Life in the Mission

Our days were very busy working in the office. Leon working with all financial responsibilities. I kept track of new incoming missionaries, typing up transfers, making doctor appointments for sick missionaries and a lot more. Leon and I had to take new missionaries to the Polícia Federal, the Police Headquarters, to get identity cards; we also picked up new missionaries at the airport or took returning ones there. We took Fred to the airport whenever he had to fly to the other state in our mission where he would attend zone conferences every six weeks.
The mails were not very reliable so all bills had to be paid at different banks. We would go and stand in long lines in order to pay the bills. We also drove to the Clinica Fry, where the missionaries went for doctor appointments, to present the payments for medical attention; a different check for each doctor.
On Saturdays, we would go to the grocery store to do our weekly shopping. There were many checkout stands, it looked sort of like Wal-Mart or Target checkout stands. Occasionally we would go to the outdoor feiras, or markets but not often. They were usually held during the week when we would be in the office.
Our service was tuning pianos. Fred told Leon to bring his piano tuning tools. Most of the chapels had pianos that had not been tuned for years! Since our branch met in the afternoon, we would go Sunday mornings to locate the ward where we would visit during the week for the tuning. Traffic was much lighter on Sunday so it was easier to locate the places. We had a Guia, or guide, which helped us negotiate this large, busy city.
At one time, Leon developed severe pain in his side. He finally went to the hospital and the x-ray showed a kidney stone. The hospital was called Albert Einstein, a Jewish hospital and a very good one. The doctor that attended him had attended John Hopkins in the States. They gave him a relaxant and sent him home. Carol, Fred’s wife who had suffered from many kidney stones, recommended he drink a glass of water every 15 minutes. He did this, all day and night and the stone passed.
Close to the end of our mission, two other couples came to Sâo Paulo. Elder and Sister Fowler (she was a nurse) and Elder and Sister Simmons (he was a doctor and she was Pres. Benson’s niece). They were assigned to the North and South Missions but we lived in the same apartment complex. The Simmons were in the apartment next to us and the Fowlers across the way. It was really nice to have other couples to do things with and to show around.
Towards the end of our mission, the location for our Mission Office changed. We went to a building in the Santo Amaro neighborhood behind the Santo Amaro chapel. Fred had worked on that chapel when he was a young missoionary.. It was a little more cramped as to space and did not have the branch of the bank we used close by. I’m glad most of our mission was spent in the Church Area building next to the Temple and MTC or CTM as they called it.