Epistle #8    April 14, 2011

Well this you probably will believe,  somehow Tuesday night I finish this entry for the last week and went to save it and somehow lost it.  Soooooo here goes again.  And it was soo good too.

Last weekend (April 2^nd )  we watched General Conference on the internet on both computers.  It was so good, almost like being there.   Since it was so late, we  went to the MTC the next morning early and Rick watched Priesthood conference  and I got to see the Young Women Conference rebroadcast for Relief Society.     We are lunch and then watched both sessions of Conference with all the North American missionaries.   It was great to listen to them talk about the talks and see their faces when their favorite General Authority came on.  They all big yessed when Elder Holland and Elder Bednar came on, and Pres. Uchtdorf.    While in the 2^nd session,  an older sister we didn’t recognize came in and started taking pictures, which is a big no-no in the MTC except on P-days.   Come to find out, she is a free lance photographer who is also a temple worker in our Sao Paulo temple.  She was asked by the Ensign to take pictures for an article coming up in the Ensign.   So who knows  you may see us there.  

Then on Monday we got to meet the couple who lived in our apartment before we arrived.  Elder and Sister Litster were serving as Seminary and Institute missionaries then in October they were transferred to the Recife Temple up North, to be temple workers.   They were on their two week break for temple cleaning and so came back to be with us for a while.   They did the FHE  and told us all about what they are doing and what is happening with that very busy temple.   It covers all of the north of Brazil.   Look on your maps and you can see where it is on the coast.

If you remember President Monson’s last talk about the caravans who come to the temple from the Amazon River area, the Recife Temple is the one he talks about.   It takes 4 days by boat and 3 days by bus to there, they spend 5 days doing temple work and then another 7 days to get back home.   They only come once a year because it costs so much.   They bring only one change of clothes, because that is all they have.   The several stakes in the Recife area gather clothes and shoes for them to take home with them when they go.  When they come they bring huge piles of names to be done.  So much they just can’t get it all done in one trip.   They bring their families, children included and they camp out on the temple grounds around the back.   They eat their lunches  under the 138 mango trees, because the mangos when ripe fall and they eat them  right there.    There are other caravans that come from other parts of the country too.  Sister Litster says the strange thing is all the sisters come with sequins on their dresses.   They put them on the bodices of their dresses, down the sleeves and all around the cuffs and hems and they even decorate their shoes with sequins.   No colors just silver and white.   She says it sort of looks like a spiritual Carnival.   The new Manaus Temple will be finished in October so it will be much easier for these people to get there.  It even has a boat dock right in front of it on the River.    Wow how the church is growing.   The Forteleza Temple which is at the very top of Brazil is also underway.   So that will bring the number of temples to 8 here.    And 45 years ago Rick was here with only two missions.  

Wednesday we left for a 2 day Zone Conference in Campinas about 60 miles away from Sao Paulo.   They have 1.5 million in their city and also have a beautiful Temple.  We went early enough to get to the 3:00 session  that afternoon.   The Temple President and his wife were Elder Hill’s Mission President when he was here 40 years ago.   So it was old home night.   They took us to dinner in the temple cafeteria and then had us up to their apartment next to the temple for dessert.    It was so fun listening to them talk about what they did before they came.  They adopted two Brazilian children years before when they were here.    They were so funny, and it turns out they live in North Salt Lake with  a lot of the General Authorities and Apostles, and also across the street from Regina Redd Mitchell, my cheerleading buddy in High School.  It was at her house that I decided we needed to go on a mission soon since so many of our friends had lost their husbands.    We stayed at the alojomento or guest house there at the temple.  Very nice.

Thursday we found the church and the 1^st half of the mission conference.  The Mission President and his wife Marshall and Colleen Tanner from California have been in the mission since July.   They are wonderful with the missionaries.   About 100 of them.   We met 12 sisters ,  one was from Pleasant  Grove and the other American girl was from Provo and lives in Greg and Sid Olsens Stake.   She said she loves Sid.  She had just got to the mission 2 days before and spoke so well.   She had been waiting  for her visa too.     There were also two Elders who had just arrived from Tennessee where they had been waiting for 5 months for their visas .    Rick and Elder Hill did their Health presentation and Rick of course had them all laughing.  He even told them a story about gas stoves and me and the Bar B Que up at the cabin and burning off my eyelashes and eyebrows.

He said it was a safety story.  They really got a laugh out of that.    Afterward  the two of them  saw individual missionaries about their health concerns till about 4:30.   We then took the Tanners to dinner at Applebees in the mall close to their home.    We stayed overnight with them in their beautiful home.   Talk about gorgeous mahogany.  Wow.    Sister Tanner is the sweetest woman and speaks the language really well.    They were here before as the attorney for the area and she worked in the Interlagos  Mission as a secretary.   They were here for 2 years then.     Sao Paulo has 5 missions in the city of 22 million.    SP north,  SP South, Sp East , SP West and the Interlagos Mission, where our friends the Jacksons are Mission Pres.

After the same day on Friday with about 125 missionaries,  we finally made it home about 10:00pm and had to transcribe as many as possible before the night was out.   We did about 20 before we went to bed  then got up the next morning and did another 10-12.    It was quite a trip.

Saturday I made tea rings to take to an open house for the next couple to leave and go home.  They have been here 3 years .  He was the Assistant Director of the MTC and was also the Director of the MTC in Provo for 30 years before this.   They are from Orem and become dear friends to us in such a short time.    They will be truly missed by us all.    Vernon and Jerry Christopherson.      They are amazing people.  

On the way to the Open House we passed crowds of people standing in line to get into the soccer Stadium.   There must have been thousands of them.   At 3:30 in the afternoon they were waiting to get into see the”U2” concert, that night.    When we got home, we took a different way,  U2 finally started to sing at about 9:00 and we could hear just about hear every word.  The stadium is just over the hill from us.   I remember those songs from you kids when you were in High school.  They actually sounded pretty good.     They performed Sunday night and last night too, only the wind was going the other direction and we didn’t hear a thing.  

Sunday we both gave talks and I got to teach Relief Society on the Book of Mormon.  Oh yes I need to send you the answers to the questions I sent you.  Ok, in a minute.    Sound familiar?

It was fun to have the North American Sisters with us in class.  

The young Elder who has been in the Hospital for 3 months was operated on again last Friday and seems to be doing better.    They will try him on liquids this weekend.    He had water last week for the first time in 3 months and everything seemed to be going better.    What a struggle he has been through.    They will send him to a Londrina  hospital in the south, closer to his home.   Hopefully it will be next week.    So when I get feeling   a little blue I just think of him, and without his mother now, because she died last month and just maybe getting to eat for the first time in almost four months.   

Well, I had better end this soon or you won’t read anymore.    I must tell you one story about  a man with the Postal service who was delivering Christmas packages to President Oaks of the Campinas temple when he was a Mission  President years ago.   The man would come to the mission home and leave them and asked what was so different about these packages because everytime he held one in his hands he had a very special feeling come over him.    The spirit is so strong  when we get around these young men and women.    Even the spirit of their families can be felt.     They are so amazing and the gospel is here on earth to be lived thanks to Joseph Smith who was truly an instrument in God’s hands in bringing it back to earth.   

We love being here and living close to the temple and sweet people who come there to do the Lord’s work.    It is fun to meet members  and missionaries in the stores or on the street  as we go back and forth to our office.   There are so many who have sacrificed so much to become member s of this church.   Many have been disowned by their families only to live quiet service filled lives and raising beautiful children who love their Heavenly Father.    Some families accept their members back after many years away when they see what wonderful people their children  and grandchildren have become.     Living with the spirit in our lives and doing what the Lord asks of us are the best examples to those who want to know why we are who we are.

Follow in His footsteps will bring the joy and happiness we are seeking.    Remember your mission call from us….to Love each other, treat each other with kindness and respect and love all those around you who need help and understanding.    

Rick has come to stop me from boring you all to death.    May the Lord’s choicest blessings be with you always.

Love now and forever.

Sister Sue, Mom and Grandma