Letter from Elder Summerhays, May 27, 2008

Phew! It has been a crazy week, a lot of different things happened. I guess I will start with the first thing that happened this week. I went on my first splits with an Elder O'Brian. I got to spend a 24 hr. period of time in his area. It was really cool seeing a new area, they had a small stream that reminded me of fishing believe it or not. Elder O'Brian is a really great missionary who knows how to teach. He helped me learn a lot. When we went to lunch we talked with a family and the father asked if we knew how to set up a network! So I helped him get started in setting up a network, but someone else will have to help him finish because one computer uses Windows and the other used Linux and I know nothing about Linux. Also during splits I had my first "pao com quejo" (we think this is cheesy bread). It was really good and only 10 centavos a piece! Then that day ended and I went back to my area the next morning.

Once I got back I received some really great news...we had a baptism!!! Wooo! I was so excited even though I had only met him once and in all honesty had nothing to do with his conversion precess, but it is till very exciting to hear someone is getting baptized. He is a really nice old man called Valdir (Vaulgeer), his wife has been a member for years. She is really happy. His baptism was Saturday the 24th. We took pictures and afterward refreshments, it was great.

Another interesting event, we were clapping at doors, my companion on one side of the street and me at the other. I clapped at this one house and they wanted us to enter immediately. The first thing my companion thought was that they wanted to Bible bash. So we went in and commenced with a prayer and our lesson. Just before the Joseph Smith story, she started to tell us that she was already baptized and my companion said, yes we know, the Catholic Church. She then told us she was baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We were in shock. It turns out that they had bad relations with some other members before they moved and they had stopped going. We had no record of this family, we invited them back and it looks like they will, it was really cool to see the Lord bless the lives of these people. I am excited to go and visit them again.

Also this week we brought an investigator to church. Her name is Vanderleia. It is hard to tell with her what she is thinking about the church but she is taking it seriously. She said she enjoyed church, but we have not had the opportunity to speak with her more.

Sunday did not end well for me and my companion. I was getting frustrated with the language that day and he is too much like me, impatient and controlling. He was trying to make me do push ups (sound familiar? haha) if I made mistakes and I wouldn't do them, I am naturally going to make mistakes. Then later before bed I was talking with Elder Fa in English about things that I have no vocabulary for in Portuguese, while I was eating dinner. My companion comes in trying to take my fork and not letting me sit down, telling me to speak Portuguese, I wanted to tell him he was an idiot, but I didn't I just said, "vai dormir" (which means, go to bed) and sat down. He got really stressed out about it and there was a lot of contention. I just went to bed once I finished talking with Elder Fa. My companion is right, I need to speak to learn, but sometimes there are things I am not even close to being able to have a real conversation about. The next day we talked and I apologized and we did our best to resolve it. Things are better now. I agreed to do push ups if he would do push ups when he had trouble with one of his struggles and he agreed. My biggest problem I think was that I wanted to be treated like a companion, not a child. I know he is senior companion and I respect that, but were still supposed to help each other, it's not supposed to be him ordering me around. But anyway, we are happy again and the Spirit is back, woo! I am glad we were both able to solve that problem.

Dad, you've been fishing too? I am glad to hear it went well, haha. Seriously though, I miss fishing a lot. I did a lot of thinking while fishing. Here though I find that the best thinking occurs while writing in my journal. It doesn't take very long either, how much can happen in one day right...? A lot actually, but most days, 5 or 10 minutes. I suggest that you all start writing more, things come to your mind that my never have arrived there before. When you write about problems you receive inspiration as to how to solve them. The Lord promises these blessings when we record...actually I don't know if He ever promised that, but I know that we receive them when we write our thoughts.

Anyway, it was a great week when all is said and done, thank you for your letters, I can't wait to see more. I will close with a quote that I really love by Elder Robert C. Oaks:
"...I am not talking about addresses, credit cards or any other identifying numbers. I am talking about something much more basic and important than who the world thinks you are. I am talking about who you think you are." Ensign, April 2008, pg.46.

I love you all and pray for you every day and night. Continue to pray and be faithful, the Lord is always there.

Love, Elder Summerhays