Greetings from Recife - Traffic, Training and Temple

One of the shocks that we had when beginning our mission here in Recife was the traffic. We decided to take some pictures to show some of the 'now laughable' sights on the main thoroughfares we drive through. We didn't stay long behind this tiny pickup load of mattresses. We were wondering if he had a large family with many beds, or a business he was supplying (probably the latter).
Another frequent sight are hand-pulled carts which travel the side roads, main highways and all. We still haven't figured out their purpose. They look like they are loaded with garbage, recyclable stuff, or personal belongings? We Americans from the U.S. just shake our heads and wonder at the patience of all the cars who just slow down, pull into the other lane and go around them. The picture above was taken just a couple of blocks from our apartment. You can see the ocean in the distance between the buildings. Also, the tall white building on the right is the Internacional Hotel, right on the beach, that we told Nathan and Heather about where they might stay at Christmastime. Can't wait till Christmas!We took this picture today on our way home from our temple shift. Yes, believe it or not, those are horse drawn carts, on a busy main road a couple of blocks from the temple. And yes, everyone just slows down, goes around and thinks nothing of it.
We spent an afternoon at the President's home training the novinhos that arrived in the mission last Tuesday. These pictures were taken there by the mission Exec. Secretary who recently acquired a wonderful new camera. President Emerick's lovely apartment is on the 7th floor just a few blocks from the temple. The 2 pictures above were taken from their windows and balcony. If you look closely in the picture above, you can see the white Recife temple on the right edge in the middle.These are the novinhos (new arrivals). Can you tell which ones are new? The Emericks, us, and on the ends of the front row are the two assistants who helped with the training, Elder Smith and Elder Jarom. There were only 3 elders who came this time from the states. The rest are all Brasilian. We explained the importance of keeping their apartments clean. They look like a sharp group. Ready to start working!


Inspiring sight! In a world full of darkness, doubt, and confusion, the temple is a symbol of light and truth. Saturdays are a highlight to our week when we get to serve there. And yes, we're learning it in Portuguese!

With God, anything is possible.

August Zone Conference

The picture taken here is of our entire mission when Elder and Sister Anderson were visiting our mission in July. (down from 180 some missionaries to 154.)

We had zone conferences this week and Mom and I did a power point presentation for the missionaries and it turned out pretty good. We have been taking pictures of the missionaries at their houses each time we visit and we gave them a show during conference. I think they really enjoyed it and it helped take up part of the 20-25 minutes we were given. Mom had her part all written up in Portuguese and did a marvelous job I think. It takes some real courage to get up and talk in a foreign language to about 80 people in each session - all of whom can speak the language you are struggling to speak. I was going to include the presentation here but I am not sure if I can send about forty slides in this posting.

Also this week we had a real tragedy in the mission family. One of the Elders from Utah who has been here about eight months found out (the parents called the President who had the missionary come into the office) that his little eight year old brother had died in a home accident. We talked to the Elder after he found out and he was truly in shock after hearing such terrible news. He has another brother on a mission and the parents wanted both the boys to come home for the funeral on Friday. We are going to pick him up Tuesday at the airport when he returns. The church does not pay for the trip but his parents really wanted him home. He was reluctant to go but honored the wishes of his parents. We hope that focusing on the mission when he returns will comfort his grief and that he can continue strong, serving the Lord here in Recife.

On a happier note we went to dinner with two couples who are temple missionaries last night and had a fun time. They are both from California and one couple goes home in six weeks. They live in very nice temple church housing
The two Elders in the other picture above are the Executive and Financial Secretaries and they are the ones that keep the mission running smoothly. (Elder Paiva and Elder McBride). We pick them up each day, as they live here in Boa Viagem and we pass by their apartment on our way to the office. Elder Paiva is from Sao Paulo and speaks excellent English, Elder McBride is from Tennesee and speaks excellent Portuguese. We love them, they are our good friends.

I think that sums up our week and we both send our love and prayers for the blessings of the Lord to be with each of you.

Dad and Mom, Grandma and Grandpa
Elder and Sister Ivey

The first day of August. In the country 5 months. This last week was an interesting one. Tuesday we had the opportunity to take a new arrival (Sister Taylor from Eager, AZ) to her first assignment in Caruarú. We had no idea how beautiful the countryside is going west of here. We saw and felt it actually change from ''tropical island hot'' to higher mountainous cool with hardly any humidity and nary a palm tree. It was nice to leave the hustle and bustle of the city and breath clean air and drive on a nice road for a few hours. Caruaru is a couple of hours away. We saw the most beautiful sunset as we left there to come back. We´ll hope to find reasons to go out there again. We had every intention to snap some pictures while there and forgot to take out the camera!!

Then on Thursday we drove a companionship of sick Elders home from the office and then again, we took them to the hospital to see the doctor. Turns out that one of them has Dengue Fever and the other one has an intestinal infection (probably food poisoning). We were glad that neither one had the flu and they were not infectious. There have been several people on the mission who have had Dengue Fever (an illness brought on by a specific mosquito which infects people when it bites). Several of them caught it while living in the house these elders live in. It comes with high fevers, very painful joints and severe headaches, and can even be fatal in rare cases if ignored. Elder Henrique dos Santos, who we took to the hospital, received 2 IV’s of fluid. It is easy to become dehydrated because of the vomiting that sometimes comes along with it. Taking them home from the office, we had to pull over while the Elder with food poisoning threw up on the sidewalk. We were glad it was a quiet neighborhood with the houses behind high walls. Our hearts go out to these elders. They've been ordered to stay home for an extended time to get better and that cannot be fun.

Friday we visited and inspected Bom Pastor casa where Elder Johns and Elder Soffiatte live. President and Sister Emerick gave us one of their GPS's which we have been learning how to use. What a blessing it is! It is a great help, took us right to the street where they live, had a hard time finding the right house, but it was much better than Google Maps, and no more guessing at street names (we hope).

It is the weekend and we are both tired today. Yesterday we did our usual P-day work, getting the laundry done and making some food for the coming week. I was so excited to find some celery at the market yesterday and made a Crab Salad to celebrate the find. By the weekend we don’t have much energy to do anything else. Ed keeps saying that we are working hard for a couple of old retired people. I keep forgetting that I am old so am surprised to find myself worn out after a week of missionary work. We definitely don’t keep the same hours and energy levels as the young missionaries, but it feels like we wear out easier.

Still studying and trying to learn Portuguese, our vocabulary is growing but using it feels like it is still done poorly (if at all, in Jessie's case). Reading the Book of Mormon is getting easier. Jessie reports that she is even starting to enjoy reading it in Portuguese.

Our thoughts and prayers are with our family and friends back in the USA and those serving missions in other parts of the world. We missed one of our dear friends' wedding yesterday and would have liked to be there with all our hearts, but that's how it goes! We are grateful to be here right now, serving however we can in the great missionary work of the church. Our lives are being enriched, our love for one another is growing, and we hope that our work is valuable in some way to the Lord. For all that is good in our lives has come from Him and we realize we are, and will always be, in His debt.

We love you all. Yours truly, Elder and Sister Ivey, (Grandma and Grandpa, Mom and Dad)

We are still out there!

When one of our good friends inquired in an email as to whether we are still out there in Brazil or have maybe dropped off the end of the world or maybe gotten lost in the streets of Recife we felt it is past time to do a new entry in the blog. All is well with the Iveys! Guess we are settling into a routine and it seems like there is not much new or different to report in our daily activity. We are working hard at the office each day and spend two mornings a week visiting the Elders and Sisters in their apartments. As is the nature of anything new, as we keep trying, things miraculously seem to be getting a bit easier. Not that we are about to win any awards for our flowing Portuguese but we are adopting the philosophy that heck we are trying hard to learn and if you are not happy with us - well that is your problem not ours. That philosophy has it's genesis more with Ed than Jessie who still worries more than her husband thinks is worth the effort. The balance keeps us studying when he is ready to go play on "P" day and forget the books. We enjoy our visits out of the office and do not get lost as much as earlier adventures. We still marvel that we find a house not by street sign so much as counting the number of streets on the map from one of the rare street names we discover. We stop and ask directions (seems all are familiar with the missionaries) and if we are within a few streets complete strangers can lead us right to them. Lastly the cell phone and the plea to "stand in the street Elders and watch for us" is our last straw. There are 80 houses in the mission and we have discovered 20 so far - that is not bad for a couple of "senior citizens" driving around with several million other folks on the road. Add to the excitement that there are no rules on these roads and Jessie is white knuckles most of the time in the car. So I say again things are just fine down here and no one need worry that "old Ed and Jessie are hightailing to catch a cruise ship to paradise or lost in the jungle."

The picture above shows 4 of the sisters in our mission at one of our apartment inspections (Sister Wilkinson, Sister Lindsey, Sister Santos and Sister Alves). Their apartment is in Olinda and was spotless! Sister Lindsey is new, has only been here for about a month. Sister Wilkinson and Sister Santos are finishing up their missions this next week and will be flying home next Wednesday. Sister Wilkinson and Sister Lindsey were walking to one of their appointments a week ago and a couple of men stopped them on the street in broad daylight, grabbed Sister Wilkinson, put a knife to her throat and demanded her cell phone. She of course handed it over. They took it and ran off. The sisters continued on their way and Sister Wilkinson, when she told us about the experience in the office last week, said after walking about a block further, broke down and started crying. She is a really strong woman so I'm sure the seriousness of that situation must have finally hit her, or the shock of it all overcame her and she couldn't hold it in. We are grateful for the protecting hand of the Lord upon us as missionaries. Those occurrences rarely happen, and for that we are truly grateful.

We love the work and are grateful for your prayers and thoughts in our behalf. May the Lord be with all you, our friends and family and may he ever bless the country we love and miss. Love, Elder & Sister Ivey

Freezers and Anniversaries

Local Art?

And the clean freezer award goes to Elders Webb and Afonso. They explained that since there isn't anything much in their refrigerator anyway, they just turn it off every night to save energy. Whatever ice buildup there is melts into the drawer below, they dump it, plug it in next morning and voila, no ice! Wow, why didn't I think of that. When I see the empty refrigerators, I wish I'd brought along some ice cream, some food to give them. Ed reassures me that nobody in Brazil eats much breakfast and they eat one big meal at members houses so they really don't need much food stocked up.
We had an interesting experience visiting an apartment last Friday. It's easy to get lost here, which we do regularly. We had been to Jardim America's apartment one time before with President Emerick so we thought we could find our way there this time, but sure enough, there was a detour, lots of traffic, no street signs, and we were totally lost and late for an inspection. With a prayer in our hearts we kept going, turned right, turned left, and wandered here and there. Believe it or not, we ended up at the apartment, and still don't know how we found it. Well, yes we do know. It was a miracle.

We are receiving 10 new missionaries this week and 14 are going home. It should be a really busy week. Today was the deadline for last months baptism forms to be submitted. We processed in the last month 200 baptisms/confirmations in our mission. The wards have a real challenge fellowshipping so many new members each month.

We came home from the office today in a brand spanking clean car to a brand spanking clean apartment and feel grateful. There is a man who has a car washing business on the end of the block where the office is. He drums up business from the workers in the area and washes the cars by hand in the street for about 4 bucks. Does a wonderful job. Our rent includes a weekly thorough cleaning of our apartment which is really helpful because we don't have a lot of time or energy at night.

Last Friday was our 44th wedding anniversary. Where have the years gone. We have yet to celebrate it. Maybe we'll save up this years and next years celebrations and do something wild when we get home. For some reason, even though we weren't able to see you really often before our mission, there is something about being 10,000 miles away that makes us especially homesick for family and friends. We love hearing from you.

Our First Trip to the Temple

This week we finally had the opportunity to go to the Temple. It was fun to have a session in Portuguese. They gave Mom the ear phones but she said no I do not want them! We were going to be there with one of the zones of Elders but we came early and were on our way out when they showed up. I teased them about getting there "so late in the day". We had lunch in the cafeteria at the temple and it was inexpensive and very good food. We visited more Elders this week in another area and saw our first motorcycle fatality. I knew it would be just a matter of time the way they drive with no fear of accidents - but it does happen. We worked on the computers much of the week posting new members and Mom has been sending out emails to all the missionaries with referrals given for addresses in our mission. Until Mom got here it was just not getting done. We have already heard of several missionaries that are teaching some great investigators they received from Mom getting the referrals out to them. The language is still the elephant in the room that is impossible to ignore. But hey, we are trying and as I tell Mother it does no good to beat ourselves up each day - it will come or not! But we will do our best and be happy for each day to be together, serving the Lord! We love all of you and do so appreciate your prayers in our behalf. They are helping and we like wise pray for each of you daily. Love Mom and Dad - Grandpa and Grandma - Elder and Sister Ivey - take your pick!