this was a very HARD week for all of us...

well, it sounds like all of you had pretty chaotic weeks- so let me share my own little piece of chaos with you guys - this really was the hardest week of my mission. what i don’t think i told you last week (because we had only been together one week, and i didn’t want you to worry), was that elder everton and I were having problems. BIG problems. i don’t think that i ought to give details, but let it suffice to say that the problems were about obedience; that he didn’t think some rules were important that i thought were vital. we had a few arguments at night. in truth, i was a little "chato" about it all, but believe me, it was a big deal. so last thursday we had zone conference (which was awesome), and i felt for a while at peace and hoped that maybe the spirit as well as the words of the president would change his attitude about the rules. the problem was that he is so "old and trunky" that he thinks that he knows everything about how to be a missionary. i hoped for something good to happen, but i spoke to sis. brinton just in case and asked her to have the president call me later (he was busy after conf.). so we got home that night, after zone conf. and proselyting, and i wanted to talk a bit about the things that we learned at conf. and some of the rules that we had broken that day. he got really mad, we argued about the rules and the way that we were acting for a long time. he got mad and went to bed. i was scared and didn’t know what to do. here i was, my comp wasn’t obedient and didn’t want to change. it was late so i didn’t call the pres, but i did pray. i prayed and prayed about what i should do. i was pretty shaken up, and scared about what would happen. then late that night as i read the scriptures looking for an answer, i felt this incredible peace. i knew that i would apologize to him about the fight in the morning, and then call the president. i was able to go to sleep and rest well. so in the morning, i apologized and then told him i would call the president. it was cool, because the "hours" for the president start at 8 am, and i decided to call at 8:30. at 8:30 i had the phone in my hand looking for his number when he called. sister brinton hadn’t even told him yet, and he called because he felt something was wrong. so i told him. everything. we talked for a long time; he said that he was really proud of me and he was glad that i had "called". he then talked to my comp for a long time. he set up an emergency transfer, that would make my comp a junior again in rio, but instead of transferring him he gave him one last chance. SO, i still have e. everton and things are still a little rough between us, (he is kind of mad that i called pres), but things are definitely better. he knows that if he breaks any more rules that he will get transferred or sent home. so, things are getting better. well, i gotta go, i will probably write a little more later today, but we have an appointment right now. i will send some pics later too.
love elder helland
ps. we are going to watch TMNT today. i don’t know if i told you, but we are allowed to watch movies on p-day, as long as it is in a church building and on the approved list by our president. so TMNT is our halloween party. there are TONS of approved movies.
(transformers is approved! maybe next week)

Part 2 – later in the day…
yah, i know that i made this last week sound really bad, sorry. i didn’t have enough time to write a whole bunch earlier. actually, a lot of really good things happened this last week, as well as several funny stories. i only wrote the BIG story of the week earlier, and hoped that i would get to tell the rest soon. i will be brief so i can send some pictures too.

yesterday we had splits and i was with e. sorenson, who only has one more transfer than me. we speak portuguese at about the same level, so it was an adventure. the next day we went to eat lunch in downtown petropolis and he cut his finger pretty bad on a handrail in the mall. we went to a pharmacy to buy band aids because we were a long bus ride from both our apartments. the problem when we got there is that we didn’t know any of the words for the things that we needed. we did this whole acting thing to signify band aids, tried describing neosporin, but nothing was working. finally the guy saw that he was bleeding and found the band aids for us. then e. sorenson wanted something to clean the cut with but didn’t know any good words to describe what he was looking for. he ended up asking for something to "sanctificar" his finger. SANCTIFY! like in the sacrament prayer. we both started laughing, it was so funny. anyway, the guy at the store ended up playing "doctor" for him, finding all the stuff and then bandaging it up for him too. then e. sorenson had to pay for all the supplies that he used. it was funny.

also, like i said, zone conf. was AWESOME; you just don’t find meetings that often where the spirit is so powerful.

well gotta go, maybe I’ll write more thru snail mail.

love elder helland.

ps. mom, we only watched TMNT. relax, this is an approved activity by our mission president. [I had sent him an e-mail in between letters today cautioning him about using his discretionary time watching MOVIES!!!! UGH! It’s my own soap box…!]

pps alyce that batman is gnarly! love ya

ppps dad, way to go with the cars! i often dream about my car when my feet hurt.

pppps received the package of jump ropes and stuff. note- the jolly ranchers melt- so please don’t send more. thx. i jumped rope this morning. i also got letters from pres hinton and shane this week. :-)