Life in the Desert: Part I

On Monday, Vanessa informed us that we would be taking a special trip to the desert of Brasil. She had taught us a little bit about the sertao (desert), but it is hard to imagine what a desert in Brasil would really be like. In order for us to REALLY learn what it is like, we started our trip early Monday morning.


It was a long bus ride to get to the sertao, but we finally made it after about 6 hours. In all honesty, I thought I had made it back to Utah! It was crazy dry and the plants were limited to small shrubs and a few trees here and there. I could feel the dryness and I was thirsty just thinking about it! I had left the crazy wet Recife and entered into a new region of Brasil.


The first day that we went to the sertao we met with a man named Mario that told us about the work that the NGO Diaconia was doing in that region in order to help those suffer from drought in the dry region. He explained that they are building a million cisterns as a goal in the northeast to make sure that people are able to get clean water and store it properly. They have built 500,000 so they are making great progress and hope to continue it. They are also teaching people to be self sufficient and show them how to survive, and be well off. I like all of the concepts that he talked about and I look forward to seeing the results of the work that they have been doing.


That was about it for the day, then we went to the center to have dinner. It was a very nice center for the middle of the desert and I really liked how people had all of their kids out. It seemed like a very safe place to live and raise a family. It is amazing what people can make of a place that has so little to offer. It reminds me of the settlement of Utah and how it was built from nothing and is now a thriving state. It is great to see human progression.

 Picture of the sertao. Not too bad for the desert

Standard picture of the sertao

Rappelling Down Waterfalls

Today the bishop decided to take us out to see some waterfalls. He said they were a couple of hours away and he thought we might like them. As always, Cindy and I were ready for an adventure so we, bishop, Josh, Joe, Doug, and Eveson jumped in the car and went for a drive.


The drive was pretty uneventful, the only thing that really happened was that I hit my head twice after I smacked my head on the roof of our car. Brazilians don't put as much emphasis on keeping roads nice as the US does so there are potholes everywhere, and it sucked really bad having to drive through them. I tried to take a nap a couple times, but those times were when I ended up waking up to my head smacking the roof of the car. It kept me awake for the rest of the ride.


Once we got to the waterfalls we were told that you could rappel down it if you wanted for a small price. The waterfall was a pretty good size and it was very beautiful, but that is where my interest in it ended. I wasn't planning on going down it, but bishop offered to pay and said, "you're never gonna be here again so you might as well do it." I couldn't argue with that, and after seeing Eveson go down, Cindy and I decided to give it a shot.


When they strapped me up I was pretty excited, then I went to the side of the falls and that excitement turned into a little thing called, "Oh Crap.." He hooked me to my line and Cindy to the one next to me, and then the instructor went down with us. It wasn't hard at all once you got going. It was really slippery, and I was the lucky fella to get the side directly in the water, so the more I went down the more water came down on me. It complicated going down but I am happy to say that I only slipped once. The water felt great and it was so fun to go down the waterfall. The more I went down the more comfortable I got doing it. I honestly wanted to spend a lot more time in the water since I took the time to get in the middle of the waterfall! Here we are:

Afterwords, bishop took us out to dinner in this nice little restaurant that has great food and fondu! Yeah, it was fun eating there and it was a great way to celebrate our waterfall rappelling! We drove home after that, and other than smacking my head another two times (yes, both during my attempt to sleep), it was pretty chill and ended up being a great night. Great day, great night; one to remember.

Spilling Paint, Not My Best Moment..

Today was our last day working at the CCJ. We had a lot to do today and we decided to get as much done in the best way possible. We started off finishing the few things we left from last time and then everyone started busting out their painting skills and we started cruising along. We were going well and only had some rolls with cheese for lunch just so we could keep painting. As things went on the CCJ kept looking better. They really need help at that organization and at least this little thing we did for them helped.


After having been there for a while, we needed some paint from a can that had a crack in the can. We had it laying sideways so it didn't come out of that crack and we just lifted it up quickly to pop the top off to get paint. I kinda put myself in charge of filling paint because I wanted to make sure no one spilled.....right.....
It was the third time I had pulled the top off to fill up for others. I had Danillo hold the pan I was filling up under the can so I could fill him up. When I went to fill it, the can slipped and I dumped about a gallon of paint all over the ground. I bet you can guess how mad I was. I was supposed to be the guy who knew what he was doing, and I spilled paint EVERYWHERE. It was gold too. pretty.....


I started cleaning it up and, knowing I wasn't happy, Vanessa started singing "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands!" Obviously I wasn't clapping, but in all honesty, how can you stay mad for long when your teacher is singing that? haha, I was also lucky that I spilled on tile and we were able to get it all up. I am one lucky guy, I won't lie.

The rest of the day went well and I am glad to say we made a difference. There is still a lot that needs to be done there but we helped. I am grateful for the service and leadership opportunity that it presented to me. It was hard trying to keep everyone busy and make sure everything went smoothly, but I think i did alright. It taught me a new sense of leadership and after having done this I am sure that I want to get my MBA along with my PharmD. I enjoyed the responsibility and I enjoyed being the one to make the decisions and seeing them through. I am glad for this opportunity even though it stressed me out and made me tired. It was a great experience.

How NOT to Hit Your Head on a Passing Bridge

To start the day off we got to have a party with students from an english immersion program to celebrate the 4th of July. They had hotdogs, hamburgers, coxinhas, soda, and more for lunch, we got to sing the American national anthem and the Brasilian national anthem, and then we played a lot of random games and just got to hang out with the students. It was pretty fun and the students were way nice. Hopefully they'll have some great opportunities in their futures.

Today was also a beautiful day and we finally got the chance to go on the catamaran! We planned to take a small ride through the harbor of Recife and check out the scenery. We've been trying to go for a while but it has been hard due to the bad weather and constant raining. Vanessa kept telling us it had to be just right because of the sunset. She didn't want us to miss it! So today it started out sunny and we decided to go.


Before we went to the catamaran, we stopped by the biggest book store in Recife. It was really nice and I am glad we got to stop there. They had tons of stuff and it was fun to look around. I also found out the difference between DVDs here and in the US. Now I am able to tell which to buy so as not to waste money getting ones that don't work back home. That is about the extent of what I did there lol.


When we finally got on the catamaran, we started cruising around while a lady was announcing to us what was what around us. I found it interesting the amount of history they have in Recife, especially in the short distance that we traveled. We got to see a lot! While on the boat ride we seriously had to pass under bridges that were low enough that I would hit my head on the way through if I didn't duck. Everyone thought it was funny and Michele made a joke about me touching it with my head on the way back (haha right? psh!). So, on the way back, right as we got to the bridge, I looked at her, Cindy, and Cristina and said, "Alright, I'm gonna touch it with my head!" Apparently others were listening in and as I stuck my head up to hit the wall everyone was like, "oh my gosh!" and freaked out right as I bent my head out of the way of the bridge. It was way fun to see how bad I scared everyone but I actually felt some hairs touch the bridge so it was  a TAD closer that I had intended. I won't be trying that again soon.


On our way home we had to get a taxi, and the driver was a way cool guy named Luciano. We were talking about getting pizza and he suggested a place where we could call ahead and just pick it up on the way back. We tried to make a list and tried to call the pizza place and were fumbling around so much that Luciano finally took the phone and ordered our pizza for us and even got the discounted pizzas for the day to get us money! Yeah, that's not the end of it. Cristina accidentally left her phone in the taxi after we left and we all started freaking out about it. Cindy went into super woman mode (I kid you not, she was rockin!) and called up all of these places until she got some people in contact with Luciano. Luckily he was nearby and dropped off the wallet (the 100 dollars and credit cards still there) without wanting anything in return. He was the best taxi guy I've ever had! Great taxi guy, super powered wife made for a fun night :)

I'm glad we were there for sunset :)

Mission: Impossible. American Sports

Have you ever tried to teach a friend about sports? It usually works out pretty easily and you walk away understanding everything. Now, imagine teaching brasilians who are learning english a new sport, in english, without using portuguese. Yeah, it's not an easy task!


We went to a school today called the American School in Recife. It is a pretty cool school because they teach in both english and portuguese for all grades, and in the end you earn your brasilian and english high school diploma. It is a pretty cool idea, but costs about 10k a year to have your kids in there. So yeah, a tad expensive. But while there we were working with some students who actually don't go there, but are studying  portuguese in an immersion program to try to help them in their lives. We were told to teach a certain sport to the kids in english, and I got to teach baseball. It's funny how simple we see baseball but how complicated everything becomes when they have NO concept whatsoever about it and it is in a language they are still learning. Yeah, it got complicated and a lot of stuff wasn't understood, but it was still fun. The best part was how often I had to tell people to hit the ball softly because we were in a small area and the first girl drove one right at me and I barely got my hand up in time to not get hit. Of course I had to act like that is totally normal and I do that every day, but it definitely kept me on my toes for the next few that were shot at me! The funniest thing was having people come up to me all the time asking if they could add me as their friend on facebook. I am currently expecting a flood of random friend requests haha.


Later in the day, we went back to work at the CCJ to keep painting. We still have a lot to do. Luckily I had a good crew and we busted out quite a bit in a short time. We decided to take the train back today, just to see if it went any faster than taking the bus, and it might seem funny but I was pretty excited to get on the train! I never get to ride them and maybe it's just a kid thing in me but I like to ride trains whenever I can, so I looked forward to the trip. I really liked it, especially the air conditioning, but it is amazing how many people get on the bus to sell things or ask for money. A little kid came up asking for 25 cents and he'd give me some gummy candy things. I gave it to him just because he was forced to do it by his dad who was pushing him around and trying to get him to hurry more than he was. They have to do whatever it takes sometimes to get money for living. The rest of the way home was uneventful.

When I got home Cindy wasn't here and I asked the bishop if she was home yet (we had divided in two groups today and we were in separate groups) and he said no. So I called Cristina and asked her how long ago they had come home and she said an hour and a half ago, so.....instant panic. I walk quickly to the bedroom, open the door, and Cindy is taking a nap and her left foot is sticking out from under the blanket. A good way to get the heart running and end the day!

2 Years and Counting!

2 Years and Counting!

I would say the perfect life is just knowing who I am going to end up with at the end of it. Things come and go, change sweeps in daily, but you are my constant, unchanging joy.
Happy Anniversary my sweetheart, I look forward to many many many many many many many more adventures with you :)
te amo para sempre

2 Year Anniversary and Painting Manager!

So today I had the opportunity to use my painting skills to help out here in Brasil. It was not at all what I expected but I actually enjoyed it. Today we went to the CCJ to do some more painting. Rather than paint in the slums, we decided to paint the CCJ building so that it looks a little nicer for the people that work there and the kids that use the CCJ as a refuge. Vanessa bought a lot of painting supplies and showed everyone what we had. Since I have had a lot of painting experience Vanessa decided that, as she was going to the store I was going to be the supervisor when she was gone. I just kind of accepted and decided that not much would happen anyways because we needed plaster to do some serious repairs. While she was gone we started getting organized and I started telling people what would be best to do. When Vanessa got back she basically turned everything over to me. Let me tell ya, in the years that I spent painting I never once tried to lead someone else in the job, much less 20 people at the same time! I was a tad overwhelmed at first, but once things got going I really started to enjoy the work. I didn't do much except dictate what needed to be done and give out assignments, which seems weird to me because I am a very hands-on kind of guy. I was so busy I only go to touch a roller after 4 hours of working! Yeah, it was a great experience for me to be able to lead that many people and be the decision maker. I think I did okay, though I may not have done everything right. Vanessa has now placed me in charge completely and has deferred to my decisions concerning the painting. I hope I can keep up the work, I don't want to let anyone down and I want to make everything look nice. The good thing is, I have serious OCD when it comes to painting and it has to look right or I fix it. Well, I don't know if it is OCD or my Dad just taught me how to do the job right so much that I have to do it right. Either way, it helps in making sure things get done. It was a crazy, but very fulfilling, day.
Here's a look at things:

After hour long painting day, Cindy and I got ready and went out to dinner to celebrate our two year anniversary. We went to a restaurant called QuebraMar, which is a very nice place right on the ocean in front of the docks. When we got there we pretty much got to choose wherever we wanted to sit and we ended up ordering this big platter or meats that were on a grill which still had a fire under it to keep it hot. It came with rice, beans, fries, and farinha. It was VERY good! We got to talk to this guy for like half an hour about random stuff, and this waiter was just way nice and funny. We ended the meal with a lemon sorbet thing. Also, very tasty. All in all, it was a very fun day doing service and I was very happy to spend the evening with my beautiful wife. I am such a lucky guy to have her and I look forward to the day that I can say we've been married for 70 years! She is my everything, and my world is complete only with her in it.

 Yeah, our awesome meal!

 Isn't she beautiful!

What a great way to celebrate the best two years of my life!

I love you Cindy Guillory!