News from Brazil

Oi família! Outra semana(another week). How is everyone? Was really great to get all of your letters! This week I had a few ups and downs. The beginning of the week started out really strong. We were working really hard and our work was paying off. We have 11 new investigators and my lessons are really improving. But, we have been having a problem with our shower, it doesn't turn completely off. So, on Friday we went into the city to get everything worked out. Then we ended up spending almost the whole day waiting for the guy to come and fix our shower. I got some studying in but as for contacts and lessons that day was wasted. Then Saturday I had my first baptism! It was a member of the ward, named Nefi and it was beyond description. That took up a lot of our time but we had a pretty productive day after that. Yesterday, I could understand what people were saying but I would have to translate everything into English before I could respond. So, I ended up just smiling and nodding most of the time. Sometimes it was pretty embarrassing and I wanted to just talk to someone in English for two seconds. But, no hahaha. I'm not letting it bother me but I realized how fragile knowledge is. If we don't nourish it, practice it and continue with it. It will be lost forever. So, I got a little homesick yesterday, but, I'm over it. Just gotta get back to work.
One thing someone said in the MTC has really helped me have a better outlook on life. He told us about a person who was always waiting for something, always depending on something to be happy. Started when he was a kid wanting a bike or something, then to finish school get married, have a house, miscellaneous. But it ended up when he was old all he wanted was his time back. This is our time to be happy, we CANNOT wait for something to be happy or we will NEVER be happy. We gotta bite into those lemons and just smile even when we don't have sugar (haha just thought of that, huh). Anyways, be happy, I am happy! By the way, Last week in church I said the sacrament prayer and I have done the anointing on two blessings. Oh yeah, the food is really good here, not a great huge bbq every day but we get rice and beans, a little meat(some times beef sometimes chicken and sometimes I really don't wanna know :). And I buy a lot of groceries! Eggs, cereal, milk, yogurt, fruit, cookies, ham, cheese, bread. So don't worry about my eating. Also, Santa Maria is really civilized, people are really nice, I am well taken care of don't worry about me.
Here is my address: Elder Mark Robert Zimbelman
Caixa Postal 0339
Centro-Santa Maria-RS-97001-970
Brasil.

Send me stuff :)

Até proxima semana(Until next week)

Amor do Brasil

Elder Z