Where is MY SNOWSTORM?

Hey Family,

SNOW IN APRIL? That's what I'm talking about! Keep it coming for a couple more weeks. I'll be more than ready take care of it! We definitely aren't getting any snow down here. I showed the pictures Jenny sent of the snow to my companion, Elder Sampaio. He just stared, and then laughed. He's never seen anything that white. He even went so far as to mention that a snowstorm like that in his town would leave exactly ZERO survivors.

It's ridiculous. Our Zone has 16 missionaries and 4 of us our leaving in May. The problem being that one of them is Elder M. Cardoso, our Zone Leader in Fatima. As a Zone Leader he has unlimited minutes to any mission phone, so he occasionally calls me to tell me that he's trunky. He says he hates it, but can't help it. Every time he calls the office to ask for materials, bus tickets, or to pass the numbers the secretaries they remind him how many days he has left. It's tough. Sometimes when I meet a member for the first time I pretend to not speak Portuguese so that they won\t know I'm going yet. Every time I talk for real they say: ''Wait a second... your name tag isn't shiny... you're not new... when are you going home?'' Then they start the jokes. I think it's really amazing. When I was just starting out the mission the USA jokes, the Bush comments, the ''you guys are racists'' statements all didn't bother me. It seems as if I magically hit the point in the mission when I want to get in someone's face and show them they're wrong. The worst part is that I know it would be exactly like Bible bashing; it solves nothing and just gets everyone angry. As such I have to force myself to keep quiet and let it pass.

Speaking of Bible bashing, we're teaching a pair of sisters who belong to different churches. One is a seventh day adventist and the other is presbyterian (we went to their churches last week). This week we taught them the Plan of Salvation using only the bible. We stated our beliefs, found various scriptures to back everything up, and bore our testimonies. We went back last night, which unfortunately had given them enough time to talk to their pastors. They proceeded to inform us hat we had misinterpreted the scriptures and that our church has deceived us into believing something that isn't true. Elder Sampaio asked: ''Are you sure it's not the other way around?''. One sister replied: ''I KNOW it's not the other way'', and Elder Sampaio responded: ''Well, I KNOW that it is.'' They both got quiet and I barely kept myself from laughing. These two want to Bible bash with us REALLY BAD, but we're not up for it. The Adventist even gave me an ''Adventist Guide to Biblical Study'' so that I could prepare myself for the battle. It's gathering dust on the floor under my desk.

We've got an awesome family of three that we're currently teaching and looking to baptize. The problem is that they have to go to church two times to be baptized, and we rarely have church here in Sao Francisco. The first week was General Conference in Joinville, the second week was the recording of General Conference, yesterday I finally took the sacrament, but this weekend will be Stake Conference. Tomorrow is Zone Conference, which means one more day in Joinville. Correction, I'm actually in Joinville right now. Rather than travel in the middle of the night to get here for conference we came this morning. After Zone Conference tomorrow I'll be staying here because we'll have our divisions with the Zone Leaders. This week I'll be spending more time in Joinville than in Sao Francisco. The mission is crazy.

Just as a note, my WellsFargo card expired the first of April. It caught me by surprise, so the extra money on the card will be sitting there until I get home. I should have enough money here to get me to the end.

I'm in Joinville again, the sun is behind the clouds, and I'm fine so stop worrying about me.

Running on Fumes,
Elder Haws(mo)