Alrighty! Let´s get a move on!

Olá minha familia e meus amigos!

Yesterday was Dia Das Mães. Yes you guested it, or already know...... Mother´s Day! And you know what that means? I got to call home yesterday. It was wonderful. Whenever the phone picked up and I heard the voices of my family, my eyes welled up in tears and a huge smile took place of my worried face. (worried if the call would go through or not) So, now I´m all ready to work harder and more productively. You know what´s interesting. I meet people all the time here that remind me of others from home. I´m not sure exactly why, maybe it´s some facial expressions or maybe the way they carry themselves or maybe their spirit is similar to you all.

Anyway, I decided I´m going to start a Português grammar rule of the week. Well maybe not grammar, but pronunciation. So, the letter of the week is........ ´R´ so, when ´r´ is placed at the beginning of a word it is pronounced like an ´h´ or when there is ´rr´ so a double ´r´ makes an ´h´ sound also. Any other time it´s just a slight flight/roll of the tongue. But depending on where you´re from your accent is different. I don´t know how to type how it´s pronounced here.

Also, funny story real quick. The other week we were teaching about the five basic priniciples of the gospel of Jesus Christ (which are Faith in Jesus Christ, Repentence, Baptism, The Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End) Anyway, we were teaching this family outside under a mango tree (mangueira) around dusk. They have chickens and the chickens like to nest in the tree during the night. So, the chickens climb on a fence and jump up into the tree. But, one of the girls (about 13-15) decided to throw some of the chickens up into the tree. Unfortunately, the chickens never made it up into the branches. They fell/fluttered helplessly to the ground with a thud and a cluck. This happened several times. And here I am trying not to laugh, but I´m crying from laughing. Oh man, it was hilarious.

Also, there are lizards everywhere. We were walking down the street one day and you know how lizards always run away. Well lizards like to run/climb up walls to escape, but there was this one wall that was slick with smooth paint, and there was this lizard that ran at the wall multiple times trying to escape but it just kind of bounced/fell off time after time. Why are animals so funny?

Anyway, talking with my family yesterday strengthened my testimony of Heavenly Father´s purpose for the family, and how important families are to Him and how central they are to His church. I´m so grateful to my Father in Heaven for the wonderful people in my life, family and friends. I know that families can be together forever. And that families can be sealed together for time and all eternity in the temples of the Lord. How marvelous temples are. I´m so grateful for this knowledge and for this gospel that I share everyday. Especially being far from home, the knowledge of the gospel and of eternal families is very comforting to me. You should all go visit an LDS temple that´s closest to you. For friends at home you can go to the temple in Oakland. Don´t worry it´s in a safe neighborhood. It´s so beautiful there. There is also a visitor´s center there where you can learn more about the temple and the church. I love you all.

Love,
Elder Samuel H. Chiba