1st "Snail Mail" letter

We received our FIRST letter in the mail from Adam today! I'm guessing he wrote this the day he arrived - 7-4-07. :-)

Hey Guys!

First off – all those pink notes are awesome! [little notes we wrote to him and hid in his clothes and suitcase] They were falling out of everything. Out of politeness, my companion and roommates stared quizzically, but didn’t ask a thing. Speaking of them, my companion is Elder Harmon from Oregon. The rest of my roommates are also headed to Rio. In fact, my whole district (27B) is bound for Rio. I guess I should fill you in on the rest of the flight. The 5 of us (Me, Elders Ryan & Meacham, and the sisters) sat all spread apart on the plane. It was a LONG flight. In Atlanta (the airport was HUGE) we met 22 other missionaries. Turns out over half of the 27 are going to Rio. In Atlanta our plane had mechanical problems, so were delayed an hour and a 1/2! We got on at 9:40 PM and then enjoyed the LONGEST flight of ALL TIME! 9 ½ hour flight, and I had ZERO leg room, the lady next to me spoke no English, fell asleep so I couldn’t get out to go to the bathroom. It is SO hard to sleep sitting up, even harder when you have to pee, I mean - urinate! The meals we got were so small – fasting would have been better! We arrived at 8:30 AM (here) but didn’t get baggage and clear customs till 10:30. In the end, we got to the MTC (CTM) at 12:00. We got an abbreviated lunch and then several orientations, dinner was good – beans and rice. Then they gave us the night off to unpack, do assignments, write, read, shower, play B-ball. I can’t wait to go to sleep…so I can wake up and start figuring this ‘Pork-A-Geez’ stuff out. It is awesome here. I will e-mail either on Tues. or Wed. (hopefully!), then you can e-mail me. If I don’t get to it, here are the instructions for snail mail [see below]. Well, I’ve been awake and in the same clothes for 35 + hours – time to hit the hay – Write Soon.

Love,
Elder Helland

These mailing instructions are included on his first blog message – Gone Fishin’
FYI – It takes 10 days for him to receive a package using the GLOBAL PRIORITY ENVELOPES from the Post Office – flat rate - $11.00