7 Nov 2011 - Palmeiras Area (Mom)

I don't have to worry about Daylight savings time here yes! Although I missed an hour of sleep ;) [A focus of our stake conference was family history and the temple.] I was thinking about doing indexing after the mission to use my awesome Portuguese skills. You can do it on the Internet these days, so that is kind of cool. It is hard for us young kids to have a desire to do that kind of temple work. It talks about it in my Patriarchal blessing so I should probably do something about that :)

 

The name finding part sounds kind of boring but you can use it as an excuse to go on trips. Tell Dad you need to look at the records in Germany and England and hit up some tourist while you are there.

 

There is this lady in my new ward that talks about the craziest stuff and makes the craziest jokes. She looked at my new companion and said "You're a cutie." Roughly translated.

 

I think time will start flying faster after Christmas passes, the next call will be a few weeks before I get home. I made a goal awhile back to share my testimony every fast Sunday here and I always feel the spirit. I'm going to miss these people. I just love them to death. It doesn't bother me until I get up and bear my testimony. No matter what, I always tear up when I talk about the people. They are truly special. I'm so glad to be here. I'm not perfect, but I don't have regrets from my mission. Sometimes I wish I wasn't too dumb and would change more and faster but I just have to be patient. I don't think anybody knows how much my mission has changed my life, it has done wonders for me. Don't expect me to come back perfect though :)

7 Nov 2011 - Palmeiras Area (Dad)

[Hey, thanks for the graphic description of the wonders of cashew nuts. They'll be so much more appealing now when I eat them. Your Halloween photo shows you're still looking like your old self. I'll be sure to post that one on Facebook so all your BYU-I girls will be sure to keep you on their RM candidate list.] Well now you know where they came from! It is the fruit that is nasty anyways :) You can still enjoy the delicious roasted flavor of the nuts. Sadly, all of my BYU-I girls are already married. You know how it is at BYU. You can't leave for 2 years hoping that they will stay single.

 

Well training is intense. They have a new training program so that makes it even more intense. 12 weeks of studying for 4 hours everyday. It will be good for me and him though. He speaks pretty well, he just has to get used to the way they speak here in Ceará. It's good too because they always want to work 24/7 and they remind you of the stuff that you forgot that you knew in the beginning. It should be good, I just have to set pride aside and guide him rather tell him what to do. We got transferred to a place called Palmeiras, (Palm Trees) It is ghetto and everyone feels bad for my new companion because this is his first area. It is the typical poor neighborhood and has all the wonderful dangers that such places have to offer. We have a rented out place for church so that is different. They are building a huge chapel, but since they have 2 hours of nap time after lunch it should take the workers years to build. My area seems cool. It has a lot more humble people than my last rich area did. I feel back at home, the people here accept to missionaries so much faster. It will be good. I just hope we have to good experiences and baptisms so my companion gets a good taste at the beginning.

 

I'm glad they are going to finally start building the temple here. It will be good for the people since they can only go 2 times a year to Recife. Everyone wants scriptures, posters, music, etc that you can only get at the Distribution Center. It will be a wonderful blessing, and maybe I'll be able to make it back for the dedication, but I doubt it. Maybe I'll take a dip in the water too at that time :) I have been missing the temple lately and it will be nice to go back in 7 months. It is a blessing to be able to go whenever you want. A general authority said in a stake conference last September that less people go to the temple when a temple is built closer. Example, less people from Ceará are going to go to the temple when it is built here in Fortaleza. It's odd that people are willing to drive for 3 days on a bus, but not 20 minutes to go to the temple.