Brasilian pizza!!

I need to catch you up on something from last week. We go out walking ever morning at about 6:00. On Saturday last week, we left the apartment and I had the keys in my pocket. When we got to the door of the building to leave, it was locked. I reached into my pocket for the keys to unlock it and pulled out the car keys. We were locked in our building and locked out of our apartment. There was a window in the foyer, so we climbed out. We tried to figure out what to do. Fortunely, the cell phone was in the car, but we didn't have any phone numbers to call. Finally, I drove over to the city and got the phone number of the key shop we had used earlier when we locked ourselves out of the car. They had a 24 hour service. We called and when the guy came, it was the same man who helped with the car. He smiled and in about 30 seconds he had the door opened. We didn't go walking that morning.
Have you ever had pizza on a pancake? Then you haven't had brazilian pizza. On Monday at our family home evening with the Missionaries, the Sister missionaries fixed pizza for everone. They are both Brasilian and so it was brasilian pizza. We were both curious when they wanted to use the blender to make the dough. It turns out that they make a batter, much like pancake batter, and cook it. Then they put on the ingredients and cook the whole thing. The toppings were really quite good, very much like we would have in the states; but the crust seemed odd to us, much like eating a pancake with pizza toppings.
Wednesday is P-day for the missionaries and they like to play basketball and futebol de salao (court soccer). The new stake center has one of the best courts in the city for this. I went and played with them. It was good to have that kind of trenuous exercise, it seems to help with the arthirtis. I had a good time and got really sweaty. Some of the brazilians are pretty good while others have no clue. After the playing, we all had lunch, (sandwiches) prepared by the Sisters. It was quite enjoyable.
Friday, we drove to a city called Porto Seguro, about 150 - 170 miles south of Itabuna. It took a little over 3 hours to get there. One thing that struck me as we were driving was the huge tree farms that we saw as we got close to Porto Seguro. There had to be thousands of acres of tree farms. The trees were similar to lodge pole pines only smaller in diameter. At times about the only thing you could see were these tree farms. Porto Seguro (secure or safe port) is a medium sized tourist city. It is very well known in Brasil and a very popular destination. It is only about 15 miles from were Cabral first landed and discovered Brasil. There are some beautiful hotels there and even a Best Western. Somebody told us that during the tourist season, many of these hotels charge as much as $500 per night; american dollars. The beaches are really pretty with beautiful white sand. On Friday night, we met up with another senior missionary couple from Sandy, the Calls. They are doing the same thing we are, but in an adjacent state. They were there with a group of young people from one of the branches they work with. We had an enjoyable visit. Saturday morning we went down to the place were Cabral landed. It is a big tourist attraction. Supposedly the cross he raised is still there; I have my doubts after 500 years. Also, there is a monument with a large stainless cross that was erected there by the Brasilian government to celebrate the 500 year anniversary of the discovery.
That evening we had our training meeting in the chapel. It is the prettiest chapel we have seen in Brasil; the setting is beautiful, the grounds are large and spacious and the building is different than most of the other chapels we have seen. We had an enjoyable time at the meeting. There are some very dedicated teachers there with strong testamonies.
We do need to tell about were we stayed. It is called "A Ilha dos Corsaires" The Island of the Corsairs (pirates). It is called a posada which means inn. From the outside it is very quaint, the room was not so quaint. It was small but crowded because it had 2 beds; a small double and a small single bed. It did have airconditioning, but all the doors and the window had sensors; the airconditioning would not work unless they were all closed. The room was clean, but we got a lot of insect bites that we think were bed bugs; they didn't itch to much after a while, but remained red. Next time we go there, we will stay someplace else.
We returned home on Sunday in time for testimony meeting. The travel was uneventful for the most part. We do ask for your prayers, especially for Janet. She sometimes gets a little down because she feels isolated, not being able to talk to anyone but me. But she is a trooper and is learning some phrases. It is good to serve the Lord and we are grateful for this opportunity.