Monday, October 27, 1969

Today turned into one of those days when all sorts of things happen to make life look different and exciting. Making a visit to Hospital Silvestre, I learned from Dr. Kovach that my cold was really bronchitis. An infection that started in my right big toe again last week, ten months after the operation on it, required the toenail to be removed again. I was told that the problem was not really ingrown toenail problems but a fungus of some type on the toenail. For all this I have been given medicines of all shapes, colors, and forms: one taken every four hours, another every 12 hours, another three times daily, another every day at lunch for 40 days. The worst part of the whole experience was calling President Johnson to give him the good news and writing my family to give them something to worry about.

Elder Edward Staker, my companion for the last month and a half, left this evening for Vitória. We took him to the rodoviária to put him on the bus. Elders Gessel and Richsteig are my companions for the next few days. I was feeling half dead and was glad to fall into bed finally.

A letter to my family:

Actually I should probably not tell you, because it will just make you worry, but I need to let you know how things are going. For the past two weeks I have had a rather heavy cold hanging on. Today the doctor diagnosed it as a bronchial infection, commonly called bronchitis. He prescribed all the necessary medicine, which should have me well within four or five days (by the time you receive this letter).

Also I had another toe operation this morning. The toenail that was removed last December started causing infection again and so the doctor thought it best to remove it again. The reason was not because it was ingrown, as everybody thought, but because of some sort of fungus in the toenail. For the next 30 to 40 days I have a medicine to take that is supposed to eliminate that.

Other than all that, I am feeling great. It is great being a missionary. Saturday my companion and I had the opportunity to baptize and confirm a man we had taught during the preceding three weeks. His baptism was a wonderful occasion and topped off the marvelous experiences had working with him.

One special blessing from being district leader is the responsibility to interview every candidate for baptism within the district. Every time is a new and different experience.

On Wednesday or Thursday of this week I will receive a new companion fresh from the States. My present companion, Elder Edward Staker, from Mount Pleasant, Utah, leaves this evening for Vitória, a city eight or nine hours by bus from Rio. He has been my companion since mid-September, having arrived in Brazil two weeks before then. He will be a good missionary, I am confident, because he is a hard worker and dedicated.

Every month each district in the mission is rated in relationship to all the others according to a scale determined by number of baptisms, number of hours worked, number of people contacted, and number of lessons taught. The Ramos District was rated in September, after I had presided over it as district leader for two weeks, as 13th out of 25. For October we lead the mission as number one on the list. Our baptismal goal was nine people for the month, and the district baptized 14. The big challenge now is to remain faithful, spiritual, hard working, and continue seeking for the Lord's blessings for these good people.

Thanks for all you are and mean to me. Your support and love are very real forces. I want to express my gratitude and love to you, especially Dad and Mom, for the "good life" to which I was introduced. A lady we taught yesterday asked me to send her congratulations and an abraço to my mother for the fine job she did in raising such a good son. I don't deserve it, but my mother does, so I promised that I would.

May heaven bless you richly.