Ah, Hi Mom! Hi Dad! Hi David! Hi Leah!

How are you?! Another week has flown by!! Mom it was so good to hear from you as always! Holy cow, it´s already midterms?? You just barely started!! It sounds like you are doing so good! How is your class? I´ve been praying that they are being good. Are they kind of wild?

And it is great to hear that Leah is doing so well! Wow! OMG Leah homecoming is Saturday? What are you doing!? You can´t do that yet! You can´t drive the van either! Stop! Oh Leah, so I´m sending home my memory card today I think, and there is this SWEET picture of me doing that evil face... It´s awesome. That was for you! Anyway, that was completely random, it´s just great to hear that everyone is doing so good!

Mom that was so cool about that missionary who spoke in church who was from Mexico! I wish I could´ve seen, I´ve always been so curious how it is for missionaries who have to learn English. By the sound of it I just hope I´ll be able to speak as good as him! I haven´t really spoken a ton about the language have I? I´m sorry! I wish you could hear mom... I don´t think you would´ve ever pictured me doing this! I just wish we could go on a split and we could go teach some lessons together, haha! I have learned so much, and I can feel the Lord´s help EVERY time i speak Portuguese. It is amazing, and I need it to speak. I think about that one returned missionary´s talk so much- the one who went to Mexico or something that you told me about mom... He had it exactly, what he talked about in his experiences with learning Spanish sound a lot like mine!

Today I remembered that tape that I was making in the MTC, and I never finished it, so this week I´ll be finishing it, and I really want to send a package home next week with all of the things I need to send home, and I´ll be sure and speak plenty of Portuguese for you! Speaking of sending things home, I think today I´m sending my memory card home! It´ll just be my memory card, plain and simple without a big note or anything, I´m sorry! But I think you´ll like it anyway.:) I really hope it gets there! So let me know as soon as it comes ok??

But ok, once again, about my week.:) Ok, so stomach update time: Last Monday I told you about how we had an appointment with this doctor to go over the results, and see what the next step was. So we went, after clearing our P-day to be able to go see him, and lucky for us, he wasn´t there! Haha! So to make a long story short, we made an appointment with him the next day. So the next day, we came back to Belém, with the results, and the same idea in mind. When we got there, they told us to go back in his office and see him. We were talking to him, and I gave him the results, and he looked over them real quick, said, "Não tém nada!" Which means "You have nothing!" Laughed, and handed the results back to me and clasped his hands. I thought he was going to congratulate me or something. I told him I was pretty sure I had something, haha, and that I thought we needed to keep looking to find out what it is. He seemed pretty annoyed with that and was like "Ok... Do you carry that bag around everywhere?" (I had my little black proseltying bag) and when I said yes he was like, "Well that´s it! Carrying that around and walking all day is causing the pain!" Elder Merrill then told him how he didn´t think that was very hard, and that I played sports and basketball and stuff, and that carrying a little bag wasn´t anything difficult, and the doctor said, "Well then play baketball and see if it hurts!" I was getting pretty frustrated, and so was elder Merrill, and then the doctor confidently said, "Ok, I have something that will resolve your problem." I wanted to say, "YOU DO?? YES! Man I wish I would´ve come to you like a year and a half ago!" But he just scribbled this medicine on a paper, and told me to try it, and if it didn´t work to come back next week. So after that helpful last little bit, we left! Haha!

Needless to say, I was not very happy, and called Sister Hoggan. I talked with her and told her about it, and then she said the best thing ever... "Oh, well why don´t you come over to the mission home and call the area doctor, and we can figure this out." I told Elder Merrill after I hung up the phone and we just looked at each other and we were like, "OH YEAH!" We were going to go hang out with Sister and President Hoggan at the nicest apartment in Belém!!! Oh my gosh, it was so nice. We got there and by this time it was turning dark, and President was just winding down after a day of work, and holy cow, I have never seen a funnier old man in my life. They are the funniest couple in the world! Sister Hoggan instantly brought us cookies and Mango juice, and we just waited for the area doctor to call us back! I got to sit with my two favorite people here, being served by them, listening to President Hoggan be hilarious- he´s like a little kid!! Haha Elder Merrill was dying because he has NEVER seen that side of President! Haha, I can´t even describe it, he was just saying the funniest things and him and sister Hoggan were being just like Nana and Papa Lunt! I was loving it! I got to play their piano too and just relax! It was SO nice!

Anyway, after a while of having the best time ever there, the area doctor called back, and I told him what was going on. To make another long story short, he said he thought it was my ulcers, and told me to take some medicine, and call him back in 2 weeks if it still was bothering me. After my phone call with him, I wasn´t super happy with that either, and Sister Hoggan I think could tell, and she also felt like we just needed to do something more, and I talked with her and we decided to go to this place called "Porto Dias". It´s a really nice place, and I´ll just be doing more tests and exams until we figure everything out. I´m really glad, and that made me feel a lot better! Hopefully I won´t deal with any other doctors like that other one, haha! It was late at night by that time, and when we left their house, it was hard to get out the door without having to take all of the food that Sister Hoggan offered us. Anyway, that was a strange/ kind of frustrating/ good start to my week!

The rest of the week, I STILL didn´t get to teach very much! It was just... slow! All of our investigators were never home all week, and not many people wanted to listen to us! It´s ok though, I know very well already that things just don´t always go as planned on missions! Haha! Or in life for that matter! Mom I think you gave me a qoute one time that talking about missionaries that said something like, "The longer they serve, the deeper their sadness when someone does not accept the gospel". I am already starting to feel that as I can see the blessing so much in the lives of the people who have it, and feel the extreme joy that comes from teaching it and watching it touch people´s hearts. I just want people to want it SO badly!

The lessons we did get to teach were awesome as usual though! However, the highlight of THIS week came on Friday. There is a boy in our ward name Luis, and he is awesome. He has helped us almost every day with getting to know the area, coming with us for lessons, and just EVERYTHING! He is the coolest person ever. Let me just tell you about him. When he was young, he was abused by his parents. The stories that he has told us about his parents and things that he remembers are so sad, I don´t even want to talk about it because it will make me cry... Anyway, he was abandoned by his parents and put in an orphanage, where there he was not treated well at all. He tried to escape a couple times actually, but after a while of being there, he was adopted by a wonderful family who are members of the church. They have raised him and his sister, and he is now one of the strongest members I have ever met, and also one of the most prepared to serve a mission. He has been preparing for his mission this whole time, and he has his call to serve in Rio de Janeiro! He has been unbelievably excited, and it´s been so fun just watching him prepare and everything. I worried about him getting everything that he needed to go, but actually I found out that he has everything! Enough shirts, pants, shoes, etc. BUT, one day he wanted to take a picture with us, and pulled out this super old huge camera. There was no memory card either, so he could only take like 10 pictures. A couple weeks ago, me and Elder Merrill were thinking of womething we could for him, and Elder Merrill was like, "Dude, I´m giving him my camera!" And I had an extra memory card- mom it was that one that you sent back that I already sent home- so I decided to give that with it, and this Friday we Finally gave it to him!! We wrapped it all up in a bunch of grocery bags, because that´s all we had, haha, and took a picture of us and a paper we made that said "Good Luck" - on the memory card we gave him with it, and took it over to his house Friday night! I put it in like 10 bags, so we anxiously waited for him to get to it, just dying with excitment, and when he saw that it was what it was, he just about died. Ah, it was the best feeling ever just to watch his face, and see how happy he was!! He honestly could not believe it. He hugged us both twice, just shaking and so happy. Elder Merrill put it in Portuguese for him and showed him how to use it, and then we left him with his new Macina!

Haha! I could have floated back home I was so happy! The best reward from doing this all came on Sunday, when he came up to us at church, and gave us each an envelope that read on the front, in english: To my friend, Elder Lunt! I read that letter with the biggest smile ever, he had written it in English... Oh, I actually have it with me!! Oh man, ok- here I´ll type it! ELDER LUNT- Hey! What´s up? I´m writing to say thank you for the present, it´s wonderful, I loved! I´m so grateful for your friendship, I love be near of missionaries and to fell this spirit, you have this, it´s baller! (We taught him the word baller) I love too when you sing Justin Timberlake you have a good voice and is funny!! You and Elder Merrill are wonderful friends, I´ll never forget the present and all the moments together, I wanna see you again but it´s need be at USA! Don´t forget me, thank very much!!! Take care my friend! Love, Elder Gardasz. PS: Sorry for my english, I hope you understand! Your portuguese is good... You´ll be assistant!!!-

Is that not the best thing ever??! Haha! I am keeping that forever. Ah gosh I love him so much! He leaves for his mission next week, and he is probably going to explode with excitment before then! His mother is so wonderful, her love for him is so obvious, Mom it reminds me so much of you! It´s almost like I get to watch you be my mom from a different perspective!:)

Anyway, that was the best part of my week! Oh my!!! BREAKING NEWS!! ....

Wat just found out what is happening to us all- the transfer is already over!! I just found out tons of crazy stuff! I´m getting transferred!! Already! Elder Merrill is leaving me!! I´m going to a placed called Icoaraci, it´s about an hour away from Belém just like my area now, so it will probably be pretty similar! And yes we still can I think! Elder Merrill is so excited for me, he knows my new companion! His name is Elder Clark! He was in Merrill´s MTC group and he says that he is the coolest most laid-back guy ever! Mom this is crazy! My trainer is already leaving!! I don´t know how I feel! I´m really excited, but it was so short with Elder Merrill! I cannot believe the first transfer is already over!! haha, It´s so funny over here, this internet place is full of missionaries all talking about their new assignments and stuff, it´s so fun!

I don´t have too much more time, I´m sorry!!! I love you all so much!!! I just hope you all are satisfied by how little I can write to everyone, I just beg for your patience with me!!!! I LOVE YOU!!! Have the best week ever ok? BYE!! Next week will be coming from Icoaraci!!

Love, Elder Lunt ( The "Baller" Brazilian missionary.) Tchau!!