August 2, 2011 - Letter Home

Sinking In


Hello there family,

This week was cold and rainy (again), but it was a good one. We had a great branch activity on Saturday where we managed to get 16 of the people we are teaching to. The activity definitely marked the week and our investigators were able to get to know the members of the branch and have fun in a bunch of games and eat cakes together. I'm really happy so many people showed up. I guess we should mention the word "cake" in ALL our invites to get greater effect. :)

Stephanie and Priscilla went to church again and we are anxious to get them to the finish line on the 12th to be baptized.

We spent a day and a half sick due to undercooked chicken, and we also got to do 3 service projects this week, liftin' sand (new stuff!) for the construction of a house, making a wooden gate, and hefting furniture in a move. Woah! I'm a workin man!

No photos AGAIN this week, because we haven't been able to recharge our camera. I promise next week I'll send a bunch! I gotta!

Man, I am sorry for the drab updates recently; it's hard because all I can seem to do is keep working and visiting and worrying and running so that I don't think about home too much. But I defintiely need to do some adventurous last activities here in a while to mark the occasion of me leaving the land of my mission. We will be visiting the temple next week and me and Elder Bryant will climb Itacolomi Hill on my last P-day, which will give a good epic look of the surroundings of all of Porto Alegre and Gravataí, all the areas that I've run around in this last year. I'm excited for that!

So, really, my feelings are pretty complicated in these last two weeks. I can't believe that I'll actually be going home; I feel like I'll just be transferred to another area. It doesn't sink in that I won't be here in three weeks. It doesn't sink in that I have a loving, excited family waiting at home for my arrival; all I can seem to see is the loving people which have taken me in here. I want to be sad about leaving but excited to go home but forget about it all and just work and bah! It's a mix.

But I'm sure that's pretty normal. Right now, I'm going to try to focus just on keeping going until the end; anything else'll pull me off track. Running running until the end! That's my goal! And to baptize a couple more before getting on the plane :).

Thank you so much for the great e-mails this week, and all the photos. I love you all so much! I am so excited to see you all.  What will you say to the 21-year-old stranger who can barely manage to type English who is suddenly living with you all? I think I'll definitely be a little fish-outta-the-water for a while.

Well, have a good next week! Enjoy the time left without having two extra plates at the dinner table every night!


I think I'll be able to visit Elizabeth on my last day in the field. I have plenty of room in my luggage too, after a little "Winter Cleaning". I think a lot of clothes might be going to the trash cause I definitely won't use them at home. That'll gimme some space.

I got butterflies too! Make ém stop! :)

Have a good week,
14 more days! :P

Your son,
Elder Con