Week 15 Manaus

Hey guys!

It's Wednesday again! This week went well! I'm still here in good 'ol Lagoa Verde with Elder Christensen. I knew I'd be here, but I wasn't sure if Christensen was going to be transferred. He wasn't, so we're both here for another transfer. This transfer should go well. We have a wedding on Saturday, followed by their baptisms on Sunday. We marked 2 more baptism dates for later in October and we are working hard. One of the dates is for Camilla, which is cool. She wants to get baptised, but her family says we are an evil cult that will lead her to "inferno." So, it's tough, but I think she will get baptised on the marked day.

It's hot here! I'm pretty used to it and have accepted it will always be hot. This week was kinda gross. There were a few fires in the forest, and it was all smoky and muggy and dirty in the whole city. I'm glad it's warm here and not snowing. I'll take the heat any day!

General conference was a lot of fun. It went by too fast though, probably because it was my first opportunity to just sit down for a little while. We walked to the stake center (a 20-25 minute walk) and spent the day over there. Between sessions on Saturday, we taught a lesson to Camilla (who came to 3 sessions) and just hung out and talked with the members. Thankfully, they had conference in English. We had 4 Americans sitting in a little upstairs room (w/out air conditioning) in the stake center watching conference. Other than the room being so hot, I really enjoyed it. I think my favorite talk was by Elder Holland. Mas Rapaz. I love it when apostles throw down. I really enjoyed all of conference though, it was great. It was also nice just to see the United States. But, that was definitely the highlight of this week. I can't wait for the next one. Christensen kept saying next conference he would be sitting on his couch, eating abelskeviers (I'm sure I just butchered that spelling.) Turns out his family eats them, too. We both got pretty excited to find that our families both make them. That was pretty funny.

I have not yet gotten the package. They never take this long, from what I hear. Christensen's mom sent him a package 2 months ago and he hasn't gotten it yet. It's lame. They usually take about 10 days. The mail people are still on strike. So, I'm hoping it shows up soon...

We never go tracting. I've never just randomly knocked on a door and asked to share a message. I'm glad about that. We just street contact and try to get referals.

I finally ate fish. It was really good. We ate at a member's house, who is a little better off than others around here, and they got food from a restraunt. It was some kind of fillet, I don't know what, but I really liked it. That wasn't normal, though. Usually you have to pick around the little bones of the fish, and be careful not to swallow them or they could kill you, etc.

We were invited to a members house for FHE on Monday and they played UNO. It was really fun. It's cool to see members who really live the gospel. Also, the mom of the family cooks really well, so we scored some good food.

We have a new Elder in our district of 4. An elder in our district was transferred, and his comp is now training a new American. I'm not the youngest guy in my district anymore! Which feels kinda cool. Every transfer, the district leader (Elder Christensen) does a division with the senior of the other area. Meaning, sometime in the next few weeks, it's going to be me and somebody fresh out of the MTC for a day. Yeah....my Portuguese is getting better, but we'll see how that goes....

Portuguese is improving. My accent is getting better. Sometimes I say things in an American accent and Christensen calls me out on it. That's good.

We are going to an Amazon museum today, I'll take pics and send some next week. But, I think that's all for right now. Pray I get my package, love you guys. Have a good week. Tcaho!

-Elder Eric Stapley