We survived Brasil!!

We are back, and we were already missing it on the way to the airport. It is so hard for us to come home from vacations. We left on April 16th and came home on the 27th, I know it seems long, but it when so fast, especially when we had 9 flights, and a many a car ride in that short amount of time. We flew into Rio stayed there a couple of days. Saw the Cristo, Sugar Loaf Mountains, and don't forget Co-pa Co-pa-ca-ba-na (beach)! It was such a high pace place with beautiful beach's and sky scrapers everywhere. My mom kept telling me to promise her not to go out after dark, ya right. It was dark at 6:00, so sorry mom, we did a lot of walking at night, grocery shopping (had to stock up on the Guarana), coming home from restaurants, walking the beach, and can you believe it nothing ever happened.
From there we flew to Iguassu Falls. They are the most beautiful waterfalls ever! If you want to see Niagara put to shame, go to Brasil, it was amazing. My pictures or video just does not do it justice. If anyone would like to go see it for themselves, we would be happy to be your tour guides, for free.
And last but not least, we flew into Goiania. That is where Bryce served. We spent a whole week there. We were able to get a resort in Rio Quente through our time share, and it was such an amazing resort. All of the pools are natural springs that come up out of the ground and they were so warm, it was like a nice warm warm bath tub. And anyone who knows me, knows how I love my bath tubs! We got to see one of the families that still lived there when Bryce was there. They absolutely freaked when they saw "Elder Stevenson"!! They seriously screamed on the streets in Brasil like a bunch of little girls, well I guess most of them were girls, but still, it almost brought a tear to my eye with how excited they were. They fed us dinner, Bryce sang and played them songs on the guitar like he used to when he was there many years ago, the video of all of that is absolutely priceless. Bryce kinda freaked me out at times with how well he speaks Portuguese, everyone commented on how well he still knew the language, (well at least that's how he translated it to me, who knows what they really said huh?) They probably said, "what did you see in her???"
Bryce really could not have been more in his element, he loved it. It was so good to see him so happy, in the place where he became a man. He truly loved his mission and I'm so glad that I got to see why. The people are amazing, they don't have much but think that they have everything. They don't complain about anything, they are such a simple people. And there hearts could not be any larger, they were so loving and welcoming with the little that they had. We miss them already. Don't worry, we have our 5 year visas now, and we'll be back.
A lot of money later, 9 long flights, Janica's unforgettable driving experience involving a stick shift, a big hill, and burning rubber in a foreign country, Bryce and Janica both getting a slight cold, Bryce having to change 2 flat tires which had nothing to do with Janica's driving because it was a totally different rental car, missing our little fuzzy Abbie so much, Janica swearing that she had a parasite when they got home because she had major diarrhea and the worst constant stomach cramps ever for a good 5 days. -----Sharing an experience of a life time with your best friend, PRICELESS!!
**Pictures to come later!