Last week in Porto Alegre area for now

Elder Henry with Elder Oba at his "going home" Temple Trip

Hi Mom,

I know you are just dying for pictures so here are a few.  I've taken quite a few more than these and I'm going to grab a couple from my companion from yesterday as well.

The District (Mike and Elder Oba are the only ones smiling...silly missionaries!)

Cleonira's baptism (got this from Elder Persinger's blog)

Elder Oba in front of "his" sign

Us with Santa Emilia (White Shirt) and her Sister (Red Shirt) on a typical street in Morro Santana

Us with Claudiomir our Ward Mission Leader and familiy in front of our church building (note the little girls' Primary bags)

Well Tomorrow is transfers and I got the news in an e-mail this morning that I'm being transferred tomorrow.  Here we don't find out until we make it to the rodoviaria (bus station, but like airport style) where exactly we are going.  Its been fun having the temple in my area and being in the middle of Porto Alegre, but I'll probably be heading for somewhere outside the city of Porto Alegre now.  Who knows where.

You might be wondering why there was no Baptismal picture included in this e-mail.  Carmen and Luan missed their baptism last Saturday, which was pretty hard for Elder Oba and Myself.  When I showed up with one of our ward members to pick her up, she was drunk and couldn't even hold a conversation.  The good news is we showed up again on Sunday after church to talk with her, and she knew what she had done was wrong and didn't want to do it again.  She also didn't try and hide or lie to us, but instead told us what had happened.  Still other missionaries will have to pick up where I left off now.

We found a new investigator this week as well named Rafael.  He's 16 years old, has no father and his mother is in the hospital with cancer.  He and his 2 brothers live alone, and a friend of his brought him to church for ward conference.  We taught him about the Restoration and Plan of Salvation last week and there was a special spirit there when we told him how he could live with his family forever.  He's reading the Book of Mormon, but sentences at a time, for like most Brazilians he does not read very well.

Other than that we've spent a lot of time walking, and walking, and walking around looking for people to teach.  My Portuguese continues to improve day by day and I still make a lot of mistakes but for the most part people can understand what I'm trying to say.

That's really awesome that you all had Brasilian food for dinner.  It looks pretty authentic from the pictures, about what I eat on a normal day.  We'll have to spend some time in the kitchen together when I get back so I can learn how to make all the food I will be missing.  I'm glad you all like Guaraná, I'm seriously addicted to the stuff. 

Elder Oba goes home tomorrow, finishing up his mission.  He's going through all the emotions right now, from super stressed, to excited, depressed, anxious, etc.  We had a party last night for his going home and Elder Persinger's Birthday.  We (and I really mean to say I) made pancakes at a members house complete with peanut butter and syrup.  They actually turned out to taste just like home!  I was impressed by how effective the syrup flavoring we had actually was.  After Pancakes and Guaraná, we had birthday cake.  A fun good way to wrap this transfer up.

Well I need to get going to lunch.  You know in Portuguese we have a verb, to lunch?  Its almoçar.  What a weird language this is.

Thanks for sending the pictures, and eating Brasilian food in my honor.  I'm glad to know my familiy has not forgotten about me :).

Lots of love,
Elder Henry