Curitiba Temple Dedication

"OH GUESS WHAT?! We got to participate in the Curatiba Temple dedication. Cool huh! It was broadcast to stake centers across Brazil. President Monson and Elder Nelson spoke and Pres. Monson dedicated the temple. We saw the cornerstone ceremony and everything. I remembered the Nauvoo Temple dedication when we sang "The Spirit of God" and waved the white hankerchiefs...except this time it was sung in Porguguese! The translator for Pres. Monson (whom I met in the CTM, he was in the presidency) was having a hard time translating everything he said as fast as he said it. The talks, of course, were already written out for him, but the off the cuff stuff outside at the cornerstone wasn't. At the end one of the members here...the shortest lady in the ward...said, 'it's not fair, you understood everything the prophet said'. Well, that's cool!.

We just got back from the temple and I was hoping to see Casey there...but, nope! I saw Zilda though, my old bishop's wife. She says that she misses me and that Campo Grande misses my piano playing in sacrament meeting. It was really good to see and talk to her.

We've scheduled two baptisms! Both are older women. One, Maria, is a little hard to keep animated, but she's quit drinking coffee and her baptism is scheduled for the 14th. The other is named Francisca and she is the mom of a member here. She fed us lunch yesterday. We taught her the first lesson as our message, and we scheduled her baptism for the 21st. Now, we'll work with them to see that these will happen. There is also another family, Patricia and Paulo, whose children have all been baptized, but they haven't because they need to get married. We went there yesterday and they agreed to take care of that. She really wants to be baptized and we are praying that he will follow her example and be baptized as well.

Thanks for all the packages, my zone is so envious of me. I'll share for sure. We are eating those mac and cheeses for sure! The hoodie is greatly appreciated, as are the pants and the jacket. The jacket works well with an umbrella. It's not very cold here, only like 65 degrees, but I guess I've been here for too long, because I'm getting cold. But, with these things, I won't feel it at all.

Well, I have to go...it's late because of the temple and I'm super hungry. Keep praying that we'll have baptisms and that I'll be able to climb these hills.

I love you
Elder Christian