President and Sister Bangerter: Dear Family and Friends!

Hope all is well with all of you. We love you and pray for you and think of you often.

We've had a whirlwind few months here in Piracicaba. Since April we've had three children with their spouses and children (11 grandchildren in all, two of whom we'd never met before), and several members of Howard's family come visit. It has filled our house with love and laughter and we have loved everyone of our visitors and every second we've spent with them.

We've also had to say goodbye to the first groups of missionaries we received here two years ago. We become so attached to these wonderful young men and women and really miss them when they leave. The other side is we get a whole new group of valiant missionaries ready to devote themselves to the Lord's work and we get to add them to our every growing mission family!

Spring in Piracicaba is beautiful. We went quite a while with no rain, but a week ago we finally got a couple of rainy days and everything has turned green again. First about six weeks ago, these enormous trees blossomed with beautiful purple blossoms. Next there were the orange blossoms on trees and now the pink that look a lot like the fruit trees in bloom at home. We're starting to see the yellow Ipes and soon we'll have the orange Flamboyant. The jasmin are starting to bloom as well and I'm catching whiffs of their sweet smell as I walk down the streets here. Some burrowing owls have made a home in the park where I run and life is good!

We continue to love working with these wonderful youth along with our senior couples, the Wagers and the Pierces. I don't know what we'd do without them. The Wagers with their vast knowledge of Brazil and the US have been invaluable and they have done so much in getting the office organized. The Pierces have been taking care of missionary housing, a huge job we were unable to do accurately before they came. They make sure the houses are in good working order and stop by occasionally to check if they're being kept clean, something I'm hoping is improving.

We love you all and would love more visits here in our little corner of the world!

Love,

Mom/Vovo/Lissa