Sept. 1, 2008

well hello hello family! yes its actually me and im alive! it has been a long two weeks since we talked last and alot has happened. but im here in joão pessoa. i guess i will start from the beginning haha. the last week in the mtc was good. we studied hard and said our goodbyes. took alot of pictures and then the morning came for us to leave. i was over a little but on my luggage but it was no problem. but we went throught the airport and stuff all on our own. no directions at all. haha and we were on a normal sized plane. not as big as some we have been on but normal sized. we flew for a few hours and had our connecting flight from recife. sorry dad i didnt see rio. that would have been awesome though. well i got to joão pessoa and president fernandes was there to greet us. we went to the mission home and had lunch and then training and interviews until dinner time. then we got to go to president fernandes house and eat dinner there with him. it was all good and then that night we slept at some apartments across the street. i saw billy hiatt there. he is from pg too so it was really nice to see someone i knew. the next day we went to our area and met our companions. my companion is elder joabson. he is from são paulo and doesnt speak any english. he is a really cool guy though. so then we got to work. haha it has been a very tough week. i dont understand anything anyone says but its all good. im coming along and understanding more everyday. the area is really nice. it has its rich parts and its poor parts also. its really hot and humid here and i sweat 24-7. this first week has really been a hard one for me but i have worked through it and i think things will go up. the hardest part is not having anyone to talk to. i will probably get to see some of the other guys from my district tomorrow for our district meeting. that will be nice to see them and see how they are doing. well thats about it. for now. haha it has been crazy and the time goes fast at some points and slow at others. i will try to send some pictures with the e-mail next week. that will be sweet. im glad cam and tys farewells went well. they will both be such studs. mom how is the knee doing? im sorry you have to have so much down time with it right now. it really sucks. i had only a small part of the downtime you have with my ankle and i know its so hard. but know im always thinkin about ya. i got both the packages you sent and they helped so much especially this first week! it has been so nice to know that you guys are thinking about me! there are times when i sit and wonder if i can actually do this. but i know you love me and are praying for me and i just keep working. i love you. it sounds like pg is going to have another good season this year. too bad they couldnt grab the one against timpview. its ok though. you will have to let me know how mk did this week. i am so excited for you buddy. your going to do awesome. it will be great. im trying to catch up on all the stories but it sounds like it has been a good couple weeks. dad i love the sports updates. they dont talk about much down here besides soccer. keep me updated on byu texas and just the top interesting teams and stories. you dont need to write too much. i hope everything is going good. i am working really hard on that tape and so that will be awesome. sounds like aub had an awesome week too. sounds like everything has been really fun. im not sure how mail is going to work down here yet but i should find out today. ill do some mission ties and other letters too. it should be good. ill see what i can do. well i cant e-mail anyone but family so if you can just tell everyone to write instead of e-mail. i dont want to lose my e-mailing privelages. sorry to everyone else. but things are going good and im trying to be happy. i love you all. have an amazing week and ill try to tell you more next week! lots of love and hugs. ty