Dear family,
Most of the week I have been sick with a bad cold, the one I get every time I come to Brazil. I am hoping it is a one time thing this time. I didn't feel like going down to Praia Grande on Wed., but I went anyway armed with Kleenex, Vicks, cough drops, and cold medicine. When we got to Ivan's house, it was plain to see that it had rained like crazy as part of his property was flooded. I kidded with him that he now had a private swimming pool. It was warm and humid and we sat out under a tree with several families. I had made a questionnaire that I had them fill out about their intentions to work on this gardening project, why, what, how often, etc. Fernando Souza our Welfare Manager for all of Brazil had to help the older couple fill it out as they could not read or write. He was very good about it and just asked them some questions. The circumstances we were in were very humble, but Sister Tomas had made some doughnut holes (except better), and had a lot of fresh fruit and some soda. In other words, they had done it for us. Very touching and humbling. We had bananas right off the tree. Irmao Tomas (Ivan) had already planted some manga trees and I was happy to see that. As soon as we get the okay from Salt Lake, we will purchase everything we need to get this going.
Fernando got things going and then turned the time to us. Paula had made a flip chart of our presentation and it is good she did because there was no place to do a power point. So for the first time in over 42 years, I started teaching in Portuguese about the plan of our Heavenly Father to help us all become self-sufficient. I thought things went well although I made a few mistakes. We asked questions and got great responses. We had pictures of the Teton Dam Flood. Paula showed a picture of her mother and talked about her little garden. I pretty much left her on her own with the Portuguese and for the most part she did just fine, and the people were appreciative of her effort. There was a very good spirit there and it was wonderful to feel like maybe we could make a difference in someone's life. One sister had a brand new darling baby and I made sure I visited with her. She was very proud of the two week old little girl, a beautiful little girl. The mother was all smiles which tells me that you can make anyone smile when you show genuine interest in them. As the people left, they all came and said thank you. I am sure they will all be back again soon.
Sister Tomas was a black belt in judo. I wouldn't have believed it. She actually qualified for the Seoul, Korea Olympic Games. Her coach had warned her about not competing right before the games, but she did and got injured and didn't get to go. She said she didn't know what hurt the worst, the injury or not getting to go. She is a sweet lady. All the people who came just made us feel good and we fell in love with each of them. One time Fernando, who is my size got up off the bench that he and I were sitting on and I about went flying. But due to my great athletic agility and band new hip, I avoided a disaster. Every time after that, anyone sitting on that bench warned everyone when they were going to stand up. It was pretty funny. In fact, I got some kind of fruit squished all over my pants but it was no big deal. They have a young pit bull who is friendly because they treat him well. When we arrived, he wanted to play and he was standing there with a semi-flat basketball in his mouth which looked very comical. So we will be going back soon after we get back from Curitiba.
I am spending quite a bit of time translating Portuguese Missionary recommendations into English and I am enjoying it. I will tell you that these Brazilian missionaries come from (most) very humble circumstances. Some are the only member in the family and have no parental support, but they express a great desire to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't help but get a little teary-eyed when i read some of them. They are so willing. One young man said he had spent many nights sleeping in the street, but he literally pulled himself out of the mud and eventually became a Sushi Chef..I haven't mentioned any names as everything is confidential. Some can only afford $2-15 dollars a month for' their support. Thithing and Fast Offering as well as the Missionary Fund are of great help to many here. The economy is in really rough shape right now. When we arrived, it was 3.70 Reais to a dollar. Now it is 4.04 and rising. When I see what the Brazilians have to pay in the supermarket it makes me sick. Oh for the day when the Savior comes again and there will be no poor among us. Even with all the millions of dollars the Church donates for anything you can imagine, we can never take care of everyone. But it is like the story of the little boy throwing one star fish at a time out of thousands back into the ocean so they could live. A fellow asked the boy, "Surely you don't think you are making a difference?" The boy said nothing but picked up another star fish, threw it into the sea and replied, "It made a difference to that one." Such is our mission. We hope we are making a difference to someone. May the Lord bless each of you and keep you safe while we are gone. We miss you, but we are here for a reason.
Love You All,
Dad
in
P.S. We have some wonderful friends who are soon moving to Salt Lake, Carlos and Dagmar Gaspar. Dagmar is a nurse and is going to get more education. They are awesome people. Carlos always calls Dagmar 'Doggie'.. I told him he will have to change that to something else in the USA or people will think he is an abusive husband. He thought that was pretty funny. Dagmar and Mom help each other with English and Portuguese. They were talking a couple of days ago and Dagmar pronounced the word 'successful' as sucsexful. Paula waived her finger "no no" can't say that. As Dagmar realized what she had said she about fell on the floor laughing. And that is the best way when you are learning a new language, just laugh at yourself with your mistakes. Their son just got home from a mission in Japan.
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