Hi Everyone,
I guess it is high time that I wrote again. The trouble is that we talk to all of our kids each week and sometimes more than once, and then I forget to write. Well things are about the same for us as it has always been. Very slow! It is has been kind of discouraging for us the whole time we have been here. We are still trying to get our Petrolina project up and running. We had no idea that there were so many steps to follow. One thing is that it wasn't made very clear to us, even from the MTC, what the guidelines were for starting projects. What we have found is that the church will provide up to $100 per person for the project if it is an approved project. Well the Petrolina project, as they presented it to us, was over $800 per person so obviously the church was never going to approve that!
We have had to make some drastic cuts to the project, all of which the leaders are not very happy with as they were "promised" by a different missionary couple (Brazilians) basically the world. We got stuck in the middle of it all and so now we are the bad guys. We are hoping that they will be grateful for the things that the church will provide. We haven't even dared to tell them all of the cuts that we've made, just given them a general idea. We should know maybe next week if the Area Presidency will approve it or not. We already have a preliminary approval from the church welfare office so hopefully the Area Presidency will give their okay. We'll keep you posted on this saga.
We are starting another garden project in the Northeast. A missionary couple from Nevada is up there and had contacted Fernando about a project so we are working with them. They aren't really welfare missionaries but I think that they are self-reliant missionaries, which is pretty close. Anyway, with this project we are following all of the right steps and in the right order! You can't believe how much quicker this one is moving along! It does help that it is a small project as far as money is concerned, but nevertheless, it will be approved next week! We won't have to go up there as this couple will take care of everything.
We have two new couples serving with us, replacing some of the couples who have finished their missions. The new people are really nice. We will be getting one more couple this month and then we will loose the Hales at the first of Sept. We are sad about that. They are really neat people and we really do love them a lot. It is just a constant turn around here. We go for a few months intact and then someone goes home and someone new comes along. We really like all of the new people.
We go on outings with all the missionaries and it is fun. This morning we went to a "feira" which is a farmer's market. It was fun and we bought some fruit, some exotic. I have attached some pictures of some of the fruit and the area we were in. The apple-type fruit is actually cashew. You can see why the nuts are so expensive, only one per fruit. We bought some star fruit. We had some a while back but I don't think it was ripe enough. I'll let you know how this tastes. There are lots of strange looking fruits and vegetables down here that we have never seen or heard of before. Some of them are very good. I haven't dared to try them all. :)
Our outing last week was really fun. WE WENT TO THE OLYMPICS!!!! We really did! There was a soccer venue here in Sao Paulo and we were able to get tickets for everyone plus the new mission president and his wife and daughter (Ellen Mathias from the Playmill with me!). We had a blast. I don't know anything about soccer but it was fun just being there. We saw Canada vs. Zimbabwe (Canada won) and then Germany vs. Australia (tie). It was the first round women's tournament. Who knows, one of those teams could be the gold medalist! Germany was ranked 2nd behind the US and now the US is out. Our seats were on the first row on about the 20 yard line. It was awesome!!
Next week we are going down to the south to do some training about fast offerings and look for another project. We were supposed to go in June but Dad got sick and we had to reschedule. The trouble is, is that Dad has been sick ever since. He actually got pneumonia and has been down for a good two weeks. (He went to the Olympics anyway but that kind of set him back.) He is starting to feel better now but gets very tired easily.
Anyway, back to our trip to the south. We are going to stay down there for a few extra days and do some sightseeing. We will go to the Porto Alegre Temple one evening and we are going up to a little German city called, Gramado. The other missionaries went there last December but we weren't able to go as we had just barely gotten here. It will be fun, but it will be a little chilly. They are still in winter down here. It will be nice to breathe some clean air for a change.
We are going to do another fun thing next month. The Burkes, Sister Cox, and us are going to Manaus to visit the Amazon! We got permission from the Area President's office so we have booked our trip. It should be a lot of fun. We will do a city tour one day and then a 3-day tour of the jungle and the rivers. We will also be able to attend the Manaus Temple while we are there. I'll be sure to send some pictures when we get home.
Well I hope that everyone is doing well. We think about all of you often and miss you all very much. Any of you thinking about visiting Brazil? It is a very neat country! We love you!
Love,
Mom and Dad/Paula and Ferron
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