Week Thirty One - Time Flies and Acting in a Play!

Tom's entire mission group at reunion  and goodbye for President and Sister Campos

Pretty bird near the river. 

Good Morning! Your 7 a.m. wake up call is here! Wait, you should all be awake, já, né?

               This past week was pretty good here. Still have lots of rain, which is putting everyone´s mind in a bottle, because they say its summer here and it never rains in July like it is now. Todo mundo is baffled... Tuesday, we had our first interviews with our new president. He´s cool, and very tranquilo. The interview of one missionary lasted a whole hour. I go in, listen to my president speak a few minutes, he asks me if I have any questions, I say "não tenho" (I don´t have) and its over in less than 10 minutes. Weird... We had a companion exchange on Wednesday. I went to Paracuri, which is a bit north of my area and close to the beach. I ran for the first time since I left the MTC, and that was exhausting. My legs were so sore during the next 2 days, I thought I was becoming bow-legged or my legs were going to break. But during the exchange, our district leader came to our area. They visited our recent convert, Samara, and told her I was transferred, and she actually cried... HOLY SMOKES! I don´t think I can stay here... luckily if I do stay one more transfer, she is travelling all of next month which covers pretty much the whole of next transfer. 

                 We had lunch at a guys house, he asked me what music I like, I told him about Rise Against, the mostest awesomets bandest ofest the-est worldest... and he searched a music video of theirs on you-tube... it was so awesome to hear Rise Against again... I´m not sure what I miss more, Rise Against or the family.... haha jk, Rise Against of course. :) no I´m kidding of course it´s the family that I miss more, but only by a little. 

                We watched a video with an investigator, her name´s the Restoration, the video is called Gabriela... haha no I mixed those up. Anyways, she liked the video and when we asked her to pray, to end the lesson, she actually cried during the prayer. That was cool to see. She was going to go to church this past week but she woke up Sunday with pain in her back, so she couldn´t go. Da´gommit! Anyways, we walked through lots of rain to visit her last night, and she´s doing better. So, yeah, that was my week, and now, the last week of the transfer begins. These 6 weeks are going by so fast! They are probably the fastest 6 weeks of my life.    And only 3 more transfers until Christmas!!!111!

              On Friday, my companion and I have to act in a play. That´s going to be awkward but I decided I will just do it and get it over with. Say "break a leg" and maybe I won´t end up having to do it. Moving on to your e-mail, glad to hear Utah isn´t burning up now. What was it like to be in the inferno, Utah? But you´re good now right? good... Silly missionaries, I´m sure if they were serving in Brazil, they´d never want to return to Cafe Rio. Cafe Rio is a Brazilian restaurant, right? Eh, who cares, I´M IN BRAZIL! Hey, what´s the point of having basketball in the Olympics if the united states are going to destroy everyone? I don´t think there is another country in the world that takes basketball as seriously as U.S.A., is there? Anyways, since when did David sign a contract for 99 million dollars? Is he getting that for pulling weeds?!?! Man, I´m jealous now. Hey David, want to trade places? You can serve here in Brazil while I get 99 million dollars for pulling weeds... which team is D-Will playing for now? I hope he starts winning championships. Hey David, go sky diving. Go sky diving David, just do it. just do it. JUST Do it...... Enjoy your trip to San Diego, Mom, while David goes sky diving. I´m sure you´ll both have fun. And thanks for more pictures! Hey, send the one by e-mail, of me with the long hair, my rise against hoody, at grandma´s house. I think that´s the longest it was recorded by picture. Anyways, this e-mail is getting long I will answer your questions.

Q&A

1)Has your Visa come yet?  I am kind of worried about that.  It was just in a letter envelope and I mailed it quite a while ago.  I have checked your account, though and no weird charges.  Just let me know if it gets there. it did come, thank you very much.

2)Did you get your washing machine fixed?  Didn't know you had one, but that would be great if you could get it fixed! not yet, hopefully sometime this week. My clothes are all dirty because I ran out of soap.

3)Do you use that Dry Sack that we sent with you to keep stuff dry and if so, does it work pretty well?  Sounds like you are always getting wet! I have the intention of using it but I keep forgetting about it. But thanks for reminding me, I will get it ready today.

4)Are you writing in your journal every day?  You won't be sorry if you do, even though I am sure it's hard sometimes. I am and its quite easy. I realized a few weeks ago that almost every day I start with "today was good." Haha funny demais!

5)Can you listen to music, at all?  I have heard that some mission presidents let missionaries listen to good, wholesome music. We can. my companion has some music that he got while here in the mission. He has a lot of music by Josh Grobin, which is cool. He´s a really good singer. He has a song called Don´t Give Up which I think someone at home will like. I want to buy a pen drive and get it from him but its 25 reais. Ah, btw, I was able to exchange my dollars to reais, so I now have about 300 reais, and you don´t need to worry about it any more.

6)Have you met your new mission president, yet?  Do you like him and does he speak any English? I did meet him, he does not speak english but I think his São Paulo-an accent is a bit easier to understand than the Paráens.

Pictures: #1 almost all the missionaries of the mission including president and sister Campos. 2 pictures of pretty birds, and me in front of a boat.

Anyways, I have to go now. My hour is up. I love you all, have a great week, and forget about me!!!! Tchau!

Love Elder Williams