Ok thank you so much for the gift certificate!!! And thank you for the addresses! I only need tristans email address for his misison which I think I have on g-mail. That's good that you finally decided to be good church members! haha I have still only received a letter from Kendra and the one from Dear Elder from Dad. Just to let you all know. And yes I am rather paranoid about the water and stuff. I´m ok with eating outside the CTM because it´s cooked. Thats interesting that Bishop Bowden is part of the stake presidency now. Thats good that logan is doing well with baseball. How is Dezie? So there are a few things. I need you to ask Grandma and Grandpa if they were on there missions with an Elder Peterson and a Sister Alvey? So basically we have Bishop Edgley (sp), Elder Nelson, Elder Holland, and Elder Costa all here in Brazil right now and this Thursday we will have Elder Nelson at least visit us and maybe Elder Holland, but Elder Holland as we speak is in my mission. So we are really not sure if he will end up back here. We all really hope he does! Logan) What are your two favorite stories from the Book of Mormon? What are your two favorite stories from the Bible? I know that second one is harder, but try. Maybe you could start reading the Bible? haha just kidding! I´m glad that CD finally got there... that was the one I wanted you to see/hear the most!!! At least you will get to now!! You all need to watch The Testaments, Mountain of the Lord, the newer Joseph Smith movie and one other that I can not remember at this time. I love those movies!! We are heading out this Friday to proselyte around the CTM and then two Friday´s after that we head downtown to do it again. so it will be a really interesting experience. I can´t remember if I have mentioned that I sing in the CTM choir. (In Portuguese) Anyhow we have been having some extra practices because we are singing a bunch of songs when the apostolos come. Don´t forget to try to use all ten of you letters. And mom you may have to actually mail your book. Because through Mission ties you can only do up to three pages. Oh! We went to the temple again today!!! And we made it there on time, and made it back in time. This week is going to be so crazy because of everything with the apostles and what not. Well my time is just about up. I miss you all and love you all so much! You should all get up early in the mornings and read the scriptures! It is a great way to start the day. I can´t think of anything else I needed to say haha. Love you all!!! Talk to you again next week!

The past week has actually been rather cold and rainy, only yesterday and today finally got warm again. And the first week or two we had thunderstorms almost every night. I have only recieved Dad´s letter, and Kendra´s letter. It take anywhere from 7-30 days to recieve a letter here. Which reminds me that you need to tell everyone that any letters sent after May 2, need to be sent to my mission home, or it could take 1-2 months for me to ever even get the mail. I sent Jeanie her card last Tuesday.

I´m glad you got the pictures because I probably won´t be able to get pictures to you until I leave the CTM. We aren´t allowed to use the computers at Mr. Cheney´s anymore. But we can still use the service and get the actual cookies. And the computers here don´t really allow you to do anything picture related so I may just have to wait till I get out of here to do that, so in about 5 weeks from tomorrow. I´m almost out of time! so I love you all and miss you!! Give everyone my love and and let them know that I do write back but mail is just horrible!!! Love you!!!!

I forgot to include in the other email that I went to the temple again today and we think we will be going to the temple every P-day till we leave! Oh and that apparently my mission is really hot, like we thought, but that I will go home black according to everyone here. I will tan through my shirt and garments. haha. And please please please get me those addresses if you could. It would be much appreciated. And how is Spencer, Cameron, Mike, and Brenna coming along? And when should the rest of my cousins be starting their papers? or getting their calls? Once again, I love you Dad, Mom, Logan, and Dezie! Talk to you again next week!!!

Our few questions for this week:

What is a typical day of food like for you?

Hey!!! Umm, we have yet to really repeat the same meal. It´s been different every time almost. A lot of cheese, not like ours, and a lot of meat and rice and beans. Today for lunch our district and our two instructors went to a BBQ place up the street and had the best food ever. I don´t think that I have ever eaten more meat in my life, and they just kept bringing it.

Are you still getting to play some sports? Did you find a new volleyball?

I run about a mile every day except for Saturday and Sunday. And play volleyball after running. We got two new volleyballs, but last night at gym Elder Eyre sent one over the fence and we don´t know if they went and got it back yet.

This week we sent a series of questions for Elder Wahl to answer and here is what he had to say.

Have you received any letters yet? Several have sent letters.

I finally received my first letter yesterday. It was yours but it was postmarked the 19th, so basically the mail system is messed up because people here are receiving letters that were postmarked the 25th.

How is your health? Are you adjusting to the weather?

I was sick my first week with something but I think it had more to do with the climate than anything, but I´m good now.

How many missionaries are at the CTM right now?

I think there are somewhere from200-250 missionaries but I´m not totally sure. Our Brazilian roomies left this morning so I did not get any sleep last night because they were up all night. It´s been raining pretty good for a few days so it´s just like home!

Did you get to see conference? All sessions?

Ya we watched all the sessions of conference, in English. And conference was fantastic!!!

How are you doing with learning the new language?

The language is ok, not where I would like to be with it but it will come.

Have you been out into the community yet?

I have been out on the streets every Tuesday but never actually doing anything. We get to actually go out proselyting twice with our first time coming up in two Fridays I think. So I better have a better handle on the language by then. We went to the temple again today and it was the best experience ever. And we actually made it there on time and made it back on time! Which is a first considering the traffic!
Tomorrow is my three week mark! And no I´m not counting, I only count months and since a month hasn´t come yet, I have to count the weeks! But overall I have become well adjusted. And I´m just slowly progressing! Well I´m almost out of time. I love you all!!! Talk to you next week!!

So I went to the Sao Paulo temple again this morning! It was so amazing! The traffic is horrific here. It´s so hard to explain how the Brazilians drive here. haha It takes us forever just to get there. I´m learning so much! The total immersion in the language is so neat. The other night was the best night ever. I had just finished my prayer and laid down in bed and some Brazilians decided to have a party on the street next to the CTM. And it started to bother me so I just said a quick little prayer that the music would stop and that they would find something better to do with their lives. When I was done I began to think if I had enough faith and hope for my little prayer to work, we had been focused on faith and hope the last day or two, but as soon as I began to think about my faith and hope the music just stopped and they packed up and left! It was the most amazing experience ever! Last P-Day though we had to send an Elder in our district to the hospital because they thought he had apendisidus (sp?) and he hasn´t come back yet. he was suppose to be home like a few days ago, but they keep holding him at the hospital. We had the biggest storm we´ve had here last night. There was thunder and lighting for a good 4 hours straight and it poured like you´ve never seen the whole time. So much rain that it flooded our "field house" where all our volleyball and basketball courts are. Oh! and the other day I was eating lunch and all the new americans walked in and I saw this sister missionary (we don´t have many), but she was in my international political science class at BYU-I it was the weirdest thing ever!! Not everything here is cheaper than back home. Some things are, but other things are expensive so I have to watch how much I spend when we go out. Thats whats so cool about the CTM, at Provo you are confined to the MTC but here we get to walk the streets of Sao Paulo!!! Its so fun to not understand anything and to just go to all the stores and shop around! Apperently Fortaleza is really really hot. All the natives here say we´ll be black. So I should come home and be really really dark! I bought a Portuguese hymn book that I´ll bring home becuase the tunes are even different so they can fit all the words into it. At this point we think we all, or my district, leaves on the 18th of May to our actual missions. Time just goes by so so fast. The days seem slow but the weeks are fast. Oh but I have yet to recieve a letter, but we check twice a day and our district has only recieved a few that were mailed the day before or the day of everyone leaving the US. Well my time is almost up so I hope I answered all your questions!!! And I have so much more in my journals that I just don´t have time to write it!!! I love you all so much!!! I´m so excited to get all these letters!!! I miss you all!!! Keep praying!!! Talk to you next week!!!!!!

Hey there!!! So today is my first P-Day so I get to send my first email! We went to the Sao Paulo temple this morning and the traffic in Sao Paulo is horrible so it takes forever to get there and back so I have a lot to do in very little time. So where to start. The plane ride was long, and I met up with 10 other Elders in Dallas making for a total of 12 with Elder Luke that I flew to Dallas with. We got here and met the rest of our district and got our companion assignments. My companion is Elder Eyre... from Cedar City, Utah. Imagin that. haha. There are six of us in our room. Me, Elder Eyre, Elder Johnson, and Elder Waldron. We also have two Brazilians but I don´t even want to attempt their names. I had a slight cold the past few days along with a few other guys in my district but I think it´s going around the CTM. I think due the the change in climate because I was ok until like a day or two ago. We´ve obviously started learning Portugese. It´s going slow but I´m slowly getting it. I have so much to do today that I may not get around to writing to everyone today. But I have a full P-Day next Tuesday so I´ll get everyone then. It takes we think about a month to get a letter there and back. So there could be a lot of delay. I also need Grandma and Grandpas address. Today has been the worst weather wise. It´s the hottest day so far and you feel like you are always sweating. I´m slowing getting use to the food. I only have 14 minutes left so I can´t include much more so I´ll type as fast as I can then tell you anything I miss next week. I played volleyball with some Brazilians the first night I got here and then someone broke the ball. So we played basketball with them and they are the funnest people every. They are always happy and funny. Right now we are working on prayers and testimonies in Portuguese. We are working on the first lesson and the first vision. The days seem slow until you sit down to write in your journal and then you realize how fast the time actually went. Everything so far seems like and feels like it´s directed at me. It´s the most neat and amazing feeling ever. Well my time is short. So I´ll try and get everything in next week that I missed. Love you all!!! Ask all the questions you have and make any requests for anything you want to hear. Love you!!!   Elder Wahl

After a long plane ride, I finally arrived at the Brazil MTC. This is the new group of Elders.