A Visit to the Brazil MTC!
                    Part Two

2003 Mission Newsletters
_________________________

    June 2003 Mission Newsletter
                                    Hi from Brazil! 

                               
                                 MTC Entry Mural

I've got to get pictures to you.  It is seven stories high and is a little haven from the dull and dirty streets of São Paulo.  It is spacious, open, beautiful wood and masonry, open courts with trees and flowers, fully fenced and guarded around the clock. Today there was a light rain, which sprinkled down on the open court and smelled clean and refreshing.  The floor of the auditorium (also gymnasium) is made of mahogany!  The woodwork here is art.   
  

    CTM Cafeteria

Good meals are served three times a day at the CTM.  For example, the other day for lunch (biggest meal) they prepared rice and beans (every day) T-bone steak, breaded chicken patties with onions, stir-fried cabbage, FRESH (each meal!) hard rolls (delivered fresh for every meal) salad bar, fruit bar, juice of every imaginable kind and an minuscule square of some unrecognizable dessert which I didn't attempt.
 
The MTC office are nice - mine is the Mail Room/Help Desk complete with mail boxes for every mission in Brazil, computer, storage, large wooden doors, and air conditioning (YES!)  I have my kids and grandkids  picture on my desk where everyone has the opportunity to ask about it :-)  I've already started to clean up this room (the cleaning people spent about 6 hours on just my office yesterday.)   Now I can decorate it, pictures, flags, whatever I want.  I think I'll go with a theme like "Help Around the World" - something to describe the purpose of the room.
 
We love our duties - I really don't know how they did it all without us.  They could use four more couples!  Last Thursday 25 new Brazilian missionaries came in and we went to a 2-hour meeting to watch orientation.  Today 22 new Americans arrived and tomorrow 48 Brazilians come in.
 
Sister de Paula's duties :

• Supervise distribution of mail (35%)  (It's taking much more time to track missionaries who have gone to the field, haven't arrived yet, were sent home, have the wrong box number, and my all time favorite - a letter addressed to Elder da Silva!
• Supervise the Missionary Help Desk (30%) 
• Assist with New Missionary Orientation (10%) 
• Teach Missionaries and Teachers (10%)
• Distribute Referrals (5%)
   
  Elder de Paula'a duties:
• Help with Arrival and Orientation Activities for New Missionaries (30%)
• Assist the Training Resource Center Coordinator in recruiting, training and supervising volunteers for the TRC (Training Recourse Center) (25%)
• Serve as Executive Secretary to the MTC Presidency (25%)
• Teach Missionaries and Teachers (10%)
• Provide Interpretation and Translation Services (10%)

It's the most exciting work!  To help the missionaries
as they arrive from the airport by bus, welcome them, stick blue dots on their name tags to denote they are new, orient them to their new home for 9 weeks, help them get their first letter sent off to their parents, watch the seasoned missionaries take them under their wings, and then to watch the blue dots come off as they start their second week already offering a prayer in Portuguese.  We are literally witnessing a miracle!
 
Every Tuesday night is a fireside at which a General Authority speaks.  The MTC choir usually sings consisting of both Brazilian and American missionaries singing in either language.  Last Tuesday evening the MTC President asked Lin and me to sing a duet "Love One Another"  and then I improvised a verse and  accompanied everyone to sing it.  The spirit was so strong.  It was quiet and peaceful after a beautiful presentation by the President and Sister Ostergars 
on charity.
 
We love it here!  The weather is pleasant (it's winter, remember?)  The temperature ranges right now between  60 some nights to near 75 during the day.  It is not humid, but give it until January.  Oh boy!
 
Thanks for your email, your support and friendship.
Elder & Sister de Paula
 
____________________________________________ 
 
    July 2003 Mission Newsletter
                                 São Paulo Brazil
 
Today is Monday, and another P-day for us.  The weeks are going by so fast!  It's been five weeks today since we boarded the plane in Salt Lake for our mission in Brazil.  We love it here!   We feel right at home with a few hundred young people around all the time, asking questions, needing help or just wanting to hang out and chat!  It doesn't quite take the place of our family, but it keeps us busy.  We talk to our children and grandchildren several times a week, and are emailing almost daily. 
 
Our duties and responsibilities here at the MTC (called CTM here for "Center for Training Missionaries") are varied, ever changing, and fluctuate from mundane to profound.  We have a lot of latitude in what we do and how we do it.  We have free time and P-days to go to fine restaurants, movies, shopping etc.  Sometimes we just grab a hamburger and fresh juice at a little spot a few doors down from the CTM gate.  We've made friends with the young couple who owns the shop and have given them a framed picture we took of the two of them the second time we were there.  They've asked a few questions about the missionaries, P-days and our family.  We'll probably see them again today.  They are very loving people with a little 6-month-old son whom they adore!  

                                 
                              Owners of the Corner Cafe

Wednesday, for the 4th of July, all the couple at the CTM took a bus, two trains and taxis to a VERY wonderful Churrascuria.  It took us about two hours to get there and we ate for about that long too!  Better not do that until the next 4th of July!
 
Elder de Paula serves as executive secretary to the CTM presidency and coordinates every imaginable thing that is done for the missionaries.  His office is directly across the hall from President and Sister Ostergar's offices where they can easily find him. To name only a few of the many responsibilities that I happen to know of:

1. the orientation of new missionaries (both English speaking on Wednesdays and Brazilians on Thursdays
2.  coordinate all combined events including bi-weekly devotionals and firesides - that's the set-up of chairs, sound system, ushers, assignment of translators
3. organize, print and distribute agendas for all meetings
4. help Brazilian missionaries who have not yet received their endowments, select size and style of garments for attending the temple
5. simultaneous translation and interpretation of speakers
6. work with the full-time staff on assignment of missionaries to districts, rooms and PO box numbers. 

There are many other things, I'm sure, because usually it's a 12-hour day Tuesday through Sunday, and I can't find him!
 
 
Sister de Paula's office is at the other end of the hall from Elder de Paula's - where the noise is!  The missionaries gather at and/or pass by my office several times a day.  I am right around the corner from the cafeteria and the post office boxes - their two favorite places.  Instigating the "Help Desk" has been both satisfying and frustrating.  My duties in that capacity include solving every imaginable problem: 

• "I've been here 3 weeks and haven't received one letter
    from my family." 
• "I lost my lunch card." 
• "I've got pink eye, can you find the doctor?" 
• "Did someone turn in by missionary study guide?" 
• "Someone took my shampoo out of the shower room -   
    twice!" 
• "We lost our room key, again." 
• "Can I get a pass to leave the CTM and take my suit to
    the  cleaners?"

Well, you get the idea.  I'm the problem solver - or rather, the problem listener.  Since there never has been, in all the six years of the new CTM a Help Desk, there are no answers to give.  I scamper, ask, beg and mostly use sign language to get the answers for them. 
 
The missionaries arrive tired, lonely, excited and homesick.  They need love and understanding from the moment they step off the bus from the airport.  Last week we welcomed with a hug or a handshake 34 American missionaries and 44 Brazilian missionaries.  These numbers will surge dramatically by September, when the number of missionaries at the CTM will reach nearly 700.  (Maybe then, we won't ever get home to
our apartment.)
 
For every missionary, his or her lifeline is a letter from family or friends.  The most touching scene unfolded my second week here when mail delivery to the PO boxes correlated with the missionaries' lunch schedule.  They could see me through the open courtyard as I put the letters into the slot of each numbered box (each district is assigned one box).  Soon, it dawned on me that there were cheers coming from the cafeteria.  It grew to loud roars.  I turned to see what the excitement was and saw them standing, smiling through the glass wall applauding, cheering and giving high fives to each other as I inserted another letter into their box!
 
                                    
                                        Huge Mail Day!

The mail handling is a massive job.  Each day I make a trip to the post office for any package notices that may be in the CTM PO box.  The regular mail is delivered daily to the CTM any time between 9:30 ..and never!  The mail delivery includes all th mail for staff, senior missionaries, regular missionaries, missionary applications for the Church Office wing employees and bills for administrators.  Some CTM staff employees go by their first name, others by their last name, and still other by one of their middle names. Daily, there could be between 40-150 pieces of mail.  A letter can represent several hours' work.
 
A letter addressed to "Elder da Silva" arrives.  At any given moment there could be eight "Elder da Silvas" at the CTM according to the computer program detailing current missionaries.  This "Elder da Silva" then, may be a current missionary, or in checking the complete list of missionaries who have been here over the last 6 years, we find that our choices have increased to 1300!  (Next week, that number will certainly increase.) So, the possibilities are four: 

• he's here, find out which one it is
• he's gone to one of the 26 missions in Brazil, find out which one and forward it in the weekly pouch to that mission
• he's served his mission and gone home 
• he's had to return home for delayed repentance

Sometimes I can solve the mystery, sometimes not.  But this I know, every piece of mail is treated as if it were a letter to my own child.
 
Starting tomorrow morning, every Tuesday and Friday I will teach English as a second language to a group of seven CTM teachers.  They speak some English, so we will be able to use more than sign language, charades and laughter!  This will be a good assignment now that I've got the two huge areas of responsibility organized and underway. My Portuguese is improving, and if I had more time to study, I'd undoubtedly be speaking in nine weeks like the missionaries. 
 
In August when the Fishers go home, I'll take over the CTM choir.  They are in São Paulo because he serves the church as an attorney.  They travel from about 45 minutes away, near the São Paulo Temple twice a week to rehearse the choir to perform in the fireside on Sunday evening and the devotional on Tuesday evening.  Sister Fisher asked if I wanted to trade off with her, but I said no. Sister Ostergar said it's either her or me.  My feeling is that I can wait my turn.  I gave Sister Fisher a simplified version of my 3-step plan for learning to play the hymns, which she had translated and is taking to various places in remote Brazil to help the branches learn to play the keyboards that have been donated from the US.  She said she is very insecure in teaching, since she's never done it.

                                     MEET THE CTM COUPLES!

Besides us, there are three other couples who serve at the CTM.  We just love these wonderful seniors!

• President and Sister Ostergar are our friends from college Alan and Nancy, whom we spent New Year's Eves with for many years ago along with the Christophersons and the Harris'.  They are wonderful, kind leaders.  They are from Provo, they have nine children and have served as Mission President in Kentucky.  They finish their mission in January 2005. 
• The Binghams - Gary and Judy are from Utah now, but he retired from the medical profession in California.  Down to earth, brilliant, kind people who are great teachers, they have just six months remaining here at the CTM where he is the resident doctor.  They serve for about six months and will then retire to Eden, Utah, that beautiful spot of earth! 
• The Oblads - John and Sue - have been serving as "the other couple missionary" who arrived  three months before we did.  They are a sweet couple who have been married only 2 ½ years.  They dated as high school friends, she sent him on his mission to New York, then later they married other people and had a total of 13 children.  After years, as Sister Oblad say "of two bad marriages we found each other again." The Lord definitely had a hand in this union.   
  Permission came from the first presidency two weeks ago on a Tuesday for them to be sealed.  They were sealed the next morning in the Campinas Temple.  When their mission is over, they have to back to work, since neither is retired.

The work is wonderful.  There isn't a place on earth that I would rather be.  The spirit, the enthusiasm and the need are all intense. Our desire is that we serve in the spirit and manner of these wonderful people, and help prepare the missionaries to touch lives and bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the lives of these choice people. 
 
Thanks for your love, prayers, support and friendship.
 
Love, the de Paulas
 
 PS.  11 July 2003 In this week's group of American missionaries were four from our "neighborhood" - Cedar Hills, Pleasant Grove, Alpine and Highland.
 
____________________________________________
 
   August 2003 Mission Newsletter

Hello from Brazil!  We are now beginning our third month here at the CTM in São Paulo Brazil, but in many ways it feels like we've been forever.  We continue to love our work in orienting, teaching, serving and loving the missionaries.
 
Today will be a highlight in our mission.  Elder Henry B. Eyring, an apostle, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, a member of the Presidency of the Seventy and Elder Neil L. Anderson, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy will arrive at the CTM this morning and present a devotional for two hours.
 
Last Wednesday the largest group of missionaries (79) arrived from the US, and only 4 new Brazilian missionaries on Thursday. The CTM has swelled to nearly  500 elders and sisters!  It's so thrilling to welcome them as they exit the bus, enter the gate and walk through the doors of the CTM to begin their concentrated study and service as a missionary of the Lord. 

The cafeteria, laundry and maintenance will be working overtime to accommodate the growing numbers.  Even the local shops are getting ready for them on their P-Days!
 
Speaking of P-Days, there is a little shop around the corner, three doors from our apartment named "P-Days Are Us". It is only open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays because those are the days the American missionaries have P-Days.  It's a chain owned by a member, and the missionaries love it. They also have emailing and fax/mail (faxed to the US them mailed locally) facilities for the missionaries to communicate high tech with family members.  I stopped by one day to pick up some peanut butter I needed for a recipe, and found myself drooling over the crispy M & M's and the Original Pringles in the red can!  They sell what the missionaries miss - Lynn Wilson taco shells, nacho cheese, maple syrup. You know - all the necessities of life!
 
We reached a sort of benchmark in our mission this week.  District 23A, which arrived the day after we did on June 4, completed their 9 week training here and left for the field on Tuesday.  It was a bittersweet experience in that this very small district, which began with only six elders, left the CTM with only five in their group.  One elder needed to leave in his third week because of an unrepented sin that was causing him grief.  We grew very close to this district as we followed them through their first day of orientation, their introduction to Portuguese and visited with them many times on a daily basis.  To contemplate the joy and fulfillment that they will receive in their mission service is satisfying to us.  This is mixed with the sadness and concern for the young elder who had to leave his district and will miss out on those blessing at this time in his life.  Our prayers go with all of them.

 
   What Do Those Numbers and Letters Mean?

Just a word about how the districts are set up.  That District 23A was the only American district that arrived in the 23rd week of 2003.  If there had been additional missionaries, they would have been District 23B, 23C, etc.  This week's arrivals are in district 32 (being the 32nd week of the year).  Because there are so many, there will be (American) 32A through 32F.  Also, there will be a Brazilian District 32A.

                                                      * * * * *
 
Elder de Paula and I are now in full swing teaching our ESL classes.  What fun it is!  I teach a class of Brazilian instructors on Tuesday and Friday mornings for an hour at 7:30 am.  Elder de Paula teaches a group of full-time staff members (who speak little or no English) on Tuesday and Friday at noon.  I have found that my class which fluctuate from 5 to 10 participants on any given day and want to learn English so they can pass a test to be able to teach American as well as Portuguese districts. Also, they want to simply know more about the US.  I am showing them 10-15 minutes a day, at the downbeat of 7:30, the DVD movie "Single´s Ward".  Many have to travel over an hour to arrive, so there are stragglers.  Afterwards we have prayer, discuss the action, summarize a scene and talk about new vocabulary words.  Then it's on to grammar worksheets, pronunciation drills, writing, etc. 
 
One of the Brazilian teachers who has not been to my class stopped by my office, at the recommendation of Elder de Paula, to ask for help in locating some sheet music online.  After 20 minutes we had not been successful, but he lingered for two more hours, just needing to talk about some concerns including his pregnant wife who suffers from depression.

                                     
                         General Authorities' Visit


Elder Utchdorf

On Saturday, Elder Utchdorf spoke about how his wife's family was found by 2 missionaries is Frankfurt, Germany just two months after her father had died.  She was 12 years old at the time.  The missionaries did not give up trying to find someone to teach.  It was time to go home, but they continued knocking on doors in one apartment building, until they reached the top floor, last apartment.  Two months later they joined the church.  It was shortly thereafter that he was visiting the Mormon church in Frankfurt and saw a beautiful 12 year-old girl with big brown eyes.  It took him quite a while to actually join the church. 

Elder Eyring
 
Elder Eyring spoke prophetically about the future of Brazil.  He related a spiritual experience he had. He received a manifestation that there would be many good and noble people join the church in Brazil who would rise to leadership positions in companies and government.  He said, nearly in tears, "If I am wrong, it will be because I will have been too modest."  While in the federal building in Brasilia, Elder Eyring was hosted by an official in the government - with a first name of Moroni (3rd generation member of the (church) - who gave him a tour of the government buildings.  At one point, as he was viewing the display of past and present leaders of the country, Elder Eyring stopped at one specific picture.  He looked into the man's eyes and said, " This is a good man."   It was the current vice president of Brazil.  Without discussing it, Brother Moroni arranged to take  Elder Eyring to this man's estate.  They drove through a gated garden and flowing lawns.  Moroni then introduced Elder Eyring to the VP, who was comfortably dressed in a shirt and slacks, as "an apostle of the Lord, Jesus Christ."  With that, the man excused himself and returned in a few moments dressed in a suit and tie to show proper respect for the office of apostle.

                                                   * * * * *
 
Elder de Paula made this observation about Elder Eyring's visit:  "Last Saturday Elder Eyring was here at the MTC for a couple of hours.  He spoke to all the missionaries and we, of course, were in attendance to it. He made some marvelous promises to the missionaries regarding the Brazilian people. 

Paraphrasing one of the things he said was that 'we have to surrender our hearts to Heavenly Father because the Holy Ghost will come when our heart is right;'  In talking about his promises, he said ' that if the things he had promised us did not come to pass, it would only be because he had been too modest in his promises' and that 'blessings always follow obedience, and that we have to have faith enough to repent and to obey.'"

                                              * * * * *
 
Thursday was a wonderful day!  We went at 6:30 am to the Campinas temple by bus with the Brazilian missionaries here at the CTM.  The endowment room was nearly full for the session (in Portuguese) and we were asked to be the witness couple.  I only missed one of my cues to go to the alter. Afterwards we visited with the temple president whom Elder de Paula was anxious to meet.  He had spoken to him on the phone about a year and a half ago from Salt Lake when President Hinckley call him (through Elder de Paula) as the president of the new Campinas temple.  After the session we notice a young woman and and an odler woman looking at us (and particularly at our name tags).  The younger one finally spoke.  She introduced herself and her mother and said she noticed on our nametags the "de Paula" name and wondered by chance if we had a son who had served a mission in Fortaleza a few years back.  She knew our son, Matthew.  What a surprise thousands of miles away from our home and our son's mission.

We miss our children, our grandchildren (who are just getting cuter and smarter by the day!), Mom and Keith, and all our wonderful family, friends and neighbors.  We would prefer to share a personal visit and a home-cooked dinner with you, and you can collect on both just as soon as you arrive.  We will have a place for you to stay any time you can come!
 
 
Love and Hugs, the de Paula missionaries
 
____________________________________________
 
 
    September 2003 Mission Newsletter
 
If we were to measure time by the number of experiences we've had, then we've been here for around least two centuries!  The term that comes to mind is "freeze-dried" -  that's it - lots in a very little space.
 
                   Brazillians are Prepared for the Gospel
 
Since Elder Eyring's prophecy about many good people joining the church in Brazil and working influencing government policy, we have heard some amazing stories. 

The following Saturday a man from Recife stopped at the gate of the CTM and asked to talk to someone about his impression.  He had come to São Paulo about three years ago, trying to find what he should do with his life, and praying to God to forgive him of his sins.  Things were not going well for him financially, and this particular Friday, he and his wife were driving and turned down the little street where the CTM stands.  A voice said to him "stop the car, but he drove slowly by.  Then came the words, "If you don't stop, I cannot help you."  He told his wife, who answered "Then pull the car over and stop then!"
 
They walked across the street and the guards called one of the teachers, Brother Safuan, who was not teaching at that moment.  Brother Safuan listened with interest as the man said he had been prompted to stop and wanted to know where the church was.  He escorted the man and his wife to the church, knowing that no one would be there on a Saturday.  But, there was one car in the parking lot.  It belonged to the bishop.  After a brief tour of the church, they met the bishop who opened the baptismal font.  As the man and his wife looked at the font, Brother Safuan said, "This is where your sins will be forgiven."  The couple asked to be taught immediately.  "We must learn the truth, be baptized, and return to Recife to teach our families and friends."

The previous Friday, a 14-year-old boy told his mother that he wanted to be a missionary like the ones he sees on the street near their home by the CTM.  His mother promptly said, "Well, let's go see about it."  She went with him to the gate of the CTM where he asked the guard if he could come in and get a white shirt and tie to be a missionary.  They invited him in and found an instructor to "help" him.  I'm sure he'll be back in about 5 years!

The CTM has about 300 missionaries are the present time, with a few straggling in between now and the first of 2004.  The numbers of American missionaries has gone from the 50-60 per week that we saw in the summer months to the ten that will be arriving this morning. But, the feeling and spirit of the CTM is never reflected in the numbers!  What a joyful place to serve!
 
The Christmas season is gigantic in Brazil!  All the malls have amazing displays of lights and decorations, unlike any we have ever seen before!  The stores are elegant (and expensive!) and the traffic to and from the malls (called "shopping" here) is dreadful!  It takes about one hour by taxi to travel 18-20 miles.  Salt Lake seems so small!
 
 

The CTM choir began the Christmas season last evening by singing the wonderful advent carol "O Come, O Come Emmanuel."  It was a small group, perhaps 60-70, and felt more like a chamber choir.  It was thrilling to find this free, magnificent music on the Internet, print if off, and give the missionaries the opportunity to sing it! It's just like magic! Another opportunity that Sister de Paula is having is working with soloists and groups to present special numbers for devotionals and firesides. Our holiday numbers will include "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," "Still, Still, Still," "Baby, What You Goin' to Be?," "O Holy Night," "Silent Night Medley" and "Away in a Manger".  Some include soloists, and most will be sung in a combination of English and Portuguese.
 
Many missionaries are discovering that they are more than "instruments" in spreading the gospel, but literal instruments, created for singing! It is amazing that these missionaries, who usually spend 12 hours a day in class, are eager to take on additional choral activities in their "spare" time! (Maybe that's why they do it?!?)  During a formal dinner and program honoring the branch presidencies December 12, an ensemble of 32 singers from the choir will present a brief program of missionary and Christmas music.

Two Amazing Missionary Stories 

We have heard some pretty amazing missionary stories in our brief time in Brazil.  May we share two that we heard from the missionaries themselves.

• 
  The first is from Elder Acklen, who bore his testimony on the first fast Sunday after his arrival at the CTM.  He learned about the church while in prison.  He testified that he knew that the Church of Jesus Christ was the only true church on the earth, and that it's pattern for living was whole and complete.  His testimony grew as he read, prayed and studied while serving his sentence in prison, and was baptized 15 months before entering the CTM.  In a brief note he expressed his feeling about music. 
                                         
  "You have given me a better understanding of how music can effect others.  I have loved singing with you.  When I was converted, good music became very important to me and I desire to learn and share as much of it as I can!"
  
• The second story is from Elder Snow. He stood with his companion to teach the Sunday school lesson and asked the branch he had been assigned to give their full attention to what he was going to say.  The subject was close to him and he needed the spirit of the Holy Ghost to enter the room as he related it. 
  
  (Following is the story as it was reported by ABC News TV in Salt Lake City)                                   
  
  "CALLED TO SERVE"
• It's been an overwhelming experience for 19-year-old Wesley Snow and his family this week as they learned his assignment.  Because eight years ago brother Ben Snow went to the very same mission in Recife Brazil, but died in a tragic bus crash seven months before he was to come home.  The odds are rare that out of hundreds of LDS missions around the world that two brothers would be asked to serve in the very same one some eight years apart, but if you ask the Snows they'll tell you without hesitation...It is inspired. The Snow family gathered to hear the news. He opened the letter and couldn't talk, sat and cried. He choked out he would be going where his big brother had served and then all teared up of course, but the emotions were not of fear or anxiety to send one son where another had died. Eight years ago it was excitement over another mission call. The snows sent their eldest son, Ben a young man they say who always smiled, had no guile and who worked hard on his mission which gained the love of the Brazilian people. Sue Snow said, "When he was a little boy I thought he's too pure to be on this earth he doesn't belong here." A terrible bus crash took Ben's life, but his influence in his mission lived on. Ben's work helped to create a new LDS stake a few months after his death. Now another son whose heart was broken when his big brother died willingly follows in his footsteps. "I think going on this mission will let him feel like he's with his brother again." And his parents see the joy in that, not the pain. "When you can transcend from how horrible it was to how wonderful it can become you do not need to be afraid."

Elder Wesley Snow left the CTM for his mission in Recife on November 18, and left those of us here with a stronger testimony of the Lord's awareness of each of us.  We know that our Father in Heaven is aware of our trials, our pain, our struggles, and that His love and His plan are sufficient to conquer all suffering and sin.  How thankful we are!
 
Thank your for your love and prayers in our behalf.  We miss you - children, grandchildren, parents, friends and neighbors.  We know we are missing out on special events in your lives, but we also know that the Lord needs us here greatly.  We know, as did the wise men of old, that we will all be blessed in seeking and worshipping Him. 
 
Merry Christmas!

Love, the de Paulas 

Thanks for visiting, and if you haven't seen Part One of our Mission Web Wite -click here