feliz seja seu natal

I’m hoping that this video attaches; it is a video of us on the way to zone conference. It was a lot of fun. Our zone leaders are the ones that are playing the primary songs on the guitar and harmonica. We sang and “goofed” most of the way there (like 2 hours- TO JUIZ DE FORA!!! that is in a different state! the name actually means “outside judge”). so, zone conference was awesome like it always is. This time we learned about how to plan and be more organized. It was really great. (see ch 8 of PMG) also it was nice to see old friends from the CTM days. We talked and swapped stories about the weird things that we eat and see out here. That was last Friday. Last week was pretty regular; we struggled to find people to teach so the week was pretty slow. Most of our investigators turned “mole” (pronounced; molely) meaning that they didn’t come to church and they aren’t really progressing anymore. So we had to cut a whole bunch of them. Now, we are looking for new ones; and we’ve got a plan...

At zone conference president introduced our new referral getting strategy: cartão vivo de natal (like a christmas-gram) yep, it includes a whole song and dance. We presented it to the elders’ quorum and the Socsoc (relief society). we sing a christmas song in english and portuguese, then read some scriptures from luke 2 and 3 nephi 1. then we had all the members write down the names of their friends that they would like us to visit and deliver this cartao vivo de natal. They gave a bunch of names and we are going to visit them. I am excited.

Alright about christmas; this is what the president said in his carta semenal: Vamos mudar nosso P-Day de quarta-feira para terça-feira no dia de Natal e do Ano Novo, dias 25 de dezembro e 1 de janeiro. Você pode usar a internet quarta-feira antes do almoço dia 26 de dezembro e dia 2 de janeiro para escrever e ler as cartas. Arranja com suas famílias sua ligação de Natal para acontecer no dia de Natal, antes de 18:00 horas, quando vai resumir seu trabalho na sua área. Seus Pais podem ligar para seu celular se eles quiserem. O custo destas ligações são despesas da família ou do missionário e não da missão ou a mesada. Vamos seguir o manual missionário que diz, "Cuidado com esses telefonemas para que seus pensamentos não se distanciem do trabalho nem causem problemas financeiros a sua família. Não faça ligações longas (preferencialmente não mais que 30 ou 40 minutos)."

For the American Elders, your parents can call your cell phone using the following numbers: 011 55 digit city code, (either 21, 24 or 32 depending where you are) and then the 8 digit number of your cell phone. For example, to call my cell phone, they would call: 011 55 21 8655 0480. It will be much cheaper for your parents in the US to call you from there than for you to call them from here.

So that’s what he says. Our cell number is 8814 9176 and our area code is 24. so the number to call is: 01 55 24 8814 9176. just tell me the time you guys will call next week. (be sure to specify that it is in MY time ZONE!)

It was nice of you guys to send elder everton a letter. He understood all of it and i think that he is writing you back. If you guys could do me a favor and punch jay, that would be great. “sim, burro, eu ja sei TUDO!”

As for the update for how my comp and I are doing, we are still “alright”. After zone conference, i left wanting to change the way we do things in accordance with the instruction we received, and elder everton didn’t. Also, he gets more and more trunky every day. So we will see. The problem isn’t just the trunky thoughts; it is that trunky thoughts lead to trunky action; just like we read in the scriptures: thoughts lead to actions. I am trying to keep my thoughts focused on being nice to him- even when it’s hard.

So it sound like you guys are having fun there, it is raining and cooling down. it is raining here too, but it is also warming up. Some days, i just get soaked because of the humidity. 85 degrees and 100% humidity is miserable if there is no wind. Luckily, this is the rainy season, and we get rain a few days a week, but people tell me that it could rain everyday in january, non stop.

Well, gotta get going- today we are going to play soccer with the zone.

Love elder helland.

PS. I received a letter from camille pobst and that essay by roxanne. I ALSO got a giant box from g-ma and g-pa helland. THANKS!!

PPS i am sorry, i found a bunch of letters that i wrote and never sent from like a month ago. I WILL mail TODAY! I promise i will this time.