May 30, 2011 in Rio Branco with Elder Spil

Hey all,



Sounds like you've had a pretty exciting week with everything going on. Here, it's been about the same, except for one thing. Yesterday was amazing. We had stake conference in Melo and it feels like years since I've been to Melo. It was really nice. We got to ride a contracted bus with the ward and listen to the Da Silvas and to Area President Arnold, who is amazing. It was such an amazing conference.



They did a stake reorganization, which was cool to see. The new stake president was someone I'd met in 33. It's the father of a member I knew there and he had come to visit our ward. His daughter and her husband also came to the meeting all the way from 33 (probably 3 hours) so I got to see them. Also, Barbara, a member that I know even better from 33 came and she told me all the latest news from 33. Her brother who I helped activate is now getting ready to go on a mission. The whole family is sealed in the temple now. They'd been inactive for years and years and were just starting up when I got there. The son, ´´Neno´´ had kinda half-reactivated, but he started going a lot more when I was there. It was so fantastic to hear that. Also, Barbara is considering serving a mission. Also, 33 is about to become a stake. It's finally ready. I was so happy. I really feel like my efforts in 33 changed something. It's cool seeing the fruits of my labor a year later.



That's really the outstanding event of the week. It's been pretty nice weather-wise, nice and cold. We're all getting along and playing nice and working hard and doing missionary stuff. Hope everything goes well for you guys back home. Good luck on the house finding and buying and stuff. Don't do anything I wouldn't do. Don't talk to strangers (Wow, I never realized how much I'm ignoring that advice these days, haha.)

-- Pictures: the first two we took this morning specifically so I could send. The third one is our Ward mission leader and his wife and his grandson, so you can see what it was like traveling with the ward to Melo. I took one of us but it didn't show up very well and i found out later that my hair was messy that day. (Our mirror broke)