"I Thought You Forgot Me"

"Oi!

"Well, the phone call was great. We got to talk to him for 60 minutes, but it didn't come off without a hitch. We were supposed to call at 12 Noon Mountain Time which is 5 pm in Brazil. So, at the appointed time we dialed the number he had given us, but were told the number was not in service! Tried again, same result! I had his mother trying to find the phone # we used at Mother's Day to see how many digits were in that number. After several more tries, I noticed that the area codes in our phone book for three cities in Brazil were two digits, and he had a zero in front of two digits in the area code he had given us. I tried the call without the zero and it went through. That whole scenario took 17 sweaty minutes and his first words were, "I thought you forgot me." Whew!

He had spent the day with his companion tracting. Apparently Christmas Day is just like any other day in Brazil. Christmas Eve they celebrate with fireworks, barbeques, and beer. That's kind of like many summer activities in the northern hemisphere. Remember, it's 95 degrees where he is and extremely high humidity.

We learned that his companion is from a smaller city close to Sao Paulo on the coast, and has been a member for three years. The ward where they attend is weak with only about 70 members attending and only 7 or 8 priesthood holders. Many have apostatized, but they did have a baptism this past week and another is scheduled.

There are 170 missionaries in the mission and 13 zones, each with two zone leaders. There are eight missionaries in the office, two of which were formerly his companions. He reports that he must have an accent when he speaks Portuguese, because he has been accused of being from at least ten different countries, some in South America and others in Europe. The U. S. wasn't one of them.

He says that there are some great fruits there. I had asked him about the acai berry, fruit from the Amazon which is extremely high in antioxidents and now making waves in the nutritional market. He admits he has gained some weight, as evidenced by the tightness of his suit pants.

He apologizes that he cannot write to everyone as he would like. His schedule is so busy and every minute is taken up with some part of the work. He appreciates the cards and letters and thanks everyone for their support even though he can't reply as he would like.

It was great to hear the sound of his voice. This was our second phone call. There is one more at Mother's Day 09. He wasn't allowed to call home last Christmas from the CTM, because there were too many missionaries and not enough phone lines. Time flies.....he has 10 1/2 months left, but who's counting.