On July 14, we attended our first Mission Conference, joined by the other 180+ missionaries in the Curitiba Mission. AND we were asked to speak, 5 minutes each--in Portuguese. We spent the day before preparing--for me, it was a word-by-word process with my trusty little English-to-Portuguese dictionary (I didn't trust internet translations). We were escorted by our four Elders on our third Omnibus ride into a new-to-us part of Curitiba. This trip required 5 busses to get there and 5 back. The Conference was held in a large renovated stake building, with flowers (begonias) and blossoming trees outside. Dennis was enthralled with the beauty of the building; I was amazed at the manicured landscaping, flower pots and beds and flowering trees. I thought, "Someone in Brazil loves beauty." When we entered, President and Sister Monteiro (pictured here) came off the stand to greet us and led us to the front row seats, presumably a place of honor. During the meeting, we both gave our talks. I did okay, but was glued to my paper (a first for me), afraid to divert from my Portuguese script. Every-one gave full attention, patiently encouraging me on, as I haltingly followed my script. One sister afterward thanked me for what I said, because she was struggling with the same feelings as had I talked about. Dennis, on the other hand, was as comfortable as I've ever seen him. Once he loosened up, he talked about how, when he was a young missionary in Brazil, he was determined to make the most of potentially bad situations. Moving to the side of the pulpit, he demonstrated how he practiced doing pull-ups from the bars on the busses, and practiced his basketball defensive stance to keep from being tossed around. The missionaries laughed long and loud. They loved him! After the meeting, we were taken to the head of the line, where we had first choice of three pieces of pizza (Canadian bacon or chicken--NO PEPPERONI!) and soda. Then they brought out dessert pizzas (chocolate & strawberries, banana pudding & peanuts). There were soooo many octagonal cardboard boxes, piled high! They were good, very different, but not as good as back home in the States! It was a fun, successful day!
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