27 Feb 2011 - Pedras Area (Mom)

[Sorry son, but I am tired.  I was just ready for bed (midnight) when I realized I didn't write.] I know how you feel, I'm soooo tired right now. I spent 3 hours standing on a bus, and the buses here are like NASCAR races. I haven't eaten anything all day either, and it's almost 6 which means I have to start working just when I want to die. [I bought a leaf blower/vac...] That's good, that way when I get back home I won't have to do anything, the leaf blower vac will do it for me. [We just need a kid to climb the roof to get to the rain gutter at the top over the front door.] I won't be able to climb any roofs since I will be an old man. Go throw some popsicles and popcorn on the roof and maybe somebody will climb up there.

 

Unfortunately, I have been learning that the Brazilian rainy season means a ton of mold. Which is a pain because I don't have a washing machine and I don't want to wash 21414 pairs of clothes at a time. I can't just throw them in a pile or they get moldy. So I slave away over the sink washing clothes. The t shirts are the worse because they get super dirty on the shoulders and back where my backpack is. I washed some at another missionary's house, but they just ended up dirtier.... :( I found my English scriptures covered in mold too, since I haven't used them in months. It was just the cover so no big deal.

 

[Hopefully you were transferred this moves.] Yes I was transferred so you can be happy now, I'm in Pedras, it's not too far from my old area and it's in the same zone. My new companion is Elder Costa from São Paulo. It's a good area on the fringes of Fortaleza. It actually has 4 cities in the area, but they are pretty much Fortaleza still.

27 Feb 2011 - Pedras Area (Dad)

[It sounds like you get to see President Batt fairly often.] Well technically I only see him every 3 months when we have Zone conference and P-days, but sometimes I see him a little more than that. [ didn't get to see my mission president very often since it was quite a trip to cover the mission.] Yes that's the benefit for not serving in 4 countries along side the heathen pagans as Tallmadge would say. The missionaries down in Juazeiro don't get to see him very often, so maybe one day I'll go down there and see what it is like. [Oh, and lots of good things come from Idaho, even if a bunch of them are potatoes.] Eh I like Idaho.....in the summer. One of the things that I really miss is camping and fishing and hunting while I was in Idaho. Idaho forest is a little different than Texas barren wasteland. More pine trees and clear water....less mexicans and junipers.


[You said you have a good friend in the Salvador Sul Mission. A good friend from the MTC or from school?] My good friend in Salvador Sul is just from the MTC, we really kicked it off. He is crazy like me. He was the one that went to São Paulo for a bit.

[I don't think I ever ate tamarind straight. It was always in a drink, which was pretty good, at least compared to avena or stuff like that.] I have only had tamarind juice once and it wasn't very good. I had an avacado...avocado;(however you spell that. I'll just use the Portuguese word abacate) smoothie the other day, it was pretty good. Abacate is sweet here so they don't use it the same way. Abacate and banana smoothies are good, try one ;) [And I really did like beans, rice, and tortillas, as odd as that might seem.] I'm going to eat rice and beans after the mission. If only I didn't have to wait hours to cook beans. It'll be good though because I will use a magical theory that many people here have never heard about, it's called flavor. ;)

[Hey, you'll have plenty of time to think about real life in a year and a half.] The problem is you can't just put it off for the next 1 and a half because then you get home and it's too late to think then. I want, well dream, to be a coach because I could never be an actual player. I LOVE football and it would be magical to think about football and watch football and get paid to do it. I don't want to coach little league, I would love to be a college coach, be the next Bronco. However, you can't coach without playing :) This week was transfers and I have a new companion again and his name is Elder Costa. He is from São Paulo like everyone else is. I'm in Pedras right now, which means rocks. I have only been here a few hours but I know why they named it that. They could have used dirt, forest, nothingness, abyss as names as well. It should be good since he is nothing like my last companion.

Nothing really happened this week, I did go on a division with my LD that has become a really good friend of mine. We got to talk etc and go do some baptismal interviews. He helps me and I help him, so it's good to have on the mission. It made me think how much better the mission would be if you could be companions with your friends, real friends that would work. Then I realized I could just take what I get and be friends with them. Just take what you get in life and stop complaining. That way you can have fun until you get some you really wanted, then you can have more fun! It's like D&C 121, it's the best scripture out there, every time I watch it on the Joseph Smith movie it punches me in the kidney and the throat. In other words, I feel the spirit so strongly. Don't complain about afflictions, just accept them and things will get better.