10-04 Letter Home

Well one thing that I am definitely learning on the mission is pacients... especially today. The light has been out all day so we have just been waiting to use internet, and then once we found a place it wouldnt open my e mails! My p day is now almost over and i am just barely being able to get this off to you guys. Its going to be weird to get back home and have light 24/7 and have everything work how it should, im not going to know what to do! But everything is going good now and Im doing alright.

This week was a good one but way different, i havent even worked since thursday. Friday was our zone leaders counsel in Praia and this weekend was conference that we were able to watch all of, it was awesome! Conference has a whole knew meaning to me now that I am on the mission, i love it! We watched all of all 4 sessions and we were even able to watch priesthood session and relief society session on sunday morning before we watched the others. Us that wanted to watch them in english went over to the Goff´s house which is the missionary couple here in Mindelo. I dont know if i told you guys about them but they are from Pleasant Grove and live in Orem now right by the post office, i think its called like garden village so you probably deliver their mail dad. They were really nice and it was nice being able to watch in english. The chapel just right down the street had it in portuguese and it was for all the members of all 4 branches to go to it. Not all the members took advantage of it though and there was only about the size of one full branch that went to watch... i think a lot of the members just took it as a break from church for a week and didnt go. Its kinda sad but the truth is that these people are definitely not ready to have a stake, let alone a temple here! They have a lot to do before that! Even some of the branch leadership doesnt know exactly whats going on here at all times. An example of this is one day at the end of sacrament meeting, our branch president was closing it and to end he wished everyone a good time at the festival at the beach that the island would have. They have festivals here that are just full of iniquity and everyone just goes and gets drunk, so it wasnt the best thing that our PRESIDENT was telling people to have a good time. Thats about the equivelant of the bishop of our home ward ending sacrament meeting by saying "Thanks for coming to church and we wish all of you a great time at the ozzy osborne concert tonight!" There are lots of little things like that that kinda make the missionary work a little more challanging. We teach our investigators one day about keeping the sabath day holy and the next sunday they see half the members doing crazy thinks that day and then the invest. ask us why they are doing that if its not allowed. I guess the church is still young here though and things will become stronger with time. The people that went to conference though really liked it and i loved the talks. The last talk of the last session was probably one of my favorites... M Russell Ballard was speaking my language on that one with the fly fishing examples! Uchtdorfs talk was way cool too and I learned a lot with all of them!

Praia was a pretty fun trip too. We got there early friday morning so me and my companion had time to go visit some of the people we know. We got to see Gilmara and her kids and they are still doing way good and i got to see some of the other ones we baptized! Its good to see them staying strong still! My companion and i are getting along just fine too. Its funny cause this last week we were talking and he was telling me how where he lives (Portugual) they had to travel to Madrid to go to the temple, but that they were putting in a new metro system from Port. to Madrid that would make the trip quicker and he was excited about it. Imagine how excited he is now that they are getting one right there! We are watching the announcements with a sister from Portugual that was born in the church too and when they announced it she couldnt stop crying! It will help out those strong members here too cause its a lot closer than going to brazil like they had too. My comp is actually a convert to the church of three years and he is already 26, but he is way strong and a way funny kid. He is way chill and easy to get along with and he works hard. My new house is also a mansion compared to what it used to be... its way to big for us though! Its three stories high! Its actually a little too big and i would like one a little smaller but i cant complain. The area is going really good too, we have tons of people to teach and tons of investigators that are getting ready to get baptized. Our branch is a lot stronger too and gets about 100 people in church each week (they say, i still havent had church meeting).

So yeah everything here is going pretty good. My testimony is growing a ton out here and i am learning a lot of stuff that i wouldnt have been able to if i didnt come out here. I actually got sick this week but everything is better now. Congratulations on the deer shane... Its not as big as anything i would have shot but it still sounds respectable. And also a big congratulations to utah state for making byu´s problems even worse... it sounds like they are falling apart. They better get things back together so that they can be solid for next season. Sorry if i forgot to respond back to anyone elses questions or anything, with the internet problems today i was kinda rushed. I guess i will just sum it up by telling everyone thanks for everything! Have a good week and i will talk to ya guys next Monday!