Attatched is a picture of my leg.....

To answer your question mom I have vitamins but I haven~t been taking them. I guess I should. I eat really healthy in general. I have lost weight since my first area and my body fat is down (bigger muscles I guess). I eat only whole wheat bread and have recently been buying chicken breasts and cooking them on Pday to eat during the week. I don~t really eat at night because we work from 1 in the afternoon until 9 at night and when I eat at night I get stomach aches so I just eat breakfast and lunch. Just letting you know that I am feeding myself and taking care of myself (exept for that little leg thing but that really wasn~t my fault)

Well not a whole lot of news this week. We started teaching some new people who have interest to get to know the church which is always good. We really have been guided to good people here. The people have more interest to know the church and to know what we are doing as missionaries.

I think this comes from a desire to be different from other churches. When we act just like other churches people dont~have a whole lot of interest to see our church. but when we explain our beliefs as a restored church we have more interest from people. That was hard for me. To look people in the eye and say that this church is THE restored Church of Jesus Christ. But when I got over that hump we started having more interest from people. 

It is really cool to see people who are getting to know this church as something different. 

I asked to stay another transfer here (that would make it from 28/1 until 15/8 that I stayed here. I hope president lets me stay. I love it here and the people are helping a lot. We are going to change branch Presidents here so I want to avoid loss of information. Everytime a switch happens we lose a little of the information and I want to avoid that with a transfer and a swap in presidents at the same time.

So pray that our president will be inspired in whatever he decides to do. 

I love you guys. Crazy to think that only 11 months and I will be home. Time goes so fast!

I love you!!!

Wright

A visit to the Dr.

So this week we went to Joinville (the biggest city in the state) that is about 1 hour away from our area. We had a zone meeting and then I was off to the hospital as the apparent bug bite on my leg continued to get worse. By wednesday my inner thigh was swollen from the knee to about 3/4 of the way up the leg and the bite opened and started to ooze blood. 

On the way to the hospital we got a call from the assitant that Elder Welling would be transfered to the other side of the state. 

I entered the hospital and was treated by a doctor who said that it really was an ingrown hair that got infected. He injected it with      some anestetic and used a pair of medical scissors to open it up and clean it out. Then he grabbed my leg and squeezed out the blood and whatever else was in there. 

So right now I have about a 2cm deep hole in my leg that oozes dries on my clothes and opens again when I move my legs. But i am on antibiotics and am doing great. Friday I stayed home and rested while my new companion unpacked his bags and rested from the 13 hour bus ride. I felt like a bad missionary but I got over it. haha

My new companion is Elder Aguiar from the state of Santa Catarina. He has Epilepsy and tried to go on a mission but wasn~t allowed to because of the medical situation and is doing a short term mission of 9 months here in the state. 

Our time together will be good for me. He has an interesting personality so my pacience will be growing. I am working with him now to get him to have more confidence in his abilities. These short term missionaries aren~t really trained by other missionaries and it shows that he doesn~t feel the same as other misionaries. We are working together to get him teaching and excited to work. He has a great spirit and we will do miracles here. 

Yesterday was the dedication of the Manaus Brazil temple. So we didn~t have sacrament meeting and got to watch the dedication. It was fantastic. It was really cool to see Elder Cook and President Uchtdorf outside of General Conference. They looked so Human. It was really cool to see that and understand that they are people too. They are great people but still people and they have their weaknesses and trials and feel uncomfortable too. I am so grateful for the chance I had to watch the dedication.

I am doing well. This new companion brings new challenges and opportunities. Chances for me to teach alone which I like a lot better than working with others and chances for me to show him his potential as a missionary.

I read a book about an LDS boy who did some crime and the victim of the crime was helping him to understand his worth with the phrase Eagles don~t eat worms. Reminding us that a majestic eagle doesn~t stoop to eat worms. Just like we shouldn~t settle for less in our lives. We are children of our Heavenly Father. It is something I hope that we can come to understand better together.

Remember Eagles Don~t eat worms.

Love,

Wright Noel

1/2 way point

This coming week will make one year since I left!!! Crazy how fast things move. Seems like not too much has changed there... lol.

Today I am a little sick. I think this comes from a bug bite that I have on my inner thigh. I got it friday night I think but yesterday It started hurting a lot and I noticed a red line leaving the circle of red around the bite. I called Sister Fernandes and explained (in portuguese) about this thing on my leg. She said it could be a parasite of some kind. A worm that enters your body and starts eating its way through your veins.... interesting huh? haha So today I will be talking to some kind of medical professional about this.

Hey have you guys ever heard of a film called Charly? It is made by a guy who is a member of the church and is a story about a girl who joins the church. Elder Welling and I watched it this week. It was good. If you guys can get your hands on it it is a good family film.

This week passed quickly. We found some new people to start teaching which is always a good thing. People with real promise. So we will be praying for them that we can help their families join the church.

Our branch president will move this month so it looks like we will be here for a branch presidency change. Which will be interesting because there are limited men who are qualified (by requirements) for the position and most of them have already served. There are lots of men here who recently returned to activity so the number of qualified priesthood holders is beginning to grow and this branch will be really strong soon.

Well I love you lots. Sorry this email wasn~t very interesting I am a little out of it today.

Love you,

Elder Noel