WELCOME HOME ELDER CHIBA!!!!

Please join us Jan 2nd for an Open House to welcome Samuel Chiba home from his 2-year mission in Teresina Brazil. There will be an Open House/Welcome Home Party for Sam.

Where: Otto Residence: 1786 Los Gatos Almaden Road, San Jose, CA 95124


Help us spread the word to all of Sam's friends.

Hosted by: The Chiba/Vahamaki/Williams/DeSpain Family and the Otto Family.

Questions? Please call Janet at 408-414-7903.

Até a Pouco

Well, this is the last email I´ll be sending as a missionary. That´s weird.

This past weekend was great! We had the ward Christmas party on Friday and my district sang a special hymn. Saturday, Christmas Eve, was special. It started off talking with the family on Skype, which was way cool. I´d never done that. I was not emotional whatsoever, or I guess I was if you count smiling a lot. It was fun. Later in the afternoon, we had Raimunda´s baptism. She ended up telling her family anyway before she got baptized. It was an emotional day. She´s been looking for the truth her whole life, and finally found it. She was crying at the baptismal service. There was a special spirit there.

Later that night we had a special Christmas Eve dinner with a family of members/less active members/nonmembers. It was a nice way to end the evening.

Sunday, the bishop asked me to talk, so I gave my last talk in Portuguese and my last talk as a missionary. I got a little teared up at the end bearing my testimony. I didn´t cry, but I almost did. Also, Raimunda was confirmed a member of the church and received the gift of the Holy Ghost my the laying on of hands.

I´m really grateful for being here. It´s amazing to see lives change. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I look forward to seeing you soon. I´ll be arriving home the 1st of January 2012. I love you all. Have a great week!

-Elder Samuel H. Chiba

Até a Pouco

Well, this is the last email I´ll be sending as a missionary. That´s weird.

This past weekend was great! We had the ward Christmas party on Friday and my district sang a special hymn. Saturday, Christmas Eve, was special. It started off talking with the family on Skype, which was way cool. I´d never done that. I was not emotional whatsoever, or I guess I was if you count smiling a lot. It was fun. Later in the afternoon, we had Raimunda´s baptism. She ended up telling her family anyway before she got baptized. It was an emotional day. She´s been looking for the truth her whole life, and finally found it. She was crying at the baptismal service. There was a special spirit there.

Later that night we had a special Christmas Eve dinner with a family of members/less active members/nonmembers. It was a nice way to end the evening.

Sunday, the bishop asked me to talk, so I gave my last talk in Portuguese and my last talk as a missionary. I got a little teared up at the end bearing my testimony. I didn´t cry, but I almost did. Also, Raimunda was confirmed a member of the church and received the gift of the Holy Ghost my the laying on of hands.

I´m really grateful for being here. It´s amazing to see lives change. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I look forward to seeing you soon. I´ll be arriving home the 1st of January 2012. I love you all. Have a great week!

-Elder Samuel H. Chiba

To All the FRIENDS

Elder Chiba will be arriving in San Jose, California on New Year's Day! If you are super eager to see Sam like we are you are invited to come to church to give him a overdue hug. (The ladies have to wait until he is officially released from the position of Elder, hence why all are invited to find Sam at church.) He would love to see you there. More details will be given upon request, so call the nearest Chiba connection to you.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Elder Chiba is almost home!!!

- from the mysterious loved-one behind the blog posts

Meu Último Natal no Campo

This week has been great! We´re preparing a lady named Raimunda (pronunciation of 'R' in portuguese if it starts the word or if there is a 'rr' is the sound of 'h' so her name is like this Hi-moonda) I hope that makes sense to you. Anyway, she´s a very nice lady. She´s been looking for the truth her whole life and has been to a lot of churches. She had some problems smoking, but now she is smoke-free thanks to the gospel. She doesn´t want her family to know she´s getting baptized because she doesn't want there to be a lot of drama leading up to her baptism. She´s about in her 40's I think. She's very down to earth.
There are some others that we are going to invite to be baptised this Christmas. I hope they feel the true Christmas Spirit.

I´m really thankful for a loving Father in Heaven. I know He hears our prayers and He loves us whether week or strong. Even though sometimes we may feel insignificant, I know that we are important to Him. I know He loves us. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to take upon Himself the sins and pains of the world. All who follow His gospel, have faith in Him, repent, are baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end will be saved. The great plan of happiness is only possible through Christ.

One silent and peaceful night long ago, our Savior was born so that we might live. I urge you and invite you focus less on the festivities and give a present to Him, whose birth we celebrate. Invite someone to church, serve someone who needs help, extend your hand to someone a little lonely. Merry Christmas! I´ll see you on New Years Day!!!!!!!!!!!

I love you. Have a great Christmas week!

-Elder Samuel H. Chiba

Três Semanas

Well, there is a total of three weeks until I go. Time sure flies fast.

Carlindo was baptized on the 10th and confirmed on the 11th. It was nice. The members here a supportive. The sisters in the relief society made a calendar of who will bake a cake for the baptisms.

There is not too much to report from this week other than that.

I´ve been really enjoying talks by Elder Nelson recently. There has been a lot of things that I´ve been needing recently, and his talks as well as President Uchtdorf´s and President Monson´s talks have helped me out recently. I love having modern revelation and a living prophet and apostles. It´s one of the greatest blessings of living in these latter days. It´s just one more thing that strengthens my testimony of the church and the gospel, and of God´s love for us. I know it´s true. There is nothing more true in this world.

Anyway, I love you all. Have a great week!


-Elder Samuel H. Chiba

Carlindo

This past week lots of things happened. On Wednesday, I had my last Zone Conference, so I got to bare my testimony to the other elders.

On Thursday, there was a community wedding held at the church. Over a hundred couples (about 120) were legally wed at the chapel for free. The bishop asked me to sing some hymns. So, because it was a public event the mayor, 5 judges, and the local news were all there. I was a little nervous. When I sang the first hymn, my voice quivered a little, but I held through. (it didn´t help that there was a camera in my face...) The second hymn went over a lot better. Over the next few days, I found out that I was on TV on the local news! That´s the second time in my mission that I´ve appeared on TV. The first time I was singing at a Christmas event in São Luís, which was also covered by the news. So, I´ve been on tv in another country. I´m already getting famous.... (just kidding)

Sunday was fast and testimony meeting at church. Jaiane, who Elder Eberhardt and I had baptized two weeks previous, got up to bare her testimony. It was special. The previous Sunday, a man named Carlindo came to church for the first time, and Elder F. Silva and I taught him once before yesterday. He went up to bare his testimony also. We were kind of nervous because, when someone who isn´t a member of the church goes up to bare their testimony, you never know what they might say. But, Carlindo gave a nice testimony. So, that night we went to his house and invited him to be baptized, and he accepted and is excited to be baptized this Saturday.

Anyway, it´s been a nice week. I hope your first week of December has been nice too. Things are going to be picking up for everyone. Be safe, and don´t get too caught up in the comercial side of the holidays. Take some time to remember why. If material things don´t work out, don´t get upset. Try to do something for the Savior, seeing that it is His birthday. Look for opportunities to help others or invite others to come unto Christ. I know He lives, and that He suffered so that we don´t have to if we believe in Him and follow His example. The gospel is true. I love you all.

-Elder Samuel H. Chiba

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope it was good for everyone. That holiday doesn´t exist here... But it seems that they are starting to get into the spirit of Black Friday here in Brazil. (not too much, but I saw that some places here in Brasil are doing that, it was on the news while we were at lunch)

Anyway, my new companion, Elder F. Silva turned 19 a week or two ago. He started his mission in February. That´s right, he started when he was 18! The church lowered the age for Brazilian missionaries on the conditions that they are finished with high school before their mission. Elder F. Silva is from the south of Brasil just like Elder Eberhardt. He´s also caucasion, so I look more Brazilian than he does. It´s funny, I´ve never had an American companion who looks American, except for Elder Epperson in the MTC. I guess in turn, I´ve never been the American companion who looks American either. I am on the other hand the token Japanese elder in this mission, and everyone knows I am Japanese, a singer, and I cook well. That´s my legend. I guess being tall too. It´s been raining a little bit every once in a while. Thank goodness that Irmã (sister) Marta bought boots for me. I gave her the candy Janet sent, and she and her family were very excited. American candy makes people happy.

Wednesday will be my last Zone Conference, and on Thursday there will be a community wedding held at the church. There are a lot of people who live together here who are not married. You´d be surprised at the rate, so the city council, judges, and politcial people do a community wedding as a service for the people here. Normally people don´t get married because of the cost or the hastle, but they are trying to help the people here. And our church is the nicest church in the whole city. The bishop here is great and opens the chapel up to the community to get the church´s name out there. So, he offered to host the community wedding at the chapel for the second time. It will be nice. We are going to help out too.

Service is a great way to show people that we are followers of Christ. When was the last time you did something to help someone? (just a question for you to reflect on)
I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church of God on the earth, and that we are preparing for the second coming of the Messiah. Let´s build the kingdom by serving others.
Anyway, I love you all. I hope you have a great week!

-Elder Samuel H. Chiba

Bitter Sweet

This weekend was bitter sweet to say the least. We baptized a very special girl on Saturday, her name is Jaiane. She was confirmed on Sunday. I baptized her and Elder Eberhardt confirmed her. Sunday night she gave us some "cacau"! Did you know that chocolate comes from a fruit? The juice is pretty good, but the actual fruit is a little weird but cool.

Anyway, that was the sweet part. On the other side of things Elder Eberhardt was transferred. We were both very sad. He is now one of my best friends. It´s interesting how missions work out. I hope you can all meet him someday.

My new companion will be Elder F. Silva. He´s also from the south of Brazil. He´s a pretty cool guy, I´ve met him a couple of times already. He started his mission this year. He´s either 18 or 19. I know he started when he was 18. The church lowered the age limit for Brazilian missionaries to 18 years old instead of 19. There are a couple younger elders in our mission. I´m feeling kind of old. 22!!!! Weird right?

So, I guess I want to share my testimony with you about the pre-existance, and that I know that we all lived with and knew eachother before we were born. We are all here to be tested in order to live with our Father in Heaven again. During this test sometimes you run into old friends that you never met in this life, but feel as if you know them. And when you find them again after a long time being apart, it´s a really great happiness. I look forward to seeing all of you in 6 weeks, as we´ve been apart these 2 years. It will be so wonderful to see you all again. I pray that we all work to make the right choices and endure to the end so that we can all meet again in a state of everlasting happiness. The gospel is true, and only through the Savior we can make it back to live with God again.

Have a great week!

Love you,
Elder Samuel H. Chiba

Um Apóstolo do Senhor

So, this past Saturday we had an amazing day. Our mission received a visit from one of the twelve apostles. It was absolutely amazing. I had the honor of conducting the hymns. I was kind of nervous. I conducted the special musical number that our whole mission sang too. (By the way, Sister Dias told me I was to conduct the musical number the day of the meeting! Good thing I´m pretty well rehearsed in that kind of thing... But nonetheless I was a little nervous and shaky...)
It was really uplifting. I learned a lot and I can´t really share everything that I learned. But I´ll share with you some of the high lights.

So, first off he started with a greeting from President Monson. President Monson told Elder Bednar to tell us that they love us and pray for us. It was a really nice thing. He said that as he was leaving his meeting with the 1st presidency and the quorum of the twelve President Monson stopped him and told him to give us that message.

He said that the Book of Mormon has two underlining themes.

1st - Come unto Christ
2nd - In the Strength of the Lord

We all like to study by topic, which is a good thing, but when we see how topics are related we will truly understand things better. He also said some interesting things about faith, and a praying in faith.

We´ve all heard the prayer at church "please help those who are not here this week that they can be here next week," which he said is a nice and sincere prayer, but is completely lacking in faith. Faith leads to action, so he gave an example like "we´ve noticed that there are many of our brethren missing here today, and we pray that after we leave this meeting to go out and find them and bring them back even though we may be hungry. please help us to have the inspiration to not all end up at the same person´s house." That´s praying in faith.

He also shared some interesting things about the future for when we are parents. It´s interesting to think that as parents your responsibility is to raise our children to leave you, and if they leave you and are unable to fend for themselves you´ve failed as parents. It´s the same thing as missionary work with the people we teach. The people we teach need to learn to rely on the Lord and not on us as missionaries. (you know teach a man to fish verses giving a man a fish) We just show them the way and how to do it.

Missionary work is not so much what you do, but who you are. Be what we preach. Have clean eyes. The natural man is selfish, but the saint turns outwards.

Anyway, there is more that I learned, but as I was learning from Elder Bednar, teaching is more than just talking. It´s 1- listening 2- observing 3- discerning and 4- talking. Those are the steps of teaching.

I´m really grateful for the opportunity I had this past week to learn from an apostle of the Lord. It was truly amazing. We live in a period where prophets and apostles are on the earth. What a blessing it is to have them to guide us and teach us. It´s just one more thing that strengthens my testimony that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ´s true church. God will always guide His people by prophets, because He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

I love you all. Thank you for all your love, support and prayers. Have a great week.

-Elder Samuel H. Chiba

Milagres Acontecem de Vez em Quando

I got back to Açailândia on 4:30 am Thursday morning. Our week of missionary work was a few days shorter than normal, but a miracle happened. We´ve been teaching some families and some people recently, and about 90% accepted our invitation to church on Sunday. We had a total of 16 people visiting church on Sunday. I hope they all liked it. We´ll be following up with them this week.

As of the third of November, I will be home in less than two months. Yikes! Time sure is flying fast.

My companion looks more American than I do, and I look more Brazilian than he does. It´s pretty funny. My two previous companions were both American but, like me, don´t look like a "typical" American. You know, blond with blue eyes. Irony.

The whole mission will be going to Teresina this Saturday to have a special meeting with Elder Bednar. I´ve never actually met an apostle before. I´m excited and nervous at the same time. It will be nice though. I look forward to seeing an apostle of the Lord. I´m sure it will be amazing.

I´m grateful for this church. It´s amazing. I know that Christ lives and that only through Him, we can once more live with our Father in Heaven. I hope you have a great week. I´ll tell you about our mission conference next week.

Love,
Elder Samuel H. Chiba

O Último Treinamento

Well folks,

I was traveling all day long yesterday, so I wasn´t able to email you guys. I left Açailândia at 9am and got to Teresina at 9pm. It was a long bus ride. I went all by myself because the Zone Leaders missed the bus that started in Imperatriz and passed through Açailândia, but I made it safe and sound.

So, I´m here in Teresina for the last leadership training of my mission. The trainings only happen once every two months. And two months from now I´ll be home... But they are really nice. It´s an energy and moral booster.

It´s started to rain a little bit lately in Açailândia. It´s been nice. The weather has been cooling down a little bit.

Anyway, my comp and I are making a change in our approach to preaching the gospel. And we´re a lot happier and feel like we´re being more successful. We´re teaching a great family and taught them about temples. How families can be sealed together forever in the temple, as well as baptisms for the dead. We felt the Spirit really strong that day. We also found another nice family recently. Teaching families is the best. Teaching in general is great, but it´s especially nice teaching families. I´m really grateful for this gospel. I know it´s true.

Have a great week. Love you all.

-Elder Samuel H. Chiba

Maribondo

We got two new elders in our district and the sisters were transferred out two weeks ago. Elder Eberhardt and I were working hard and on Friday he got stung by a wasp, which didn't turn out too nicely. But don't worry! He's ok! Well, this week was good. Or it started out nicely. It started to rain a little. It was nice. It´s been very hot lately and the rain cooled the weather down a bit. We woke up in the morning and it was raining and the weather was cool. It was great!

We're teaching a great family! They are really awesome. We gave them a Book of Mormon and they´re reading it! Domingas, the mom, was having a rough day or she was feeling irritated or something, and she decided to read the Book of Mormon. When she read it she felt a lot better! Her husband and two children are great too. They are a very receptive family.

It´s great to see how when people decide to actually read the Book of Mormon it makes a difference in their life. I wish everyone would read it. It truly testifies of Christ. I know the Book of Mormon is true. It´s the proof that God gave us to know that Jesus Christ lives, that we have a modern living prophet, and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. I hope you're all doing well. I love you all.

-Elder Samuel H. Chiba

Sushi and Onigiri

Today Elder Eberhardt and I made some sort of sushi roll and onigiri. A member in São Luís gave me some nori, that I´ve been saving, and we used it today. It was a great lunch. My companion discovered he really likes onigiri. He said that he is really lucky because he´s one of the few people in this mission that gets to have a Japanese companion.

This past week was "Childrens Day" here in Brazil on the 12 of October. So, happy Children´s day to everyone! or Feliz Dia das Crianças para todos!

Yesterday, was the confirmation of Senior Martins. It was interesting. He´s hard of hearing, and when the bishop called him up to be confirmed he didn´t realize he was being called up, so my comp and I went to get him, and tried to tell him he needed to go up to the pulpit to be confirmed, but you see we tried to do it reverently. So he, being hard of hearing, says "What? I´m half def, can you speak up?" Anyway, you can imagine it was kind of funny. But we brought him up to the front and the bishop confirmed him. It was a really nice confirmation. The bishop here in Açailândia is great! He´s really short, but he has a huge spirit. You can see in his eyes. He´s a really good example of a good church leader. He loves the people and loves the gospel and is really excited about doing the Lord´s work.

Anyway, things are starting to pick up here. We´ve been find and working with some really good families! It´s really nice. We've been teaching a lot about eternal families lately. Families can be together forever. It´s one of the greatest blessing that our Loving Father in Heaven has in store for us. If we are faithful and live His gospel we can live with our families forever. This blessing was restored to the earth once again after the restoration of the gospel and the church of Jesus Christ through the prophet Joseph Smith.

I love you. I hope you have a great week!

-Elder Samuel H. Chiba

Entrevistas Batismais

So, as a district leader one of my responsibilities is to interview the people who are preparing for baptism. It´s a blessing to be able to do these interviews. There are some people who are really ready and anxious to be baptized others who don´t know that they´re ready and I help them realize they are and then there are others who aren´t ready yet. But it´s been really nice to be able to do this. This past week I was able to do about 4 interviews for the sisters in my district, and 3 people were baptized. All 4 of the people are really great. Anyway, it was a nice week. I hope you all have a good week too. Make sure you read the Book of Mormon this week. I know it is true. I love you.

-Elder Samuel H. Chiba

Sapatos

General Conference was greatly rewarding. This time we didn´t have the opportunity to watch it in English, but that´s okay because I understand Portuguese well enough to take notes. I prefer the natural voice, but I was still able to learn a lot. The conference was very spiritually rewarding.

During the break in between the sessions on Sunday we had a baptismal service. An old man whom we have been teaching was baptized, along with a woman and an 8 year old boy that the sisters were teaching. It was a very special day. My companion, Elder Eberhardt is farely new in the field, and it was the first person who he found, taught, and baptized. Everyone was very happy. Senhor Martins, who we baptized on Sunday, has problems in his legs and walks with a cane. Sunday morning he woke up dizzy, but got himself ready and got on the bus to go to conference and his baptism. Talk about an elect of God. We walked him home afterward, and he told us that as soon as he was baptized he didn´t feel dizzy anymore and that he felt great. His wife passed away about 5 years ago. We´re also teaching his daughter and her family who also went to conference and are really liking the church and the gospel. Actually, we´re helping her husband build they´re new house. But they are waiting for the next load of bricks to arrive before we can help out more.

On another note, the shoes and package still haven´t arrived, but good news! A sister here hunted down new shoes for me, and found some in my size. (all the sisters in the ward here were worried about my shoes....) I tell everyone the story of the confusion with the postal service and how I´m just waiting for my new shoes to arrive, but I guess that didn´t work. Anyways, the members here are very supportive and love the missionaries. They take good care of us. I´ve been lucky. All my areas, all the members are really great!

So, it´s been a really good week. Today we made hamburgers(like legit burgers), as a farewell for a sister (Sister Matos from São Paulo) in our district who will be ending her mission next week as well as another elder (Elder Bailey from Salt Lake) in our zone. I really love the missionaries in my mission. I love my mission and the missionaries here too. It´s hard sometimes but, looking back the only things that I really remember are the good moments. I´m learning a lot. A lot about life, a lot about marriage (weird right?) and a lot about the gospel. It´s really a blessing to be here. The world is a lot different than I once thought. My perspective has changed a lot.

Anyway, I´m really grateful to have a modern living prophet. That´s one of the greatest things of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. The knowledge that God loves us enough to call a prophet in our day to lead us and guide us. I´m also really grateful for the Book of Mormon, which is the proof of the truthfulness of the gospel and the restoration thereof. I hope everyone is doing well. I encourage you to read the Book of Mormon everyday and find a way to share the gospel with someone. How great would it be knowing that we helped someone else find their way back to live with our Father in Heaven? I love you. Have a great week!

-Elder Samuel H. Chiba

Baptism from conference

Guaraná Jesus (a soda that only exists in Maranhão Brasil)

A Galera Na Praça

So, there is this really nice park/square close to our apartment. It´s a great place to do contacts. We found a large group of teenage boys last week and went marked with them to talk to them another night. We went there and taught about the Plan of Salvation to ten teenagers. We´re going to go there tomorrow night. They all seemed truly interested, not all of them, but the majority. They all asked really good and interesting questions. It was a really cool experience. I hope that they all pray and get answers and follow through until baptism.

We´re also helping one of our investigators build his house. I´ll have to send some pictures next week. Here the houses are made of bricks, but we were working more on the foundation of the house on Saturday. Next time we´re going to start putting the walls up. The work is good here. Things are starting to pick up a bit.

I hope everyone is getting ready for general conference. Make sure you pay attention and take notes. Try to focus on the things that YOU need to improve on, and not on others. We need to fix ourselves before we can help others. I´m really grateful to have a modern living prophet who helps us with our day to day needs and problems. I am truly grateful that the gospel was restored. I love you all! Have a great time watching conference, and be sure to make it your #1 priority this upcoming weekend.

Love,

Elder Samuel H. Chiba

Querida família

Things here are going well. I don´t know if I am allergic to watermelon or if it´s just a coincidence. Last night we ate watermelon and during the middle of the night I threw up! So much for my goal not to throw up during my mission. It´s the second time actually. My comp and I are thinking it was lunch yesterday that made me feel ill. Don´t worry! I´m totally fine! We found a "Bem Vindo a Açailândia" sign (welcome to açailand). So we took advantage of the situation and took a picture. I've also attached a picture of my previous zone, we had a BBQ at our house that day.

Sunday was stake conferece in Imperatriz. Presidente Dias came as well as the area 70 Elder Koch (who is from my companion´s home ward in Santa Catarina Brazil). It was a really good conference. There is always something important to learn. I´ve been reading the Liahona from February this year, it´s really good! I feel like everything in that Liahona are things I need to know! I guess it´s the Ensign back home right? Anyway, I suggest reading the ensign from february 2011.

General Conference is coming up. I hope everyone is excited! I sure am. I´m really grateful for a modern living prophet and for the twelve apostles. They are truly inspired men. I hope you have a great week! This week is going to be great and we are going to find those who are searching for truth! Love you all!

-Elder Samuel H. Chiba

Training is São Luís

This past week I traveled to São Luís by bus for 10 hours for a leadership training. It was a good training. I slept on the bus ride there and the bus ride back to my area. The fun thing about taking long bus rides is that the sweaters that Janet bought me before the mission come in handy. Trainings and bus rides are the only times it gets cold enough to wear a sweater. Thanks sis! Something interesting happened when I got back from the training. I realized that my ankles, feet, and calves were swollen. It was really weird! That has never happened to me that I can remember. I called Sister Dias and she had the Doctor is São Paulo call me. The doctor said it was nothing to worry about and that water likes to accumulate in the lowest part of the body when you don´t do anything. So, he said next time I travel for a long period of time without being able to get up and walk around I should do some exercises every once in a while to keep my circulation going nicely. Anyway, you learn something new every day right?

The work here is good. The people are really open and are really easy to talk to. The trick is now we have to find the people who are looking, rather than trying to convince the people who don´t want anything. So, that´s what we are going to work on a lot this week. Yesterday we took a young member of the church with us to do some visits. It was pretty cool.

I´m really grateful to be here serving the Lord. I´m really happy. I know the gospel is true. I´ve seen , or better yet, I see people change because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It´s amazing. Everything here is building my testimony a lot. I've got just a few months left, but I´m going to make the best of it. I know the Book fo Mormon is true and that it is proof of the true church of Jesus Christ. I love you, and I hope you have a great week!

-Elder Samuel H. Chiba

p.s. we found a jaca fruit in the street!

Açailândia

Well folks, there has been a transfer and now I am back to Maranhão in the city of Açailândia. I do miss Parnaíba a lot, but it´s in good hands. It's pretty cool here. The dirt is red and it's everywhere! I think I'm getting more acne... So, I'm still a district leader and I've got Sisters in my district again! That's always fun.

Anyway, my new companion is Elder Matheus Eberhardt. He´s really cool. He's from the south of Brazil from the state of Santa Catarina, and guess what?! He surfs! So, that means that he's cool. (he's a real surfer, unlike me who tries to surf and does not do so well, but I'll get the hang of it eventually) We're getting along well. The field is white and we are going to harvest like no one ever has.

By the way, the area here is huge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It´s the biggest area I've seen in my mission. Anyway, things are good. The Church is true and the Book of Mormon too! I love you all, thanks for the prayers and all the support! Have a great week!

-Elder Samuel H. Chiba