You have to love "P" day!

President and Sister Emerick and their son Mateas.

The Ocean at Olinda.

Jessie hard at work in the office.

After working all week in the office it was fun today to go with the mission president and his family on a trip to a city called Olinda. Beautiful and lots to see and explore. We drank coconut milk from the coconut and ate the coconut. The view from this old city around the seaside was awesome. Our president and his family are Brazilian and speak very little English so we got plenty of opportunity to work on our Portuguese. We ride the bus to work each day and depending on traffic it takes anywhere from 20 minutes to over an hour. It is still very hot 24-7 but I think we are growing used to it. Although having AC in our apartment is heaven sent and we are most grateful. The young missionaries just tough it out! We received 5 new missionaries this week and 12 went home. It is fun to help out. We have been surprisingly healthy and have good energy considering we work a full days all week. Jessie was tagged by the Bishop last Sunday to play the piano and he was all smiles to know we are going to be in his ward. The President said when the two Elders assigned to this ward are transferred out in five weeks he is not going to bring in new ones - we are it for the ward! So life will even get busier in the near future. We are happy and loving it here notwithstanding the never ending summer. Boa Noite to all - Elder and Sister Ivey, Dad and Mom, Grandma and Grandpa, or just friends!

Settling In

It's Sunday again. We attended two wards this morning trying to find out for sure which ward we are geographically situated in. Last week we went with the office Elders to Boa Viagem Ward but were told that we are not living in that ward and since Pres. Emerick said we should attend the ward we live in, we went to Setubal II Ward this morning. Then we found out from the Elders in that ward that we should be in Setubal I Ward which met at 10:20, so we stayed and attended that Sacrament Meeting. The Setubal I Ward Bishop said that we don't live in his boundaries and should be in Setubal II ward really. . . We're still not sure what ward we're in, everyone else seems to know for sure but they all contradict each other. . . Oh well, we were able to partake of the sacrament twice, which is a good thing, right? And with Ed translating for me we got along just fine. I even volunteered to play the piano for Sacrament Meeting; can't express myself verbally but through music was able to participate almost fully.

We are settling in somewhat. Our duties in the office are somewhat limited but feel that in time they may be expanded. In other missions the Senior Couples fill the duties of Financial Secretary and Executive Secretary to the President. Our Mission President has young elders filling those positions and so they are sharing parts of their responsibilities with us (in other words, we're lightening their loads).

We:
1. are the "official mission historians",
2. file mail and packages which arrive to be held until Zone Leaders pick them up or they are
delivered at Zone Conferences,
3. input baptism/confirmation information into the Church IMOS computer system, (there are 300 baptisms every 6 weeks in our mission, so there are several records to input each day),
4. file all weekly letters from the missionaries to the President, and,
5. will be inspecting the missionaries apartments, to be sure they keep them clean and in good repair. We've been told we should arrive unexpectedly to inspect so we can catch those still sleeping, thereby encouraging them to arise on time and get to work studying, etc. We'll find out how much fun that might be.

Occasionally, we've had time on our hands at the office with nothing to do. We're not very good at that, so, it won't be long before we find things to do, or make things to do. When talking to the Bishop this morning we offered to help with activation so, if there's not much to do in the office we'll start working on that. At the Zone Conference a week ago, we were told that "to rescue is as important as baptizing" (or some words to that effect). We agree with that and are anxious to serve in that way. In the meantime in our free time we've been studying the language and studying the map of Recife and surrounding areas trying to locate where the Zones are and learning about the missionaries in our mission.

We love getting your comments and hearing from everyone at home. Our internet service is sometimes spotty but we've found that skyping works quite well. So good to see faces and hear voices from home and family. You are all missed.

Two Weeks in Brasil

We have been in the mission field exactly 2 weeks today. We have a nice apartment 1 block from the beach with a view from the roof of the entire city and the ocean front. We are learning our duties in the office and enjoy interacting with the elders and sisters that come to the office. We had the opportunity to attend a zone conference last Friday that was inspirational. We were asked to bear our testimonies there and enjoyed meeting some 80 missionaries from the Recife and surrounding area. The two church buildings we have attended are beautiful buildings and thankfully there is air conditioning in the chapels. It is very hot and humid but we are adapting. Our apartment has partial air-conditioning and we are hoping to get another unit installed for the living and kitchen area. Jessie does not enjoy cooking while sweating in 85 degree F. heat. We are well and happy. Get home exhausted each evening and have been enjoying our kindle before bed each night.