November 21st - Hills, Clean Again, and the End of the World

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you to all those who worried about my dread plague. I have successfully passed through the medical treatment, and in about five days I will be free of the scabies and the ácaros. Yay! Hopefully I don´t get any other skin disease while I´m here, because I´ve already passed through Athlete´s Foot, Scabies, and bad acne, and I´ve always had Seborrhic Dermatitis. Fun times! It´ll be a good story to tell after the mission though, especially when I´m a really old guy. "When I was on my mission . . ."

This week we walked a lot of hills and cooked in the microwave oven. It´s been so hot here that we were searching diligently for that button that turns off the sun. I´ve been having to put on sunblock 2 or 3 times per day! Fun stuff. I´m really getting the full Brazilian experience though, especially when, on Wednesday, the extreme sun turned into a rain shower in under 20 minutes. It was so powerful that it was raining both sideways and upwards. It was honestly pretty sweet. We huddled under an awning, completely soaked, and the kindly family across the road that saw us from the window gave us a ride home. 

We eat lunch at the members´ homes here in Brazil, and this week, we got to travel to the extreme limits of our area, more than 1 hour away, so that we could visit and eat with some of the members of our ward. Of special mention is the family that lives in the last house, at the very end of the last road, in the furthest neighborhood of the city, at the end of the last stop of the bus. My companion told me that it is in fact, really easy to get to her house after that bus stop, and in fact it was. You just choose the more difficult way. If you find a fork in the road with a straight road and a giant hill, pick the hill. At the end, when there is no more road, you have arrived. The lunch was actually quite good.

I am very thankful for the Gospel in my life. The chance that I have every day to share the Gospel with other people is something that keeps me happy and strong, no matter what happens. Although we haven´t baptized yet here in Itatiba, this week we have several good candidates for baptism, and we are seeing the miracles start to take place. Happy Birthday Dad, Happy Thanksgiving to all, and have a great week!

One more chance to give all I have!

Elder Murray