Week 32

I guess it´s General Conference email. 

Unimportant things first: Did you catch David Archuleta in the missionary choir the 2nd session? Elder Rasband looks like Uncle Tom still. David F. Evans came and spoke to our mission a few months ago. I read that article in a Brasilian magazine that Neil L. Anderson was talking about; his interview was solid.

 Anyway, so the theme seemed to be Families. I learned lots of stuff that I figured applied to my life after the mission, but then as conference went on, I realized how it could all be applied to the mission. Particularly the stuff on raising a family and children. I can apply it to my new companion. Two other Elders from the US and I watched conference in English in a little classroom. We were all psyched when we got there. I think being on a mission really makes things like General Conference a lot cooler. We had Rose (our last baptism) and her daughter at the stake center and they seemed to like conference. We´re really hoping she´ll want to be baptized after conference and her mom recieves the gift of the Holy Ghost this weekend.

 I think part of why conference is so cool is that it´s like watching TV. We don´t get to watch hardly anything on the mission, and lots of us resort to quoting the DVDs we have in our homes. We have this thing called The District, which is basically like The Office, but of a district of missionaries. Also, The Testaments movie. There´s a particular line from that one I like: ``Where you go I can no longer be your father, but you will always be my son.´´

 Anyway, if you´re still working on a package, I could use some music. An MP3 CD with the Saints and Pioneers album, Celtic Threads album, all of the christmas music you think is appropriate for a missionary, Josh Groban and Andrea Bocceli are totally approved here too, and the Women at the Well album. I lost most of my music back in December when Elder da Rosa was trying to put something on my iPod for me.

 A few days ago I saw this decent sized concert off the side of the road. It was a Michael Jackson tribute concert. That´s totally Brasil. Everyone seemse to love Michael Jackson, as well as Slipknot, Guns n´ Roses, and all ``Black Music´´ they call it.

 We have a goal to baptize 5 people in April. Seeing how I´ve only seen 3 baptisms on my mission so far, it´s kind of intimidating to think we can manage to get 5. After hearing President Martins talk about how we can work with angels if we do what we´re supposed to, and especially after hearing the Prophet and Apostles speak, I´m feeling pretty good about it. We have a few new investigators that are all showing some serious interest right now. One in particular is actually setting up our lessons with members present for us. She has a friend in the church that she wants to have over when we next come back and talk with her and her family.

That´s pretty much it for now. Maybe next week I´ll be able to reply to some of your thoughts on conference, etc.

Anyway, I usually do email for another 30 minutes, but we have an appointment set up right now, so I gotta go. Talk to you guys next week.