Elder Petrie's Breathalyzer Test!

Blow!

Last night we were driving to Pombal at attend the Sacrament Meeting there. We had the two Zone Leaders, Elder Rolim & Elder Jay, with us and Igor, a young man from the Sousa Branch. Shortly before arriving in Pombal we came up behind a string of four cars driving very slowly behind an overloaded truck that was just creeping along. We came to a clear spot where we could all pass safely so we all went around the truck. Unfortunately it was on a bridge with a double yellow line and the Federal Police saw it all on camera. When we entered the police checkpoint in Pombal, they directed all of us to stop.

The Police were enjoying this more than Elder Petrie.

They asked for our documents and politely explained that it is illegal to pass on the bridge (and anytime there is a double yellow line). Double yellow lines (as well as almost all other traffic signs) are regularly ignored here.

The documents were in order - thankfully.

The told us they would not fine us, but decided that we all should have a breathalyzer test. Fortunately for me, Guaraná (the world's best soft drink) does not effect the test and I blew a 0.00.

We're sure Igor will tell this story to all of his friends and there will be more than a little ribbing at church next Sunday.

Lesson learned!

"Tender Mercies" in Cajazeiras

Entering Cajazeiras

 We love working with the young missionaries here in Sousa, in Pombal (about an hour west) and Cajazeiras (about an hour east). There are 2 sets of missionaries in each city, and we schedule time to spend an afternoon and evening with them, splitting the time with the two sets of missionaries. They schedule visits with members who need some extra attention and with people who are investigating the church. We enjoy hearing them teach and teaching with them. Of course Sister Petrie makes the visit to the missionaries special by taking them an assortment of treats that she has made that they can't get in Brazil, such as brownies and assorted cookies.

Lake in the middle of Cajazeiras - a pretty city.

Elder De Oliveira, Elder Da Cunha and children of a family that the Elders are teaching.

Sometimes the streets make us feel like we'r off-roading!

Great Missionaries! Elders De Oliveira, Da Cunha, V. Silva and Lemos

 A recent to Cajazeiras brought an unexpected challenge - while driving down Avenida Pedro Moreno Gondin about 7:30 at night, the engine in our car died without warning. No missing, sputtering or unusual noise - it just died. We coasted to a stop and efforts to start it again were futile. We pushed it out of traffic and after a few minutes of panic started going through the glove compartment to find insurance papers as one of the Elders suggested that perhaps our insurance included a benefit for towing the car.

We found an 24 hour 0800 number on the insurance papers, called the company and verified we indeed have breakdown coverage. The insurance company called a towing company in the city and sent a tow truck and a taxi to take us back to Sousa. The taxi took us to our apartment and the tow truck left the car at the local Chevrolet dealership.

Loading up for the trip home.

The scriptures talk about "tender mercies" of the Lord. We felt two of those tender mercies that evening - first, the insurance coverage got us home rather than having to spend a night away. Second, the breakdown was in the city on a lighted street rather than on the dark highway where there is no cell coverage and little traffic that time of night.

But wait, there's more.

I went out to the Chevrolet dealer early the next morning to find a mechanic working on the car to see what was wrong. He was starting to disassemble the top and side of the engine to get to the timing belt as he was sure that was the problem. He asked me if we were moving or stopped when the motor died, and if I tried to start it while we were moving. I told him we were moving and yes, I tried multiple times to start it while we were coasting to a stop.

He shook his head and said, "That's too bad. 100% of the time when that happens you will have serious damage to the engine as the valves will hit the pistons. This will be an expensive repair and will take a lot of time."

My heart sank - we certainly weren't prepared for an expensive repair bill, and being without the car for a long time would seriously hamper our work.

As the mechanic continued to remove parts from the engine to verify his diagnosis I watched and prayed - really prayed - that somehow we would avoid a lengthy and expensive repair. The mechanic confirmed his diagnosis and was certain we had damage, but agreed to put on the timing belt and try to start the engine.

The engine started right away but the sound and the vibration indicated we had some damage. But as the engine ran, the sounds and the vibration began to decrease. The mechanic exclaimed, "O motor está normalizando!" (The motor is 'normalizing'!) He called for another mechanic to come and see. He was amazed, and said he had never seen anything like it. I said, "This is good, correct?" He responded, "This is wonderful!" The car was back together with a few new parts and on the road by 11:30.

The mechanic couldn't understand what happened. We know what happened - we know that prayers were answered and we received a special tender mercy that day from our Heavenly Father.

It is wonderful to be here serving the people in Brazil. We see miracles all the time - particularly in the lives of those who accept the gospel of repentance, make covenants with the Lord and change their lives. We see families strengthened and happiness and peace replace despair and discord. We see people find new purpose to their lives and turn outward to help others. There are not words to express our joy in seeing these changes and for our love for the people we serve.

These are the most special "tender mercies" of all.

You can run but you can't hide (from Google)!

Here we are in Sousa, a small city in Brazil that is 6 hours by car from the state capital and what did we see? A Google Street View car, roaming the cobblestone streets, snapping pictures of everyone and everything. These pictures will soon appear on Google Maps and Google Earth.

We saw the car a couple of days previously in Cajazeiras - an even smaller city in the state of Paraiba. If they are here, they are everywhere in the world. Amazing!

We spoke with the driver and the technician and learned some interesting facts. The tower on top of the car has 15 cameras that take pictures automatically as they go down the road. The cameras fire automatically and the number of pictures they take depends on the speed of the car. The car is loaded with technology: multiple computers, ultra-precise GPS and massive data storage. They told us the pictures will appear on Google Maps in about 2 months. There are 2 cars like this in this remote northeastern part of the country.

If you see one of these passing your place - SMILE!

Ouch! Sousa Bites Carol!

We enjoy taking an early morning walk every day through the streets and neighborhoods of Sousa. We often end up at a great bakery where we pick up some freshly baked bread, cheese and ham that we use for quick lunches - and to feed the missionaries.


On the 5th of January we took a different route for a change as we didn't need a bakery stop that day. As we passed a derelict old house behind decaying walls and gates we heard barking and growling dogs. As we walked past the broken gate, 4 or 5 dogs burst through the gate onto the sidewalk. One particularly mean dog bit Carol on both legs. Fortunately she was wearing fairly heavy pants and socks so only one tooth made it through to the skin, leaving a small puncture wound.

Carol didn't think she had been bitten at all, but when we got home we could see the wound. After conferring with the church physician in São Paulo he said that it would be necessary for Carol to go through a course of rabies vaccinations. So we were off to the hospital to get the treatment. 

After waiting in the emergency room for an hour and a half Carol was seen by a young doctor who said he didn't think she needed the vaccinations and sent us to a nurse to have the wound cleaned and disinfected. I spoke with the senior nurse there and told her our doctor insisted Carol receive the vaccinations. The nurse concurred, countermanded the doctor's orders and Carol got the first of 5 injections she will receive over a period of 4 weeks. The modern injections are very simple and not painful at all, unlike the stories we have heard about the early treatments to prevent rabies.


We returned to the house later that day and found the person that lives there. She is very old - pushing 80 - and has lived there all of her life. She has no family at all and the house is in a state of extreme disrepair. It actually looks abandoned. She assured us that the dogs are not sick, and we don't believe they are. We have learned that this isn't the first person that the dogs have attacked, so we're going to talk to the appropriate authorities next week to see what can be done to prevent further bites to passers by.

We went back later - and let the sleeping dogs lie!

We feel blessed that the incident was not more serious and that modern, effective treatment is available here to assure there won't be complications.

And we'll stay away from that house on future walks, for sure!

Carol at the hospital - all is well!

Christmas in Sousa - Part 2

Christmas in Sousa for us started on January 23 and January 24 with parties at the church for the Sousa Branch and then the Estação Branch.

We began the evening on the 24th by going to the outskirts of town to pick up several members for the party. We had to figure out how to get a dozen people (plus a lot of food for the party) into our minivan that is designed to hold 7. We designated several of the youth as 'baggage' and stuffed them into the back for the 15 minute ride to the chapel. On the way, we taught them to sing Jingle Bells in English. By the time we got to the chapel they were doing a pretty good job. There certainly was no lack of enthusiasm!

We had been recruited to be Papai and Mamãe Noel at the party. We had a several people, old and young, who wanted to take a picture behind us or on our laps. Everyone had a great time at the party that included a dinner and music for dancing.

 

Sisters Bee and Haygood

When I asked one young girl who is about 7 years old what she wanted for Christmas she responded, "I won't be getting anything for Christmas." I asked, "What is the most wonderful gift of all at Christmastime?" She answered, "Love!" I then asked, "What is the source of love?" She wisely answered, "Jesus." 

I then said, "The greatest Christmas gift of all is from our Heavenly Father who loved us so much He sent His Son, Jesus Christ so we could feel His love." Her response: "Yes, that is the greatest gift of all and it is for all of us. We all get the same love from Jesus." It was a wonderful insight from a girl whose family can't buy gifts, but reflects the love of the Savior which is more precious than any material gift they could give.

  

On Christmas day we were invited to lunch with the missionaries at member's home where we enjoyed their love and a delicious meal. In the afternoon and evening we hosted the missionaries from Sousa at our apartment. They used our computers to Skype their families at home and then we enjoyed a great dinner prepared by Sister Petrie. It was atypical Sunday meal we would have at home and the missionaries loved a dinner that didn't include rice and beans.

We were able to Skype all of our family as well. It was a thrill to see and visit with all our children and grandchildren on this most special day!

Elders Walton and Jay, Sisters Bee and Haygood

Dinosaurs in Sousa!

Sousa's claim to fame is an attraction just north of town called "Vale dos Dinossauros" where footprints of dinosaurs were preserved in stone. The valley was declared a state monument and has a small visitors' center and pathways to observation points where you can clearly see the dinosaur tracks. There are dinosaur replicas throughout the park and in the visitors' center.

Sousa is proud of this unique monument. There are references to dinosaurs all over the city. There are dinosaur bakeries, auto shops, stationary stores, candy stores and every other kind of business you can imagine. There are also dinosaur statues in parks and dinosaur paintings on the sides of buildings.

All of the missionaries in town - 2 Elders, 2 Sisters and the Petrie's decided to visit the park on a
P-day. It was fun and educational. It was great fun for us to watch the missionaries react to the things we saw there.

At the Visitors' Center

Sisters Heygood & Bee, and Elders Walton & David

Sharing a refreshing drink of coconut water

Elder Walton sleeping with the dinosaur

Missionaries with our grizzled guide

Tracks! Who was here?

Sisters exploring the tracks.

Our Guide feeding the small monkeys.

Careful - they bite!

Lunch after the adventure.

Since this is Sousa's main attraction, it will probably be our most adventurous P-Day. The normal P-Day is a morning of cleaning, washing, shopping and e-mail.

Christmas in Sousa

The celebration of Christmas will certainly be different for us this year. Here the trees (all artificial) are small, the decorations are few and the focus is on a dinner Christmas Eve, not on opening presents on Christmas day. There will be an activity at the church Christmas Eve where Steve will be Papai Noel, we've been invited to lunch by a family Christmas day and we'll have the 4 missionaries in Sousa over for dinner Christmas evening. Of course we miss our children and grandchildren especially at this time of year. And we miss our dear friends a neighbors as well.

Our Sousa Christmas Tree - decorated with photos of all the family.

The meaning of Christmas hasn't changed, however, in spite of the difference in cultures and being thousands of miles from home.

Christ is the focus of Christmas.

The Christmas Tree reminds us that Christ is the Tree of Life; the gifts remind us of the greatest gift of all - the atoning sacrifice of our Savior. The lights on the tree help us remember that He is the Light and Life of the world.

His Atonement is infinite - it blesses every person who ever lived or will live. He overcame death - we will all live again as resurrected beings, never to die again. He opened the door for us to return to live with Him and our Heavenly Father by suffering for our sins and offering all mankind the opportunity to repent and obey His commandments and receive the ordinances of exhalation.

His Love is infinite - it touches every person unconditionally. His love is the source of all love which blesses our relationships with our families, our friends and all mankind.

At this Christmastime we express our profound gratitude for all our blessings - for each other, for our family, for our friends, for the people we serve in Brazil and the privilege of serving them, and for our loving Heavenly Father and His divine Son, our Savior and Redeemer.

Here is a video we want to share:

Away in a Manger

Best wishes for a wonderful Christmas!

Steve and Carol Petrie