June 23, 2010

hey everyone how are you guys doing? unfortunately today will be
short. this week went by really quick and i cant even believe it is
already pday! this last week was a lot different than any other week
in my life haha. well last week, i was just traveling all over the
place! we had a split with the elders from vinhedo. elder ramos(one of
our district leaders) came to atibaia. it was a good day. we walked a
ton and just made a lot of contacts to try and find people to teach!
so it was an effective day. but then we decided to stay in the split.
so elder ramos and i went to interview the baptisms in the sisters'
areas. first we went to bragança. i interviewed two there. then we
caught a bus to Socorro. we had three interviews there. we ended up
sleeping in socorro. there is a member there that has guest house. we
stayed there. they made us a big dinner and breakfast too. it was
awesome! then we made our way back home. but we tried to interview
another person in bragança but they werent there. so we headed to
itatiba(my hometown). i ate lunch with my old ward mission leader. he
is married now which was a huge surprise to me! i thought he wouldnt
ever get married but i am happy for him. then we had another interview
there. then i finally got to go back to my area. i should say my city
though, beacause when i got back i went with elder nothum. and elder
cavalcante went to interview our baptisms. i helped elder nothum get
everthing ready for their baptism. but everything went pretty well in
our zone! bragança was the only area that didnt have a baptism. last
week every area had a baptism. on sunday, edivaldo and lera were
baptized. they are also from the perdões branch! things are pretty hot
in the branch haha. then yesterday, we had our mission conference. it
was really good. we talked a lot about journals and the example we are
leaving behind. if you dont write in your journal, it shows that you
arent really converted or "born of god." because you wont write
something that you did if it wasnt something you want your future
children to read. luckily i have been writing in my journal everyday.
i was also very happy! i was scared that this last meeting with
president would be a lot of tears coming from president which is very
different from normal because he is always really strict and firm on
the rules and always calling us unto repentance and that is the best
part of the mission. i dont know where i would be right now if i was
in a mission where you can slack off and where you dont have to follow
all the rules in the missionary handbook. but he still called us unto
repentance like i asked for in my prayers this whole week! i learned
tons this week and i am super excited.
there was some bad news though. well my package arrived but i didnt
receive it. so you know how you said that the ankle braces are cheap
there now? well they are really expensive here. they put a R$80 import
tax on it and because i didnt have cash to pay, it will be sent back
home...i tried to pick it up but there was no way to do so because i
still cant get money out of the atm. so i dont
have a package yet. i might go to campinas on friday but if not, you
guys will be receiving the package in return. so i guess you can send
it again without putting the anklebraces on there or you can just keep
the box and eat all the candy haha. i even stayed in campinas last
night to pick it up today but it didnt work out. can you beleive that
after about 1 year in the mission i finally stayed the night in
campinas! crazy huh! i was happy to receive a bunch of letters. you
guys dont write as much as you used to but that is fine because i just
receive letters once a month or so. it was good to hear from my
friends too. jay dee sounds pretty excited to finally be out of the
offices and i think eric is ready to leave the offices too! they have
probably learned tons of patience there! they are good men! well thanks for everything! hope
everything is good back at home....and in reno. i hope you are
enjoying your new house bec! have a great week everyone!!
love,
elder long