Dear Family,
I hope all of you are doing well and are excited for Thanksgiving. We will be having dinner at The McAllisters apartment on the 25th floor with all the other missionaries. The McAllisters are here for four years and Doug is in charge of the Brazil Area Legal Department. They previously spent 4 years in the Phillipines doing the same thing. They do get to travel home occasionally but eight years away from your family would be quite a sacrifice. They are really good people. Sister McAllister is a great cook and she loves to decorate all fancy and it is fun to go there. We have quite a marvelous view from their living room. It is hard to be away during holidays that we celebrate always with family, but we will survive.
For a couple of weeks I have been reviewing a missionary candidate who is struggling with being bipolar and as well as from depression and other challenges. She currently takes 7 different medications, 5 of which a missionary cannot take in the field because they are not all accessible in different areas of the country. For a long time I have thought that someone struggling with being bipolar really goes through a lot of suffering. It seems so unfair that someone could be bipolar and I have shed a lot of tears for a number of people in my life who deal with this all the time. I visited with the Area Executive Secretary as well as Ivan Tramontina and Elder Burke (Dr. Burke) and it was decided that it would be best with all the possible complications for this sister, to stay at home and serve in her own stake. I was asked to contact the stake president and I am glad I had that opportunity. He had already indicated that he felt that the sister would need to serve at home. We had a great discussion and I expressed to him how sorry I was that she could not serve a regular full-time mission but that I was very happy that she would have an opportunity to serve in her stake. The sister is fluent in sign language and she will be able to help many in her own city. I have found that in the Church it is not our position or the supposed importance of our calling that is important. What is important is that we understand that all service for the Lord has to be done, whether it is temporal or spiritual or a combination. Brother Orivaldo who comes and empties my garbage can every day is doing work that has to be done. Is he a lesser member of the kingdom? Is he not loved just as much by God as is a stake president somewhere. Our individual service is different and some of it obviously carries more responsibility, but it is all important. It all matters.
President Queiroz, counselor in the SP Temple Presidency, set mom and I apart as temple officiators. We will be working the Fridaymorning shift from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. A lot of missionaries come from the CTM (MTC) on Friday morning so we will be helping many of them. We have missed so much working in the Rexburg Temple. President Queiroz is Brazilian but he lives in Salt Lake where he has a cleaning business. He is a sweet, tender-hearted man. He made us feel like we were the only people in the temple. He not only set us apart but gave us each a blessing. He gave the blessings in Portuguese, although his English is very good. Mom understood almost every word and I know that her Portuguese will jump to a new level in this calling. President Queiroz blessed us both with the protection of heavenly angels as we serve in the dangerous city of São Paulo. Although we are always cautious, it gave us a sense of well-being and peace. We have been able to attend sessions in the temple here, Campinas, Porto Alegre and Manaus in the Amazons. We love the temple and look forward to starting this Friday. We always feel at peace when we are in the Lord's House.
A couple of weeks ago Elder Salsbury and I went to Guarujá down on the coast to play some golf with Brother Ronald Gunn. He is 71 years old, an American and a Brazilian citizen and has lived here for 45 years. We went to a gorgeous golf course just a 1/4 mile from the ocean. He had really nice clubs for us. I had some Cleveland clubs that we almost brand new. Hadn't played for a while so it took some time to get things going. We each had a caddie which was fun to talk to them. My caddie knew the course and he knew my game and gave me good advice. The majority of golf words in English are used here too. I started not feeling too well around the 9th hole even though we were drinking lots of water, plus by right foot was not being kind to me. We didn't have carts and we just walked, which is fine if all your body parts are cooperating. It was so hot and humid and that is a recipe for disaster for me because I sweat so much. Don will remember what happened to me in North Carolina. So after 13 holes I had to go back to the clubhouse. I felt bad to quit and I felt awful physically, but I am glad I got to play as much as I did. It was fun. It took me a day to get rehydated and feeling better. Ron took us to a really nice seafood restaurant and for the first time in my life I ate mussels and they were really good. We also had a big fish fried in butter sauce that was good. Ron then took us for dessert at his home(s) on an exclusive hilly part of the island. He has three nice homes there and they were pretty fancy. Ron however never comes across as thinking he is of the upper crust. He is a really wonderful man and he shared some special spiritual experiences he has had. When I told him about Shelley finding Sondereggers in Uruguay, he said, "That needs to be published." He got all teary-eyed. He had shelves of golf trophies and I can tell you that I have never played with anyone with his skill level. My jaw fell on the ground watching him hit the ball so far and so effortlessly. His brother Alf writes a publication called the Brasulista which is for missionaries who served in Southern Brazil. I have been reading that for several years.
Mom was so excited to see My Fair Lady and it turned out to be an excellent production. I got a little emotional a couple of times watching Henry Higgins and thinking of someone else, someone very special who played that part. We enjoyed it all. The majority of the main characters have studied voice and/or acting in London. It was fabulous and it was fun to talk to the Brazilians around us about it. Mom told several that her father had played the part of Henry Higgins and they thought that was neat.
We went to a devotional with Elder and Sister Renlund of the Twelve with all the people who work here. It was great. One thing he told was about a good friend in another country who once said to him, "We don't like having Americans tell us what to do." That was when he was in the Seventy. He said that since that time he has tried hard to never come across as an American, but as a representative of Jesus Christ. Later in the day, I ran into him and his wife as well as Elder and Sister Costa and their security guards. I stepped back to get out of the way but Elder Costa came over and put his arm around my shoulders and said to the Renlunds, "This is our famous coach who has won many awards and we are so glad he is here in Brazil." I think my face turned red as I felt embarrassed but nonetheless, I felt good that someone thought I was useful. I have known Elder Costa since 1995 when I met him at the home of Rick Bangerter in Bountiful. That is also where I first met Elder Mazzagardi too. Rick baptized sister Costa and she got excited when I told her of my relationship with Rick as a missionary.
Our garden projects with the Torres family and Sister Manetta are doing well still. It is making a difference in their food budget. They have become good friends. Sister Manetta gave us a bag full of frozen balls of dough with different things inside them like cheese, chicken, ham, etc. They are called salgados.
So I won't go insane, I still workout twice a week at Just Fit which is on the corner of our apartment complex. I have met a lot of people there and many have been members who pretended they weren't at first just to see what I would say to them. In each case, I began telling them why we were in Brazil and eventually they all smile and say, "I'm a member too." Some of the lifting techniques I have seen here pretty scary and sometimes I go correct them. Some listen and some don't, just like at BYUI and Ricks. The ones who listen always smile after they understand the difference in technique. I can no longer demonstrate the heavy lifts with weight and mostly just walk them through it.
Lastly, the branch in Ibiúna gets better every week. We are learning names and helping wherever we can. Mom is working with the YW and helping them practice some Christmas music for the branch program. I go with the YM. It is obvious who has parents who have taught them how to work. Work seems to be something of an afterthought with some of them, so it is a challenge. Our branch president and his wife and seven children are really really special people. They are so unselfish in their service. President Gilberto owns a car repair shop and his children work with him in the Ipiranga area of São Paulo. You can see that they understand the meaning of hard work. Last week, one of the boys, Gleison was in a wreck that could have been fatal. His brother's girlfriend was driving (she is a really neat girl and will soon be getting married to Gleison's brother Gilberto Jr. who served a mission in Japan.). They got caught in a downpour and lost control of the car. It left the road and turned up on it's side but didn't roll over. I asked Gleison what he did when he realized they were out of control. He said, "I asked Heavenly Father to protect us and He did." Gilberto Jr. was driving right behind them and he told me he felt so helpless watching it all happen. But, it all worked out. That is the second accident of someone in the branch in two weeks. The other was a special family too. They are stalwarts in the ward. Their car had part of it missing, but none of them got hurt. Well, once again I have rambled on so I will close. Wishing you all safe travel and a very Happy Thanksgiving Day!
Love e um forte abraço,
Elder Sonderegger (Dad)
