Dear Family,
Sorry it's been awhile since I've written. One of the problems was that somehow all of our mission pictures got deleted from off of our computer! I was trying to organize them and then all of a sudden, they were all gone! I had also emptied my recycle bin so I was feeling sick. I took our computer over to the office this week and a young man in the technology dept. was able to recover almost all of them. I was very grateful to say the least!
Another reason that I haven't written much is that there really hasn't been all that much to write about. It seems like everyday is the same. Once in awhile we have a little more to do and that does help. We did go to Curitiba a couple of weeks ago to deliver some wedding dresses from the Bishop's Storehouse here in Sao Paulo to the Bishop's Storehouse in Curitiba. It was a long, trip; just down and back. It took us about 6 hrs. to get down there and a little over 5 to get back. There was a lot of construction on the way and we got stuck in it for a while on our way down. We took time to do one relaxing thing while we were there. We went to the Botanical Gardens and they were beautiful. It is a huge park with about every kind of exotic plant that you could dream of. I took a picture of the borders of begonias that will make everyone back home very jealous! I hope that it was one of my recovered pics!
We went to the zoo one Sat. and that was fun. I'm afraid that a bunch of my zoo pictures were not recovered. I guess that means that we will have to go back. :) Mostly I took pictures of the flowers on the trees. You've just never seen anything like the foliage down here. It is just gorgeous! The flowers are so different looking and they are beautiful. Picture a huge tree covered in blossoms like a bed of petunias or something like that. There is always something in bloom and in just about every color. Brazil is a beautiful country. Our trip to Curitiba was breathtakingly beautiful! The rainforest is so dense that it would be very difficult to walk through it without a machete.
We are trying to get two garden projects started. We have one down in Praia Grande (on the coast) and another one very close to where we live here in Sao Paulo. We have been down to Praia Grande three times now and this last time, yesterday, was the most productive. It looks like the way we had our project set up is not going to work out that well. What was going to be one very large garden serving many families is now going to be a bunch of little gardens, each serving their own family. It will probably work out better that way. Then no one can blame someone else for not doing their part. We have been putting together a list of supplies and seeds, etc. The people down there are very poor, but they are also very humble and very sweet. I have had several hugs and kisses down there. We are very blessed to be from the U.S.A.
Our meeting last night with the Stake Pres. down there and the bishop and then two of the participants was very good. It was like a council is supposed to be. We went down (over an hour away) a little irritated that the Stake Pres. just wouldn't sign the papers and email them back to us. After being there and going over all of the concerns, we were glad and realized that that is the way things are supposed to happen. We have been given guidelines and channels of authority for a reason. The Stake Pres. is very young (probably Diane's age) but he is very wise. The dynamics of our project changed completely and I'm sure it will be for the better.
One of the things I do is to put together the end of month/year fast offering reports. I have to use excel and PowerPoint, which I had never done before. To make matters even harder for me is that all of my instructions were given in Portuguese! This month I was completely on my own and it took me a little longer than normal to get it done. Needless to say, our big meeting with the important people had to be postponed for a few days. I know that next month I will be much faster and more accurate with it.
Little by little Fernando is giving me a few more things to do. Today I have finished a chart showing the 5-year welfare plan for Brazil. This chart will be given to the Presiding Bishopric and to Elder Holland! Thankfully, I have Shelley to give me some pointers so that it looks better!
I've attached a few pictures of the gardens in Curitiba and a couple of the zoo. The one animal looked really funny just laying on its back with its legs up.
We love you all very much. Hope you are all doing well. It was good to "see" some of you at Mom's birthday party. I was glad that I could be part of it. Have a good week.
Love,
Mom/Paula
P.S. Next Wed. we are going to Aracatuba (the c sounds like an s) to deliver wheelchairs. We are taking the couple over wheelchairs with us. They are not able to drive themselves. It is about a 6 hr. drive to the northwest of here. It is another trip where we will go down one day and back the next but it will be a change of scenery.
PPS I forgot to tell you something. Two weeks ago when we were at the store I went up to a worker and asked (in Portuguese) if they had any batteries and that I needed a 9-volt battery. "Voce tem pilhas? Eu preciso uma nove volta." He took me to the isle where they were and then he asked me, "Are you from Portugal?" I laughed and said no the United States! Then he wanted to practice his English.
Last Sat. we were at an area in Sao Paulo called Liberdade which is the equivalent of Japan Town. There are more Japanese people living in Brazil than anywhere else in the world, except Japan. I think that the first immigrants (or emigrants, I can't remember which) came in 1908. Anyway, there were lots of tents set up with people selling their wares. I asked one man how much his item was (only I think I asked him how old he was!) and then he asked me if I was Japanese or Spanish! I guess that is saying that my Portuguese is coming along a little bit.
I made a goal this year to study everyday and to try to talk to someone each day. It is really helping me. I still have a very long way to go but I am trying. Whenever I say something to someone, which is usually a three or four word sentence, they say, "Oh you speak Portuguese so well." Sometimes I only get one or two words out and then they say that!
We saw a woman in the store last night who is in our ward and she also works on our floor at the office. I haven't ever talked to her before but we talked to her for quite a while and I understood almost everything that she said. She spoke slower than others and it was easier to understand her. I said some things to her also. She hasn't ever said anything to me in church either but I can almost guarantee it that tomorrow I will be like her best friend! I will get a hug and a kiss I'm sure!
Dad and I are going shopping with Dagmar and her mother this morning. I need some extra clothes and they are taking us to an area that sounds amazing. We invited all of the other missionaries to go as well but now it is just us. They are all going to another activity and I wish that we could go with them as well but we are committed to go shopping. Oh well. It will be an adventure.
Love you all,
Mom/Paula
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