March 28, 2011

VISA! Wow its about time! haha its crazy to think that five months have came and went on my mission, and it's all been state-side! It makes me think how precious time is out here, so i have to take advantage of every second! So i guess i'll be off to Brazil soon. I'm curious to know when i actually leave so i can get my stuff ready and get mentally prepared. Maybe they're gunna let a bunch of missionaries in now, because mom said a bunch have been moving. That would be great, because i'm sure they are in dire need of more missionaries. Congrats on finishing up your lecture, it sounds like you've been putting a lot of time in and you're working hard. I bet it will be great. I am also very excited for spring as well. It has been a really harsh winter, in fact the coldest of my life! The humidity just kills! Ha the funny thing is that Winter in curitiba is just about to start. A whole year full of winter, yay! hah. I'm so excited to go down there!@ I've been stressing and wondering if i was ever gunna go down there. My long waited prayers have been answered! But yeah, now on to my week. So this last week we had ZOne Conference and it went good. I learned a lot. Its fun getting to know all the missionaries in the new zone. A couple greenies were there and you could just tell they were new. I remember when i was just fresh out of the MTC looking like a deer in the headlights! This week we also went on 2 day exchanges, where I stayed in pottsville and elder hunt went to a city near by. The district leader came to Pottsville with me and it was up to me to take over the area. I also drove, which i havent done since before the mission haha but i did good, and i knew my way aroud the area good! I was nervous to take over the area, cuz it was the first time i had to do it, but i did good and we had a great exchange. Another thing that happend this week is that i found out that someone in my last area that was in the singles ward murdered someone from my last ward. I talked to some people and i found out that it was a kid that i knew! I dont think i told you this story, but in my last area at church one day, this kid in his mid 20's pulled me and my companions off to the side and said he wanted to talk to us, so he brought us to this empty classroom and closed the door. He got on his knees and started confessing to us about how he had temptations on how he wanted to be a polygamist after watching the HBO show "big love" and he confessed some other problems and we just told him to talk to the bishop and that he shouldn't confess to missionaries. It was a really weird/awkward situation and you could tell he had some problems. Well, come to find out that he is the kid who murdered a guy from the philly first ward. I was in the midst of a murderer! Man, its nuts. It was all over the news in philly. I dont know who the guy he killed tho, it was a name i had never heard of and apparently he was a less active. Crazy! On the brighter side, he confessed and now he's in prison. Yup... Crazy. So elder hunt and I are still working hard on the area and its still struggling. It is a really tough area and the people here are mostly strict catholics who are set on their religion. They're usually nice, just not interested. We're trying to rebuile the area after lazy missionaries in the past. We're working hard. THis sunday a guy came to church who claimed he was jesus santiago rodriguez. He was homeless and totally white, and i knew he was lying. I asked if he knew spanish, and he said yes. So i started speaking spanish to him and owned him! Ha proved him wrong! It was funny. Well not much else going on here. I have no idea when i'll be shipped out, but i'm so excited! I hope you have a great time in FLorida! I love you and i hope to talk to you soon on the phone from  the airport!

Love,

Matt