FUN FACTS

Fun facts about our apartment. We live on the 4th Floor (tereciro adar) of the “a” Tower here at the MTC. Our apartment consist of a Living Room, Kitchen/dining Room, Bedroom, Bathroom and Laundry room

Here is a picture of our Dishwasher- it is of the under the counter design. We almost have to kneel down to load it. But of course we are missionaries and we pray a lot! It will hold 4 cereal bowls, 6 glasses, 4 small plates, 2 large plates and a pot or frying pan!

Here is a picture of our clothes washer/dryer combo. If you look really close you can see the time above the front loading door. Yes it says 4:41! That is the time it takes to wash AND dry one set of sheets, pillow case and PJ’s!

Oh well! what else do we have to do but watch clothes dry or Brazilian TV with Portuguese sub titles.

We love it here and couldn’t ask for anything more.  Hum “Peanut Butter”!

Shopping in Downtown São Paulo

Today we went with Brother Benjamin Braga, an employee here at the MTC,  downtown to shop for lace, thread and zippers.  It seems that Melinda has become the MTC resident seamstress.  She has been lengthening skirts, replacing broken zippers, and sewing up split-out pants (they feed the missionaries very well). Wow, we saw the real Sao Paulo down there: crowded streets and sidewalks, a lot of noise, bums asleep on the sidewalk. people everywhere, little shops crammed with merchandise, people hollering to you to buy their stuff, graffiti everywhere, cars zinging in and out.  We tried to look as non-conspicuous as possible.  I’m sure that was not probable, we may have dark hair like Brazilians, but Ted was wearing a white shirt and tie and Melinda was wearing a skirt and our church name tags were prominent.  

                                       The delivery Motorcycles for the shops downtown 

The lace store was amazing; floor to ceiling filled with lace of every kind, size, and color.  The zipper store was the same.  It was something else! You could buy zipper by the meter. We bought 60 - 9inch zippers for about $5.00.      

Floor to ceiling Lace

Brother Braga and Sister Whitaker 

Buttons

We walked through the Metro Mercado also. It is a big building with separate little booths with all kinds of food, etc.  It reminded me of the mercado we went into in Salvador, Brazil or in Mazatlan, Mexico.  We bought Gouda and Parmesan cheese and some spices. It was crazy, but fun. 

Some Fun Facts

 Some Fun Facts!

Here are some fun facts about the Brazil MTC and the surrounding neighborhood !

This is a picture of the front of the Building! It is “108”-? from our apartment to the front of the building. From where the picture was taken it is “143”

Notice the bag lady in front of the building! It is really Sister Whitaker!

Here is the Bank! It is “488” ? from our apartment.

The Bakery has wonderful bread and pastries, it is only “712” ? from our apartment. That is why it is farther away!

The chapel is “112” ? 

The Barber shop is “75”

The Office is “149” the front way. it is “137” the back way, if you car pool (elevator) it is “65”

Cafeteria is “201”

Corner Market is “156”

Pharmacy is “198”

Mr Chenney’s (American style cookies - like Mrs Fields) “154”

and the farmers street market where we went today to get this array of fruit and vegetables is “1100”

NOW PEOPLE the unknown factor here is “STEPS.” Yes we walk everywhere and things are fairly close.

The São Paulo temple is 13 miles away, but it takes 75 minutes by bus. The shopping malls- Borbourn Shopping center where you go to movies , mall shopping and groceries is 2.6 miles away - it takes 17 minutes to get there. If there is a soccer game that night it takes 1 1/2 hours to get there and 10 minutes to get home!

The São Paulo North Shopping center is 4.1 miles and takes 29 minutes. There they have an Olive Garden and an Outback Steak house.

São Paulo Temple Trip

We were able to go to the São Paulo Temple on our recent P-Day, in one of the Vans with the missionaries.

São Paulo Temple

We took some pictures around the temple grounds. It is a very pretty temple with a water fountain, and flower beds.

Flower Beds

Brazilian Sisters and Sister Whitaker

The session was all missionaries except for 4 couples. The District that we came with, District 14, are going to the field on Tuesday so we were glad to be in the temple with them. Here are some of the pictures we took of them.

District 14 Elders and others

District 14 Sisters

District of Brazilian Elde  

Elder Whitaker and Elder Costa

Water Fountain in the front of the São Paulo Temple.

Our P Day at the São Paulo Zoo

We had a great time visiting the São Paulo Zoo.  Ted has photos of his visit there as a young missionary almost exactly 50 years ago. We accompanied another couple serving here at the Brazil MTC, the Snyders from Provo.  São Paulo is  hilly and so the zoo had paths going up and down.  The vegetation at the zoo was spectacularly beautiful.  We especially enjoyed the colorful birds found in Brazil.  It rained a bit.  We find that we need to take an umbrella with us whenever we go out.

Here are some photos from the Zoo. Typical of any Zoo, but we wanted to share them here:

People and Experiences At the Brazil MTC – April 2017

It is has been very interesting to meet special people here at the Brazil MTC. We knew that we were going to see some people that we knew but some are surprises.

President Paulo and Sister Zuleika Grahl –

The President of the Brazil MTC and his wife with us on orientation day. They are from São Paulo. They greeted us when we arrived from the US and helped us get settled in our apartment. He has been a mission president and is well known in the church here.

Elder Richard and Sister Lenore Snyder –

Elder Snyder is the Executive Secretary to President Grahl and Sister Snyder is in charge of the Help Desk- where the Missionaries go for lost items, lost meal cards. She also prepares packet for the new arriving missionaries.

Missionaries that we know here:

Sister Kate Barney, Orem Utah 
Sister Barney’s family live in our Stake. She arrived here 2 weeks before we arrived. She is learning Portuguese and will be serving in Natál.

                                                        Elder Lucas Rolim from Brazil
Elder Rolim is from Curitiba and is learning Japanese and will serve in Japan. He will be leaving in 2 weeks. He is the Nephew of Edite and Robson Rolim

Brazilian Family Visit- On Friday April 14, 2017

Miriam and João Daniel came to see us on Friday. They are from Curitiba, Parana, Brasil. Miriam is the older sister of the Bittencourt family that were baptizied on the 30th of Nov, 30, 1968. I left to go home on Dec. 3rd 1968. They were here to celebrate Easter and to see their daughter Barbara and family. And of course to see us.

Sister Lia Ann Gale from Utah. We arrived together on April 4, 2017.  We talked and found that we have the same pioneer ancestor, Henry Gale, who joined the Church in 1856 in Australia.  She will be serving in Brazil.

Shopping on the Street

Here in Brazil they have street markets, where you can buy fresh fruits and vegetables. In our area it happens every Saturday and is about 3 blocks away! Here are some pictures our our purchases.

 In the top picture, we have spinach, tomatoes, an avocado, mangos, papayas, and oranges.
The next picture shows oranges, limes ( they look almost the same as the oranges, an avocado, broccoli, persimmons, bananas, papaya, and mangos.
We washed and sanitized these items so  that we could eat them. They were all very fresh and good.
We also ate pastels at the market which were very good. They are deep fried pastry pockets with meat and cheese inside.

Brasil Missionary Training Center

We arrived at the Brasil Missionary Training Center!

 

We arrived after a very long flight from Salt Lake to Atlanta and then a nine hour flight to São Paulo.  The Synders from Provo, who serve here as the Exec. Secretary to the MTC President, greeted us and helped us get settled in our very nice apartment here at the MTC.  We arrived with a great bunch of young missionaries, several from Utah.  Among them was a Sister Gale, who we decided is a distant relative of Melinda's.  We saw Sister Barney from our home stake and a nephew, Elder Rolim, a nephew of our dear Brazilian friends who live in Curitibia.  With our arrival came changes in some of the administrative work here.  We will coordinate medical care of the missionaries and set up appointments for them with the doctors that come four hours each day.  Melinda will also help with services for the missionaries, music, and greeting new missionaries. Ted's Portuguese seems to be serving him well.  Melinda greets people, and picks up words here and there.  Today someone brought her language and grammar books and offered to help her increase her knowledge of the language (It must be evident that she needs lots of help).  We have been shopping at a mega grocery store and also shops in the neighborhood.  It has been a good few days here, even with a bit of jet-lag.

Provo MTC

 Here we are at the traditional Picture Site.

Well, We have completed our stay at the Provo MTC and will be off to Brazil! The Provo MTC is awesome with great leaders and teachers! We wish to thank them! Sister Anderson, Sister Peterson, Sister Ritchie, Sister Pugsley, and Brother Gomes our Portuguese Tutor.

Farewell Sunday

Thanks to all those that came today to share this special day with us. It was so good to see our families and friends.  We love all of you so much! It meant so much to Melinda and I to have you come. We hope that you received an uplifting message and are better for having come to hear us speak. We are very excited to begin this journey together to help build the Lord’s Kingdom here on the earth.

Mission Call

Our Mission

We have been called to serve in the Brazil Missionary Training Center in São Paulo, Brazil.

Follow us on this Blog or you could go to, www.tedwhitaker.com. we will try to keep you up to date on our adventures!

 Ted and Melinda - 2016

We send our love and greetings to you as we end this year celebrating our Savior’s birth, and we look forward to 2017 with excitement and anticipation.  We have been blessed this year with great family experiences and good friends whom we have enjoyed many fun times.  Our lives have been filled with good health as well as opportunities to serve our Heavenly Father, our wonderful children, and our friends.

As you noted from our Christmas card, we have been called to serve as missionaries at the Brazil Missionary Training Center in São Paulo, Brazil.  We will leave in March to attend the Provo MTC and then on to Brazil.  We acknowledge the many miracles that have transpired in our lives to make this opportunity possible.  We are especially grateful for the four years we spent serving the Young Single Adults in our area.  We loved those young people and know that it was a preparation for our missionary service.  We are humbled by this call and hope that we are up for the intensive Portuguese language acquisition that awaits us in the coming few months (Ted already speaks Portuguese - it is Melinda we are worried about.)

May you be close the our Savior this Christmas season and during the coming year, for we know He is the source of peace and happiness.  We express our love and appreciation to you for enriching our lives and being great examples. 

MISSION CALL !!

We have been called to be missionaries at the Brazil Missionary Training Center in São Paulo, Brazil!
We are sooo excited! We leave in March.