April 23, 2012

Family with the girls! We baptized the other daughter on Saturday! The Dad is having problems... He can't quit smoking and drinking coffee, and he started drinking again this last week. He still hasn't come to church at all, but hopefully that will change in the next few weeks.

 Dad, I have a question about the sacrament and I don't have the resources here to figure this out. If you aren't there for the sacrament prayers, can you still take the sacrament? I thought that if you weren't, you can't, and also when the bread and water are covered back up, the are no longer blessed. It makes sense to me that way because we wouldn't throw away blessed bread and water, as it is a pretty sacred thing.

I found out something horrifyingly sad the other day. For a thing of deodorant like I use but half the size, I have to pay almost R$20. Waaaaay too much. So I guess I'll have to find a good kind here to use... But oh well! Just more of the Brazilian life for me!

I am actually in the city of Riberão Preto. We're serving the area of Ipiranga, if you look up Ipiranga it should pretty accurately show where I am. Our chapel is on Rua Paraná. And my companion is Elder Henrique.

The food... I ate a chicken heart a while back. That was interesting. But I really haven't eaten much weird food. Most of it is really just rice and beans. And guaraná. I think every house that I've eaten at, we've had soda of some sort, and it's almost always guaraná or Fanta. We have lunch every day in the house of a member here, so we really don't eat at all in our house. For breakfast (which my companion decided we're not eating from now on... long story), we usually go down to the store on the corner and buy some bread and cookies, and I eat the bread for breakfast and the cookies for dinner when we get back home. 

Speaking of Lainey going to Rexburg, my dream when Drew and I get back would be to have Lainey, Annie, Drew, and I all going to BYU-I, all living in the La Jolla apartments. How fantastic would that be? That is depending of course on if Drew and Annie aren't married by then.

Well, I think that's all for this week. I hope you all are doing well! Oh! And I got two letters from the Dunlop's today! It was good to hear from them. I'll have to write them back soon. Still haven't recieved any of the other letters, like the ones that Madi said she sent... Ah well. Probably next week.

I love you all!

-Elder Hopper #1