Daniel's São Paulo South Mission: News from Brazil & Pictures Too!

Got a couple of notes from Daniel this week -- one was sent via snail mail the first day he arrived in Brazil. Took almost 4 weeks to get here. A good reason to do email instead!

In that first letter (written in "Daniel font" - another good reason for email), Daniel described his flight down. On the leg from Boise to Salt Lake, he was pretty emotional. He sat next to a lady who was very nice, and they had a nice chat. She was a non-member but told him she would pray for him on his mission. He got to present a mini-discussion, so he was pretty hyped about that.

Then, to his relief, a group of missionaries joined him for the flight from Salt Lake to Dallas-Ft Worth. Then, on the flight to Brazil, there were 28 missionaries, so he felt pretty good (as good as he can when flying).

He couldn't believe the humidity once in Brazil. He felt like he was swimming all day. He liked what he saw in Sao Paulo but said some of the buildings didn't look structurally sound. Even though the mission home is on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, there are still skyscrapers everywhere.

The tone of this first letter -- very homesick!

Then, we got the email he had written just this week. Four weeks make a difference! He's enjoying the mission. He talked about the various pictures he was attaching to the email. At the end, he had to add a postscript cause system limits didn't let him send all the pictures. He is still enjoying working with his companion, Elder Young. He was selected to go sing at the capital in Sao Paulo for Mormon Day. There were only a few of the missionaries who were selected to go, and he ended up by the microphone and thought that was cool. This from the kid we couldn't convince to take choir in high school.

He also got to attend the temple again and pressed all of us to do the same. He told us when we send pictures, it is best to just paste them in emails rather than attach them as an attachment. Then, he closed with his testimony:

I love being here so much. I love this gospel I know that it is true. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that with the Bible, they are the fullness of the gospel. I love being on my mission even though it is so hard and will only get harder. I miss being home so much but this is where I need to be.

Here are some pictures:

Companions - Elders Young & Parkinson...