Week One - Tom's First E-mail

Well, it finally came.... Tom's first e-mail home.  It was the absolute longest week of our lives, waiting to hear from him.  When I got it, I sent Dave a text and he called me and wanted me to read it to him.  It really made my day and lifted my spirits.  He sounds happy and like things are going well, which is just what a parent needs to hear.  I can't wait to get his letter and I guess I better get working on a package for him!  One week down and only 103 more to go!

Dear Mom and Dad,

      I´m so glad to hear from you and I am glad you received the picture. I sent you a letter that describes my experience for the first week but you probably won´t see it until next week. If you want to see who my companion is, he is in the picture on the right side in the middle. He´s the guy who isn´t showing his teeth... like me. His name is Elder Fox and he´s a good guy. Elder Shaw is not my companion but we did have seats next to each other on both flights over, and we have classes together. He´s a really cool guy. I described everyone in the letter you should receive soon so I won´t do that here.

      The food is good, I don´t eat a whole lot but I´m usually just starting to get hungry by the time we have the next meal. Everyone thinks I´m weird because of how little I eat, but last night we had grilled cheese sandwiches and potato chips... it was soooo good to finally have something i normally eat. I am also trying a little bit of everything though, so don´t worry about that.

      My roommates are nice, as are all the Elders in my district who i go to classes with. We have two teachers, Brother Mauricio, who is from Belem which is cool, and Sister Jardim, which is "garden" in Portuguese. The classes are going along okay but Portuguese is still a little slow, while some Elders are picking it up fast even when they didn´t take a class at home, like I did.

      We went to the Sao Paulo temple today and it was very neat. We get to go on every P-day which is Tuesdays. It looks like a smaller temple but it was still very cool. I will send a picture with me in front of it when I can, I forgot to take a camera with me today.

      Anyways, I love you all and miss you so much. I can´t wait to tell you about what went on this next week.

                             Love Tom

P.S. send some liquid wart remover if you can, the bottle I have doesn´t seem to work very well. I can´t get any of it off the brush, it seems to dry to quickly. OBRIGADO!!! (thanks)