Porto Velho

Hey guys!

Today has been a pretty busy P-day. Last night, our entire zone slept at our zone leader's house. We woke up this morning and played some soccer (I'll proudly admit that I scored 3 or 4 goals on the Brazilians...) Then we had a churrasco! (Or Brazilian BBQ.) Tons of food. It actually turned out really good. That was fun. I'm tired now, though... Hey, I finally got my camera! Thanks!

So, it's funny that in his email, Dad said, "I hope you don't get sick or anything eating weird foods..." Well, let's just say that's pretty much what went down this week. I threw up most of Thursday and Friday. I'm pretty sure I ate something bad. That was pretty lame. On Friday, when I finally got to the point that I was able to make it to some of our commitments, we visited a sister in our ward. When I mentioned not feeling so great, she had my comp run out to her yard and cut down 4 coconuts. She had Elder Paredes cut them open and pour out the coconut water for me (it's called coconut milk in English). I guess it's supposed to help. It was the first time I tried coconut milk and I hope it's the last. I'd heard it's not too bad when it's cold on a really hot day, but I can't say I enjoyed the experience. I think I had more of a desire to be sick after I drank it than before. Then, she made some kind of herbal tea for me. I knew it wouldn't be so good when even Elder Paredes looked at me and gave a face of disgust. He then told me to drink it all in one go, if not, I'd never finish it. I can honetly say it was one of the worst things that I've had to drink. Rapaz. I didn't throw up after drinking the coconut milk and tea, but I wanted to....But now, I'm much better.


So, this week went pretty well. We are really going to town and trying to mark a lot of baptisms. We marked a family to get baptized next month, and should be marking another 3 or 4 baptisms soon. The work is going well. A lot of hard work. We had 12 investigators at church on Sunday. So, not too bad.

This week we watched the Joseph Smith movie that plays in Temple Square in Utah. We watched it with the family that plans to get married and baptized next month. They wanted some American food, so I made some cookies for them. That was pretty fun. I'm a fan of the movie and chocolate chip cookies....good stuff.

I'm trying to think what else went down this week....Yesterday, we had to leave our house at 10:15 in the morning to get to our appt at 12. That was exciting. Gotta love a large area...

We have interviews with the President tomorrow and zone conference on Friday. This transfer feels like it's passing by quickly. It ends March 23. But, I'm enjoying it for the most part. Elder Paredes and I get along, so that's good. He's a little crazy and really cool.

Well, I guess that's pretty much my week. Hope all is well with you. Until next week! Love you guys!

-Elder Eric Stapley

P.S. I've decided I'm not a fan of cow liver. When you're expecting normal meat and take a bite of cow liver, it's a gross experience... só isso então. Tcahu!