Dear World,
I am doing very well. Right now I’m super excited that Sam is coming to Manaus! So awesome! I even wrote President Jayme about it! So cool! (Editor: His good friend Sam P. from St. George has been called to serve in Manaus - enters the CTM in Sao Paulo in May! We are all so excited about this!)
Work is going good. The Manaus temple is in a place called Ponta Negra. Its in Central Manaus, and it will be finished four months after I leave, so Sam is going to be able to see the dedication! Lucky! There is a huge bus system here. There are 5 main terminals and I live next to T5. I can easily get to the staff building if there was an emergency, and the temple grounds are just further down. Easy for everyone.
The weather is hot. I have a funny tan line.
Mosquitos aren’t too bad anymore. I use lots of bug repellant and a fan and a blanket, because it gets cold at nights! About 28 degrees Celsius or so! So Cold! 28C = 82F
My clothes are fine. I have been wearing the same pants and shirt since the CTM. Just kidding. I have only been wearing the tie I left in though. It is just trashed. Thanks for the new ones too!
Elder Seastrand is awesome. He has one year of college at BYU already done, and he is planning on doing medical. He played American Football (I have to say American because football here is that other sport…) and knows the doctrine backward and forward.
We have a baptism coming up of a lady whose brother I contacted with Elder Gannon. She has a very big heart and is very accepting. Her name is Elcy. We are also working with a guy named Fabio who is about 30 and has a wife and little daughter. He knows its true, but he just says he wants to get to know the church a little better before setting a date. Soon.
ANA PAULA IS GETTING MARRIED! It was so awesome! We watched the movie together forever with her and Josineire and he was a little hesitant, but he said Lets do it! YAY! (We've been praying for Ana & her boyfriend - prayers are answered!)
Ok, that answers all of Dad's questions. Lets see what I wrote in my planner to write to you today…
There is a guy who looks like Mr. Bean in our Ward.
I went on my first split with a guy in this ward who is going to the Recife (Reef) mission in Brazil in a couple of weeks. I was senior for a while! :P (kind of) We taught the First Lesson on the Restoration a couple of times and about the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon lesson was to Elcy. I still have many problems with the language, but I can teach. Have a conversation? Absolutely not. Teach? Yes.
This last Sunday we had a big Catholic family come to church. They could so easily get baptized this transfer. I am excited.
Today we rented out a giant indoor soccer field and had a BBQ. It was super fun. My shoes are full of turf, but it was good. It was right next to the bowling. I played goalie for a few rounds. It was so scary! Brazilians kick the ball waaaaaaaaaay harder than I’ve ever seen at any high school game. I almost got my head taken off, but I did assist in one goal. The location is the Esplanada at the Bola do Suframa.
We had a zone conference two days ago. I only got one letter and a package from my friends for Christmas that Jessica S. sent. Christmas all over! Yay! The letter was from dad with Grandpa’s obituary and the picture. The other elders tried to guess which was Dad in the picture of him, Wade, and Curtis, and only one got it right. It was funny.
I “inherited” a chess board from Elder Gannon. It's been in the mission for a long time, passed from one person to the other etc. Elder Sales (Brazilian) and I play every other night or so. Elder Sales is from Sao Paulo and he is fluent in English. Pretty cool!
For the next somewhat bigger box you send (Birthday or Christmas or whatever,) could you send an American Football? And lots of ones. ($1.00) Just change out my cash that I left at the house for ones. Brazilians are always asking to trade for them, but all I have is a 5 and a 20.
On that happy note, Happy Independence Day! (Editor: ??? We don't know what that means, either.)
