Bem-vindo, Família Viera

With the Vieras inside a Volcano - Algar do Carvão (see explanation below)

There was one VERY good reason we were looking forward to the Sanjoaninas festa-- The Viera family weas coming to visit during that week. Linda's family had a family reunion in Italy where her mother is from and they made Terceira their first stop! The major reason is David's family is from the Azores, and his mother's grandmother was born in Terceira -- but more about that later! Of course, we were a second reason with translation, housing, maps and food all combined in one package.

Unfortunately, they arrived and left between all the big parades of Sanjoaninas and they still had to deal with the loud bands at night. Even so, we had a great 5 days together and when we went out of Angra, it was quite peaceful!

They arrived Sunday afternoon, after an almost all night stay in the airport waiting for the delayed flight. We picked them up at the airport, and then went directly to the Praia chapel for our afternoon meetings. Ariana provided the music for the interval song, and everyone loved her song and voice. She brought a very special spirit into the meeting.

Back home in Angra that evening,  we talked about our visit strategy to use the days effectively and then they went to bed quite early! It had been a loooong 24 hours!

Monday morning!! Time to discover!! David's main goal was to find some living relatives.  Fatima Pamplona had done a lot of work on his ancestry and he wanted to find some cousins on Terceira! We started in Altares, the birth place of his great great grandfather, Joachim Martin Alves. This village is on the other side of the island -- about a 30 minute drive.

We went first to the church, the center point in any village.

The church in Altares.







The building ( you can just see the corner on the right) next to the church was a museum, but it is closed on Monday's!!








However, as we learned more about the area, we discovered this was the school house that David's great grandmother attended. 

Dennis had contacted the president of the freguesia (basically, the mayor) and when he arrived, we discovered we could not go into the church as the pastor was out of town. However, he did know some old people who might know of his grandmother's family. We followed him in his car to a cafe where we met a 100 year old man who still had a very good memory and, obviously, knew everyone in that small village.

Look's pretty spry, não é??

But, he did not remember anything of the family.













Then, we learned of a fellow who was visiting from the United States who was very knowledgeable about the residents. He comes back every year!! Here is David showing him some pictures of the family when his grandmother and her sisters visited Terceira. (In case you are wondering, the Casa do Povo across the street is a day activity center for the elderly as well as activities for the community).

But David struck out in Altares. He decided that the family moved to Angra in the early 1900's and was lost to the memory of Altares. His great, great grandfather died in Angra. So, that was the next stop!

But, hey!! We are on the other side of the island and MUST go to Algar do Carvão, the volcano you can walk into. (I was going to offer to take anyone there that visited us, but we have moved to the continente and are in Évora right now!!) It is one of the must-see places on Terceira. Here we are outside the visitors center.

The acoustics are so amazing and we convinced Ariana to favor us with a short song.

We were getting toward the end of the hydrangea season. Many of the roads are lined with bushes in full bloom with these gigantic blossoms.


We were taking a short cut on a small road and it was so amazing!!

A perfect couple photo op on their anniversary!

And great for any couple!!











Tuesday and Wednesday were days in Angra. Linda and I had fun shopping and looking around the city. One morning, the two of us went whale watching. I could show you some pictures of a whale touching the top surface. Apparently there were several around, and occasionally you could see something. But with the boats bobbing in the not so calm sea, it was hard to know if I even got a picture of it. I just pointed in the general direction and clicked!!

One of the interesting parts of the excursion was seeing our town of Angra from the middle of the bay -- a very different perspective. Our apartment house is the building just above and to the right of the small yellow building!!! (There was a band that practiced in that building so we got impromptu performances on an occasional basis)

And while we were having fun, Dennis, David and Ariana were on a cousin hunt in Angra. First they went to the library where all the archives were kept. There they got some valuable clues where 2 sisters of his great-grandmother lived. Dennis's language ability and knowledge of the resources available and the streets of the city were invaluable and saved a lot of potential lost time figuring things out.

The foyer of the library has these beautiful, and very traditional blue tile scenes.

As it turned out, with little clues from the librarian, help from a store keeper next door to the now abandoned house, he was able to find 2 distant cousins, almost the only family still living on the island. Most of the family had immigrated to the United States.

Here is David in front of his great-aunts house. (Obviously, from the roof, no one is living there). The house is just up the hill on a corner intersecting our street (though the name changes down below). It was amazing how close his family lived to us!

This is Orbela. She was widowed very young, never remarried and has no children. She lives in a corner house on a street near to our church. She was so pleased to meet Dave and fell in love with Ariana.

We walked past her house MANY times and had no idea we were near to David's cousin!!

This is Joaquim, Orbela's twin brother. He is retired and spends his days on his little farm with goats, pigs and a big garden. He is a very generous man with his produce. He has one son, also named Joaquim.

We have since gone back to talk to them several times. David sent a picture for Orbela and one day when the sister missionaries needed a 3rd sister companion, I asked if we could also stop by Orbela's house to deliver the picture. She was very friendly and we had a good visit.

She also said that one day she had lots of grocery bags to carry home, and the sister missionaries stopped and helped her carry them. She appreciated their service and remembered them!

We also visited José and Fátima Pamplona. Fátime had done a lot of family history work on his grandmother's ancestry. It was a great opportunity for David to thank her for her time and expertise!!  Thank you, Fátima!




And we got some fun thing in too -- like a Tourada: the bull on a rope. Basically they close off a section of road (and this one a particularly busy route with buses and all) 4 times for 20 minutes each time to let a bull loose on the street. There are 4-5 men on the end of a rope attached to the bull that helps to control it. When the bull is released from his box, they send up 1 rocket. When the bull is reboxed, they send up 2 rockets and everyone knows the road is safe. The backed-up cars have a chance to get through, although the spectators also go out onto the street. It is quite fun to watch from a distance!!

Here we are, on top of the wall next to the Nunes's house, members of the Angra Branch. They really don't like touradas, but stay home to make sure their home is safe. There are a lot of people on the street!

And we just had to buy donuts from the street venders!

(In case you are wondering, yes, we have a young missionary with us. No, it is not p-day. Yes, she is legal. Her companion had left on Monday and her new companion wasn't coming until the evening of the tourada and she could not stay home alone. So she joined our merry group!. Dennis, Sister Bateman and I left half way through the tourada to go to the airport to pick up Sister Rust. Sister Bateman had a fun time shopping and doing all the touristy things on a Tuesday and Wednesday! And thank you Ariana for sharing the living room couches. We had a very full apartment!!)

These are the rope holders. They are specially trained and their white shirts in that style and black hats are the uniform of the team! Always!

Looking down from our perspective on the street. The truck/trailer has just delivered the 4 bulls in the boxes at the bottom left. The boxes are shaking and jumping with a bull that wants to GET OUT!!

And here is the bull in the street.

Many of the men gather in the street but as soon as the bull starts to run to them, they high tail it away. There is usually one man (trained) to tease the bull with an umbrella to get him riled up.

A Walk through the Park! The Angra jardim (garden) is near to our house. We enjoy walking through it and seeing the currently blooming flowers and enjoying the peace.

Here the Vieras are sitting by the grandstand, mimicking the picture David had of his grandmother and her sisters in front of the same grandstand!

The garden landscaping is very well done.!

Exploring Angra!!! And we met up with Vasco da Gama himself!!!

This is a new sculpture. They finished remodeling the square and installing Vasco in time for Sanjoaninas!!

It has become one of the popular photo spots in Angra.

Note: Being Portuguese, Vasco da Gama is a very important person in Portugal. He and his brother Paulo da Gama's came to Angra during one of their voyages where his brother died and was buried. 

Of course food played an important part of the visit!! After all, you HAVE to eat!!

We had some traditional Portuguese dishes that I have learned here. David made the comment that rather than introducing him to the food, it brought back many memories of celebrations and eating the same things back with family in California. At least we were authentic!!

We did find a wonderful fish restaurant in São Mateus, just down the road from Angra. We ordered the assortment plate and enjoyed it all!!!








Thursday morning before they left on a jet plane, we enjoyed a hike on Monte Brasil. The white lilies were in full bloom.

It was wonderful to take a walk with Linda again. We have been walking companions for over 20 years. That's a lot of walking and talking!!

Thank you Linda, for being a wonderful friend!

Thank you Viera's for coming to see us. It was a wonderful week!

Sanjoaninas!!!

Rua da Sé -- all decked out with lights and the Angra do Heroísmo city emblem handing from the arch.When it was time for the parades, the street was  turned it into a pedestrian mall with thousands of people walked up and down waiting for the fun to begin..

Festas -- Parties -- are a way of life in the Açores. And for Angra, the BIG festa is Sanjoaninas! It is always in June, around the 3rd week or so. The party lasts 10 days -- almost 24/7. We were warned about it soon after we arrived -- loud music until 4:00 a.m., no parking, lots of people. And it was pretty much true. To sleep at night, we closed the windows AND the inside wood shutter/doors. Dennis used ear plugs. Sometimes, we didn't even try to drive to our house, but parked the car in the church parking lot and walked the 15 minutes home. By 7:00 the next morning, there were lots of parking on our street when everyone was home in bed, sleeping.

First, Preparation!

The town spent weeks sprucing up, painting buildings, putting out the flower baskets on the light poles.

This is the building next to the Customs office and right in the center of all the festivities. This year it was repainted and new pictures were put in the closed up doors and windows.

It is an empty building, but they got it looking good!!!












Then as the time drew closer, the more specific decorations came out.

Apparently, if you have a balcony along the parade route, you MUST decorate it. Many used flowers like below.

Another option was to hang quilts over the balcony. There were some beautiful, handmade quilts. That was a great show in and of itself!

I suspect each house had its quilt ready for whatever festa was happening! Sometimes we saw hand crocheted quilts which were equally amazing. Here you can also see the light post with the flowers. They lasted to the end of August, to decorate the town through most of the tourist season.

Decorations were placed in any available space. We particularly liked this one. I went to this store a lot -- plastic table covering, t-shirts for grandkids, ribbon for my projects, souvenir aprons, Dad's hat, and sewing machine oil for the hair clippers. It had quite a variety of things!!

The opening day was Friday, June  17 with a big parade. Around 5:00 p.m. they closed Rua da Sé to traffic and laid out the red carpet!! It was fun to walk the street looking at the quilts and enjoying the celebration.

Some people put out chairs to save their place, similar to the Danville parade. But there was room for all. Most of the chairs stayed, chained together, for the whole time. This was not the only parade.

The festa includes many booths spread throughout the city. Most were food places where the popular things seemed to be hamburgers, hotdogs, grilled snails, and ethnic foods from the continent.

There was one big tent with artisan treasures. This was one we particularly liked. The wooden vases, all hand made, were very beautiful. The hand bags on the wall were fun (and homemade). We enjoyed wandering through waiting for the parade to start.

The shoes are something like Dutch wooden shoes -- they have wooden soles with the fabric top and are a traditional shoe to wear in the garden.


The parades don't start until 9-9:30. They have to wait for it to be dark, and everything starts at that time all year round (like concerts). But, if you want a good seat you have to come early!

The Igreja da Sé is set up above the street and has 12-15 steps leading up to it -- perfect for watching a parade on the street below. In fact, that is a main part of the parade route where the TV stations have their cameras and extra lights are set up.


Here the steps are beginning to fill up and it is still quite light outside!

Paulo and his daughter, Julia, had seats on the stairs, but Julia (age 4) needed to find a bathroom and when they returned, the stairs were full and their empty place gone!

We were looking for a place to set our red chairs up to watch the parade and found them at a good place on the route.

It was fun to share the parade with the Cabrals. Their older daughter, Madalena, was in a dance group in the parade. Being here, they could see her better and she could see them!!

The parade begins. The costuming is quite impressive!! These are some dance groups that have a routine as they walk down the street.

And, every group stops in front of the Igreja da Sé to perform.





The theme of the festa is about the ocean, so all the floats had a deep sea theme.

The person on the left with a walkie-talkie is a parade official. They are stationed along the route, communicating with each other to keep things moving along.

Every float and group has a band following that provides music for the dance or whatever.

We were surprised to see this band from Livingston, California, USA!! There are TONS of Acoreanos in the US and especially in Central Valley of California. This band traveled just for this festa!!

Interestingly, 3 members of the band came to church the next Sunday being members of the Church.

We watched the whole parade this night! The next major parade a week later, would last nearly all night. But we were still a little late for missionaries.

And every night there were major music concerts. There was a large stage that you had to pay to enter that had at least 2 concerts (with different artists) every night and sometimes 3. Thus the music until 4 a.m.!  There was a smaller stage near the customs office which is just around the corner from our apartment. That was the source of most of the noise during the night for us. We didn't really hear the big one, and managed to sleep through the smaller one.

The daytime did have some activities as well!! The food venues always opened up at 10:00 a.m.! There was a regatta and the marina was chock full of boats. Some even were anchored in the bay beyond the beach.

Praça Velha was always busy with some activity going on (and that is true most of the year). Here is a band concert on the stage in front of the Cámara Municipal building.









The next major event (for us) was the big all night parade. We didn't stay up all night, though most do. We found an hour and a half, going home around 11 p.m. was sufficient!! This was a fun assortment of many groups, a lot from Terceira, but many from other islands and the continente, who would dance down the street to the music of their own band. There was NO pre-recorded music! It took awhile for all the groups to pass by as they had to keep their distance so as not to mix the sound of the bands. And they always stopped in front of the Igreja da Sé for a performance!

This is a community event and most, if not all, of the groups included children. This was a fun group where the children re-enacted a tourada -- the bull on a rope -- that is very much a cultural reality every summer!! They were all dressed in authentic costumes and and their own 'bull' running the streets!

Another group of children.

Notice, this parade did not warrant the red carpet. They only put it down on the first night.











Below is a video of a few of the groups. The music for each group is provided by their own personal band. And everyone dances and sings!! In the second group (purple costuming), the handsome man in the front on the other side of the street (and then moves closer to us, 2nd in line) is Marco from our branch. He smiles in our direction as he knows we are taking the video!!

Several members were in the parades. It truly is a whole community event.

The last parade was the Children's parade. This wasn't necessarily the children IN the parade, but the parade was for their interest and fun. The deep sea theme continued!!

We are at the beginning of the parade and so all the floats were close together. But what made it fun for the children was the deep sea fish that posed for pictures with the children and generally interacted with them. The costumes were amazing!

We met Fátima sitting on the stairs. She lives near by and enjoys the parade and always sits at the beginning so she doesn't have to stay out too long.

It was fun to share with a friend as Dennis had a home teaching visit. We still are missionaries!!!





Only one more thing to do. Eat at one of the food venues.

We wandered around the 'food court' by the Customs office, and chose some delicious food.








 







We enjoyed the festa, what little we participated in. Admittedly, we were glad to have it end and the more quiet atmosphere of Angra return. It wasn't as crazy as we were warned. I am glad we were there.

New Members!!

Lúcia (on right) and her daughter, Mariana

Although our blog may not give the impression that we are on a mission, we are very busy daily with visits, meetings, lessons, whatever it takes to strengthen a branch and help the missionaries. One great blessing is seeing people accept the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and see their joy as they follow the example of Jesus Christ and are baptized. Portugal is not a high baptizing mission and every one is precious to us!!!

Lúcia

Above is a photo the first baptism of 2016 in Angra, Lúcia Matos.  She has had many difficulties in her life with health issues and depression. It was December 24, 2015 when Elder Crawford and Lowry knocked on her door. For her, it was a door that opened to a new hope and light that she had not had!! Dennis was able to go with them for several lessons and Janet attended a couple as well.

She was baptized  on February 21 and I have never seen such radiant light in a face before. She savored the wonderful feeling of being clean after the baptism. She has brought a sense of joy to our branch.

She continues to have health problems, but finds strength and comfort in the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon. She loves her pequeninos (means little children), the missionaries who taught her, though Elder Crawford was at least 6' 6" tall and Elder Lowry fairly tall as well. It was hard to have Elder Lowry transferred and then the next transfer, Elder Crawford went back to the continent. She still loves to have the missionaries around, but misses the pair that taught her the gospel.

She is serving in the Young Women's program as a counselor. (Not as big a calling as in a full ward. There are only 3 young women!) She loves to cook and loves to serve others. Her main sorrow is her daughter and husband are not interested in learning more about the gospel. We appreciate that they support her in her activities in the Church and do not keep her from participating fully. In fact, her daughter was very supportive of her being baptized when her husband had some concerns. Mariana took the lessons, but wasn't ready to make some changes in her life. Some day.

After Lúcia's baptism.

We always have some kind of social gathering (with food, of course). For her baptism, Lúcia made some pretty delicious dishes.

Laura

Our next baptism was Lara Amaral. She is the sister of Marco, one of our active members in the branch. So, she has known about the church for some time. I am not exactly sure what happened, but she suddenly decided it was time to listen to the missionaries. She was taught by the sisters and was baptized in March by her brother. She and Lúcia have become good friends, being the newbies in the branch. They are very different. Lúcia is very energetic and shows her emotions. Laura is much quieter (and calmer) and isn't quite so open. I really enjoy being around Laura. She keeps things on an even keel!!

Laura with her brother, Marco and her missionaries, Sisters Doman and Hart

Janet worked with her on the Relief Society Activity committee and she had lots of good ideas. Her challenge is influence of friends that sow seeds of doubt. She loves the gospel and the scriptures, but is having a bit of a challenge with church. But, I think she is missing the feeling of belonging to a group of good people and serving. 

Isabel

We will now jump over to Praia for our next baptism, Isabel. Isabel had been an investigator some time before but didn't get baptized. Then, one Sunday, she came to church with her daughter, age 2 years old. The missionaries began teaching her again and she decided to get baptized.

Isabel has had a very difficult life. She had a head injury as a teenager and still has great difficulty reading. She is in the process of getting a divorce and was living in a home for mothers with children. She didn't really like it there, but that was the only place she could go to have housing. She told us that when she came to church, she felt something different, something good. And she wanted to have it in her life. 

Isabel on her baptism day with her branch president (Dennis), her missionaries Elders Thomas and Haroldson and her daughter.

She has since moved to the continent near Évora as her boyfriend needed work and her uncle has a farm there with employment. We worry about her and her daughter. We hope the light she has felt as she learned about the gospel will continue to guide her in the true path.

Frank

It was a cold, rainy night  in January and Frank was sitting in a cafe/bar watching the end of a professional soccer game. Two young women came in and he thinks he acknowledged them, but isn't completely sure. However, after the game was over (and his team won), he went over to them and said Hi and offered to buy them a beer. "No, thank you!!" the sisters missionaries answered. They talked some and then he offered to take them home. "No, thank you" they answered. They got his contact information and then they left, going out into the cold and rain. Frank was so impressed that they would come here to teach about Christ and endure such difficult conditions. He thought there must be something to this church!

He started taking the lesson, meeting the sisters at 9:00 at night after milking his 30+ cows. Frank was actually born in California, but moved to the Açores with his family when he was 12-13 years old. So, he actually likes talking in English and it was a real change for the sisters to teach in English!! We were able to join for many lessons (the sisters had to have another woman in the building) and Frank was determined to learn everything before making the decision to be baptized. And Sister Doman was equally determined to help him see that baptism was only the first step to take and he would learn about the gospel for the rest of his life. He was finally baptized the end of April about a week before Sister Doman was transferred back to the continent at the end of the normal 6 months on the islands. 

Frank with his missionaries, Sisters Hart and Doman, and his branch president who also baptized him.

Frank commented that he had seen the elders walking around many times, but they never stopped to talk to him. With his full beard and long hair, he probably doesn't appear to be one who is interested in religious things. However, he has always lived his life in an ethical and honest way, serves others continually and works hard on his family's dairy farm. Never judge who is ready to hear the good news of the gospel.

Frank has a calling as a counselor in the Young Men's presidency (we just got our 2nd active Aaronic priesthood youth who just turned 12 to join his older brother). He enjoys the various activities of the branch, but often is late as he can't come until the cows are taken care of. That is his main challenge -- finishing milking the cows for 10:00 church. Sometimes he will come to the Praia branch which meets at 3:00 in the afternoon. He loves to talk and tells the funniest stories about the crazy things that have happened to him.

Sandra and Samuel

Sandra was on the street when she was contacted by the elders in Praia. She accepted the invitation to have them visit. She is married to Rui, a very hard working father -- 6 days a week, probably 10-12 hours every day. He doesn't get home until 9:30 or later at night. She has 2 sons, Alexandre age 14 and Samuel, age 12 (he has since turned 13!). Sandra is lots of fun to talk to and Elder Thomas and Haroldson were a great fit for her. We joined them in several lessons since her husband was not home for the lessons.

She really wanted to be baptized, but she smoked cigarettes, only 1-2 a day. But it was an addiction and an important social time with her friends and was very difficult to let go.  She had to have her baptism pushed back one week when she finally was able to do the 10 consecutive days without smoking. 

Samuel was a strong support for her and also was taught and wanted to be baptized. He waited for his mom and they were baptized on July 3. 

Sandra and Samuel with their missionaries, Elders Osborne and Thomas

Sandra is a joy to have in the branch and she is quite the animated talker. She is serving as a counselor in the Relief Society and is getting good training from Manuela, the RS president. Samuel, being 12 years old, has received the Aaronic priesthood and, as a deacon, passes the sacrament every week. He is the only active Aaronic priesthood holder in the branch right now. He is very reverent and respectful as he distributes the sacrament to our small branch. 

Their main challenge is getting to church. They live in Fontinhas, which is about a 10-15 minute drive to the church and their car is not working. The bus schedule on Sunday is pretty sparse and doesn't work well for their needs. She is hoping that in a few months they can afford to get their car on the road, but for now, that is not an option. We often pick them up for church and Manuela gives them rides as well. They don't live that far from Manuela and she is so glad to have a happy, strong member coming to church. She also recognizes that these first few months (and easily up to a year), are so vital in giving support and encouragement to new converts. They have both given their first talks in Sacrament Meeting and participate fully in the activities of the branch.

We are very grateful for our precious converts. It is a life-changing process, becoming a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!! Your whole view of life changes as you come to know the great plan of happiness that God has given us and the central role that Jesus Christ plays in that plan. It brings joy, light and purpose into their lives.

It is also life-changing as you lay aside the cultural activities and beliefs that you grew up with and are still surrounded by. Sometimes, that takes time. We appreciate that our new members work to stay in the church and as they keep coming to church and keep learning and keep deepening their understanding, the things of the world that don't belong in the church will be left behind. 

Our hope is always in Christ. May we always keep Him central in our lives.

 

The Dragoeiro Tree

When we were in Cape Verde, we saw this tree on the island of São Nicolau and were told that it was a very rare tree in Cape Verde and only on that island.

So, we were surprised and pleased to find the tree here in Portugal. There are various trees growing around Angra on Terceira.

So what is the Dragoeira Tree. The translation is "dragon tree". Dracaena draco is a monocot with a tree-like growth habit currently placed in the asparagus family (Asparagaceae, subfamily Nolinoidae). When young it has a single stem. At about 10–15 years of age the stem stops growing and produces a first flower spike with white, lily-like perfumed flowers, followed by coral berries. Soon a crown of terminal buds appears and the plant starts branching. Each branch grows for about 10–15 years and re-branches, so a mature plant has an umbrella-like habit. It grows slowly, requiring about ten years to reach 1.2 metres (4 ft) in height but can grow much faster. (Thank you, Wikipedia)

When the limbs are cut, it secretes a red resin -- Dragon Blood!!

I had gathered some of the coral berries last Fall and even tried to get one to grow. But it didn't.

Here is a new plant, relatively speaking. Given the information it is probably about 10 years old!!!


You can see the flower stems.

A closer up view of the many branching limbs. It makes quite a dense tree. They try to estimate the age by figuring out how many branching limbs there are before you get to the canopy.

And there are lots of flower stems on this one!

They apparently do not need a lot of soil to grow.





















You usually see them as a single tree. This tree has a wonderful view!!

The tree is a tropical plant and the Açores are the most northern area that they grow. The southernmost point is Victoria Australia. I doubt that we could grow one in Danville. So we will enjoy our Dragon tree here in Angra!!!