Pantanal Pictures

#3-giant lily pads-I thought about "See How They Run"  :)

#5-Rodents of unusual size!

#6-Tuiuiu or Jabiru stork compared to ducks

#2-when a truck would pass we wore masks because of the dust.  The last day we didn't need them because it was all mud!

#5-termite mound.  Elder Anderson is about 6'2" and that mound is as tall as he is!

#6-This is the first time I've been on a horse since I was 17 when I rode a horse at Bonnie's when they lived near the Fairgrounds.

#3-the center spot of South America-at the Chapadas near Cuiaba

#4-the "other" center location of South America-in Cuiaba

#5-a waterfall at the Chapadas

Brazil is BEAUTIFUL!!

The Pantanal

Dear Family,

How are  all of you doing?  Today is a special day as it is Shelley's birthday.  Yes, I remember the day you were born so many, many years ago!  :)  I wish that we could be there to help you celebrate but you probably have plans to be with your friends anyway.  I hope that you have a very special birthday today, Shelley.  I sure love you.

We have been very busy since our side trip out to the MTC!  It is always good to be busy.  In fact, I have been so busy that I was wondering how I was going to be able to go on our trip to the Pantanal.  I tried to get everything caught up and what I didn't get finished will always be there waiting for me.  :)  Today and tomorrow the office is closed because of Carnaval (the accent is on the last syllable and the closing "L" sound is more like a closed "oo" sound in Portuguese.  So try saying Car-na-va-oo with the accent on the va and the oo is quick.  That is your Portuguese lesson.).  Today I am doing loads and loads of laundry!  We have to go to the store sometime today.  Basically we are resting and getting caught up since our trip.

The Pantanal was really amazing!  It is the largest wetland in the world and it is in the wet season so there was water everywhere!  We saw lots of beautiful birds and quite a few alligators.  Our guide said that it is estimated that there are 40 million alligators in the Pantanal!  Wikipedia said there were 10 million.  At any rate, no matter which number you choose, there are A LOT of alligators in the Pantanal.  Because of all of the water everywhere, we didn't see as many as you see during the dry season, but still it is pretty awesome to see alligators in the wild!

We went on several jeep tours to different animal viewing areas and we went on two boat rides.  They have birds there that are unbelievable.  One was called a Tuiuiu or a Jabiru Stork.  It is almost as tall as me and it can fly!  They were really neat to see.  It's wingspan ranges from 7'5"-9'2"!  Awesome!  They have HUGE nests also!  Really, the wildlife down here and the fauna is so beautiful that it is hard to describe without seeing it for yourselves.

Once we left the paved road and entered the TransPantaneira Highway (a dirt road) there were many times that we had to drive through water.  In fact, the driver had to stop at one point and make an adjustment on the air intake hose (or something like that) so that it wouldn't fill up with water.  He also put a panel underneath the engine.  When I saw what we were going to drive through all I could think of was the flooding in Eastern Idaho with the warnings, "Don't drown-turn around!"  We went through a pretty deep spot on the way in and then on Sat. coming out it was way worse as there had been a huge rainstorm the night before.  I'm sure that the water would have come up to my knees.  We slid around a bit and we clapped when we got through the worst of it, but our driver (a different one from before) didn't even crack a smile.  I was sure that the water was going to start coming in under the door!

There is a special kind of horse in the Pantanal that can be in water for months at a times and not have it affect its hooves and legs.  We saw many horses standing in water up to and some up past their bellies.  In fact, we went on a horse ride and most of it was through the water.  I have a video of us but that was at the beginning of the water.  It got up past Sister Burke's feet as her horse was a little smaller than the others.  Looking out at the grass in the field, I had no idea that it was full of water until we were in it!  My horse stepped in a hole one time and almost went down with me on it!  Luckily we both stayed upright!

It was fun to see Toucans in the wild.  One flew right over our jeep at a low height but I didn't have time to get a picture of it.  I did get a picture of one in flight.  We like to see Toucans but down here the people don't like them at all as they are nuisance birds and rob other bird's nests of their eggs, etc.  We saw lots of Kingfishers and they are beautiful.  There are different kinds with beautiful colors.  They build their nests (holes) inside the banks of the rivers.  They really don't have a neck and they reminded me of "Toad" Whitehead from Iona!  :)  

We passed through some cattle drives and are the cows down here ever funny looking!  They are very skinny also and the meat is very tough.  We passed through a couple of cattle drives, one was only about 40 cows and the other one was around 800.  The next day someone said that there was a cattle drive with 1,000 cows but we didn't see that one.

One morning as we were on our jeep ride, we saw some water buffalo!  I've never seen any of those before and even though they were far away, we could still see their curled up horns.  We saw alligators, lots of birds (including Parrots, Macaws, Parakeets, Toucans, etc.), lizards (one only had three legs), Savannah foxes, deer, Capybara (the largest rodents in the world), Emus, water buffalo, and maybe more.  We didn't see any monkeys, Jaguars, or snakes.  The monkeys move away from the water during the wet season because of the mosquitos.  Oh yes, we saw mosquitos!!!!  Zillions of them I think!

On Sat. we left the Pantanal and the roads were even more covered with water.  During April, many of the roads to the farms are completely covered in water, some of them already were.  We went to a place called the Chapadas, which means Mesas.  The canyon walls and the rock formations kind of reminded us of St. George.  We saw some small waterfalls (nothing to compare with Iguacu!) but they were very muddy because of the rainstorm the night before.  There was a ton of water coming over them though.  We went out for Ice Cream that night for dinner :) as we had had a late lunch.  

Sunday we went to church in Cuiaba.  It was fun for the Harris' as they served their first mission there and they knew some people including the mission president.  Some of the couples went out to the mission president's home for a light lunch and the Anderson's did a training at the church for ICS (technology) and Dad and I stayed at the hotel until we left for the airport.  I had a very bad headache.  The Burkes and Sister Cox went out to the mission president's home because they work with missionaries from their mission and they needed to visit with the president.  

It was a good trip but now we are glad to be back and to get back into our routine.  We only have 2 months left and we have a lot of things to get set in place before we leave.  I forgot to tell you about Carnaval.  We don't go to anything as it gets pretty risqué these days, but at 4:30 a.m. in Cuiaba I woke up to the beating of drums with a samba rhythm.  I couldn't see anything out the window except for a hamburger stand that was going strong!  By morning it was gone.  I've seen lots of young (and middle aged) women and girls dressed up like cats!  I don't know what the significance is of cats and Carnaval!  Last Tuesday while we were walking home there was a drum line set up by the gas station and there was a lady out dancing for the traffic!  Luckily she was mostly covered!  Tomorrow is the official day of Carnaval and then Wed. is the first day of Lent.  I guess that the churches down here make a lot of money on Lent as people go in and pay to have their sins from Carnaval forgiven!  Carnaval is always the day (or week) before Lent for that reason!  Interestingly, many Brazilians have their birthdays in November.  :O

Well I'd better go.  I'll send some pictures in a few emails as there will be too many in one shot.  I sure love you all.

Love,

Mom/Paula

#5-the three legged lizard!

Letter from Dad

Tuesday, February 21, 2017  

Dear Family,

      Today we went to the Sacolão Supermarket a few blocks away from the office to get a pastel.  Mom had a bauru pastel (ham and tomatoes and cheese inside) and I had one of those and one with hamburger and cheese inside.  I will miss them.  A lot of the couples and sister Cox came with us which was nice.  We also took the time to buy some fruit and vegetables there.  We bought a really funny looking fruit called Pitaia (or Pitaya) also known as Dragon Fruit.  It pretty much tasted like dragon's breath.  No wonder every Brazilian I asked about it said, "I've never tried it."  As we walked back, there was a narrow area to walk through on the sidewalk.  Mom and Sister Cox went through and a young modestly dressed girl was waiting for me and I motioned her to come through.  I couldn't help but wonder how could she possibly hear the gospel message.  She had a special spirit about her.  You see so many wonderful people and as I have talked to numerous ones, they are all searching for truth and just can't seem to find it.  I have the feeling all the time of, "How do we teach 30 million people here in SP with a handful of missionaries?"  Then about two blocks later as we approached the temple, an older sister with her daughter came by me and I could tell they were members.  I stopped them and asked if they were.  The mother immediately addressed me as "Elder" something I will miss hearing.  Her daughter was obviously suffering from some type of cerebral palsy as her speech was slow and measured and she had some loss of muscle control, but I could understand her perfectly.  She served a mission in the Brazil Belem Mission at the mouth of the Amazon River.  We visited and then I moved on.  I got a little teary-eyed just thinking about their faithfulness, walking a long way to the temple,  in their Sunday best with extremely hot weather, with who knows what challenges in life, but with a countenance that radiated goodness and purpose.  I will miss these people very much.  

     We recently went to the restaurant on P-Day, Templo da Carne (Meat Temple) over in the Italian part of town.  The full name of the restaurant is "Marcos Bassi, Templo da Carne".  Several years ago I wanted to cook some tri-tip Brazilian style.  I went to YouTube and happened to come upon the teaching videos of Marcos Bassi.  I learned how to cook a really good tri-tip roast on the grill.  Uncle Byron taught me what spice is the best for tri-tip and believe me, it is the best (Pappy's).  I was telling the head waiter all about Marcos Bassi and he was blown away that an American knew who Marcos Bassi was.  A couple of minutes later, here he came and took us back to the kitchen to meet everyone and take pictures.  We had a great time.  They were also cooking palm hearts (palmito) in tin foil over the grill.  The took one off, sliced it open and cut out some pieces and it was really delicious.  Our meal was off the charts:  Palm hearts with olive oil, garlic, salt and butter; fraldinha (flank steak) cooked on a very long skewer and such tender and tasty meat; potato wedges; and their special rice dish.  They cut off the meat on your plate and then take it back to the grill.  They came by three times.  Later, the head cook and manager brought out a large platter of roasted white and purple onion wedges and caramelized lamb.  It was so good we could hardly believe how good it was.  The best is that they didn't charge us a dime for it and all because I learned how to cook tri-tip watching Marcos Bassi.

      Well, pretty much everyone in the building knows about the Casal Sonderegger that returned to work in welfare instead of the CTM (MTC).  We came back here because we weren't given much if anything to do.  No matter what we asked about, it had already been delegated to someone else.  There was no apartment available for us either.  We have so much to do to button up our projects as well as starting two more that I felt like we got jerked out of the soil and thrown away.  With no more necessary detail than that, we are back where we can do the most good.  We were welcoming back with open arms.  Everyone came and hugged us and were very glad to see us come back.  Elder Correa the Executive Secretary with whom we are good friends, said that Elder Costa was not surprised that we came back.  He also did not think there would be that much to do but as the request came from the CTM, he decided to see it through.  We aren't mad or upset with anyone.  I had a good visit, very positive with President Grahl of the CTM.  He is a really great man.  He understood and hadn't realized that we weren't keeping busy.  We are just grateful to be back.  If this experience served any purpose, it would be that we feel fortunate to have what we have here in our office.  

      An elder from Africa on arriving at the CTM and seeing all the food available and that he could eat as much as he wanted, broke down and cried.  We take a lot of things for granted and food a plenty is one of them.  Brother Braga at the CTM often goes shopping for missionaries who come with one pair of old shoes or one or two white shirts, one dress, a pair or two of garments, a suitcase that saw better days years ago, etc.  Often or even almost always, the missionaries coming from humble circumstances turn out to be great missionaries.  I am not saying you have to be poor to be humble.  In the case of successful missionaries who come from better off or well to do families, it is because their parents have taught them the value of WORK!  The missionaries who struggle the most with being here are almost always those who don't know how or won't try to WORK.  Give your children and grandchildren things to do.  I am so grateful that my parents always had a list of chores for me to do when I got home from school.  After school my day was (1) Do my chores; (2) Get my studies done; (3) Go play.  I learned to work fast.  The quicker I got my work/studies done, the more I got to play.  I wasn´t perfect by any means and had my bad days, but I did learn to work.

     The other problem that we see with the missionaries is that many of them feel like having "a really hard test/trial in life" should never happen.  Teach your children that "It is ok to have hard things to overcome in life".   It is ok to take hard classes in school.  Hard things are hard for a reason.  They allow us to grow, or to shrink.  I like Ether 12:6 which says, "...................., for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith."   Having faith and fortitude to overcome things is a lifetime activity.  You never know when hard times will come.  Looking back, the Teton Dam Failure was a really hard time for thousands of people, no fun at all and I doubt any of them would say, "Boy, that was a lot of fun.  Let's do it again."  But, they could tell you countless positive experiences and lessons which helped shape their lives.  To see people replanting a garden on their lot a couple of weeks after the flood with a ruined home and not knowing what was to come was inspiring to witness.  In D & C 136:31 we read "My people must be tried in all things, that they may be prepared to receive the glory that I have for them, even the glory of Zion; and he that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of my kingdom."  It is ok to have hard trials, to pass through them with some difficulty, and even endure some your entire life."  That takes a lot of faith.  Faith may be the most difficult of all the principles, doctrines and teachings to learn to have without question.  At least it has been for me.  Joseph Smith once described himself:  "I am like a huge, rough stone rolling down from a high mountain; and the only polishing I get is when some corner gets rubbed off by coming in contact with something else..............Thus, I will become a smooth and polished shaft in the quiver of the Almighty."  As grandma Sonderegger truthfully said, "You don't get strong by lifting marshmallows."  I think that is a great quote.

      The last thing I wanted to share is a quote from Elder Neal A. Maxwell published in 1981.  Elder Maxwell was so brilliant and a true apostle of the Lord in every way.  I always loved to hear him speak.  You had to listen closely and carefully.  He had a command of the English language like few others.  Like many, many people both in and out of the Church, mom and I are concerned about the day and age we live in and what we see happened all over the world as law and order and the pillars of truth are being gradually torn down.  Our society is drowning in the consequences and Satan is having his way.  Here is the quote:  

"Moreover, Latter-Day Saints need to remember that we who live now are being called upon to work out our salvation in a special time of intense and immense challenges - the last portion of the dispensation of the fullness of times during which great tribulations and temptations will occur, the elect will almost be deceived, and unrighteous people will be living much as they were in the day of Noah.  It will be a time of polarization, as the Twelve fore saw in their declaration of 1845.  Hardness of heart in many will produce other manifestations of hardness and coarseness.  Civility will be one casualty of these conditions and a lower capacity to achieve reconciliation, whether in marriage or between interest groups, will be another.  My prayer is that we will heed the warnings of the prophets and apostles who are now on the earth as well as in times past.  The prophecies are coming to pass.  They are so clear a dead man could see them coming.  I pray that Our Heavenly Father will bless each of you as you seek to know His will, and I pray that the Savior will not be long in coming.

Love You All, 

Dad

Pictures

#1-2 is the parking garage where I walk in the mornings.  Not nearly as nice as walking with Diana Fuller in her neighborhood or even at the college.

#5 is with the Harrises

It's Been Awhile...

(Emily here...I've been swamped with work/life changes, so I apologize for the very lateness of this update!!)

Dear Family,

I think it has been a while since I have written.  I think I get out of the habit since I talk to each of you (our kids) and Mom every Sunday.  Things have been a little crazy the last 3 1/2 weeks!  Dad mentioned in one of his letters that I didn't go to the temple one week.  That's correct.  I was just a bit out of sorts and decided that I needed to stay home and relax.  Around noon I received a phone call from the Area President's office saying that we had an appointment with Elder Bassett the following Tuesday.  So I was kind of a nervous wreck for four days!

On the 31st of Jan. we met with Elder Bassett and he asked us to transfer our assignment out to the MTC.  We were shocked to say the least!  We had a lot of different emotions running through our heads.  We said that we would do it and then we began the not-so-fun task of cleaning out our desks and our computer files.  It is amazing how much stuff gets saved over time.  We felt really bad to have to say good bye to our friends in the office.  

There really wasn't a place for us to live at the MTC so we were provided a car to drive back and forth.  It takes anywhere from 45 min. - 1 hour to get there depending on the traffic.  Well after five days out there it was very plain to see that there just wasn't enough work for three couples.  One couple finished there mission this past Friday and he was the Dr. but he had trained two other people to do his work so Dad didn't have anything to do.

We went back to Elder Bassett last Tuesday and told him that we just couldn't go back as we had a lot of work to do now with our projects and there wasn't anything to do out there.  He was really nice about it.  Everyone back at our office was really happy to see us.  We had lots to do for the rest of the week and it will continue through the rest of our mission I think.  We have more people to add to our garden projects and our Petrolina quail project is just getting started and we will probably have to go up there one more time to check to see if it is working for everyone.

In the meantime, we have done a couple of fun things lately.  The one that stands out was on Sat. 11th.  The Harris' and us went to a restaurant called Templo da Carne which means Meat Temple!  The only way we could get to it was to take a taxi as there are no bus stops nearby.  It is located in the Italian section of the city and it was a neat area.  

Dad had found some videos on YouTube a few years ago about how to cook meat the Brazilian way.  He found videos of Marcos Brassi who was the owner of the restaurant and then he started cooking tri-tip roasts/steaks that way.  Well Dad mentioned that to the waiter and the next thing we knew was that he invited us to go back into the kitchen and take a tour.  It was awesome!  About half-way through our meal the waiter came out with a big platter of meat and roasted onions.  It was "on the house" and was it ever good!  It was lamb and it was delicious and I'm not a fan of lamb.

One other thing we did a couple of weeks ago was to go bike riding in Ibirapuera Park.  There were three couples who went and we had a blast!  The is beautiful.  This week we a leaving on Wed. and going to central Brazil to an area called the Pantanal.  It sounds like there are more alligators there than Yellowstone has buffalo!  We will return late on Sunday night.

I am very glad that we are able to work at the temple.  I have been on the 9:00 am session each week.  We usually have several English speaking missionaries in that session.  Last Friday there were 10 English speaking sisters in my session.  There was a Brazilian sister who had the English card at the veil so that I wouldn't have to do them all alone.  As it turned out, it went about every other sister was English speaking so I had to jump from Portuguese to English and that is a challenge!  At one time during an English one I started to say one word in Portuguese!

I have attached some photos from our Templo da Carne experience and maybe some others that I haven't sent yet.  I sure love you all very much and appreciate your prayers in our behalf.  Hope you all have a great week.  We love you tons!

Love,

Mom/Paula

# 3 and 4 is Palm Heart.  Yes, it is the inside of a special kind of palm tree and it is delicious!

#5 is the meat cutting table!  The wood is so dense that the knives do not make marks on it.

A new assignment...

Dear Family,

      The Lord works in mysterious ways and this time, it involves us.  We had a meeting with Elder Bassett of the Seventy and the Brazil Area Presidency.  Elder Bassett told us that we are being tranferred to the Brazil CTM (MTC) to work with new missionaries in any way we are asked to.  They have a tremendous need for couples to serve there and it has been a real overload for those currently serving.  So, hopefully we can go help.  We will let you know as things develop.  At this time, we are still scheduled to come home on April 28th and that will not likely change.  Brother Doug McAllister who is the chief legal counsel for the Church in Brazil came and visited with me for a while.  He serves two times a week at the MTC and he has been visiting with Elder Bassett about our assignment.  He just wanted to reassure me that we could do it.  Mom wasn't here when he first came.  We talked about a lot of things and when I showed him the exercise program for missionaries that I designed over a year ago, he got teary-eyed and said, "Your calling isn't a coincidence."  He said how nice it would be to have it in Portuguese and I went click, click and up came the program in Portuguese and then he couldn't talk.  I clicked again and showed him my email today from Leandro Luna, a professional trainer and the son of President Valter Luna who I baptized.  Leandro had promised me that he would go through my program and correct any errors in Portuguese and send it back to me.  So, he sent it back this morning after more than a month, the morning we had our meeting with Elder Bassett.  Brother McAllister told me that this could be a blessing to the missionaries for generations if they could be trained to take care of themselves while in the MTC for six weeks that they would be prepared for the mission field.  So many missionaries struggle with emotional issues relating to their mission and I know from experience that exercise can solve quite a lot of their anxieties and worries.  So anyway, we hope to be able to do some good out there.  Please pray for us.  This is scary, just like any new calling in the Church, except this seems a lot scarier for some reason.  There has to be some important reason for us to be there for a short 12 weeks because it would have been a lot easier just to stay where we are.  We pray that we can quickly see what the Lord would have us do.  He is already preparing us in ways that we could not foresee.  Stay tuned.

Love You All, 

Elder Sonderegger

​Amada Família,

     Well, we keep learning a little more.  Excuse me for being excited and nervous at the same time (all nerved up as we say).  ​We had our last fast offering fund meeting and Elder Costa was presiding.  When mom and I came in the room, he looked at us and said, "Did you have a meeting this morning?"  "Yes, we did."  "Everything ok (and gave us a thumbs up)?"  "Yes" and we gave him a thumbs up back.  Then we went right in and let Elder Bassett know that we will serve where we are asked to serve.  I mentioned to Doug McAllister this morning the physical challenges that I have as well as the ones that mom has and he finally said, "Some times you have to take a leap of faith."  I know that is true and so we will do it.  I think the Lord sent Doug around the corner at the right moment to visit with me.  He is such a solid, good, spiritual man and I would confide anything to him.  We have really grown to love him and his sweet wife.  We will still get a P-Day, just not sure when.  Elder Bassett called Ozaní Farías the youngest DTA in the Church and asked him to arrange a car for us.  That will be nice most of the time.  A lot of times the bus gets you where you want to go faster.  Elder Bassett as well as Brother McAllister told us that the temple and the MTC are the most spiritual places in São Paulo and that we would feel the spirit right when we walk through the door of the MTC.  I know the spirit makes a huge difference in how we grow and progress.  I have been amazed reading Jordan's emails from the MTC in Provo and how he has grown so much spiritually.  You can read it in his letters.  Elder Correa the Brazil Area Executive Secretary put his arm around me (I had some business with him) and said, "Congratulations my friend."  I said to him, "I guess you already know."  He nodded and said, "Not everyone can serve out there.  Everyone here in the office has great confidence in you.  You are supposed to serve there for a reason."  That humbled me to the core and it did mom too when I related that to her.  Well, here we go, another adventure.  I guess it is time to really work on our faith.  As Nephi said, "If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them."  We will just go and do.

Love You,

Elder Sonderegger

From Dad

Bom Dia Queridos,

     While we are excited to be less than 13 weeks from coming home, we also are already missing a lot of people here who we have grown to love.  It feels like we are happily coming home to family but sadly leaving family too.  So, to help alleviate those feelings, we are excited that we will have the chance to be volunteers in the Pathway Program at BYUI.  We will be able to work with Brazilian students enrolled in Pathway.  The first time I told the director of Pathway here in Brazil, Silvio Guimaraes, that we wanted to volunteer, he didn't say anything at first but gave us a big hug.  They need volunteers really bad.  As he comes to Rexburg relatively often, we will get to see him and that will be awesome.  

      Just want to say to my wonderful mother-in-law, congratulations and a very happy birthday.  We love and miss you very much and hope to have some fun activities with you when we return.  I could hug you every single day for the influence you had and still have on Paula.  She radiates the same goodness that you taught her and that you have always shown to everyone.  You have a big heart and are always thinking of others.  I think in this day and age it is rare to find someone as special as you and I am certain that our Heavenly Father is so proud that you have always been on His team.  Thank you for just being you because that means everything to me and to Paula and all our family.  You are #!.  As I would say in Portuguese, "Não tem igual quando fala de voce!"

     As I have translated many, many missionary recommendations, I have been totally amazed at the strength of the young people whose lives I get to know a little.  So many of them have come from any of these situations:  Parents who abandoned them years ago; parents who show them no support; adopted by their grandparents because they were not wanted; have all kinds of health issues, are recent converts who already feel the need to serve; live with an aunt or uncle or brother or sister because they have no place else to go; have been told never to come home again; some don't know who one or both of their parents are; and many more.  Yet they choose to serve willingly and faithfully.  For many, many of them, the money they receive each month from their mission president for living expenses is the most money they have ever seen.  Many have never had an opportunity to have a paying job because there were none to be had.  Some give up their position in a university to serve a mission with no guarantee that they will have it back when they return.  A very few of them have quite prestigious jobs that pay well and they give that up to go on a mission.  You can't just go to a university here.  There are only a certain % of openings every year to fill and so they have to score very high on the nationwide entrance exam.  In the USA, if you don't get admitted to one university, chances are there are many more opportunities waiting for you.  Not here.  So I am really impressed with the faithfulness of these young people.  That doesn't mean they all turn out to be great missionaries.  Some go home early as they can't handle the work for a variety of reasons.  We always hope that their families, bishops and stake presidents will be at the airport with open arms to let them know that someone cares.  

      We had a holiday on Wednesday, Jan. 25th.  They have tons of holidays here.  We went to the downtown São Bento Area at 7:30 a.m. to look at some fabric.  Several went with us but then they kind of went their own way and Paula and I were left alone which was fine.  We had fun.  Paula got us there by bus and by two of the Metro lines, the yellow and then the blue.  A year ago we wouldn't have dared to do that.  Paula bought some fabric and something else way cool that we won't reveal until you come eat a Brazilian meal with us.  It is really cool.  Paula was then ready to go home but it was only around 9:30 a.m.  I knew about where we were as I could see the Arantes (BANESPA) building which was patterned after the Empire State Building but made of cement (tallest cement only building for many years) and only about 38 stories high.  So, with our bearings straightened out by talking to two Federal Policemen, we headed for the Mercado Municipal which is a really awesome and enormous building.  There they serve the biggest sandwiches you have ever seen.  The favorite is made of mortadella, a kind of baloney and it is at least 4" of meat or more on a humongous french roll.  It would easily do for 2-3 people but the tradition is to eat it by yourself.  What is this leading up to?  We didn't get one as we hate mortadella.   There are numerous small restaurants/cafes/bars, fruit stands galore, fish and meat markets, spices, sausage of all kinds and then some hanging up all over, huge vats of all kinds of nuts and on and on.  We even found cheddar cheese.  The brand was "Sun Valley", but it was made here in Brazil in the state of Minas Gerais.  It was too expensive.  Actually, we didn't buy anything but it was fun looking.  We then wandered around some more.  The street Rua São Bento is a closed to traffic street where I got all my missionary books bound in 1973.  The shop was owned by Alfredo Nardi and he loved the missionaries cause we all got books done by him.  It would be hard now to find someone with the expertise to bind books like he did.  It may be a lost art.  We walked by the Cafe Girondino (one of SP's oldest) and I was going to walk past it but Paula said, "Lets go in and get an omelette."  So we did and it was wonderful.  We got talking to the waiter and he gave us a little book about the history of the cafe.  Then we walked a short way, got on the METRO and headed home never getting lost once.  It will be really nice when the METRO extends to Morumbí right by the temple and then one more station past here to Vila Sonia.  It will be so much easier for people to get here all the way to the temple without having to take a bus or drive a car.  They are working really hard on it at the present time.  Probably because of the new mayor who is really a go getter.  He is a people person and everybody really likes him which is very unusual here to like a politician.  

     We also had a training meeting for all the missionaries worldwide at the Morumbí chapel.  All the missionaries of the São Paulo West Mission were there (Pres. Thomas and Sis. Thomas - Ellen Mathias).  It was a wonderful meeting of quite a group of leaders.  Elder Oaks, Elder Bednar and Elder Anderson was there.  I had the thought that it could very easily happen that Elder Bednar could be the prophet some day and I want my family to know that would be just wonderful for me.  The last letter I received from Elder Bednar in 2004 was signed - Love, David.  He is a great apostle and extremely intelligent and knowledgeable in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  After the meeting, I talked to one of the guards, Isaac.  I have given him many things to read about the Church.  I had been thinking about him the whole meeting and there he was after the meeting at the guarita.  I walked across and I said to him, "Some day Isaac, you and your family will be members of the Church and you will be blessed by the Lord to have just one job.  Then you will be able to enjoy your family more.  He works two jobs,24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year without a break, ever!  Not even Christmas.  How would you like that.  He told me it is what he has to do to support his wife and two daughters and that he is ok with it.  I really feel humbled by his attitude.  I couldn't do it.  He was not offended and I even told him that I am praying that all that will come to pass.  Many times in the Church, we make the mistake of thinking that if we are not helping people get baptized or that when people we talk to about the gospel don't get baptized that somehow we have failed.  That is not true.  We are seed planters.  The Lord is the one who knows when people are ready and some people take way longer than others.  Keep planting the seeds and sharing the gospel with everyone.  That is really important.  It doesn't matter when they get baptized nor who baptizes them.  Keep trying!

      We saw a cute show at Shopping 3 Cinema on Paulista on Friday night about a dog that keeps being reincarnated.  It was a good show and reminded me of all the dogs we have had.  I went to our morning temple shift and as usual had a great time.  No matter how my day or week is going, every time I go to the temple I come out feeling wonderful.  Mom's back was really bothering her so she stayed home today.  She seemed better when I got home.  In the 12:00 session I got to be both leader and follower and that is a challenge in English.  But it all worked out well.  A young missionary came up to me at the end of the session and I turned and said to him, "I know you.  I'll talk to you after."  So we visited in the hallway.  I asked where he was from and he said "Petrolina".  I replied, "I have been to your home and met you and your whold family there in June and in December, I had my picture taken with your parents."  It was a cool experience.  Had good visits with a number of temple workers today.  Worked at the office on projects, missionary recommendations, etc. 

     Saturday, Mom and I went to Ibirapuera Park on the bus all by ourselves.  We ran into "Vondo", the follow who carved our Nativity Set.  He was all smiles and recognized us immediately.  At one point he asked me, "I have someone named Ferron on my list of customers, do you know who that is?"  Ha Ha!  Ya I kind of do know.  I asked him if he would be willing to carve a camel for us as an extra piece and he said he would.  We are excited about that.  He has had 10 or more orders because of the missionary couples and he was really pleased.  He is a great fellow.  We then went to the Museu Afticano.  It is a wonderful museum and we were really impressed with the hundreds upon hundreds of displays, artwork and pictures.   It is a history of the people of Africa in Brazil.  They have had a huge influence and made a huge impact on this country.  The really tragic part of the history however is that there were between 3.5 and 5 million slaves who were kidnapped (rounded up like animals) and shipped to Brazil.  They were treated like animals with iron collars around their necks and legs.  Families were broken up and they were put with people from different tribes so that they could not understand each other (different tribes, different dialects).  It was heart-wrenching to see that part of the history.  Even former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso made some very bold statements about the shame that the country will always bear because of the treatment of slaves.  Feijoada came first from the influence of these slaves.  They were given the worst parts of a pig or cow and these they cooked in with their black beans and rice.  It is now the national dish and many of you have eaten the feijoada Paula makes.  Slavery ended in 1888 without a civil war or bloodshed by a government enacted law.  It has been called "The Golden Law,"  

     I remember when Elder Helvecio Martins and his son Marcus along with their families came to our home in Rexburg.  Elder Martins was the first general authority of African heritage in the Church.  We had the fortune of visiting with Elder Sitati of Kenya at our SP office when we first arrived.  Such a kind and gracious man.  Elder Martins as I was starting up the stairs asked me, "Brother Sonderegger, explain to me the revelation on the priesthood and why we could not have the priesthood for so many years."  Yikes.  I wasn't quite prepared even though I had studied and taught things on my mission.  I gave what i felt was the correct answer.  Elder Martins and Marcus (who has been the SP North Mission President) both smiled and Elder Martins said, "No, that is not the answer.  The answer is that we don't know why.  Only the Lord knows."  He told me that long before he received the priesthood that he knew absolutely that the Church was true and that was good enough for him.  He had the faith that he would receive the priesthood in the Lord's time.  He was totally shocked the day he received a call from a dear friend in Salt Lake telling him about the announcement.  He sat down and wept.  What tremendous faith.  When President Kimball visited Sao Paulo to talk about the building of the temple, as he sat on the stand, he looked down and saw then brother Martins and motioned for him to come to the stand.  Elder Martins thought, "The prophet must be motioning to someone else.  Why would the prophet want to talk to me?"  Finally after motioning several times, President Kimball turned to Elder Faust and said, "Go tell brother Martins that I want to talk to him."  So Helvecio finally came up and knelt by the prophet.  President Kimball with his sweet smile and loving countenance looked into brother Martins eyes and said this, "Brother Martins, all that the Lord expects of you is to be faithful.  If you are faithful, all the blessings of the gospel will be yours."  Elder Martins is one of the kindest men I have ever met, so loving, so caring and so humble.  I wish he were still alive as I would love to visit with him again.  I am sure he is doing a great work on the other side of the veil.  Great, great faith from a man who had every reason to never join the Church.

     On Sunday, Jan. 29th, we drove our car up to the Perdizes Ward where I served 45 years ago, same ward, same chapel.  Elder and Sister Harris went with us as they are assigned to that ward and we asked if we could visit.  I met the bishop and told him that I had served there and he looked at me and said, "I wasn't even born then."   After Sacrament Meeting had already started, a fellow came over and said, "Who are you?  Are you the mission president?  We are wanting to know."  So I told him that my wife and I were serving a mission here in Brazil.  The bishop called me up to bear my testimony.  This was the ward where I first met Leonel Sa Maia (who lives in Provo and who I ran into last Sunday).  Several members remembered Leonel.  One woman and one man, brother Caverni were members in the Perdizes Ward at the time I served there.  I only remembered brother Caverni's parents as he was 8 years old at the time.  In Sunday School, the sister who taught the wonderful lesson came to Brazil many years ago from Lebanon.  She and her family were persecuted and their lives in danger for being Christians, so they fled to Brazil.  She told of her brother who died and how the Lord told her in the Celestial Room of the SP Temple that it was his time to return home.  When her brother's son was married in the SP temple, she was sitting there for the ceremony and kept thinking how sad that her brother could not witness his son's wedding.  The sealer and the young man told her that her brother had been sitting right next to her during the ceremony.  She was quite emotional as she related this sacred experience.  I visited with her after.  Such a wonderful sister with a powerful testimony.  When I worked in Penha, my next to last area, the member lady we lived with and who cooked awesome meals for us had come to Brazil from Syria at age 18.  Her name was Amine Barbara.  She was like a third grandmother to me and she is the one who made the beautiful temple tie for me.  When I got transferred, she said to me, "Elder Ferron, I will never get to go to the temple so you wear this tie when you attend and please think of me."  All these years later I still think of her and what a kind woman she was.  She used to be really ornery with the most of the elders, but everything changed the day I told the other three missionaries that we needed to buy her a dozen roses.  A little kindness made a huge difference.  She spoiled me like I was her own child.  She is the only woman I gave a big hug to when I was transferred as that was against the rules.  But who doesn't hug their grandma?

     We had a great day at that ward.  We had a really good week.  A cashier at the supermarket who is always so nice to us said that she would accept some reading material about the Church.  I think we can handle that pretty easily.  I love my Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ and I know they love all their children, brothers and sisters here on the earth.  So grateful to have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ, independent of anyone else's testimony.

Love You,

Elder Sonderegger