Dear Family,
It was good to be able to talk to some of you during Thanksgiving last week. I can't believe that it has already come and gone. Two Thanksgivings away from home and family isn't very easy. I am already looking forward to next year when we will be able to be with some of you. Our group of missionaries were together and we had a very nice meal. I was able to contribute more this year than last. Last year we had just barely arrived in Brazil and my kitchen wasn't set up completely yet and I really didn't know how to cook down here as things are just plain different. This year I made an apple pie and candied yams, well sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes aren't nearly as good as the yams. They just look so blasé. We did have a nice time.
Dad has gone up to Petrolina today to help get our project started. He will be back home tomorrow night. Julio went with him. It was much better to have a Brazilian go with him than me. Julio is very good with these kinds of technical things. Dad is speaking on the spiritual side of the project with Julio is getting into the nitty-gritty part of it. It just might scare some of the people off because of all of the details surrounding it. The stake president said that he didn't want any "Lamans and Lemuels" on this project. In other words, no complainers! I thought that was a cute way of saying it.
I went out to Ibiuna today and Sister Cox went with me as we're not supposed to go alone and I wouldn't want to anyway. I think that she was impressed with our branch. I had a really good day today out there on my own. I understood one talk a little and the other one a lot. I understood most everything he said. Plus I understood most of the announcements today. I read a paragraph in our Sunday School lesson and made a comment on it. I made a comment in Young Women and then I had a choir practice with the youth. It went really well. I am teaching the girls how to sing alto. They have never done it before and they are sounding really good. The boys, on the other hand, are struggling with the melody! We are singing "Away in a Manger" out of the hymn book. I am also hoping to sing "The Eve of Christmas Morning" that was written by my friend Heidi Pyper. It is beautiful. I sang part of it for them today and they really liked it and they want to sing it.
Well not much else has been happening since Thanksgiving. I hope that you are all doing well. I sure love you all very much. I am attaching some pictures. They really decorate for Christmas down here. I've included some pictures from one of the malls. It is a very cute display. One thing very different down here verses back home in the USA is that they can still display the Nativity without being threatened with lawsuits so you see them all around. It is very refreshing. Hope you all have a very good week.
Love,
Mom/Paula
1.Thanksgiving setup
2. my place-our hostess really goes out of her way to make things nice.
3. The appetizers
4. Need I say more? :)
5. View from the 25th floor before our dinner
6. Interesting flower
1. Santa at the beach
2. Dad at the mall
3. Santa resting
4. Swimming!
5. Coconut juice
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