Seja bem vindo a Angra, na ilha de Terceira, nos Açores!!
Welcome to Angra on the island of Terceira in the Azores!!
Life has it twists and sudden turns and missionary life only amplifies that!! We were surprised to have the assignment to be the office couple 2 months after arriving in Lisbon. Then, one August morning, Dennis needed to talk to President Tavares about what to do with the LeSeuer's apartment in Angra when they left the end of August. President Tavares stopped for a moment and then said: "You need to go to Angra."
And so, it was. We suddenly had to close OUR apartment in Alverca, pack up and move 1000 miles out in the Atlantic Ocean!! It was an intense few weeks -- preparing our apartment to be closed which meant Christmas in August for the missionaries as they inherited lots of kitchen equipment, sheets, blankets etc. etc. And we thank them so much, along with our bishop and his son, who all came over and helped us clean and leave the apartment spotless. Another missionary couple was glad to buy at a discount our new little freezer. We had to get all the office work up to date and ready to hand off to the office elders. And we had to figure out how to get everything we needed into our 2 large and 2 carry on suitcases. I ended up filling 5 small boxes with the extra stuff we wanted to take. The Assistants to the president would bring them over along with the other packages for the missionaries. So, it had to be things we wouldn't need for a while.
And on August 23, we turned in our WiFi equipment, said goodbye to our district at the district meeting, packed all in the car and drove to the mission office. Later that afternoon, the executive secretaries dropped us off at the airport and we boarded a TAP airplane and took off for the 3 hour flight to Terceira.
So, let us introduce you to our new home. Admittedly, it has been 3 months since we arrived. It has been a VERY busy 3 months. And we feel this is our home now
.
Our Apartment
This is our apartment building. We live on the top floor (2nd floor as they describe it here). All the windows are actually French doors that open onto tiny balconies. The top 2 on the left are in each of the 2 bedrooms. The top 3 on the right are another in our bedroom and 2 in the living room. The round window is in the kitchen. We are looking up Rua da Palha (Street of the straws). We can park for free along this street
OR
OR
This street -- Rua da Rocha. Everywhere else you have to pay.
We usually can find a parking space. Dennis is getting EXPERT at parallel parking and the car needs to be within 6-8 inches of that concrete wall. Otherwise there is no room for the cars coming down the street to get past you.
That is our car in front, our favorite place to park.
The door into the apartment building.
The signs on the right are for the 2 doctor offices on the 1st floor. Directly under us is an ophthalmologist. We can hear him grinding lenses often. The other is a general doctor. One is open in the morning and the other in the afternoon.
Please, come in!!
This is our front door. Of the 2 apartments on this floor, we are the one on the left. Thus, our address of 2° Esq (2nd floor on the left (esquerda))
It is a very nice entrance to the apartment -- all stone stairs and wood railings.
Our living room.
Not opulent, but sufficient. I like the natural light during the day.
Our Kitchen!!
There is another counter and cupboards on the wall on the left that you can't see.
It is small BUT I have at least 3X the counter space that I had in Alverca. You do find out you can live simply!!
Our Neighborhood
Here is looking at our apartment and area almost from the beach!! If you find the small yellowish building nearest the beach and look up, our building is just above its right corner.
To the left is the man-made boat marina. The first part is natural volcanic stone. Then it switches to huge tetrahedrons of concrete. You can see the beginning of the sailboat's mooring. And it makes a nice Sunday stroll to go to the end of the sea break.
The beach so far is usually quiet. Sometimes we have surfers (when the wind is high). People use the beach and water for exercise. And they come to play.
And sometimes, like this Sunday afternoon, they have a party. This was a particularly loud party with music going well past our bedtime. We had to close the blinds, the windows and put in ear plugs that night!!!
If you go up our street away from the beach, the next block turns into a pedestrian walkway.
I always walk this way when I am going to the church. And there is a decent Chinese store where I can get various things at a good price.
The little covered areas are outdoor restaurant eating places. There are 2 on this section and another on the street, just 2-3 buildings down from our apartment. The only problem with that one is their covered area takes away 2 parking spaces.
Rua de Sé -- the main business/tourist shopping area in Angra, 2 blocks away from our house.
There are lots of clothes shops, souvenir shops (and I have frequented nearly all and purchased stuff) and restaurants.
In the other direction, about 2-3 blocks away is my hairdresser's salon and also a bakery that makes an incredible whole wheat/cereal bread.
We go along this section of the street VERY often as it is the best way to get to the church. It can get very congested -- mostly because there are lots of pedestrians and the cars will always stop for them. That's good when we are pedestrians!! "Rush hour"is 5-7 p.m. on this street!!
Also up Rua de Sé is:
The Igreja de Sé
See the cars in the bottom left corner. The main ones are parked. And you can see a corner of a car coming down the street to turn right (only right) onto Rua de Sé. This is our route to the LDS church and other locations on that side of town.
The nearest post office, 3 blocks from our house, basically on Rua da Palha.
And of course, the grocery store.
They often call this the Hiper (heeper) for hipermercado. It is VERY large and carries something of just about everything!! We are here most Monday's to do our weekly grocery shopping.
One funny story: We wanted a frisbee to play with on the beach with the missionaries on our Thanksgiving P-Day. Dennis went to the toy section and tried to describe what he wanted.
The clerks started to laugh and took him to the pet area where there was a frisbee with a dog picture on it. To them it is a dog toy!!
Driving in Terceira: We (really Dennis) are learning the streets and dealing with very narrow roads that would be one way in the US. Actually they are one way here too, but include a line of cars parked on the side. Sometimes you are only a foot (or less it seems to me) away from the parked cars and you don't have any more room to move more to the side. One time Dennis had to get on the sidewalk to get past a particularly fat car. And they randomly park on the side of the road in your lane. You just go around them -- playing a sort of 'chicken' game with the ongoing traffic to see who gets to take the single line around a parked car first.
 |
| Here are some of the narrow streets we are always driving. The one on the left is how we get to our street. The one on the right is the one we turn on to go anywhere. I was just a little too soon on the right picture. Only minutes later, a DHL van came up the street. It fit, but barely. |
Landmarks
The bulls
This is the island of the Tourada. This is right next to the bull-fighting stadium. You always need to go "past the bulls" to get to the Via Rapida to go to the airport. It isn't the bull-fighting that you normally associate with the name, but bulls in the street on a heavy rope. Basically, along a particular section of a street, men tease the bull and then try to keep out of his way!! The rope limits it's range. Some stores have a video playing showing the highlights of various touradas. Every summer for about 4 months there is a tourada on some street once or twice a week. We may see one. We will report on it if we do!
The Jardim (Garden)
The Alto da Memória
(the Memory Monument)
There is a very lovely garden right in the center of town. It begins near Rua de Sé with a large flat section. Then it climbs up the hill in various levels to the Alto da Memória. It is an obelisk built on the site of the town's first castle (15th-16th century), and celebrates the visit of King Pedro IV in 18?? to Angra. It is very well maintained and peaceful. Sometimes, we walk through the bottom part on our way home from the church. One interesting thing I noted is they use spider plants as a border or fill in plant. That was always a house plant to me. So, come walk with up through the garden up to the monument.
Come in -- the gate is open.
The garden opens around 8:00 in the morning until evening.
 |
| The lower section as you come in the gates. You can see the monument in the top of the picture. |
The cobblestone sidewalks are a type of art here in Angra. Here is one of our favorites -- hummingbirds. There are birds, cats, flowers and various designs in the walkways throughout all the lower section of the garden.
You will also notice in some of the above pictures of Angra a similar type of designs in the cobblestones. However, most city sidewalks are geometric designs.
 |
| Looking down on the lower section from the next level up. |
 |
| There is a nice, wide, cobblestone path that winds its way up the hill, interspersed with stairs. |
Almost to the memorial at the top!! The last garden areas are very small with lots of stairs!
We made it to the top!! It has an incredible view!! The first picture on the blog of Angra and Mount Brasil were taken from this point.
Below is another picture from the monument. You can see the Igreja da Sé and our house isn't far away. Mount Brasil is another main landmark of Angra. The first photo at the beginning shows the whole mountain. Below, you can see the buildings at the base of the mountain which are the local military base. The mountain is laced with trails (but you must stay out of military zones!). We have gone to the top, but haven't explored all of it. Another P-day, another blog!
One last landmark, Spirit Houses or Impérios.
These are very small, one room church-like structures. They are very well kept and some are very colorfully painted. And they are in EVERY neighborhood in Angra. So, there are lots of them. This one is larger than most.
Each neighborhood here has its time of celebration. It includes a big party that is financed by donations to the neighborhood Spirit house. They also launch fire works bombs, so for several months you are always hearing the boom of fire crackers. Often a tourada happens at the same time, if your particular neighborhood has that privilege. This one did. The red wall was put up to keep the bulls away from the church.
Now, the reason we are here!!!
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!
We haven't forgotten our purpose here!! All the above is the background of the place where we have a great privilege to serve our Heavenly Father as missionaries.
The chapel is about a 15 minute walk, most of it uphill, from our apartment. We like to walk it when we can as it is REALLY good exercise. The building is about 15 years old, but well maintained. Everyone takes their turn cleaning. We have done it once, and will do it again soon. About once every 4-6 weeks.
The obligatory soccer court that doubles as the parking lot.
The baptismal font -- a wide spot in the hallway. But it works just fine!!!
The 'bispado' or branch president's office. Dennis is serving as president of the Angra branch. We have about 60 in attendance at Sacrament meeting on Sunday, so it is not a small branch.
We have all the programs -- about 15 children in Primary. The youth program is VERY small -- 2 deacons and about 4 young women (3 from the same family!).
In December, they asked Dennis to also be the branch president of the Praia branch on the other side of the island. It will be a lot more traveling, to say the least It is much smaller -- only 15-20 at church counting missionaries and priesthood from Angra and needs more priesthood brethren to hold leadership positions.
And the most important part is the people!!!
Our district at one point!! There is one set of elders in Praia and a set of elders and a set of sisters in Angra. We have had a lot of changes in the missionaries in the last few months. We enjoy all of them.
Our zone includes the missionaries on the island of São Miguel (3 sets of elders, 1 of sisters). So when we have a zone conference one of two things happen. If President and Sister Tavares come, we take the 7:00 a.m. flight from Terceira to São Miguel, are there for the day, and then take the 7:40 flight back to Terceira. A long day, but it works.
But, if it is just the zone leaders conducting the meeting, we gather at the church in Terceira and use Skype. It is harder to understand but is sufficient.
We hook-up one of our laptops to the television which has a larger picture and better sound.
When we first arrived in Angra, we stayed with Elder and Sister LeSeuer for the last 6 days of their mission. They took us to meet many of the members to get to know them. I was lost with all the Maria's, Conceição's and Fátima's. It has taken awhile for me to sort them all out. Now I know them personally, so it helps to remember their name!!
Elder and Sister LeSeuer with the Alves family at their favorite restaurant, Quinta dos Açores. (They do have good food and it is quite reasonable in cost). Brother Alves was president of the Praia Branch for almost 3 years. They are a wonderful family and we are glad to have them back in Angra (Dennis took his place). He is now a counselor in the Angra Branch presidency.
The Nunes family. I am quite acquainted with this family. Ana is my visiting teaching companion (and I visit teach her with Dennis). That is changing with a revamp of the visiting teachers. I am sad! We have had some fun times together trying to find people's houses. She is going to school and is super busy ( including Seminary teacher -- 2 hour lesson on Saturday). Brother Nunes is the YM president. And Francisca loves to do cartwheels.
The LeSeuer's with the pioneers in the church, the Alves (parents of the above Brother Alves!). They joined the church many years ago, raised their family in the church and have been the backbone of the Angra branch. They go to the Madrid temple every year for 6 weeks as workers. He was just called to the District presidency (taking Elder LeSeuer's place). She is the District RS president and teaches Primary in the branch!
Back at Quinta's. The brother second from the left is President Resendes, District president who lives on São Miguel.
The Cabral's. Nisa is the Alves' daughter. She is Primary president. He is branch secretary for Angra & Praia. They are a strong family -- the children are the 3rd generation and you can see the influence of the generations. And they speak excellent English!!
Fátima (in the blue striped shirt) is one of our favorites. She has many challenges and she loves to have the missionaries, especially the sisters, come to visit.
A Branch activity organized by the sister missionaries. Water balloon volleyball is fun the world over!
And water balloons are fun for all ages!! Surprisingly, there wasn't much of a water balloon fight! Just volleyball.
Family Home Evening at the Andrades! (in the middle -- Johnny has the orange shirt!)
The group includes daughter-in-law, grandsons, friends and missionaries. It was a fun evening.
Members love to feed the missionaries -- and that is especially true for Conceição! Many members don't have much money, but they have a lot of love!
We had a carrot soup made in the traditional Portuguese style. Cook the vegetables until very soft and then blend smooth. Add some frozen vegetables and Portuguese chourizo, let simmer a bit and you have a delicious soup. Add bread and you have a meal!
Sunday afternoon, eating a dinner between General Conference sessions. The morning session starts at 4:00 p.m.Açores time, and it was nice to stay at the church for the 8:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon session. Tiago is the 1st Counselor in the branch presidency. On the left is his mother, Lurdes and on the right is his wife Catia, all active and contributing members of the branch.
Same day, same event!! Milene and her 2 children. She is a counselor in the Primary. Elder Pickrell in the back is enjoying some American Pizza (or at least as American as we can make it.)
So, there you have it -- a taste of Angra. It is a beautiful place and much calmer than the metropolitan Lisbon.
We feel at home here. It is a good place to be!!
