Dear Family,
I think that I didn't write last week. Oops. When we talk to all of our children each week, sometimes I forget to write. We've been back to Brazil now for six weeks. The time has really flown by. It is good that we came back. We have been busy and that is what we wanted.
We are still trying to get our quail project up and running. There are a lot of steps to do but we think that this week we can really make some progress. We are pretty sure now that it will be approved. That has been a relief. We are working on some legal papers now. It just takes time to find out the info we need, email the stake president, wait for his reply, fill out more requests, and then start over. I hope that we are about done with that process. The people in Petrolina are very anxious to get started.
We were supposed to go to Cruz Alta in the south but Dad got sick this week and we had to cancel. I really think it was a blessing as I don't think that we were prepared to go this week. We will reschedule in a few weeks.
I was kind of glad that we didn't go this week for another reason. We had purchased tickets to go to a concert, actually a concert rehearsal, on the morning of the 23rd and I really wanted to go. I think that Dad forgot about that when he scheduled our trip. Dad couldn't go but I went with the group and it was FABULOUS!!!! The Sao Paulo orchestra is world class and they were wonderful. Their conductor is a woman, which is quite rare, and she is also the conductor of the Baltimore Symphony. She is the only female conductor ever to be invited to lead a prestigious event (I can't quite remember what it is called) in London. The hall is ranked in the top 10 or 12 concert halls in the world. They had a guest violinist that was absolutely phenomenal and she was playing on a 1703 Stradivarius violin. I've never heard anything quite like it before. All of the music was unfamiliar to me but it was so good that it didn't matter. We are going to try to go again in Aug. before their European tour.
On the 18th Dad and I were invited to speak at a ward party about marriage. They celebrate something similar to Valentine's Day down here in June. We gave our talks and then had a pizza dinner. We both talked about how Dad figured out how to clean the toilets after his surgeries and mine so that I wouldn't have to do it. A member of that ward is on our welfare team and told us the next Monday that everyone in the ward was talking about cleaning toilets! I guess we made an impression. That isn't the only thing that we talked about but they did want us to talk about how we help each other.
I had an interesting experience on Wed. or Thurs. It was around 4:15 and I was getting ready to go home when I heard someone say "Sondereggers." I saw a man walk into Fernando's office and then I heard our name again. I got up and walked around my cubicle and there was Todd Baker, my cousin Diane Thacker's husband! He was in Brazil on business and came up to find me. It turns out that a lady that he baptized (when she was little) works on our floor. I thought that was really neat for him to take time out of his busy schedule to stop by. He told me of a really neat experience he had when he was a missionary in Brazil and in this area. He showed me a picture of a small branch that he served in as a Branch President. There were about 160 people in the picture but only a very few were members then. Another missionary had baptized a pastor of a different church a short time earlier. The pastor told his congregation that if he ever found the one and only true church that he would tell them. Well he got baptized and then so did his entire congregation! Todd was there when they all came into the branch. Many of those people have served as bishops, stake presidents, gone on missions, married in the temple, etc. Needless to say that man lost his income. He was hired to be the gardener for the temple. I felt bad that Dad missed meeting him as he was home sick.
I've had some sad news lately. Two of my high school classmates have passed away this month. It is kind of weird because I didn't really know either of them but I have felt a little sad. They both had served missions. I'm not sure if Terry stayed active in the church or not but Ryan did and had been a bishop. He died of cancer. You just never know when your time is up. I guess that is reason to stay close to the Lord and always obey the commandments.
Well I hope that you all have a good week. I sure love you.
Love,
Mom
P.S. Here are a few pictures of the concert hall.
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