Laranjeiras

Hey guys,

Well, it's been yet another week in the life. Time sometimes seems to go by so fast, and at the same time so slow. Not like that makes any sense at all. But sometimes it seems like every Wednesday comes quicker than the last. As exciting as that is, it's also kind of depressing. Just 9 more months....

So, we've been working a lot with a couple that is preparing to get married and baptized. Israel and Marilies. The challenge is that he doesn't have a birth certificate. So, we are running around trying to find out what we can do to get him a new one. He was born is some other state and his mom who "might" have the origional birht certificate is travelling for 2 weeks. So, I'm talking to my friends in staff to see what we can do. Sometimes I feel like my calling on the mission is just to take care of wedding proccesses. Other Elders find people, run into complications, Elders get transferred, and others almost end up forgetting about the old investigators. I feel like I just get put into areas to try to work out all of the wedding complications. It's fun, and I guess I enjoy it by the end of it, but sometimes it can be kind of frustrating. What's nice is the couple lives just on the other side of the road from us, so at least we don't have to walk too far to talk with them...

This week I've been busy with more meetings and doing some more baptismal interviews. I was pretty impressed with one of the interviews that I did. He knew all the answers and bore a sincere testimony to me. At the end of my interviews I like to ask if I can do anything to help the person or explain anything to them. The man got a little embarassed and said he wanted to ask something. He said,"Well, I know Thomas S. Monson is the name of the prophet, but what does that actually mean..?" So we were able to sit and talk for a while about what it means to have a living prophet and about what he does. It was a good chat and it also reminded me general conference is coming up. Crazy! It feels like the last general conference just got over....Time sometimes goes by too fast.

So, it's getting ridiculously hot again. Sometimes I feel like Im used to it, but then some days it honestly feels like I'm walking around in the very pits of heck....No joke. It's been well over 100 this week....I'm not sure if the themometer on my blog is actually right....There are some days when I'd even consider moving to Alaska after the mission, just to be away from the heat...I know some of you really want to know this, but yes. I do have tan lines where my neame tag/tie/garments are. Yes, through my clothes! I'm going to have the grossest tan line when I get home.

A few other people asked me if I was Brazilian this week. I love it when that happens.

We ran into a kid (I guess he's 20...) on the bus who came up to us speaking in English, asking if we were Americans. He then switched to Portuguese and asked if I speak...Hmm. Falo mesmo (with my manaus accent...! People from manaus say it in a weird way....I can't really explain. But it's a regional thing) I asked him how long he had been learning english. He said more than 6 years. (and he was still kind choppy on it....) He then asked me how long I'd been speaking. I told him for a little over year. The kid was blown out of his mind (as with a few other people on the bus who gave me some looks...) He was like, "but you speak so well! How?!?! You even have a good accent....How...?" Oh yeah. Way to go gift of tongues. So I invited him to go to church. It made me remember though really how much I have learned in a little over than a year....and how much the Lord helped and still does help....

So, In all honesty. I feel like my emails are getting a little dull. I hope I'm not boring you guys. Cuz sometimes I feel like I even bore myself writing the same things every week. So, sorry. It's not like my life has tons of "new" and "exciting" things going on. Just pretty much the same old. Work, do weddings, baptize, die in the sun....So. yeah. This week I've been contemplating what's something else I could write about, but in all honesty I'm not thinking about much that would really even interest all of you. This week I've been up late at nights. Our neighbors (we live in a divided house shared with some really cool members) got a new puppy this week. Oh my gosh. I'm ready to kill this thing. It cries all night long, and the wall between our houses really isn't that thick, so it keeps me up all night. I've honestly considered punting this dog...But, in the long waking hours of the night I've been debating what new blog article I could share with all of you. But, the sad reality is, not much else is coming to me...So, since I'm not really coming up with tons of new "blog inspiration" I'm going to ask it from all of you. I'm allowed to recieve emails from anyone, but I can't respond. If any one reading this (it doesn't even matter if I know you or not...) and wants to know about something else going on over here, or has a suggestion, throw a comment on my blog. Or just send me an email. I won't respond, but I'm always looking for new ideas....

Well, other than that, life is going well. I'm loving the mish, and it all seems to go by so quickly....In all honesty though, there are the days when it all seems to be going by way to slow. It sometimes reminds me of the Eagles lyrics "this could be heaven, or this could be hell...." In my blog I always try to just include the good things, but there are the days when the mish is hard and it doesn't always seem to be the "heaven" part...if you get my meaning. But even though there are the hard days when it seems like nothing goes right and nobody wants to talk with us, I love my mission. My mission means everything to me...and I wouldn't trade these experiences for anything. I know it's the Lords work, and I love it. I love Brazil and Manaus. And I'm really going to miss all of this by the time its over....

But yeah. That's pretty much what's us. Hope all is ok with you guys. Have a great week. And love you guys!

-Elder Eric Stapley

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