Magical Rio de Janeiro (Part 2)

Thursday was a windy day in Rio. Jonathon and Dad Hill were supposed to go paragliding with one of Jonathon's old mission companions. The winds and weather weren't cooperating, so they had to cancel. I was sad that they missed out on that opportunity, but we tried to make the most of the change of plans. We had breakfast and then headed over to Ipanema Beach, which was about 3 blocks away. You can't go to these Rio beaches without famous songs popping into your head. The Girl from Ipanema seemed to be playing on repeat in my mind. 

Since it was a bit windy, the beach was pretty empty again. This time the boys had their swimsuits on so they got to go into the water. Dad Hill and Jonathon went swimming with them. The waves were pretty rough, but they didn't seem to mind. We are used to the Pacific Ocean by Monterey where the water is always rough and cold. At Ipanema, the water temperature was very nice, and the scenery was beautiful. Everyone was laughing and having a great time. Beaches are something we don't get to experience often, so they are thrilled with every opportunity. They had been playing in the waves for over an hour when several locals came by and said that there was a red flag warning, meaning high risk. Everyone was about ready to go anyway, so we called it a day. 

Walking back, I had to get some pictures with the famous patterned black and white streets of the boardwalk. Rio has this type of cobblestone street all over, though this specific pattern and color is unique and iconic to Copacabana and Ipanema beaches.

We also stopped at a little restaurant for lunch. Out of everyone, Hyrum has been the most excited about the food. He talks about it nonstop and loves all the Brazilian things. His lunch that day consisted of all his favorites: coxinhas, pão de quiejo, and a vitamina. Seeing him flourish in Brazil has been so much fun! He also loves all the time he gets to spend with Grandpa and Grandma Hill.

We finished up with lunch and got ready to go to the temple. Before we came, I made an appointment to go do baptisms at the Rio temple. My mom even printed us off a bunch of cards of family names to do. My goal is to make sure that the boys understand how important the temple and the gospel is in our lives, so I am doing all I can to give them great experiences to feel the Spirit, even here in Brazil. 

We got two Ubers and drove about 45 minutes to the temple. It is located in the business district of Rio, right off the main freeway. I was shocked when I saw it because it is right in the middle of everything. The temple was very beautiful, and the temple workers were so kind to us. Grandma and Hyrum stayed in the waiting room and watched church movies, while the rest of us went inside. When we were getting our baptismal clothing, the ladies behind the desk were commenting on what good boys we had and asking if they had girlfriends. Haha! Christian and Andrew were embarrassed, but the ladies were so cute jabbering on in Portuguese. Dad Hill actually served his mission in Rio, so he talked to them about the wards he was in and people he knew. One of the ladies knew one of the sisters that Dad Hill works with in Provo because they used to be in the same ward in Rio. She insisted on writing a note to Ruda Martinez and sent it home with Dad. It was a fun "small world" moment.

There were very few other people in the baptistry that day, so they said we could stay and do as many names as we wanted. In Provo, there are always a ton of people trying to do temple work, so we are strictly limited to 5 names. This was such a big change. In fact, the workers actually asked us to stay and do extra. Dad Hill started by baptizing Andrew for about 15 different people. He did it in Portuguese, and I loved being able to watch. Next, Jonathon got to baptize his dad and Christian. Each of them did 15 more, including all the rest of my mom's names and many temple names. Finally, it was my turn. There were 12 names from my mom and a whole sheet of temple names, so in all I think I did around 22 baptisms. It was very special, and Jonathon was confident and precise with the Portuguese ordinance. I'm sure he was getting tired after 50+ baptisms, but he was amazing. It was a very special experience. We then got to go do the confirmations for all the baptisms we had completed. What a wonderful day in the temple with our family!

After we finished at the temple, we went back to the hotel and went to a fancy Brazilian restaurant similar to Tucanos in the United States. It had rodizio style churrasco with a salad bar, breads, and more. We were supposed to meet Jonathon's last mission companion (Diogo Costa) there, but due to traffic and the fact he was running on "Brazilian time" he was over an hour late. We decided to start eating without him since we had no idea when he would get there. The food was delicious, and we all ate too much. We finished our food and kept waiting. Jonathon was stressed, and we weren't sure what to do. Finally, he showed up! We said some introductions and chatted for a few minutes, then the rest of us went back to the hotel and let Jonathon and Diogo catch up. I'm so glad it worked out for them to meet up again after 20 years. 

The next day it was time to leave Rio and head to Salvador. I was happy to be going to our home for the next 3 months, but sad to be leaving Rio. I really loved our stay there and will look back on it so fondly. What a grand adventure!