Week Twenty One - Happy Birthday, Tommy!

Tom and Elder Peterson in Sao Paulo.

Tom and Elder Wensel in Sao Paulo.

Tom and Elder Fox, his companion in the MTC.  I really want to meet this guy!

Well, we made it through Tom's first birthday with him being away in Brazil.  I was a little bit sad all day and really longed to see him and hug him and kiss him on his birthday - like I usually get to do!  I thought a lot about what I was doing 20 years ago and wondering how it all flew by so fast!  Hoping all day that he was having a good birthday and everyone was going to be nice to him and I was relieved that he did get his birthday packages, so that was good news.  I am so looking forward to this Sunday to get to talk to him and we'll find out how his day really went!  

Hello Everyone!

      I hope you had a good week without a lot of problems, and that you are all doing good. This past week was okay, but not a lot happened. So my new area is called Castanheira, in Icoaraci, just outside of Belém, which I think I already told you, but its pretty cool here. There´s actually grass and trees, and people have yards, kind of. But our area is big. Right now, all the people we are teaching live on the opposite side of the area that we live. At least the church is closer, so it´s now a 5 minute walk instead of 25. My companion is pretty cool too. His names Elder Inácio, he´s from Forteleza. He´s helped quite a bit, and probably will help more than my trainer did, but that's okay. My new apartment is smaller. It´s only one room. The washing machine doesn´t work, so I will have to wash all my clothes by hand. We sleep on mattresses(?) on the floor, and we have no roomates, so its just him and I, here. My companion keeps telling people I´m from... Marengains or something like that, which is like the most poor place in Brazil. Anyways my mind is blank right now, I will let you know more when I remember. But one thing, my old companion, Elder Reis, asked for a CTR ring and I promised him I´d get you to send one to him... can you do that? If you can just send it to Elder Darlan Reis with same mission address that you use to send me things. And that´s my week!

       In response to your e-mail, thank you for the birthday wishes, it is hard to believe I am 20 years old, I feel like I should still be in high school :). I did receive the birthday package, with 4 letters, from Sister Petersen, G&G Williams and Pratt, and from Dad. I already opened the letters but decided to wait until tomorrow to open the package. So thank you for the letters and whatever is in the package! it means a lot to me. Anyways, the transition to the new area wasn´t too difficult, but I don´t really feel like this is my area. I feel like I am just on a companion exchange. Anyways, its kind of funny, in this area, my companion said that lunches aren´t really carried out by the members much, and almost 3 times every week, with his old companion, lunch with members would fall. But he told some people that he was getting an American companion, and they promised lunch wouldn´t fall again. Norte Americano, ftw! hehe. Anyways, don´t really care much for the jazz, they never get far, but thanks for the update. Good to here David is getting ready for college, I hope your last year of high school was great and you are getting excited for your mission!

         Mother´s day, okay, here´s what my companion says. Saturday, I will call you, and tell you what you number you need to call. I will only have like a minute to talk on Saturday, so it needs to be quick. And I think Sunday night (here) you will call me. My companion says maybe around 6 o´clock here, which is about 2 there? I can´t remember. Anyways that's the deal for mother´s day, I hope everything goes well. By the way, the language isn´t getting much easier. I feel like i´ve hit a wall. I´ve almost got 3 months in the field now, which is about a month less than the average time the missionaries here say it took until they could understand. Hopefully it starts to pick up now.

           Pictures!  The first is a picture of the group going to Belém, except for the guy on the far right, he´s from Belém. I think the next one is of me and Elder Peterson. He´s really cool, friendly, and easy to get along with. Elder Wensel is next. He´s cool too, and always willing to help. And i forget what the last one is, I cant see it right now.

           Anyways that's my week. I love you and miss you and can´t wait to talk on mother´s day. Have a good week! Tchau!

     Love, Elder Williams

WATER! I NEED WATER, SANDY!