Okie-Dokie

Well, sorry again, but I don’t have my camera with me. Actually, I haven’t had the opportunity to take many pictures, although I will get on that. Again, I know that I said that I would send them, but I apologize.

About the address for our "house" not apt., (important difference, we live in a house, cuz the whole place is ours, all 20 square feet of it!). I will find out next week. I just asked Elder M., (using about half Portuguese and half English) and he said that he doesn’t know it, but we can get it from the family that lives next door. Apparently you can send mail here, he said it’s no problem. So I’ll find that out next week, along with the address for our chapel and other stuff.
Our chapel is kinda near our house, it’s kind of on a corner and really sticks out, you should be able to find it on Google Earth. Actually yesterday, while having dinner at a members house, one of the kids was using Google Earth, and I showed him our house and BYU. It looks to me like the picture on Google Earth got updated, cuz there are new roads and stuff on there. They were very impressed by the mountains, and they labeled our house and the chapel as "Igreja de Heperi" and "Casa Heperi". So, you guys have Brazilian’s looking at the house!

I’m a little wary about a package coming to the house though, cuz I heard that it might be taxed or something if you use UPS or FedEx. I think as long as you use Priority Mail, it should be fine, though.

As for my favorite scripture, well I can’t think of the reference, but I believe that it is in Alma. When Alma is talking to Corianton (at least I think that it’s Corianton) about life after death. It goes something like, "Now concerning the state of the soul after death, it has been made known unto me that the souls of all men, as soon as they have departed this life, are taken home to that God who gave them life" [Alma 40: 11]. Now, I realize that kinda sounds like an obituary scripture, (and I don’t think that I’m predicting things, although with the way people drive down here, we’ll see, heh, heh...) but this scripture has always given me great inspiration and hope. I like it because I know that I’m never too far from my house or my real home beyond this world. It also helps me because I know that even when people reject us and don’t want to listen, they are still loved by God and will know that He exists someday, if not in this life than the next. So, maybe this is not the typical kind of missionary scripture, but my favorite nonetheless.

As for candy, Butterfinger and Snickers are my favorite, and maybe a little beef jerky. They don’t have that down here. For the photos, I’d like some from high school and college and stuff like that. I believe that in the file where I stored my Ipod music, there are some picture files of my times in the dorms that I’d love to have. High School is good too, like stuff with me having fun with my friends and family. Also, if you have any of me in the snow (more recent maybe, like high school on up) that’d be great. Most people here haven’t been in snow, so they appear very interested. Ones of me with the family would be great as well, new ones aren’t necessary. Maybe some with Levi and I playing in Van Heperi would be great. Just whatever looks good to you. If when you print them out, could you put them in a photo organizer that lets me flip thru it, so the photos aren’t just by themselves and all over the place? Thanks.

Well, I hope that I covered the questions. The work is going well here. We’re learning to develop a better relationship with the members. I’m learning to be more patient with myself and others, as well as learning to improve in the language. Some days are harder then others, but I’ve found that the harder that we work, it becomes easier to do. Not easier in the sense that the work is any easier, but the fact that it becomes more bearable.

We have some good investigators. One lady in particular is extremely interested. We got her as a reference, and she has taken the first two lessons so far and showed up to church with her daughter, and I think has a baptismal date (I’m not entirely sure, because I can’t read our area book very well. To tell you the truth, half the time when we’re doing stuff, I don’t really have a clear idea of where we are actually going. Elder M. explains it, but sometimes I can’t quite grasp what is going on. I know that this will improve, but it’ll take time. I’ll be sure to remember their names for next week and give them to you.

We taught one family that wanted a Book of Mormon, but who are devoutly Catholic. They seemed good about our message, but didn’t want us to return. However, I got along very with their son, Anderson, who is 17. He plays the guitar and has his own band (Thrash Metal, unfortunately. I wouldn’t even listen to that if I was off my mission). But after the lesson, he brought out his guitar, and we traded some guitar licks. It was good to play again, (I played once in the CTM around Christmas) and he seemed to like what I was playing, although the language barrier was something to get around. He is a good player, and we got to talking a little bit (very little, as my Portuguese is not good yet) about different music and stuff. When it was time to go, he said that he appreciated that, and looked forward to out next visit. So though his family doesn’t really want to learn more, I managed to make a friend thru music. My language skills are not good, but my music skills make up for that in some areas. I am very grateful for the time that I spent learning my instruments.

In addition, I play the organ in Church on Sunday. It’s not a big organ, (smaller than that one we had in Ephraim) nor is it a big chapel (significantly smaller than ours), but it was cool nonetheless. It’s weird to play an organ, and I believe that I am the only piano player in the ward besides one other lady who left somewhere or for something. So, my piano is coming in handy here.

Thanks for sending me that talk Dad, unfortunately the place we’re using today doesn’t have a printer, so I’ll have to read thru it next week, but thank you. I’m learning more about Joseph Smith out here. I don’t know why, but that’s always been a part of the gospel that I didn’t know much about, his life and the monumental things that he did. I’m very grateful for the Prophet Joseph Smith. Well, times up, so till next week, stay classy.

Elder =w= Heperi