bye bye Miss American Pie

so.. I thought the name was perfect! I made 6 Thanksgiving pies last night and today along with a lot of other yummy food. We had an amazing last party with our favorite people from the employment center, man i'm really gunna miss these people... anyway, tomorrow we will take off for two weeks of travel around Brasil. You know, i'm excited to travel, but sad to leave. Anywho, see you all at Christmas!

yea!

Sherry is superly duperly excited as she just finished all of her homework for the semester, well, she hopes....

Chagas!

Chirlenie Chagas, a really good mission friend, came to visit this weekend, we had a ball! Here are a few pics at the opera Carman. It was great, yet not as great when you're tired. but still great.

Happy Turkey day!

Happy Turkey Day!

Today has been a great Turkey day thus far! We taught our early morning English class to make turkeys by tracing their hands and writing what they are thankful for on the fingers/ feathers. In our Employment course we had the class go around the room and talk about what is important in their lives and then we ate yummy grub. We actually went to a really old restaurant (built in 1894) in the historical district downtown and I had a turkey, pineapple, cream cheese and lettuce Sandwich. It was tasty and big. It was almost appropriate for the holiday as the restaurant was called Columbo, after Christopher Columbus. Although he really had nothing to do with Thanksgiving, he was a pioneer/ pilgrim, and therefore counts.
Oh, and next Thursday we will have a big Thanksgiving feast with the people we work with at the Employment Center. Yea!


On a completely unrelated topic, I have found a way for you to visit me without having to buy a plane ticket if you like. Google maps is amazing. I really recommend you checking out this link and reading the written driving directions. Oh, and you can take simple detours on the way to visit John in MO, Jimmy in GA, You'll enjoy it. Happy Turkey day!

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&saddr=tigard+Oregon&daddr=Copacabana,+Rio+de+Janeiro+-+RJ,+Brazil&sll=4.915833,-74.53125&sspn=91.446534,191.601563&ie=UTF8&ll=11.350797,-77.34375&spn=90.526044,191.601563&z=3&om=1

another update... yep.

This weekend has been mucho productive! I pretty much locked myself in for 2 days and managed to finish all of my courses, except for 2 final exams (one of which I think I’ll have to end up taking in Provo) and 6-ish papers on cultural experiences... I still have to stay on it enough, but I feel as if a huge burden has been lifted! Wahoo! Anyway, tomorrow we have a day off so we're going to sight see a bit, hopefully go to the beach and I’ll do my final. Yes, I’m excited. It really is crazy how quickly time is passing; we only have 2 more weeks in Rio, and then about 2 weeks to Travel around the country. I'm excited to travel and then come home for Christmas, but at the same time, really don't want to leave this place behind. I really do love it here. Everything seems so simple here. Life really is good. Yesterday my friend Kali and I had the chance to attend and sing at the baptism of a friend at the center. It has been a huge blessing to see how much this course has been a doorway for people to not only learn about how to recognize their talents and gifts and how to apply them in the professional world, but also has been effective in helping myself and the students learn about the spiritual blessings that Heavily Father wants to pour upon us is as well. Although this baptism was of a volunteer at the center, we have seen many of our students accept the invitation to hear about the gospel and grow spiritually as well. Again, I really love this program, the people here in Brazil and the place. I'm not sure what it is about this place, but i really do love it.

Traventure v. the combined acts of adventure and travel.

This weekend on the road we had a traventure. And it was good. I had the privilege of being ripped off by an anti-american bus station ticket agent, just in time for the opportunity of a lifetime of waiting for my night bus back to Rio for an extra few hours as the original bus got in an accident and another needed to be sent in our direction. During this time a kind, and very talkative elderly man decided that he really wanted to tell me all of the childrens stories that he had written, and even gave me a four page hand written story about an elephant and monkey with lice that couldn't go to the party because they refused to wear fancy clothes. I'm sure it would have been oh so much more interesting if i wasn't struggling to stay awake. When the bus finally arrived, i decided to use the genetic super power reserved for Dickinsons to sleep on one of the winding-est roads ever. (or at least between Ouro Preto and Rio de Janeiro) because of this unfortunate delay, we hit trafic in the wee hours of the morn and barely made it to work on time to throw on some semi-clean wrinkled clothing from our backpacks to teach. Yes our return home was surely a traventure.

Belo Horizante e Ouro Preto

Well, we took a weekend trip to Belo Horizante and Ouro Preto, Both really neat places. Anyway, hope you enjoy the pics.

Jardim Botanico do Rio

Cristo Redentor

we went to the 'Cristo Redentor' statue. It is one of the 7 modern wonders of the world and really is amazing! If you're ever passing through Rio, it's worth the train ride up. It's got a cool history and is fun to see all over the city. Up close it's even better. Anyway, it's a great reminder to me, and for the city that Christs arms are always open for us. I'll really miss this statue when I return.

guess what!!!

Today is better than my birthday because i finnished my Statistics class!!! I now have 2 classes down and only 3 to go, but 2 of them are nearing complete, and ther other i left for last as it is much more fun! yea!!! I'm very excited about not sitting inside doing math when it's hot outside. anywya, i just thought i'd share my excitement!