November 10, 2008 A Great Week in Natal

hello family! well it has been a great week this week here in natal. first of all because I got a package and a nice stack of letters! haha it has been so nice. so I got the package with the pictures and the tape and all the candy. it was so funny all the other elders that I live with were so happy! we took pictures and everything it was sweet. so it has been a great week and I was so happy to get all the stuff. the package was awesome so thank you all so much! I loved it! well I heard about the elections, that’s kinda crazy. we will just have to see how he does. everyone here is so happy about it. they all say how much the us affects the whole world and how good that Obama is going to be. but it’s easy to say for them. haha but when people ask about it I just say I hope he does good things for us. but things here are awesome. we have our last week of this transfer coming up so it will be fun. I know we have one baptism and possibly one more. but I’m happy that we have one. we will have zone conference this week so it’s possible I might receive something more if there is anything waiting for me. and I have a feeling my comp is going to be transferred so who knows what’s going to happen with me? I kind of like it here so I wouldn’t mind staying. but something new is always fun. but we will just have to see. hopefully nothing crazy like last time. so this week we had some adventures. first of all we had a little cockroach problem out in front by our gate. so we grabbed some bug spray and a couple matches. haha it was a hand held flamethrower. it was hilarious. so we were out there burning cockroaches, we found a scorpion too so we burned him too. haha so now we’re are cockroach free with just a couple burn marks on the floor. they should wash off. haha so that was fun. what else? hmm well we had ward conference this week, it was really good. I love our bishop here. bishop johnas. he is awesome and he is really missionary minded and likes to help us out. it is so awesome having a bishop that wants to work with us. there are benefits too for him, if we can get like 3 more men in satellite, we get to build another church here in planalto. which is closer for alot of members and closer to our house. satellite is a further away and alot harder to work. but it should be good. bishop is going to work on some referrals for us. we have a family that we are teaching that is doing really good and reading the bom everyday we just need to get them to go to church and decide to be baptized. I think they will it’s just really hard to find time to teach them because they both work till like after 830 so it’s tough. but we will get em! haha well I loved the tape and it was so good to hear all your voices and stuff. my tape is over a long period of time so I’m sorry the first half I was kind of a complainer but I am doing so well now. I am really happy lately and I’m finding alot of joy in the work. they language is coming along great and I’m understanding almost everything. so it has been such a huge blessing and I know alot of prayers have been answered to help me get to this point so fast. well ill try to remember some questions from the tape and other stuff too. dad we still drink a ton of guarana here, it is like the staple for me. haha they have fanta too orange and grape. and açai is good but I don’t have it alot anymore. there’s not alot of places to get it and it’s really expensive. but what else. our house is alot bigger here. it is really nice and I’m really enjoying it right now. it has been really hot this week but what’s new huh? haha I miss the snow but I’m trying to enjoy the sand while I’m here. mom sorry I sent home a sad picture. I will try to send home some more today that are happy. elder salines says he knows how to send photos easier. so hopefully it will work. it has been crazy how things have kind of changed in my mind. I’m just finding joy in the little things we do every day now and now that I can just talk to people it’s so sweet. like the other day I talked to a guy on the bus for like 20 min. I think I told you already about him. well I saw him again yesterday and it was so cool just to say hi and recognize him and have him remember me too. it was funny. well our ward here isn’t real big but the members help us alot and it’s good. we eat lunch in with the members and we eat breakfast and a little dinner in the house if we want. usually it’s something very simple and easy but some nights we will all chip in and make a hamburger, it’s a decked out hamburger though, haha or something like that. so we eat well no worries. the one thing I really want to find is a pull up bar. but no luck yet. well I wish I could tell you how good things are, but I’m sure you know. haha I love hearing that things are good at home. sounds like a tough week for pg. I was hoping they would get to rice eccles again. but they had a good season. it’s weird that it’s over already huh? haha time always goes fast when there are good times. but I hope mk~s jaw will get feeling better. that’s no good. and mom 112 degrees is kicking butt. haha keep it up. don’t get down on yourself. I’m so glad that things are going good there. sounds like the cold is really starting to move in. kind of fun. I’m just trying to stay a little cool. the mosquitos have quit biting so much but I am still sweating like crazy. I think it’s a good thing though, it means I’m burning alot of calories and I won’t gain weight. well what else is new this week? not much just getting ready to wrap this transfer up this week and work hard trying to find some more people to teach. it’s pretty tough here. seems like everyone has already talked with us. but it’s ok we will find some more. so I know this probably doesn’t have everything I wanted to say but I just want you all to know that I am loving things right now. and though some days are hard things here are really going good. mom. I think I have my smile back again and I’m finding ways to just goof around and have some fun with the other elders. me and elder salines have alot in common and talk alot. he is really cool, he asked me to ask you if you could buy another ctr ring and he will pay me for it. I said I would ask you and if you could buy one and send it in the next package that would be awesome. don’t worry I will keep it on the down low so we don’t become an order cataloge. but it would be cool if you could, but it’s the size 19.5 same as mine and it’s the black ring with a gold cursive ctr that is in the middle. and the ctr actually can come out. so if you could just check that out for me. haha he is asking about it alot. but anyway I’m finding that the time is passsing really quickly and that I just want to work hard and baptize more and more. haha its cool how you can really get lost in the work. I won’t lie there are still alot of things I miss but I am just trying to love what I have right now. but I am going to go for now and try to send another e=mail with photos. so I love you all so much. have an awesome week. love you tons ty