April 22, 2009

Hey mommry and everyone else that reads this email. i hope that everything is going good for you all. things in brazil are going pretty good. and sorry about nt putting details in the dead body story. but after we saw it we keep on walking and met up with the other elders and told them about it and they went to see it and they called the police. but you guys have to understand that the police dont give a crap. they had the guts to tell the other elders that it was a dog. but that is BS because i say it with my own eyes. the police here get payed by the drug dealers and all those guys. and a half an hour after the elders passed by the body we passed the same area and it wasnt there anymore so i have no idea what happened. but i am pretty sure that no one cares where the head is. all they think about is that he is dead and there isnt anything they can do about it. But anyways......how is everything going? how did the jazz game go? how is kaya? when did you buy a dog for her? and what did you do wih Bruiser? i hope you didnt sell him because i will be very upset at you. how is the family? how is grandma roberts? i need to write her. but yeah......how is the ward? how is justin oberg? you should stop by his house some time if you ever have any time to tell him hi and see how he is doing. but things here are going pretty good. yesterday i got transfered again.....and i am a long ways away from the city now. i am now in the city called Maués. it is a small interior town that is in the middle of the jungle. the only way to get here is either by boat or by plane. so i arrived yesterday by plane, but i was a little sad to leave my last area. i really loved mmy last area. i learned so much in that area and the members are just awesome and the people that i baptized and taught. i really will miss it......a lot. but my new area seems to be really good. it is way beautiful here and it is a small town, it reminds me of alaska because of the size and it is so quite here as well. i really like here so far, it has only been one day. but i am sure that it will be awesome here, there are a ton of mosquitos here and that is way annoying. but it is way cool. i also like my companion as well( Elder A. Oliveira a brazilian).but i did receive a few shocks from the transfer, i received a couple of new callings as a missionary. i am now the senior companion but that isnt all, i am also distruct leader. because this city only has four missionaries so it has to have two district leaders to do the baptismal interviews and i am now one of them. which came as a shock to me because i wasnt expecting it and dont think that i am read for that. but things are going good here and i am loving the mission. but i also wanted to share another experience with you guys. i hadnt said anything about this one yet because it was a growing experience. but i will now share it with you guys.....on saturday we had a baptism and it was a baptism of a young man that turn 20 yesterday. he has a desire to serve a mission and is an inspiration to me. i will now start from the beginning, the first time that i met him. i was with one of the greatest elders i have served with Elder Del Guerso and we went to visit this young man. and Del Guerso hadnt said anything about it. but we walked into his house and a member was there. she has asked us to visit him because he hadnt been doing very well. i dont even know how to say this, but he was possessed by a demon. he passed a few days without having any control over his body, and he wasnt doing very good at all. i dont even know how to describe it, it wasnt very pretty. but we decided to leave a message with the family and give him a priesthood blessing. afterwords we left and the next time saw him he walked into the doors at the church perfectly fine. but he wasnt a hundred percent, he was a little slow. he wasnt able to think fast and was quite and didnt understand everything that people said to him. but we started teaching him and he struggled with praying. he just wasnt able to pray very well at all. but he had the great desire to learn about the church and to be baptized. the first question he asked us was that.....How do i get baptized?....and so we taught him for a few weeks, about a month or so. and he kept progressing more and more until he got baptized on saturday and now he has the desire to serve a mission. and on monday i was able to visit him for the last time and say good bye. and he said the closing prayer.....and he said the most beautiful prayer that i have ever heard. it was absolutely incredible. tears filled my eyes during the prayer, because i was able to see his great effort. he struggled, but continued doing what we asked him and he progressed so much. he started laughing with us and talking more and its was just awesome to be able to be a small part of his life. i will never forget about him and i hope that he is able to serve a mission here in about a year. his name is Abelardo Torres de Farias Neto.i will never forget him. but things are going really well and i am so grateful for the opportunity that i have been given to serve the Lord during these two years. the time has gone by so fast and will be home in only 11 months, but it has been an experiencing of a lifetime. i am so grateful for it all, the difficulties and the great experiences. it is awesome. and i hope that everything is going really well for everyone at home. i sure do miss you guys but i also love this place. it is way hot and i am a long ways away fro my family but i still love this plce. but i think that i will let you all go and i wil talk to you all next week, and i ate armadillo again but this time it tasting good and next week we are going to eat turtle, and we saw a monkey today. but i didnt take a picture. but love you all and give everyone a hug for me i love you and i miss you.
Com Amor, Elder Jory B. Spotts