Our relaxing day in the beach town of Pecen.

Marla is on the second story holding our grandson Shane.

A line of coconut trees in the backyard.

Touching coconuts

This is Ethan touching the coconuts in one of Pres. Cabral's trees. Not all of them were this short.
Ethan's height and age (18) was a constant source of wonder to everyone we met.

A live sand dollar, Pecen, and Ethan by "Big Ears."

Desert cows

This morning, we met the previous stake president, Pres. Cabral, to go to his house near a beach in the town of Pecen. The house was very big and inside a stone fence, as most houses are here. It has an orange tile roof and a porch that extended around all four sides. On the grounds were: coconut trees, a banana tree, sugar cane, beans, and several native fruit trees that we don’t have. They gave us coconut milk from coconuts that had fallen from their trees.

For lunch, we drove to a restaurant on the beach. The beach there was about 60 yards long from the restaurant to the surf. The beach was very wide and flat, extending at least a mile in both directions. The kids played in the water while Logan, Marla, Leah, Shane and I stayed in the shallows. Logan found a live sand dollar. I’ve never seen one alive before. He put it back in the water after I took a picture of him with it.

Lunch took almost two hours. In Brazil, there is a two-hour break for lunch during the day. Many people take naps before going back to work. Afterwards, we went back to the house, and most of us took naps on the porch while Ethan, Makayla, and Corey played in their small in-ground pool.
The town of Pecen was very pretty. We stopped before going into the town to take pictures of the port (the largest in northern Brazil) and the ocean. There is a desert area leading to the port and cows that roam it wild. Ethan asked if you could milk the cows, and I replied that you can, but they only give dehydrated milk.

In the town, I took a photo of Ethan standing by “phone booths.” They are big and round, and two are side by side. Consequently, they are called “big ears.”

Something you don't see every day.

This is a palm tree in an alcove in the side of a hotel about 15 floors up.

Last night, we went to a baptism of seven people. It was in a ward where Logan had worked for a few day, but was not one of his regular areas. He had taught some of the sisters being baptized, though. The Spirit was at the baptism.

I have been helping people by giving them free English lessons. Last night, I spoke with two youth who have been learning English, but they had not spoken with anyone in English before. They are very shy about speaking English, but we had good conversations. I complimented them on their accents, which were very good. We could understand them quite well. They pay to learn English so I encouraged them to get the most for their money by practicing with us and the missionaries.

About 5 pm, we went to the mission president’s apartment for dinner and to visit with the other missionaries going home and the families that came to pick them up. Afterwards, there was a testimony meeting for all the missionaries. Pres. Batt spoke first, saying that 94 people were baptized in the mission the previous week, many due to the efforts of this group of missionaries. He said he thought this was the finest group of missionaries he knew, and he believed they were the finest in the world. They were the first group of new missionaries to come out after he was made mission president.
As you can imagine, this was a very touching meeting.

After the testimony meeting at the mission president’s apartment, we visited the Montese Ward for a family home evening. What we didn’t know was that we were presenting the lesson. This was Logan’s favorite area and his favorite ward of the mission, and he baptized many people there.
The bishop asked us to speak to the 50 or so people assembled, so I started by telling the members that I am a convert, like many of them. I then told my conversion story of how, when I was in the military, felt my heart swell and burn within me when I pondered on the truthfulness of the Church. After that, Marla spoke of her conversion at the age of 12 after her sister was hit by a car and passed away from her injuries.

While Ethan spoke, Bishop Santiago leaned over and told me how mature his words and testimony were.

Instead of speaking, Makayla played “Canon in D” on the piano. Many came up afterwards to tell her how much they enjoyed her performance.

Corey spoke to them in Portuguese about his mission, and then Logan concluded with his testimony, telling the members that if they don’t remember him, then remember his testimony.

Afterwards, Bishop Santiago told me what a great work Logan had done in bringing the ward together. He said Logan was his great friend. Several of the members told me what a great missionary he was. At the transfers this morning, several of the missionaries told me the same thing, that Logan was a hard worker and a great missionary.

There was a great outpouring of love for our son, which is one of the greatest gifts a parent can receive.

After that the transfer, we came back to the hotel. Marla and the rest of the family were going shopping, so Logan and I stayed here until it was time for him to go get his final interview at the mission office. I took a few photos from the top floor there. Fortaleza is full of skyscrapers, more than Atlanta.

Monday morning, Logan and I went to a missionary transfer so he could see his old companions one last time.

It was fun talking with the missionaries, those trying to learn English and the Americans. Many told me Logan was a great missionary.

Yesterday, we attended Church at a ward building. Logan and Corey translated for us for all the meetings. After we arrived at the building, I realized that I left my camera case in the hotel lobby. (No pictures:() We called the hotel, and fortunately, someone had turned it in to the front desk. We had lunch after Church with Cabral. It was a beautiful home. He has been a bishop and a stake president. Afterwards, we visited another family, very humble, but very wonderful. Then last night, Marla and I did a fireside with our Jerusalem photos. The chapel was about all full. It went well.
Then on the way home, we got caught in the traffic from a gay pride parade. Not a good way to end the Sabbath.

After vising a family, we saw a man loading bricks in the back of a cart to be pulled by his mule. Houses are made of brick and stone, and some roofs are of red, half-moon-shaped tiles, like those often seen in the Southwest U.S.
The temperature has not been as hot here as it is in Atlanta. Of course, it is winter here.

Today, we visited three families in their homes and had lunch with one. Two of the missionaries joined us. We had a wonderful time visiting and talking with them. The lemon mousse was especially wonderful.

Several streets had these streamers all the way down to show their support of Brazil in the World Cup.

Friday morning, we drove 45 minutes to go to a huge farmers' market. It wasn't that far, but the traffic was very heavy. On the way back, Brazil was playing in the World Cup, so it only took us 20 minutes to get back. There was hardly anyone on the road.

Friday night, we drove to a ward building in the outer area of Fortaleza and met with several families and members Logan knew. We had a really good time talking with them (through Logan and Corey's translation.) That has been a wonderful experience here--meeting the members.

A round stained glass window of the Virgin Mary in the Cathedral.

Stained glass windows of two of the Apostles in the Cathedral.

The front of the Cathedral. (See the entry below.)

This is the Cathedral. The family is in the foreground--so you can see how large it is. It is beautiful inside with stained glass windows of the 12 Apostles and the prophets of the Old Testament. It was very impressive.

Here we are at a store that sells hammocks. Logan has taken lots of missionaries to buy hammocks before they go home. He has had a hammock in all of his apartments. Between him, Corey and us, we bought about six hammocks.

Logan is standing in front of the marriage license place where they got people a discount on marriage licenses. The missionaries were there in the photo were there to get a license for a couple they are teaching.

We did it! We made it to Brazil, and we reunited with our missionary son!
We made it to the hotel with all our gear, and then went shopping in a grocery store. Logan was stopped twice by customers asking him if he worked there. Logan said he gets that all the time, especially at the post office and the bank.

Brazil plays Portugal in the World Cup tomorrow so everything will shut down from 11 am to 1 pm. We are going to a fruit market to sample all the different types of fruits we’ve never seen before.

We finally took off at about 10 am after a 9 am departure time.

We flew down the coast of Florida, over Jacksonville, before we headed out to sea. We passed over the Bahamas. The water was a beautiful turquoise blue near the islands (some of which were very large), in stark contrast to the dark blue of deep water. The circle in the photo is one of those turquoise spots of water.

We flew over the Amazon River delta on the way to Fortaleza. The Amazon is a gigantic, muddy river, but it is incredible from the air.

That microwaved-not-baked smell.

Awake at 5 am microwaving socks that did not quite dry on the air conditioner. Unfortunately, I burned one a little. Now my feet will smell like microwaved socks all day instead of baked socks.

Here we go to the airport again. One more try for Brazil.

Denied, delayed and de-planed

Well, we made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare (and with my camera case this time), thanks to Terri Crow and despite a 100-degree temperature in Atlanta. No problem getting through security. After relaxing and waiting to board, it took a while to get everyone on the full flight and seated.
Then came the news: the anti-lock brake system wasn’t

working. Gotta have one of those, so they had us all de-plane.

After half an hour, they let us know that our flight was delayed until 9 am the next morning.

Fortunately, Delta is putting us up for the night in a hotel and putting a little toward meals for us ($6 per meal). But like Makayla says, “Everything is an adventure.”

We are doubly fortunate. One lady on the flight has ten children with her.

June 21 Tuesday. Logan met Corey, Leah and Shane at the Fortelaza Airport. As you can see Shane was thrilled to meet his Uncle Logan for the first time. Life is good when you are 6 months old.:)

Shane McLeod with Young Women in Recife Brazil.
"Hey Guys, I just thought we'd drop you a line, since we've been here for a week. We're getting ready to pack up and go to Fortaleza. We're doing well. Shane has like everyone he's met so far, he's bee the most popular guy in Recife. See you soon, Corey, Leah, and Shane"

Corey and Leah have been in Brazil now for almost a week and this is the e-mail that she sent home on Friday

"So you guys will never believe this but yesterday Corey Shane and I went to an adult conference and guess who was speaking? Elder Neil L. Andersen! Yep! And we got to shake his hand! Shane got to shake his hand as well. It was very exciting. We knew we wanted to go but it was late at night and Shane goes to sleep early. But we did it anyway and it was awesome! (Shane cried all night because we did it but oh well) We also went to the temple yesterday and we met the temple president who is an American! And a Senior missionary couple from California. It was really cool to be able to speak English to someone. They were very excited to say the temple ordinances in English. The sisters spoke to me for a very long time. At the conference we also met a young couple from Utah who just moved to Recife to complete training for a new job. They will live here for a year. Crazy how many American's we met in one day. Anyway just wanted to update all of you. Things are great but very different with Shane here. So many things we can't do. But still we are having a great time. Love you all!

Leah Corey and Shane :)"