Sept. 22, 2008

Hello family! Well this week went good, I was a little worried for a minute because dads e-mail was all screwed up and weird but I reopened it and it was fine after so I could read it. Haha, but anyway, things are going good here. I just got done with week 4 here and this Thursday will be 3 months away from home. It’s so weird to think I have been away for that long and that short at the same time. It seems like I have been away for so so much longer but at the same time it has gone fast at times. I’m sure I will feel the same way at 6 months and then a year, but our investigators are doing good. we have a baptism this Wednesday. His name is Alef and he is 14. He is a pretty solid kid and I’m excited for that. We have some other investigators that are close to baptism but we just can’t right now. Whether its parents saying no or other things, but we are doing good and working hard. I’m trying hard to be better with my companion and look for positive things always. Yesterday we got to give two blessings to some of our investigators. one to Aldemir who is a father of a family and he decided to quit smoking and drinking and asked for a blessing. We are working with his family cuz he has already been baptized. The other was to a child of one of our investigators for health. The baby had been sick and not sleeping so we gave it a blessing- the whole time it was crying but right when we finished it stopped and went right to sleep. It was really cool. Well I am getting better with the language but I still have to think about things first and then try to say them but it’s definitely coming along. I’m getting better. I’m understanding more and more every day. It will just take time though because there are a lot of times that i still feel lost when people start talking about things and words I don’t recognize come up, but it’s getting better. Well I was going to send some photos this morning but Elder Joabson was playing with my camera like usual and drained my battery so I’ll have to next week. I don’t have any great ones right now but I figured something is better than nothing. Well I’m kind of mad at myself because I forgot grandmas e-mail address this morning so if you could just tell them I’m sorry but I got her letter and thank her so much for me. I can e-mail all my relatives so I’m going to next week. But tell grandma and grandpa that I love them and I’m thinking about them. Well we still have to clap our hands real loud at the door but sometimes they have little doorbell or buzzer things, most the time it’s clapping though- kind of different. And another thing that’s different is they always have a really big lunch with dessert always but then they hardly ever eat dinner. Maybe a little snack but nothing else. I’m having to try to get used to it because I usually eat a small lunch and a big dinner, but I don’t mind it’s just different. Well I am in Joao Pessoa, but not at the same time. It’s like a suburb, haha Tambau is the area and it contains Tambau and Manaira. It’s just like a smaller part of the big city. joao pessoa is pretty big so we just have a little area. It sounds like the new schedule is going alright. I never really liked the 1 o’clock schedule, it just seems longer, especially since I’m up every day at 6:30. I’m sorry McKay about the tough loss. I really hate when that happens. It’s really hard, but try to bounce back with a lot of energy because teams can become really dangerous after a tough loss. Make sure the guys on your team aren’t getting down, make sure they are getting hungry for a win. Thanks for the updates this week. Mom I forgot the rest of your questions again this week but I’m trying to include a lot of what’s going on here. I haven’t eaten anything really weird yet, just a lot of lasagna and pasta and rice and beans- haha and açai. But we eat good here so Im pretty happy. The people here are really friendly and take care of us. We do a lot of finding on our own but the members help us find people too which is nice. We find a few good references from the members every once in a while. The members are really friendly with the people we get to church too so that is nice since they will befriend the new converts. I’m trying really hard to just keep my head up even though some days it’s hard. The days just keep rolling by and soon enough I might have a new area which is kind of weird but exciting. Who knows if I’ll get transferred or stay? I kind of just want to stay here but I’m not sure yet. I’m getting excited for when I will just be able to talk and stuff because it will make it so much better but I’m just hanging in there right now. So mom what’s the update on the knee? Hope its feeling good right now. I have been so terrible with writing but I’ll be better I promise. I’m trying really hard, but I love you guys so much and I don’t think there is anything I forgot this week but if there is let me know. Oh I thought of something that would be awesome in my next package-peanut butter. I never thought I would want it so bad but I really do. But anyway I love you all so much and I’m so happy I have a family like you that looks out for me. I can feel all your prayers and love for me. You guys are all the best and if you have any questions or want me to write about something just let me know. Have an awesome week I love you all. love ty