Dear family,
Hope all of you are doing well. We enjoy hearing from you all. We are still trying to get our slingbox working. Today, a member who works at the Associacao came up before sacrament meeting and gave us a new cable to try. People are so generous here. Today was the Primary Program, the third one we have seen this year. Having been in St. George exactly two weeks ago, it made us a little homesick (saudades) for our family. The children sang their hearts out and didn't miss a beat. When I was a missionary here, these programs weren't even done. The children did all the things we see at home like waving to everybody. It was really cute. We could see our grandchildren in some of the Brazilian children. I noticed that every American couple was wiping there eyes and I know I used up my handkerchief wiping my own eyes. I talked to Irma Souza afterwards. She is the Primary president and the wife of our boss, Fernando Souza. I told her how maravilhoso the singing was and she gave me a kiss on the cheek. Here, that is a sign of great love and respect, not just a gesture. It made me get a little teary-eyed. We talked to a lot to the little children and told them how well they sang. When we told the parents we had seen our grandchildren sing just two weeks ago, they all nodded their heads, understanding how we felt.
I was sitting by Elder Hart in priesthood mtg. He is a retired pediatrician and his wife grew up in Lorenzo. He is black and one of the nicest people I have ever met. I only tell you that because I was able to tell a story during the meeting. One year at Ricks College, I had three athletes from the countries of Jamaica, Ghana, and the Dominican Republic. They felt a little alone on campus being black. So one day I had them all in my office. I took out a sheet of white paper, placed it on my desk and told them to put their hands on it. I then put my hand on too. I asked, "Which one of us is white?" They looked at our hands then at me then at our hands and finally said, "None of us." I replied, "That is right. Black and white are terms made by men. Remember that God does not see us in colors, He only sees us as His sons and daughters." I have never forgotten that experience and I hope they haven't either. Our stake president is of African descent. It is funny because we don't go around saying,"There goes Brother Sonderegger, he is Swiss/Danish, or there goes Sister Benson, she is Swedish." Some day when we get over a person's color, the world will be much better. I think it will be called the Celestial Kingdom. I thank the Lord for giving me the ability to not see color, but just the person.
Yesterday after we bought a ton of groceries, we went walking all over the place. We found a meat store that sells meat and cooks meat. If you want to eat really good meat, come to Brasil or Uruguay, Paraguay or Argentina. These people understand meat like nobody else. Those smells come through our apt. every day and they are wonderful. I guess will go buy something there next week. There are bakeries that are heavenly, docerias with everything sweet imaginable, pastelerias with all kinds of good things cooked inside of dough, and fruit stands that have every fruit imaginable. We have really been enjoying the juice and the watermelon. The watermelon is so sweet, not yukky sweet, but just really good. We walked over a mile on hilly roads and sidewalks, so we had a good workout. I am eating a lot but losing weight because of the humidity. I feel for Shelley when she was in Uruguay with no air conditioning. The humidity here averages about 80%. But last night was cool, enough that we used a blanket instead of just a sheet. Winter in June will be interesting. We have another dinner appointment today. We have three more scheduled, so I hope we can keep up. A real tough thing to have to experience (Ha Ha).
We went to Pinacoteca Museum in downtown Sao Paulo. There really isn't a downtown as when you have more buildings of 15 stories and above than anywhere in the world, everywhere is downtown. So truly, we were in the old Centro da Cidade. Pinacoteca is the oldest museum in SP. I wasn't too keen on going to an Art museum until I got there and began reading about each painting. I learned a lot of Brazilian history I didn't know. Dom Pedro II was the only emperor of Brasil and he actually visited Salt Lake in 1876, one year before Brigham Young died. He went to a play in the SLC Theater and the orchestra played the Brazilian national anthem for him. On Sunday, he attended sacrament meeting. The bishop asked Dom Pedro if he would like to sit on the stand but he declined, preferring to sit in the congregation. The speaker that day was John Taylor, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. I found that story to be interesting. We ate at a huge buffet at MASP, another huge art museum of world famous artists. It was $18.00 a plate,a little expensive, but more than worth it. I could only name about 1/4 of the food, but it was all good, really, really good. We didn't eat dinner as we were still stuffed. It was a fun day.
Well, tomorrow we keep up our training of our assignment. Please pray for us both. Paula is doing computer things she has never done and I will most likely begin calling Stake Presidents all over Brasil and discussing their fast offering situations. Unfortunately, some leaders take advantage and give half to the members and half to themselves. So it is a matter of educating over and over, the purpose of the fast. Pray for us that we can do this. We have not felt in danger,even when we accidentally walked through a red light district trying to get to the Metro. We talk to everyone in the elevator and are trying to make friends. There are 3000 or more people who live in Vertentes, our apt. complex. Yesterday I gave a penny to a little boy and he was happy but his mother even more. It is fun to make friends everywhere. People often stare at our name tags and it gives us a chance to explain. When I tell them I was a missionary here 42 plus years ago and have returned, they all seem pleased. People in the supermarkets are very helpful with finding things we are looking for. We are loving the people and that is the first step to becoming good missionaries. I am proud of Paula for what she is doing and how she is speaking Portuguese. We love the Lord for his confidence in us. This is not easy, but we can do it with His help. We sure do love all of you. My dad used to say, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." We are finding that to be true. Wish you could all come down and see this giant city, it's people and get to taste the food here.
Love You All,,
Elder and Sister Sonderegger
No comments:
Post a Comment