Year Two, Letter One

HEY! what is up everyone?? so let´s get started with the second year of emails.

IT IS SEPTEMBER. talk about crazy. time works in crazy ways on the
mission. i mean it seems to go slow and fast and then august is
suddenly over and we are in september. so let´s see what happened this
week...

scripture first! Moroni 10: 32 - 33

um so let´s see. the burn fest was spectacular. we had a burn party on
top of our apartment. i am sure that would be illegal in the States.
but we are in Brazil. but i fried a shirt that was pretty worn. the
pictures are goood. elder almeida and elder miller recently hit a year
and 6 months, so they burned a pair of pants, as well. and a while ago
elder miller wrote off his girlfriend and now we found out that she
got married. so he burned all the letters and stuff that he got from
her. meaning like, 40 or 45 letters. as you can imagine, it was a
great bonding moment watching all of our stuff burn. we even gave each
other "high fives" afterwards.

oh and i kinda took elder miller and myself out to celebrate on a day
that we didn´t have lunch with a member :) we went to this
churrascaria called Guaiba. wow. AMAZING. dad, at my next birthday ask
me about the best meal i have eaten in the last year. it was here. i
used my credit card just to keep you advised. but wow. i have been to
other churrascarias, but this one was different. you could call one of
the guys walking around with the meats and just ask if they had a
certain type of meat. i did this several times. the guy looked around,
and if there was someone walking around with that cut of meat, he
would call him over. and if there wasn´t someone who had that meat
already, he would go back to the grill and get it and bring it
directly to me. i almost felt really important. if i was to think of a
comparison for it, i would have felt like the friend of some really
rich, powerful guy. but yeah...that was the celebration for the one
year and the late celebration for my birthday.

and one more lunch story. we ate lunch with a lady from another branch
with the other elders. she went to the united states and lived there
for 20 years and studied at LDS business college. so she is fluent in
english. she met and married a guy named...Guy. she met him there and
4 years ago they moved back to Brazil. but it was hilarious. Guy is
from Idaho...and he is VERY american. he worked with a lumber company
in the states and he is loaded, so he has an incredibly americanized
house. he imported all of the appliances from the states, and somehow
got away without a single import fee. luckyyyy. but he had like....a
dryer WITH his washer. and a toaster. and a refrigerator that has the
ice/water ejector IN the door. like...you can grab a cup, click that
button, and you can have a refreshing glass of water, all within a
convenient 15 seconds. he had a table-top stove. they had one of those
hooks where you can conveniently hang a bunch of bananas and stuff.
and they had a pool! and a grill! but yeah, i was amazed. we prayed
and talked in english, because Guy doesn´t speak portuguese yet. he
sounds like a greenie american coming into the field for the first
week. i never realized how difficult it is to pray in english. but
lunch was delish.

alright so let´s move on to the more "serious" stuff. we are teaching
some great people. first off, Arthur is very difficult. we taught him
everything, but he is so dang lazy and doesn´t wake up to go to
church. and his mom doesn´t like us. we call him to remind him or
something and she doesn´t give him the message. or when we want to
teach him, she just says that he has chores and that he is in trouble.
she is way annoying. mas...fazer o que?? we are teaching some other
really cool people though. there is one member who is dating a
non-member. his name is sérgio. he is 25. he is way timid, but he went
to church twice already. he is alright, but it is hard to teach him,
because he lives outside the city limits in a farm area. so when he
comes to his girlfriend´s house, we can teach him. we are also
teaching a few kids who have crushes on the young women haha! one is
leandro. he is actually way cool. he is 18. but he came to church when
we weren´t expecting it at all. he is progressing a lot actually. and
we are also teaching a family who lost the husband/father a year ago.
The wife is Luzia, the son is Jonathas "Light," and the daughter is
Bruna. they are way cool. they said that they will prepare to be
baptized on the 18th. they are a special family. we are also teaching
some other great people, but these are the ones that come to mind
right now. we are working. and it is SO hot.

did i mention that this city is just all uphills and downhills?? no?
oh. THIS CITY IS JUST HILLS! ridiculous. and now it is getting way
hotter here. Spring is supposed to start on september 23rd. but summer
already started. and we said peace out to winter like 2 weeks ago.
everyone says that this city in summer is worse than hell. they tell
me that foz do iguaçu was a nice preparation, but it will be worse.
HOW?? foz is the hottest city in southern brazil!!! but whatev. i am
cool.

my nails are getting better?? i think. i mean, it hurts sometimes but
i haven´t lost any proselyting time because of the nails yet. even
before i had them treated, i just kept working. that is probably why
they got so bad. but they seem to be okay now.

morgan...about this whole baby thing. i think you should just start
poking him a lot. maybe it will annoy him and he will just come out so
that he can start crying and screaming and keeping you awake at night.
:) i believe that mom was just too nice to me, so i preferred to stay.
you should try it out. :) and how was the take at the baby shower??
are you gunna be taking a lot of stuff to the exchange counter?? lol
and i am glad that stuart is liking ASU. i mean it is my school. so it
is obviously the better choice. :) oh and stuart...i love you...but
your fantasy football team vai perder.

dad and mom...I CAN`T BELIEVE TYSON IS GOING TO MOSCOW!!!! that is so
amazing. him and jack will be a lot closer then i thought. i wonder if
they will be able to understand one another language-wise. and Laura
is going to Cambodia?? that is amazing. congrats to both of them! i
would ask you to tell them that for me, but i don´t know if that will
be possible with the ward divisons. which i am very sad about by the
way. citrus heights no longer exists?? so what young men basketball
team will destroy everyone else now?? and now so many cool families
are gone! yeah. sad day. Dad, i am very jealous that you will be
playing at Pine Canyon. definitely. but...i am preaching the gospel.
yeah! i know you are jealous. the city here is different for sure. the
people aren´t so friendly. or maybe i still left a part of me back in
palmital. because i didn´t want to leave at all. maybe it is just
because a part of me wants to go back that i haven´t seen the full
potential that pres prudente has. we are working, but the branch
doesn´t help at all. they actually complained a lot about
missionaries. i haven´t seen that so much since i got here, but it is
obivous that they don´t really involve themselves in the missionary
work. but what can ya do? work. and try and gain their trust. and yes,
dad, i remember what STWTLAPO means :) and i work on that every day.

lauren...keep your chin up and keep working :) just do your part.
everyone complains and everyone tries to use some other person as a
scape goat. but just do what you know is right and work like you
always do - THE RIGHT WAY :) if cassie wants to complain, just tell
her that your little brother in Brazil sends her a swift kick in the
butt. and as for halloween...i don´t know what you should be. what do
you think i should be??

well. i hope that was enough updating. this email is long. and i gotta
go. i love you all. i am glad that everyone is gooood. and healthy. i
hope that you all are LOVING the heat. because i am definitely feelin
it here. we are gunna go play volleyball. i love you guys! have an
awesomely spectacular week! peace!

tchau!

elder scott ghormley