Hi Family, This has been a cool week for me, there are many interesting things about Brazil. I just got back from the temple in Sau Paulo and it is a really beautiful place. All the wood there is Brazilian Mahogany, which is illegal now, but it looks soooo beautiful and the stained glass works on it are way cool as well. This is an interesting place. There are sky scrapers everywhere here, and it seems that if you are not in a sky scraper or a huge apartment building, you are in a middle class home (called a nice favela). They even have their own L.A. River here, but I think it is bit less santitary then the L.A. river. Friday I got to go to the center of the city. The place where I was at is the Brazilian equivalent to New York Times Square. The people were so friendly, completely different then the US. People would walk up to you, it was very cool. I think one of the things I love about this place is that everybody speaks Portugeuse. In the US the Chinese speak their languages, and latins speak theirs and so on, but here everybody is from everywhere and they still speak Portuguese, no matter what other languages they might also speak.
One of the Brazilians in our room is from Salvador Brazil, and he looks just like Obama. I will have to show you a photo when I can send pictures in a week or so. So now we know where Obama is really from, beacause he still has not showed his birth certificate, I believe; he is not a Muslim or Asian or whatever else.. he is definanately a Brazillian like my roommate. There are many cool things about this place, the food is much better here and I talk with the Brazilians as many times a day as I can. When they talk about something I don't know about, they explain it to me until I understand. My companion left yesterday for his mission, so I am once again back to 3, for the 3rd time in the MTC. I have now had 6 companions in the 8 weeks. Today is the start of my 9th week so that means I leave next Tuesday, April 12th, for Rio. There are a big group of Brazilians leaving to Rio with me. Elder Jones got his visa and there are 3 others waiting in Provo to go to Rio..I hope it works out for them.
I will write you a nice big letter when I get to Rio and have more time. I hope that my mission address was posted on Facebook so people can write to me. I hope grandma got my postmarked package. I will see you later, I love you all and will write again...have a wonderful day!..I still can't find the enter button on the keyboard.
