Dear Family,
I have gotten way behind on my letters. So I will start with an experience with sister Neusa Manetta, a widow in our ward. Some time ago, we bought tools and garden seeds for sister Manetta and then Julio Sales Souza and myself bought some soil and fertilizer and hauled that over to her humble home. She lives on a property where at least three other families live, all relatives and hers is the last little house on the end, sandwiched in between 5-6 25 story apartment buildings. The challenge for her garden will be `sunlight`. On a Saturday, about three weeks ago, Vitor Souza, myself and Brother Bellini went over to fix up her garden spot. Vitor and I went to the LeRoy Merlin store and got a few things we needed and then we started to build her a hanging garden with several plastic planters that we had and we utilized some old rain gutter. We filled those up with a mix of dirt and steer manure and then did some planting. Her son asked me how to plant something. I was a little shocked that he had no idea how to do that. So I hoed a little row, got some carrot seeds and lightly sprinkled them in, covered them, and tamped the soil down. He then did a row and he was quite pleased. Some things we really do take for granted. I had purchased a few live plants and we planted those. We got her some insect spray as that can be a major problem here, far more than in our colder climate of Idaho. It turned out looking really nice and sister Manetta was so pleased. She was baptized in Sao Paulo in 1972 when I was a missionary here. She attended the well known Pinheiros chapel in the city which was next to the mission home. Both those have been torn down since and the Church sold the property (actually my mission president, LeRoy Drechsel sold it on behalf of the Church) and with that money purchased the land where the SP temple now stands. Sister Manetta made us a lunch and also a dessert later on in the afternoon. She is a sweet lady. She always calls me "irmaozinho" which means "little brother". She is maybe 5'-0 tall and that is stretching it a bit. We had a real good time doing that. We will keep tabs on her and how it is all doing.
The next day I was the closing speaker in sacrament meeting. I was given the topic of "The Power of the Priesthood". I told a story to begin of Elder L. Tom Perry when he gave a blessing to one of my high jumpers, Tom Clymore. Tom had placed third at the national meet in Texas with a jump of 6-11 and 1/2". He was coming back for his sophomore year and I was excited for him. While doing a workout in the Fall Semester, doing 30-40 dunks to work on his timing and condition his legs to jump, Tom came down wrong (and he could get way up there) and tore all the cartilage and every ligament in the knee of his take-off leg. It was devastating. I thought that in all likelihood his career as a high jumper was over. He and his parents decided to have the surgery done in Rexburg. I think it was probably Dr. Larsen. After the surgery on a Tuesday afternoon, Elder Perry had come to be the devotional speaker. After the devotional, I went back to my office, finished up some things and headed home. As I walked down the hallway in the Hart building, a voice came to me that said, "Call Elder Perry to give Tom a blessing." I was a little startled and I even told the voice, "We are not supposed to ask for blessings from the General Authorities but from our local priesthood leaders." I kept on walking. The voice came again and this time said, "Go back to your office and call Elder Perry." I turned around and went back. In my office I was trying to figure out how I could possibly get ahold of Elder Perry when he was already in all probability gone. I called President Steve Bennion's office. His secretary answered and I somewhat apologetically told her my request and why. She was gone for a minute and came back on the phone to say, "Elder Perry and President Bennion will meet you at the hospital in ten minutes." When I arrived, Elder Perry on hearing my name wondered if my father was "Stub Sonderegger", the great Aggie football player and captain. I told him yes. He seemed to have a lot of respect for Dad. President Bennion anointed Tom and then Elder Perry sealed the anointing. In the blessing, Elder Perry promised Tom that he would yet recover and jump higher than he ever had before. I was a little astonished at those words and even had the thought, "Elder Perry, don't you understand that Tom's knee is totally shredded?" Oh me of little faith. Tom came to me a couple of weeks later and said, "Coach, I want you to push me hard, no babying, I want to work", and work he did. That Spring, he jumped 6'-9" and qualified for the national meet by winning the Region 18 Championshiip in Bend, Oregon. I never thought he would be able to jump 5 feet again, let alone 6-9. He still had some swelling issues and only went 6-7 at nationals, but a remarkable recovery at any rate. One year and six months after the blessing, Tom, now jumping at Montana State University, jumped 7-1 1/2 at the Big Sky Outdoor Championshiips, placing first. I wrote Elder Perry and told him what had happened. He sent a nice letter in return. It has made me wonder why Elder Perry could give such a powerful blessing. Most priesthood holders in the Church would not have the faith or courage to pronounce such a blessing. The priesthood can be conferred upon us, but the power is only made manifest according to our diligence in living the commandments. Elder Perry had learned that lesson a long time ago and he lived his life as close to the Savior as is humanly possible. That experience will always have a profound effect on me, not because Tom jumped higher, but because priesthood holders are capable of exercising their priesthood in far more powerful ways than we think. It is certainly something for us to work on. It is my personal belief that the priesthood will one day be a means of protecting our families not only spiritually, but physically as well. That can be found in a talk given by Elder Russel M. Nelson. I think my talk went well. The next day at the office, Camilla Nagata told me that it was a powerful and faith building talk. I always feel a little awkward when people say things like that, but if my talk was of benefit to someone, then I am happy
For our FHE on Mondays, we have changed our format of having one couple cook for everyone and we are now having three couples divide up that chore. It is working out a lot better as having one sister do all that work was becoming a real burden in my eyes. So we have the meal rotating schedule and then one couple does the lesson on a different rotating schedule.
A week later, at the request of President Thomas of the Sao Paulo West Mission, we traveled 35 miles outside the city to the little branch of Ibiuna. We had no address, just a description from the branch president of where it was. The address is on a public highway, thus, no specific street address. We arrived there without a single problem. The branch meets in a warehouse which has been remodeled to have classrooms, office, chapel and a large activity room. The 4 elders met us at the door. One from Curitiba, one from Herriman, Utah, one from Goias and one from Cali, Colombia. There are also two sisters serving here, one from Buenos Aires and the other from Brazil. They are great missionaries. We had a chance to speak to them all quite extensively. I was asked in sacrament meeting to come up and bear my testimony which I did. As I headed off the stand, the BP asked me to have Paula come up and bear her testimony. This she did with me at her side. She only asked me twice for a little help and gave a wonderful testimony all in Portuguese. I was very proud of her and so were all the members. There were two sisters there in attendance who work in our department and we know them well, Sandra and Sonia. Sonia was the closing speaker and she used Paula as an example of trying to do things on your own without depending on everyone else. Sonia said, "You noticed that Elder Sonderegger was at her side to support if needed, but Sister Sonderegger opened her mouth and spoke without hesitation. She could have said, "I can't do that, I'll just stay here in my seat and be comfortable", but she didn't do that, she got up and gave her testimony in a foreign language and you can all imagine how hard that would be if you had to do it." Her point was that we have to make the effort if we are going to progress and become self-reliant.
The branch is very strong as far as I can see. Much stronger than branches I served in many years ago. The lessons we had in Sunday School, Priesthood Meeting and Relief Society were outstanding and well presented. We felt spiritually fed by these faithful members. After the meeting, the branch had a big dinner as most of the branch had stayed to take a self-reliance class from Sonia. So the RS decided to make a dinner. It was wonderful. When I went to get my plate filled, the sister asked me if I wanted white beans or the black bean feijoada. I opted for the feijoada. She smiled at me and said, "Don't worry elder, we don't put anything disgusting in our feijoada." It was really good and we had some wonderful cake too. The members were super friendly and that after only one time. We look forward to returning. I told the branch president that we were willing to do whatever he asked us to do.
I keep giving out Book of Mormons, Our Heritage and pass-along cards to lots of people. I enjoy the conversations we have. Paula still works on the Fast Offering Report and does a good job. We were in charge of taking all the couples on a Saturday adventure. So we went to the Brazilian Soccer Museum located in Perdizes (where I served) in the Paecambu Stadium. President Hinckley attended the re-dedication of the SP Temple festival there with about 50,000 attending. It was an awesome museum and brought back many memories of Brazilian soccer. Elder Salisbury who served here when I did, told us that when he was serving in the port city of Santos, he ran into Pele, yes, that 'Pele'. Pele who is considered far and away the best ever told Elder Salisbury that he needed to learn English and that he would trade soccer lessons for English lessons. So that is what they did. Wow, what an awesome experience that would be. At the museum, we got to see a lot of film on Pele's playing days. I still can't believe some of the things I saw. One time, he flipped the ball up onto his own head and then dropped it behind the defender, went around him and scored. He did it so fast you could only see it in slow mo. Another time, he flipped the ball (with his foot) onto the head of the defender and it happened so fast that the defender couldn't find the ball on his own head. Pele's ability to stop on a dime and change direction is beyond anything I have ever seen in any sport. He truly was "THE KING" (as he is referred to here and around the world.) We ate at a nice bakery and restaurant just off Paulista Avenue and plan to return. We had the best omelets, real fluffy, that I have ever had. We found out this week that our rent is only $650.00 a month instead of $800.00. Haaaaappppppyyyyyyyy!
Love You All,
Elder Sonderegger or Dad or Grandpa or Ferron
No comments:
Post a Comment