30 September 2009

The first thing I must do is repent and clear up some confusion. When I wrote “tomato sauce” in the last email I sent, I was thinking “spaghetti sauce”. That’s what I’m planning on making. There is definitely no need to send cans of spaghetti sauce through the mail, and it is unlikely that they would arrive here in one piece.

Speaking of the mail, the employees of Corrieos, the Brazilian postal service, have been on strike for some time and have just started getting back to work, which means that letters I sent and letters that were sent to me will probably arrive a little bit later than usual. Yes, the photo CD is on its way.

Also, I have my dentist appointment today. I forgot to withdraw the money I needed at the bank, so I’ll be taking it out tomorrow to reimburse the money I will be using now. Also on the subject of money, there is something a little less pleasant that I need to explain: This last Monday at our district meeting we decided to take some last-meeting photos. We all lined up our cameras and they did their thing. When I pulled my camera off the table, Elder Gonçalves’ camera and the tripod it was on went tumbling to the floor. NO, IT DID NOT BREAK, but a part around the lens either broke and fell out, and now it kind of whobbles around a little. As I was the one to pull my camera off, I have taken full responsibility. We’ve gone around looking for repair shops, but so far we have only found one, and it looks like there it will cost about R$120 (120 reais). We are still looking for other estimates. You probably know what I am going to ask, so I’ll just leave it up to you now. Personally, I think that the tripod leg was placed inside my camera’s wrist strap and fell for this reason when I snatched up my camera, but as I can’t go back in time and take another look, right now I am 100% responsible.

On a happier note, Chaun and Keven were baptized this last Saturday and Sunday, respectively! We’re still preparing Thiago and some other investigators. Elder Gonçalves was not transferred to another area, so he now begins his fourth transfer here in Novo Mundo.

I have gotten over my sickness and am back to work better than ever. I’m happy to hear about seminary and the garage sale, too.

General Conference is next week (as if you didn’t know!), and I am really, really excited. I hope that you're excited, too. How lucky we are to hear from living apostles and prophets every six months. I’ll keep you updated on the status of the work here. The cold has returned for now, and it has been raining a lot.

Until next week,
Elder Daniel Floyd