Week Two!‏                                        October 17, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Things are still awesome! I am learning so much already, it is amazing! First thing's first, I would prefer to be written via postal mail. My emailing time is very short and it is difficult to read everyone’s and still have time to send a decent email. However, I have plenty of time during each day to read and write hand-written letters from everyone! So don't hesitate to send me some mail!

Okay, so I just got back from the Campinas temple. (Pictures to be sent when I get to Santa Maria)  I cannot decide which one I like more, the Campinas or the Sao Paulo. They are both so beautiful. Heck, the whole country is beautiful. I especially like the artwork. In America, it seems like all the paintings and such are the same across churches, temples, etc. Here in Brazil, everything’s new. In the Sao Paulo baptismal font there are two giant tile mosaics on both sides of the font, rising up about 15ish feet high. It really is stunning. Portuguese update - the language is coming great. I went through the temple in Portuguese and understood everything just fine. Reading and writing - no problem. Hearing and understanding- a little harder, and speaking it is still fairly tough. I wouldn’t say I was fluent, but give me two weeks, and I could say safely that I would be very close. Maybe I’m overly ambitious. This week our district really buckled down and everyone has a whole lot of improvement over these last 7 days. We really are a tight-bunched group. Its super cool, I like them a lot. I am getting along well with my companion.

Somehow get this message out to Chandler Brown, I ran into an Elder Guierrmo Fernandez from Paraguay, who says that you taught him English. He's a cool dude. We've sat together at lunch a couple of times. Some of the food here is getting pretty... old? I’m getting pretty tired of Panini’s. It’s a good food, but it is the only thing we have for breakfast... so today when they had frosted flakes, the missionaries went ape wild over it. Milk is not something that they have in plentitude here.

To answer a previous question, they do have a CTM choir. I am in it. It is awful. But what is severely lacking in talent is made up for in spirit. Speaking of which, I cannot hardly talk, let alone sing. I have an extremely nasty cold. Insomuch, that blowing my nose so frequently has given me frequent nosebleeds. One nosebleed came unexpectedly in the night, and it dripped on my garment top. So I spent an hour in the bathroom at 1 am with my garment top and a tide pen getting that sucker out. I would go into detail about my ingrown toenail, but to make a long story short, I am going to the medic right after I am done writing you to get my entire toenail removed. TMI? probably. Do you remember about how I talked about Elder Paulson being a saint? Not surprisingly, he is our new zone leader. In sports, we call him RamenTop, because his hair looks exactly like ramen noodles. Funny story, Our instructora, Irma Diniz, said she had a surprise for us. She was so excited to show us this surprise which she had for us. The next day, she said she brought us all American candies! We looked at the wonderful stash she had brought, and they were Hall's Cough Drops. We tried to suppress the laughter. Lang and I just smiled, because we actually needed them. That’s all the time I have, ttyl! BTW, handwritten letters... awesome! 

Love, Elder Wassom