big decisions

Welcome back,

Over these last 2 weeks, a number of things have happened; some good, some not so good, but all have been learning experiences for us. That is one idea that has been reinforced to us, like it says in D&C 122, all things are for our good, we just need to learn from these experiences.

As we have told you in previous posts, Janet has experienced difficulties since we have been here. Some of it is because of the language, some of it because it is a completely new culture, some of it because she feels isolated, some because she misses the family and there probably other reasons. We have been working with the church psychologist in Sao Paulo, with the M.D. there, they have been in contact with Drs in Salt Lake and we even went to a psychologist here in Itabuna. After about a month and a half of this and some new medications that seemed to help temporarily, we (Janet, me and the Drs involved) decided that it would be best if we came home and got some treatment for Janet. So, we will be returning sometime early in December. We still don't know exactly when. We will let you know. While this is disappointing to us, we have learned many things. We have become closer to each other and closer to the Lord. We have become more dedicated to the Gospel and what that means. In many ways, this has been a blessing. We are grateful for the opportunity we have had to serve a mission here. It truly has been a blessing in our lives.

On Monday, the 16th, we drove to Salvador for some training and meetings with Elder Fernando Araujo. He is not the father of the former BYU basketball player. In fact, when I asked him about that, he didn't know that BYU had a Brasileiro on their team. Elder Araujo is the #1 assistant to Brother Grahl in the Church Education System here in Brasil. He is also a Seventy.

Salvador is the capital of the state of Bahia and is the 4th or 5th largest city in Brasil. It probably has 4 - 5 million people in the metro area. It sits on a large pennisula and is one of the oldest cities in Brasil. It was also the major port for bringing in slaves from Africa. As we drove up, we had 2 choices as to how to get there; 1 was driving all the way (about 100 - 120 km longer ) or 2 take the ferry boat (about 30 - 40 minutes ) across the bay. We decided to take the ferry boat. (ferryboat is the brasilian word for ferryboat) We arrived at the dock at about 3:30. We had to wait almost 2 hours. We finally arrived in Salvador at 6:00. We filled up with gas (alcohol, really) and took off to find our hotel. We had an idea where it was and we had google maps. The hotel was in a wealthy suburb north of Salvador. We made some lucky quesses and some unlucky guesses and ended up getting lost. We thought we knew where we were, but we didn't. We finally called the mission president, Elder Vecchi, and he came and rescued us. We were 15 km or more from our hotel. He knew were it was, but he had a hard time finding it, also. We got there at about 9:00. It was an 11:00 hour trip. By bus it is only 6 - 7 hours.

The next morning, we drove into the city to the meetings. We drove around and, guess what, we got lost again. We called the institute and somebody came and rescued us. We found out we were only 1 - 2 km from the institute building as we were looking for it. The map was accurate, but most streets do not have signs on them so we never knew where we were. That afternoon, we had an interview with Brother Araujo. He was very kind and very grateful for the time we had spent and for the example we had been to the members. We also met the brother who will be doing most of the work we have been doing. He will not be moving to Itabuna, but he will be the coordinator of the 2 stakes we have, Itabuna and Vitoria da Conquista. He will have to do most of the work by telephone. He has 5 other stakes in Salvador that he works with, but only with the seminaries.

The next morning, we left to go back to Itabuna. We decided to drive the whole way. We didn't get lost and we had a rather enjoyable trip home. Because the trip back was so pleasant, we decided to travel again on the weekend.

Saturday morning, we left Itabuna for Vitoria da Conquista. It's a 3 hour drive, most of which is on very good roads. The last 35 km, however, is really bad in places. But we survived and arrived there at 10:30. We went to President Denio's home. We had preciously made arrangements to meet him and his wife. They wanted to take us to dinner. We have become good friends with them. They were our rescuers the first time we went to Conquista. While we were at dinner, we explained to them that we were going home. They were both saddened by this news and were very concerned about Janet. That afternoon, we had our training meeting with the teachers and explained to them what was happening. They were also very touched and concerned, it was an emotional meeting. That night we went to an open house for a new chapel in the city. Many of the city's important people had been invited as were any others who were interested. It was very well planned and the turn out seemed to be very good. The next morning, we went to church and then returned to Itabuna. It was good to get back. We had a relaxing and enjoyable evening. On our next blog we will have all the information about our return.