Tractin' and Tanactin'

Ha, so grandma thinks that I’m getting’ married as soon as I get back? Nah, besides, I already got a promise from Andy Magleby that we’d move in together... before either of us gets married.
So I’ll address the questions in the e-mail first. I don’t think that my message got cut off, it said it sent. And I sent about three, the first was the letter, the second was a backup, and the third just had pic’s with it. Maybe you didn’t get all of them?

Oh, by the way, I found out from a Dearelder that Andrea sent me that those get here in about a week. My departure date for the field is Jan. 8th. Scary! As of Friday, we will be the co-oldest district in the MTC. (co with the other elders that we flew over here with). I think that we fly over there [Londrina], which will be good. I love flying. Sao Paulo is incredibly huge from the air, it freaks me out. I dunno how far it [Londrina] is in terms of hours or distance. It doesn’t look very far on the map here in the MTC, but it could be…

I’ll try to get some pic’s this week for you guys. I forgot to take some this week, so any new pic’s will probably be a few weeks old.

In other news, my comp, Elder H… became the new district leader this week. Elder T…, who was the DL, became the AP. So I am officially the Assistant District Leader. (Assistant TO the District Leader, as I make Elder H... say.) He’s seen The Office, so it’s a good running joke between us. The bad side is that now I have to sit in an extra meeting on Sunday, so there goes part of my naptime. Ah well.

… thanks to Tota, Uncle Nate, Auntie Sue, Tiana, Elijah, and Ari for the packages. I appreciated them very much and would send them a letter to thank them, but of course I accidentally threw out the address that came with it. Please apologize for me and thank them a bunch!

So tracting was OK this week. We got dropped in the middle of downtown Sao Paulo. So many people! Spider-man could easily get around in that neighborhood. People weren’t as willing to listen to us here, and we got turned down and some people just walked away. It was kinda discouraging. I hope that we can do better next week.

So nothing new to report, Levi or Lauren? Ha, that’s funny, cuz sometimes I feel the same way. So I’ve got a Hendrix-Ninja Turtle coming in the mail, Levi? Very sweet. One of the guys in my district is a big Weezer fan like me. In fact, Rivers Cuomo´s solo album came out on Tues., as I recall. You wanna get it and tell me how it is in the next letter? Me and Elder B... would greatly appreciate it.

Sorry for that pic of Patchy coming thru. I was just testing [yeah, right!] to see if it worked. I know that you don’t need the pic’s of the cats cuz you have the real things. Man, I miss those animals. I really hope that they don’t die before I get home.

In other news, you know that Christmas is gonna be like a day off. We get to watch The Other-side of Heaven, which will probably make me a little homesick as it reminds me of home. (Just because there are Polynesians and such and the last time I watched it was at home.)

Also, there is a talent show that day, and I tried out for it. The MTC Pres. gave the OK to play pop songs and stuff, so I tried out by playing (Glycerine) by Bush on the Piano. I thought that it was a nice rendition, and I think that I played pretty well. I won’t know until Friday if I’m in, so pray that I make it. It’s in front of the whole MTC so I really hope that I make it in.

I think that me and only two other Elders are Polynesian. Elder F… from Mesa, Arizona who is Tongan, and Elder H… (Hay-Mu-Lee) who from Hawaii and is also Tongan. He is a very big guy, must be about 6-4 and over 300lbs. It’s funny to see him hang out with the Brazilian’s, because Brazilian’s are generally not huge people, as I’ve found out. I’m bigger than probably 98 percent of the Brazilian Elders here. And one Brazilian sister is seriously probably about as tall as my stomach.

Anyway, I’m doing well here. I actually like the schedule, and am able to do it. I feel that I am getting closer to the Lord, though obviously I need to keep improving. Sorry, this week I can’t really think of things to write as much as other weeks.

Thanks again for everyone who prays and writes.

I appreciate all of it. Stay classy, Provo!

-El-dah Heperi