Hello family!!

Well i will start off apologizing for the stortness of last weeks
letter, this week its going to be a normal one, because theres nothing
screwing it up. but here we go!

Mom, im glad you liked the pictures! truth is that it wasnt valentines
day, but a zone conference, and so we got matching ties.. haha. isiah
sounds like its very difficult, which of course it is. in seminary, do
you guys use the chapters in the book of mormon from isiah to compare?
i also want to keep reading the whole old testament, but i took a
breather since were reading the book of mormon as a mission, the same
chapters on the same days, and im also reading with michelle, but
after we finish as a mission i will get back into it. i glad to hear
that abby seems to be getting along well! i really think that her and
jenny are going to be a ton different once i return, but i will just
have to get used to it i guess :) . that dream is hilarious! share it
with michelle, i think she would appreciate it.

Dad, he is pretty cool, and at the same time sort of a nerd ahah. but
i will explain more about him down the email. im excited to get to
that part in Jesus the Christ! i am reading it right now, rather
slowly because i only can in my spare time, and thus i am about to
start the chapter on the sermon on the mount. That book is one of (if
not the) closest book thats not scripture that makes me feel the
spirit. and i just love reading it! Also, that song is one of my
favorites! i remember in the ctm we sang it for a devotional, and i
copied down the lyrics in my study journal because they are great
lyrics. theyre right there with the spiritual thoughts, with quotes,
haha i think we felt the same way about it. i didnt even think about
how you wont have a crazy tax season with this new job! that is just
great, like you said especially for conference. To the saddest of all,
i am sorry the tarheels ended up losing in the elite eight. i dont
have any other info, so dont laugh if i dont know how the season went
for these teams, but how was butler this year? theres always going to
be next year for UNC, because no matter what they always have good
players, even that black guy who never played, and just stood there
pointing angrily at the other bench the other year. do you remember
him?

ok so onto errethang that happened this week!

Well for starters for joseph, i would like you clear up that i have
nothing to do with the ab ripper cd not being there ahah. i did not
bring it to brazil, nor did i move it out of its place. the last time
i used ab ripper was when i borrowed it from one of my friends in
rexburg, so i hope you find it!

o something has been bothering me since i have been here in the
mission. here, there is absolutely no sort of guideline or rule for
caffiene. and there, many people go caffiene free. here coffee and
black tea are still in the word of wisdom, but im talking more of the
caffeine sort of thing. so why is it different in 2 parts of the world
when its the same church? maybe people in america just choose not to
drink caffiene? but i am just confused, and would maybe appreciate
your input on why this is the case

So training has been going really well, we are improving every day and
thus week in how we work and all, its going great! Elder glover still
is having alot of language problems, but thats the way it always is
for americans in the beginning. But one thing that is awesome about
him is that i have literally never seen a missionary who has as big of
a love towards our investigators, or even just anyone, like he does.
Its almost unbelievable! he is helping me so much develop that christ
like kind of love because with him i feel that love he has for our
investigators, or more crazily anyone, and it helps me to develop
that. but he is great. also, i sent a picture of me and him in another
email, so thats elder glover!

General conference this week!! WOO!! so we get a letter from the
president every week, and as soon as i opened it to copy it to a word
document and print it out, i saw that he said that we can watch all of
the sessions of conference. SO i will be able to! i am way excited,
and also it will be in english. i could have understood it in
portuguese, but its just better in english, its nice to have that
taste of home. i have been preparing this past week, and now this one,
to be ready for all the talks, so i sure am really excited.itll be
crazy to think how the last general conference was just my first week
on the mission. i am going to do the same thing, watch it and think of
how you guys, my family and future wife, are watching the exact same
thing at the exact same time! i am so excited, i hope that you guys
are too

one thing that has been going on this week is that i have rarely had
the amount of spiritual experiences that i have had this week with
Elder GLover. WE have had so many lessons that are just so spirutual,
it has been great to see that this week. we have found alot of new
investigators, many of whom were at church last week, so we are going
to try everything we can to get them all to general conference this
week! we may even have a baptism in between sessions.

another fun thing that happened this week was that we got to 2nd hour,
and there was no one to teach gospel principles, so i ended up just
teaching on the fly! i really enjoyed teaching sunday school, and i
hope its something that im able to do when i get back, it went really
well in portuguese, and i think that as of now it could even be better
in english, so i hope i maybe get that sort of calling in the future.

i love all of you guys! it sounds like things are waming up there,
right as things are getting cold here. i eagerly await your package
mom and dad, but thank you all for the letters and videos and emails!
i am going to keep praying, and doing my best. when i think of this
time apart from michelle as each day to prepare better for my
marriage, it makes every day that much more meaningful.

i love all of you! have a wonderful week, and i will try to take more
photos, and i will talk to you next week! bye!! i llvoe you all!