See you in St. Lou...ay!!!

Nelly songs are running thru my head. Oh dude! Wow, I can´t believe how soon it seems like Levi´s call came. St. Louis, Missouri, eh? Hey Levi, maybe you can find and teach Nelly while you´re down there. (And don´t forget the Rams.)

I guess it´s official now, huh? 4 yrs. without seeing each other. That´s really weird. So I left at 19, and won´t see Levi until I´m 23? Ha.

Well, any news that I have seems small in comparison, but I´ll try to give it. I was reflecting last night in bed, (I think because of the cold. It got down to about 7 degrees Celsius, and made me feel like it was Christmastime. Very cold in the apartment.) and got to thinking how much time it seems has passed. I mean, Levi with a mission call and Rob about to come home? Yeesh. (BTW: It was rumoured that we´d get a visit from an Apostle this year as well, but as yet it hasn´t been confirmed.)

This week was good and productive. We´re trying a lot harder to involve the members in the work, and the members seem a little more excited about it. Frequency is a little bit low though. As yesterday was pretty chilly, (I walked around in my sweater and suit coat, something I´ve never done before on this side of the equator) which unfortunately made about ½ of the ward stay at home instead of braving the icy winds of Londrina. (Maybe we could get some of Elder Magleby´s people from Russia to talk to them about cold weather and going to church.) Rod... and C. (the young couple that we´re teaching) didn´t go to church because their baby was pretty sick. We passed by there later and taught a lesson about priesthood blessings and gave one to the kid. Rod... seemed pretty touched when we told him that one day it would be his responsibility to bless his family with the Priesthood. They´re a really great family. Rod... is really curious and writes down every scripture reference that we use to read later. Their neighbors are a less-active family that we´re trying to work with to get reactivated as well. They´re good, just that the wife has a bit of a drinking problem, but is always willing to help.

Yesterday we were at lunch with a member who´s an immigrant from Yugoslavia. He speaks Portuguese and German, so I got to practice a bit of my horrible German with him. I guess two years of class weren't all in vain, as he could understand as I asked him important questions like “What´s your name?” and “Do you like bratwurst's or guitar?”. He told me to stick with the Portuguese, and I should be fine. His wife was a bit familiar with New Zealand, and when I said that Dad was from New Zealand, she asked “Oh, so you´re Maori then?” A nice family.

Welp, today we´re off to a BBQ at one of the chapels close to President Leal´s house. I guess it´s gonna be an activity with the two Zones here in Londrina, so I´ll get to see a couple of people that I haven´t seen in a while. He told us to bring shorts and sneakers as well, so maybe we´ll have a soccer game or something with the two Zones. Free food and a Zone activity. Nutin´ better.

That´s my time for today.

Congrats again to the future Elder Heperi, and I hope that you leave all your cool stuff for me. I´ll take good care of it come November. Heh.

-Elder Heperi