We went to a ceremony honoring the church for it's service in the community, and for the Proclamation on the Family.  The photo shows the city officials, as well as the local leaders of the church here in the state of Para.  The mural in the background is very pretty.  We are sitting in the second row, in reserved seats, much to our chagrin.  We were trying to sit in the back so we could slip out after an hour to go to another appointment.  Didn't happen.  We got introduced, and got to stay for the full 2 and a half hours.  It was really nice.

This is a picture of one of our daily afternoon rainstorms.  Once in a while, we have a day without rain, but most of the time it comes down hard for about five minutes, and then stops.  Donna loves the rain, especially since the little container we are currently housed in at the job site has a metal roof.  It is such a lovely sound every day.  We are mostly enjoying this mission.  We have issues with language, humidity, and driving, in that order.  Oh, and barking dogs.  Our apartment has many many barking dogs.

 Monkey at job site - one of our neighbors in the jungle to the south of the project.

We spent the morning having our finger prints taken at the Federal Police office here in Belem.  This is the second stop in the effort to obtain our permission to stay in the country.  In about 60 days we can return to the first Federal Police office and receive our card that proves we are entitled to be in Brasil.

Interestingly enough, my temporary authorization is until August of 2021 while Donna's authorization says she is good until August of 2020.  We'll need to straighten this one out when we receive our permanent cards.

Friday we attended President Nelson's devotional with the missionaries.  President Soares, our mission president, made sure we were invited.  Sunday we attended President Nelson's devotional for all members in Brasil.  It was broadcast via the internet to chapels throughout Brasil.

As the closing hymn was being sung, I became emotional as I thought back to what has changed since Donna and I served missions here in Brasil from 1969 to 1971.  Where there was a single stake in Sao Paulo, now there are many stakes.  There were no temples in Brasil and now we are being given the privilege to assist in a small way in the construction of the 9th temple in Brasil.  It seemed to me that there were angels singing with the group of about 300 who were in our stake center.  I imagine that many of the true pioneers of the church in Brasil who have already passed on were helping the congregations sing.  It was inspiring and uplifting.  These experiences make the opportunity to serve here even more special.

Here's a foto of the site with the jungle (a preserved area controlled by the Navy) in the background.  This is a legitimate photograph that I can share because it was taken from outside the project.