Saturday, January 31, 2015

Temple Trip!

Best kind of Road Trip ever!

Craig and I have talked about going to the temple at least once while we were here in Fortaleza.  I have a very dear friend who has been making plans to go for the first time, and I figured as long as we were going to go, we should go when she went.  I called to ask if she would mind if we did - telling her we didn't want to be presumptuous, but that we were thinking it would make the trip even more special for us.  She burst into tears and said she was having a hard time finding someone to be her escort, and she had been praying to know who could go with her.  It's so nice on those rare occasions when we can be an answer to someone's prayer!
The sun wouldn't work for a picture with the temple
behind us, darn it - Much prettier!

The closest temple is Recife, which is 600 miles away.  The roads are not good, so we flew (getting up at 3:30 to make the best flight!!!)  It was so wonderful to walk into the temple (well, it's always wonderful to walk into a temple!) and be greeted at the recommend desk by a man who had been on a mission with Craig!  (OK - cool story - he was serving in the temple under a Temple President who he had baptized on his mission when the future Temple President was 16!)  Anyway - they asked us if we could come work in the temple with them.  Hum.....  
I look like a fat little pygmy between those two!  It was such an honor to be there
with Tatiana for her first time.  We love her so much! 

It was so lovely to be in that beautiful, but small House of the Lord.  I was sad that our timing for pictures was not great - either it was dark or raining most of the time we were coming or going.  Cute Tatiana kept being so sad that she couldn't take pictures INSIDE the temple, as it was all so beautiful.  Because it was a small temple we were not able to time it such that we could do each of the things that we wanted, but we so enjoyed what we did.

The trees to the left are mango trees,
and mangos kept falling on the ground all around us! 
Helpful Hint of the Week:  In case any of you are planning to go to a small temple and want to stay in the accommodations on-sight, you may want to do a little due diligence before finalizing your plan - Craig walked into his assigned room and found 3 bunk beds, and 3 additional mattresses on the floor, already inhabited by 8 other men, with access to one tiny bathroom...  Our room had 6 lovely sisters, whom we never saw because Craig quickly grabbed our bags and ran for a taxi.  The third attempt at a hotel for the night did the charm.  I'm sure the other works for some people, but you just may want a heads up as to what to expect!  

We love you all!

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