Porto Velho, Rondonia

Hey guys!
Another week has passed here in Rondônia. I'll try to answer your questions. I got the package with the M+Ms but not the Christmas package. I should get it on Megan's Birthday- if I remember her B-day- the 8th right? We'll have a zone conference and I should get it then. There are 10 missionaries in all of Porto Velho and 4 more in another city. So, there's only 14 in this entire state (the size of Oregon). This conference is going to be a little different than my other zone conferences. Instead of over 100 missionaries, there will be under 20. Kinda cool I guess. We meet in the stake center here in Porto Velho and it's pretty sweet, for Brazilian standards. It has a piano, padded pews, a nice outdoor basketball court...it's pretty nice.

Good news of the week. There's going to be a Christmas conference in Manaus!!! They're flying us back for it! I was excited when I found out, since last year President didn't fly all the missionaries back. But, I'm going! I'll spend Christmas here, but a day or 2 in Manaus. I'll be able to see a bunch of my friends and maybe even stay in my old house for a night in Lagoa Verde. I may even get to visit some members. I'm way stoked!


Also, I feel I need to tell you something. This week, on Monday, I was hugged and almost kissed on the lips, by a girl. I'm not joking. Well, okay, the girl was a monkey. We visited someone in our ward whose neighbor has a pet monkey. She let us hang out and take some pics. This monkey fell in love with me. Seriously. She just hugged me and wouldn't let go. I have a video of me trying to get the monkey off. You can even see her try to kiss me. It's hilarious. For the first few minutes it was cool, until she wouldn't go away! I couldn't get her off. Mas rapaz. It was hilarious.









We have a baptism this week and one on the 20th. Happy Birthday, Shannon! There's potential for 2 or 3 more men/families. So, things are going well. It's way hot over here though. The sun is definitely stronger here than in Manaus. I've started using sunscreen. Some members tell us we need to use umbrellas. I'm sorry, but honestly, that just isn't going to happen. I've got a pretty sweet tan line though.

We had a little party, with some other missionaries, for my comp's birthday. Pizza, cake and ice cream (none of which are as good as the American versions) That was exciting.

So, this week's problem with the baptismal font... the church didn't have running water! So, we filled the font with jugs of drinking water. It was still pretty low and I actually used that fish net to scoop bugs out. We had a baptism the next day and just left the water over night. So, I actually ended up using the net again that you sent.

I'm a little worried about speaking English with you on Christmas. It feels like I haven't had a conversation in English for months. The most I've spoken was during a baptism when we sang one verse of the "rainbow" song. Other than that, it's been a while...

Have a good week. Miss and love you guys. Happy birthday, Megan. Até mais.
Tchao!
-Elder Eric Stapley