January 14, 20008

I have indeed received a few letters from people in the ward. I got a Christmas card from the Peterson's and from the Forrest's and a letter from Bishop Boyer. His letter was nice, I liked it. Tell him thank you very, very much. I was particularly happy that he committed the last paragraph to only talking about the Suns. When I wrote my acceptance letter I committed to have my mind focused 100% on the Lord for the next two years. Little did I know how hard such a prospect would be. So, it's always nice to talk about something else every once in a while. And regarding letters, sending directly to the apartment is amazingly fast. I got dad's letter on last Friday, the 11th. Eight days from the postmark! Amazing!! Let's just cross our fingers that I don't get transferred in a week at the end of this transfer. I probably won't. I should have one more and then leave here end of February/beginning of March.
Elder Day is a legit guy. He was in my group at the CTM. I love him. He speaks better Portuguese than me and was actually just called as a district leader this transfer. Which means he has a cell phone and has to interview people for baptisms and has to conduct weekly district meetings. He's living in Cruzeiro right now so I'm a little bit jealous. Is his mom awesome? Probably.
Have I really been out for 223 days??? I can't believe that.
I loved dad's letter about John Wycliffe and the history of the Catholic Church. Very interesting stuff. And let me tell you something that has been firm in my belief for some time, and stories like this only reaffirm that...for me, it's this church or nothing. If this church suddenly went corrupt or was somehow proven wrong, I wouldn't go looking for another faith. It's all or nothing in my opinion. If this church isn't true then there is no gospel. Does anyone else feel this way?
My only resolution for this year was to write in my journal every day. That ended January 2nd. Oh well. Next year. What are everyone else's broken resolutions? I'm sorry I have no pictures, I just haven't taken any recently. Just baptism pictures and those are kind of boring. I will try to put myself in some picturesque moments but this is a rare occurrence in the Brazil. I am an hungered so I must go. Tchau, familia. I think there is probably something I forgot to mention but I will try to remember throughout the week. And I hope it's a good week for you all. I love you.
Oh, ps: Leite wants more ranch dressing. He SO phased. And I want barbeque sauce. KC Masterpiece Brown Sugar. Is this OK? I need to show it to some of the sisters in the branch. Jordan