Week 11 Letter

May 2, 2011
Hey family!
Another week has run by. Time is so weird. So, where to start with this email… Maybe some questions. Snakes, first of all. Yeah, I forgot how long I said that this thing was, but it turns out that it was 26.25 feet! Huge. Also, the birds were a kind of vulture, and so they are huge, probably close to an eagle, I am not sure, but I am sure that you can look it up on the internet. The food is good, but no, nothing like mom’s food. It is rice and beans for every meal. The culture is so different, but I did not realize it was different until I thought about home because it is normal here. Everybody really thinks that it is normal so you follow along and it becomes normal to you as well, and then you think about the way things were at home and you realize it is completely different. It is really warm, especially with the humidity. I am sweating 24 hours a day, and I mean sweating. We carry around towels with us so that we can wipe the sweet off our faces before we teach. It is ridiculous. My shirts need some serious attention lol. So, what else? I so not even know how to send my SD card to you, but I will try to figure that out. Mail takes at least a month or more, so I will let you know when those letters arrive. I am glad that you got the suit Tony; I was hoping that it might fit you. It was small in the arms for me, and hearing the way that you were growing, I was not sure. Hey, did I accidentally mail you my Pat, Blessing with all of those letters that I sent home? I cannot find it anywhere, so maybe you could send it to me, or type it up and email it or something. Anyways, yeah, the mission is great. Yesterday we had the coolest first lesson with Merala. We met her at a member’s house and taught her the first lesson. I taught about God, families, and prophets, my companion continued with Christ and the apostasy, and then I talked about Joseph Smith. I asked her to pay close attention to the words that I was going to say, and also her feelings, and I promised that if she did this, she would receive an answer that what we were saying is true. She agreed, and I quoted the first vision, and bore testimony. Then my companion bore testimony. Then I asked her how she had felt when I described what happened to this young boy who prayed to God, and she said that she felt very strong and good feeling. I told her that I did as well, and I asked her who was giving her these feelings, and she started to answer, but then she broke into tears. We allowed silence and she quietly wept for 5 minutes (which is forever). I could feel the Spirit working on her. After the 5 minutes, she was able to answer that the feelings were coming from Heavenly Father. I then asked her if she was willing to follow these feelings and be baptized with the same power and authority that Jusus was baptized with, and she said yes and that she would prepare herself to be baptized in 2 weeks. Sadly, she lives in the other side of Sinop, so I will probably not teach her again, although we do a lot of splits, so who knows, but it was awesome. The life of a missionary is amazing. It is so hard sometimes with the language and having this incredible desire to help people when you can only understand them 1/2 the time, but so incredible worth everything. The language is coming faster and faster, and I can feel the gift of tongues. It is truly a strange feeling. There is no way that I should remember of these rules and words that I am studying. It is unreal, and the understanding is becoming better and better as well. Yesterday during the church meetings, I could understand everything that what said. It was unreal. Portuguese is becoming more and more normal to me. Anyways, we are also teaching a guy named Junior, and he came to church with us yesterday, and I talked with him afterwards about what he thought and he liked it and he felt that it was word of God, and so told him that he was receiving an answer that this is Christ’s church on the earth again, and that he needs to follow these answers and promptings. Anyways, about mother’s day. I think that I will be calling from 1pm my time to 4pm my time, although we are not sure. It all depends on our lessons. I have church at 5pm as well, which is pretty awesome. We are taking the sacrament at about the same time even though we miles and miles apart. Yeah, so I am not sure when, but it will be from about 12pm-4pm. It all depends. Anyways, Tony and Shauna, it would be awesome being in the same classes with both of you. Man, tell everyone there that I know that I said hi. Saturday, we were at the church with some investigators for a branch activity and everybody was kindly teasing me that Americans can not play soccer. I could not so them that I was okay because we have a rule against soccer unless you had a baptism that week, but they were having a contest of who could throw a soccer ball the furthest (following the inbound throw rules) and I did a front handspring throw and won by a long shot, and I could have thrown it further, but I did not want it to go over the fence. It was really funny. Dad, did Tony really beat you three series in a row??? I have no more words on this subject. lol. Tell Elder Kilma that I said hi. Happy B-day Becca! It is a little early, but I will not write or call until after! You are all growing up so fast! You will only have 2 birthdays until I come home and you already are using up one of them! PS Tony and dad, I wore my tie yesterday! So, you will have to write me all about it Rebecca! I am so excited for you. Well, it was so great hearing from all of you! I loved reading your emails! Well, I am going to try and see if I can send you some pics, so this will not be the only email for the day, I will send you others in a minute, but until then, Tchau!
Actually, it is 3 reais here, so I think that it is about 2 dollars in American money. I do not think that there is a way to send you pics over email, so I will have to figure out the best way to send you the SD card. Also here is some information of how to call me. I can call you or you can call me. The number is this for you to call me. The first number is to call from the US to Brazil which you will need to look up. It starts with 00 I think. The number for me to call US is 0021 (for example). Next Sunday you can call me at the branch building by dialing this number, followed by 66 (state number) and then 3531-1290 (number of the building). So it will look like this (international code)-66-3531-1290. I can also call you. I do not know which they prefer. Actually, I think that I am suppose to call you and then have you call me right back. Sorry that this is soo confusing. I still have your calling card number so no worries. What is the address to my blog?
Well, I am about out of time, so I thought that I would send you a quick note before I left. I love you so much mom! Thank you for everything that you do. I cannot wait to call you, but at the same time it is sad that I am already calling you because the next time will not be until Christmas. I do want you to know that I am being the kind of missionary that you would want me to be. I am working hard, teaching people, learning the language and the culture, and I am trying to bring everyone to the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the power unto salvation. I love you mom, and I am so excited to hear from you again. I love you mom, and an early Happy Mother’s day from a loving and most thankful son.
Elder Shane B. Lee