of Santarem!

 

 The views from the castle wall...

It's a little hard to tell from the pictures,
But the wall sort of tiers all the way down to the lower lands.

 

View of the River Tejo and the valley and lands below...

Just breathtakingly beautiful!!!

We cross this bridge quite regularly
 to the outlying cities to visit members.

Miles and miles of fields and flatlands.
The cities were all built up in the hills.

Enjoying the day at Portas do Sol.

 

P-DAY FUTEBALL ACTIVITY - 4/14/2014 - 5 p.m.

The youth in our branch against

the missionaries...??!? a little uneven!

(l-r) Andre, Joao, Rubin, Carlito, Bruno, Elder Later,

Elder de Oliveira, Bernardo, Elder C. 

Dividing into teams...

Elder de Oliveira wants to be a

professional soccer player... he's an amazing player!!! 

 

One of the boys asked me why I wasn't

playing; I told him I was too old. 

He pointed to Ron and said,

"He's old and he's playing...LOL!!" 

 

Elder de Oliveira... from Brazil

 Nothing stops this guy...

...he completely wore out the bottom of his shoe,

and his stocking!!!  What a guy!



PALACE OF BELEM - LISBON

Checking out one of the many palaces in Portugal. 

This one is not far from the mission home.

 

 After a meeting the night before

with some of the church leaders in Portugal,

we jumped at the chance to visit this palace

along with 2 other senior couples

 and the mission president and his wife.

Crossmans, Fluckigers, Roses, Sommers

 

Some of the outside architecture...

 A cool bell tower.

 

 Inside the palace...

Replica of the palace .... and hanging behind are real weapons.

The detailed workmanship was unbelievable

all throughout the palace.

It is all very ornate, gold and glitzy.

The murals on the walls are all tapestries

(fooled me... they looked like paintings).

There are different scenes throughout the palace.

The music room...

The king's bedroom (separate from the queen's)

Notice how small the bed is....

he must have been very short! 

Even had a footstool to climb up to the bed.

....the garden room, although no plants growing! 

One of my favorite rooms... so pretty!!!

Can you imagine coming to a dinner here??!?  Wow!!