Chegamos a Recife

    After a grueling gauntlet of three flights, my companion and I arrived safely in Recife and are staying the night in a very nice hotel across the street from the beach. Yes, I mean that literally. There is only a three lane street between us and the Brazilian beach! Here's proof!

    We flew from Salt Lake City to Dallas, TX Saturday afternoon. Then we boarded a flight to S?o Paulo which took about 10 hours. From S?o Paulo we took a three hour flight to Recife, Pernambuco. I have difficulty sleeping while travelling, whether by car, plane, whatever. I would say that I got about 1.5 hours of decent rest since Friday night (when I only slept 6 hours). I'm feeling a bit strange right now: every once in a while I feel dizzy (don't read that Mom), but I'm ok. It's just being tired and I want to get over the jet lag quickly so I'm going to stay up until about 9:00 p.m. local time. (We're four hours ahead of San Diego). For now, Nathan and I are just hanging out in the hotel resting.

    I ordered room service tonight. I think that's the first time I've ordered it in my life, although I delivered enough room service while I worked at the DoubleTree Hotel.
    Today was also the first day I've missed church since I was baptized, except maybe for illness - but I can't think of any specific instances when I missed church because of illness. I really don't like travelling on Sunday, but there was nothing I could do about it.

    I will let you know now that I will begin referring to my companion as Jones. We both have the same name, and it is difficult for Brazilians to say it, so we're trying to do everything we can to simplify. His friends call him Jones for some reason, so we'll start calling him that too.

    So, Jones and I were taken by Iraj? Soares through the city for a short drive. We stopped by the office we will be working in and also the Recife temple. I was astonished at how beautiful it is, even though it is much smaller to all of the other temples I've been to. I was able to get one or two good pictures of it, but I am sure I will be there again to get some better ones.

    Our plans for this week include finding an apartment, watching a session of the Career Workshop, homework, and preparing to teach the workshop next week. I'm so excited!