November 17 2010

hello my family! how are you guys doing today? i hope you are all doing great. i am pretty tired again this week but i am alright! sounds like you are doing well. but i guess i will just jump right in to my week because we are planning on playing football today! it has been a while!!
this week was pretty good. just so you know, i am in campinas right now...again! and this is the second trip i have made here since i talked to you last week. i really love botucatu, but no missionary should have to travel over 17 hours per week! but i shouldnt complain because i really love my area and my zone! there was an emergency transfer last thursday, so i had to take a missionary to the office. that was crazy. we were in an exchange and i got a call that this missionary was transfered (it wasnt becuase of anything he did wrong, but something missionaries in another zone did. he was just involved in the transfer). i got the call at 3:30 and the last bus to campinas is 5 in the afternoon! i called him and we hurried to their house. they also work in the same city. we got there before them. they got there at about 4:20. he threw everything in his suitcase and i called our branch president for a ride. we hurried to the bus station but the bus was already leaving. we chased it down. on the last stop in the city, we jumped out of the car and gave the signal that we would catch the bus. it was amazing1 i decided i am really dumb though. i stayed the night at the offices and i stayed up talking with elder manwaring and elder guilherme for a long time! that always makes for a long trip back home. i havent worked in my area that much this week. i felt pretty bad about our week for some reason. i was so happy for the week and i just knew we were gonna have a great week with over 40 lessons. i havent ever done that in this area but i just knew it was going to happen. then i had to go to campinas and that ruined two days of work and i just felt a little bad when we didnt make our goals. we had a great week but i still felt bad at the end, like i didnt do everything i could. but i guess we got another week now. except, i had to come to campinas again so i dont know if we will teach 40 lessons this time either.
yesterday, we had our interviews with president tanner in our zone. it was a pretty good experience. even though it was really short. a little before i was planning on telling him a whole list of things i want to happen in my mission like that i want to train, work with elder stucki at some point in my mission, and also work with elder nothum. but i felt i shouldnt during the interview. i dont think it is right to ask for callings and stuff like that. the Lord knows what is best. president tanner said that our zone and the rio claro zone are the examples of how the work should be done and he said he liked how elder bavender and i are leading the zone. i felt good about that. i talked to president about my cousin though. he said that he has underestimated elder stucki. our mission's second counselor lives in chad's new area. he has been mission president and he has gone on visits with the missionaries once a week for many many years. when president tanner asked how he like the new missionary, brother barbo said "he is the best teacher i have ever seen." i thought that was a pretty good compliment. that made me proud and i threw in a little hint at that point and said, "i really would like to work with him at some point in my mission." haha hopefully it works out!
after the interview, we went on an exchange with the assistants. i thought that i would be companions with elder hansen a couple transfers ago but he ended up being called as an assistant. i worked with him yesterday though. he is from roy, utah. he lives close to maddox, that restaraunt. he is a lot like me. he loves sports and he has got the same sense of humor. he played college basketball though so he is probably a little better than me haha. but the exchange went great. we found this great guy named juliano. he accepted baptism. he lives alone and looks like he is 35 but he is our age. we didnt have much time to work. i did like giving him a hard time about being an assistant. i told him that he would have to teach everything because he is the assistant so the people will feel the spirit more. i was just joking with him and i dont think he really liked it haha. then i remembered that i am really dumb and we stayed up talking about everything all night. we had to wake up at 4:30 too to catch the bus! it was a good conversation though. he is a great guy. and we got a lot in common. a short night didnt have as bad of an effect on me as it did on him. i think i am used to waking up early to catch the bus. he is not! he made the whole 4 hour trip to campinas inside the bathroom. i am not kidding! he threw up for 3 or 4 hours straight! i felt pretty bad for him!
well that was our week. rodrigo and darci could be baptized this week but we will see. we wont be home tonight and so it will be a little more difficult. we need a really spiritual experience with them this week!!! we got some people that are really good but we also got some that are really lazy. there was a man that the elders before us stopped teaching for some reason (they didnt put him in the area book either by the way). i knew where he lived kind of but never had talked to him. we went there and he said that his family of 5 was just about baptized but the missionaries stopped coming by. he works 2 sundays per month so that is his difficulty. he accepted baptism for next week though!!! miracles!!! but ya that was my week! love you guys, you are the best!
love,
elder long
p.s. mom, my companion is elder bavender now from colorado. this is our second transfer together here in botucatu. and i only received 3 of the songs you sent. thanks though!
p.p.s. is thanksgiving tomorrow? if it is, happy thanksgiving and thanks for everything. you are all the best!