Brazilian Jamboree !!!!

  Very soon after first arriving in São Paulo, 

Craig learned of an upcoming Brazilian Scouting event.  

Having been to several other National Scout Jamborees, he was naturally INTERESTED. 

 He arranged to get himself "invited" and 

they told him to bring an additional American scouter friend.  

So he called his good friend, Kirk McDougal who is also an "extreme Scouter".

Of course, why not?  So they started planning for the

 Brazilian January 2015 National Scout Jamboree.

This outing took place in Natal, Brazil 
which is about 1500 miles north of us on the coast.

When people ask Craig how long he has been involved in Scouting, 
he has to say "since I was 8"

This is the troop from São Paulo led by Marcelo Amarlo

He works at the church Area Office and is 

Craig's friend who helped make this happen.  

There are girls in this photo because outside of USA, scouting is "co-ed"

This provides an interesting element in international scouting activities  :)

 This is Kirk and Craig with some other leaders

 All the Brazilian scouts were excited to see and get photos with

 "American Scouts"

 these are Brazilian members who attended the
Family History fireside on a Sunday night

                            trading neckerchiefs was the most popular pastime

 

trading T shirts was also a fun way to get acquainted

                This is Craig rappelling from 45 foot tower. 

 He's done this before so not scary for him.

   I spoke with him a few times. 

 I asked "Are you helping or just mostly playing?"

and he had to admit "mostly playing".

                                 Many patch traders as well - this is one Brazilian "patch-hog"

They all slept in "sweat tents" on the beach.  

This is the middle of summer and they are close to the equator. 

 It was extra hot about 95 degrees all the time with 95% humidity.

They were gone 5 days.

From Craig's journal, these are his closing thoughts:

"It was an amazing experience. Different, but not that different from other jamboree experiences. Different, place, different language, but the people are scouts and they are just as great in Brasil as they are anywhere else in the world. Enthusiastic, energetic, wholesome, and wanting to have fun. Kirk and I hope that we left Natal with an image and impression of Scouting in America that is positive. We certainly left with a positive impression of Scouting in Brasil. The rising generation of Brasilian Scouts will be a positive force for good in their country. The picture below expresses without words, the joy and happiness experienced. Sempre Alerta (Be Prepared)."

During the guy's time away, Kirk's wife, Ann stayed in São Paulo with us.

We had secured an extra church owned apartment close to ours,

 for them to stay while they were here.

Their Brazilian vacation was about 2 weeks long.

 While Ann was here we did a few fun things.

Craig's office assistant, Raquel took us downtown
on the bus and metro to run some errands and have lunch.

 This is the home of the famous São Paulo "mortadela" sandwich

which is  smooth textured Italian sausage.  

It's pretty good, but you don't want it every day.

 

This is Ann with the Kraft family.
(also the legs of Randy and I in the planter 8)

Lily is the girl in green.  Her mom, Chris is far right. She is divorced.
She looks like she could be Lily's sister.

Next to Chris is Rose, who is a friend that moved in after Chris' divorce.

They are members who live in the apartment across from where McDougals were staying.

Ann met them in the elevator and became instant friends.

First because they speak English, then because they are LDS and 

then because Lily was getting ready to fly to SLC to attend LDS Business College!

Lily was late for the semester start because she had been in the hospital with some injuries.

Ann got excited because she wanted to be her SLC substitute Mom/Grandma.

We were both pleased to meet such beautiful, generous and charming women.

They took Ann, Randy and I to dinner at a mall
for Brazilian food so we could get to know each other better.

We heard some amazing Brazilian pioneer stories.
 Chris' aging parents are converts.
They were very poor newlyweds but decided to
splurge on their anniversary and go to a movie.
On the way there, he said, "We need to go home.
I don't know why, it just feels like we need to be home tonight."
After arriving home, the missionaries came to their door.
The rest of the story is that they became very prominent
Brazilian church members/leaders here in São Paulo.
 He was also a very successful businessman.   Now he has "dimentia"
so Chris is running the business with help from her friend Rose.

We had a great time and the food was wonderful.

They arranged for Ann to pick Lily up at the SLC airport
a few days after McDougals would be returning home.

Ann felt like she was bringing home a wonderful Brazilian "souvenir".