January 4, 2016

Jan. 4, 2016

Dear Family,

Wow!  It’s already 2016!!  I can’t believe how time flies.  I never ever dreamed when I was little that I would be living at this time!  I know that seems weird, but back then the book 1984 by George Orwell was talked about and that seemed like a long time in the distance.  This should be a good year.  I hope it will be a good year for all of our family and friends.

We had a good time during the holidays.  It was different for us being away from family and we missed everyone a lot but we had a good time anyway.  We have a good group of missionaries here and we spent Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve with them and we had a good time together.  It is nice that we get to talk on the phone or FaceTime whenever we want.  I don’t think I could do this if I wasn’t able to talk to my family and to see them.

One thing we gave ourselves for Christmas was an indoor electric barbeque grill.  You put water in the drip pan so that it doesn’t smoke.  We bought a tri-tip steak and were very excited to cook it on Christmas Day.  Well, the plug didn’t fit the outlet in our kitchen.  I realized then that it was a 220v (well down here I think it is 225v).  The only 220v we have is in our living room behind our sofa.  (It is a red outlet.)  So we pulled out the sofa, moved a little table over and cooked it in the living room!

It was fun to be able to “see” some of our grandkids open up their presents.  We really got a kick out of Lauren rushing in to see what Santa had brought—a storm trooper helmet from Star Wars and a Frozen doll!  They took a picture of her wearing her helmet and holding the doll!  It was cute.  When Jamison opened up his gift from us (a framed picture of the aircraft carrier USS Midway which is now a museum in San Diego and we took him with us), he exclaimed, “I LOVE IT!!”  That made us feel good.

We had a wonderful New Year’s Day.  We spent the day with the Mazzagardi family.  Jairo is a member of the Quorum of the Seventy and he and his wife are our good friends from when we lived down here with our family in 1996.  They have a very beautiful home and yard and it was such a nice escape after being in Sao Paulo.  There is no graffiti anywhere and there are no high rise buildings in their city and you can breathe the air!  Elder Mazzagardi is the one wearing the plaid shorts!  His wife, Elizabeth is next to him.  They are so nice.  They have mango trees, banana trees, coconut palms, and lots of other kinds that we don't have anything remotely like them in the US, at least not in Idaho!  We brought home a couple of fresh picked mangos and are they ever good.

Also at their party were our friends, Edson and Marise de Marques.  They really helped take care of our family when we were here in 1996.  We haven't seen them for 19 years but it was just like old times.  On our way home Junior (Jairo's son) took us to see some other old friends, the Barbour family.  He was the temple president when we were here and we stayed with them before we came home.  Their son Dennis was visiting with his family and it was good to see him again.  He took us all over Sao Paulo many years ago.  He was at our home when Lynn got his Eagle Scout.

It was a very good day and we came home feeling very full.  It will be counted as one of the highlights of our mission.  We were able to take one couple with us, the Hales, and they also said that it was a highlight.

I went with a group of the missionaries to see the museum of art.  Dad decided not to go this time as he had recorded a football game and he wanted to watch it.  There was some paintings from very famous artists, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Raphael,Rembrandt, and Picasso to name a few.  I included one by Renoir.  I really liked his paintings.

This week will be a busy week for us.  We will be going down to the coast on Wed. to start a gardening project.  One man, a member, has a huge yard and he would like to open it up to any ward members, who are struggling, to plant a garden.  We went down last week to meet him and look the place over and this week we are supposed to meet with the people who want to participate.  We've been putting together a presentation about self-reliance and providing in the Lord's way.  Our presentation is taken from Pres. Uchtdorf's talk from the Oct. 2011 Priesthood session.  It is a very powerful talk.  I would encourage all to re-read it. 

Well, we love you all very much.  Hope you have a good week.

Love,

Mom and Dad

Paula and Ferron

Dear family,

I drove home from the coast to the temple/office area in SP and we survived.  I feel like the monkey is off my back.  I'm not worried about driving in SP anymore.  Mom said I look way happier and relaxed.  It was a great blessing.  Mom and I taught a wonderful lesson to several families in Praia Grande and we weren't nervous.  We love them and can't wait to go back.  We are real missionaries now!   Love, Dad

PS. I went even though I have a really awful cold.  I felt fine during the lesson and on the way home.  But now I am flat in bed.  It was worth it!