Monday, September 14, 1970

A letter to my mom and dad:

If at any point my handwriting gets rough in this letter, don’t worry: I’m writing this letter lying on my back in a hammock. In some places here in northeastern Brazil (although not in Maceió) hammocks are every bit as common as beds. They certainly have a lot more class and are very practical during the sweltering months. Here in Maceió we are just entering into summer again. The winter which has just passed was roughly comparable to a southern Idaho summer, except that it was wetter here.

This morning we played volleyball for two hours and now are just lying around taking it kind of easy for a while. I thought today I would take time to write a nice long letter. If it appears disorganized, it is because I’ll just be rambling around for a while.

The past two weeks—and particularly the last one—have been the best of my mission. Words cannot express some of the feelings I’ve had and the experiences I’ve shared. Life is beautiful. Every new day is a miracle itself. My companion (Elder Dane Blackham of Seattle) and I have grown really close to each other, bound with a deep friendship, during the time we’ve been together, which has been about four months, but most particularly these past two weeks. I really appreciate his loyalty and support in the responsibilities I hold. I love him for his humility, his sense of humor, his ability to love others, his talents.

As I briefly mentioned last week, we spent Monday visiting the falls and power complex at Paulo Afonso. Leaving at 4:30 A.M., we rode with Irmão Aldo and his wife Virginia to their farm in the country (her parents’ farm really). From there we left at 6:00 for the four-and-a-half hour trip to Paulo Afonso, most of the way over dirt roads. Paulo Afonso is located on the São Francisco River, which is the border between Alagoas and Bahia. The city of Paulo Afonso itself is in Bahia. It is desert area and at a distance looks just like parts of southern Idaho, although at a close up the vegetation is different. We had a free guide during the entire afternoon for just the six of us (four elders, Aldo, and Virginia), and we visited all over the entire place. It was really quite amazing. I took a bunch of pictures. We were all pretty tired by evening before we started the long trip back. We were home by 11:00 P.M.

Tuesday dawned early with all of us done in but with much to do. We have an elderly couple here who have been waiting about 14 months to be baptized because of a desquite problem. In Brazil there is no divorce, but a sort of legal separation called desquite. However, it prevents remarriage legally. Since by the law people who have desquite are living in adultery if they remarry, they cannot be baptized without express permission of the General Authorities. This couple was plagued by this problem even though they’ve lived together for 17 years. We finally received by letter just last Sunday the OK for baptism. But there was still one problem. Because of stroke, heart, and kidney trouble, he has been off-and-on sick during the last year. Probably the only thing keeping him going was his determination to be baptized before he died. Here in Maceió we baptize in the ocean. That would never have worked for him. So on Tuesday morning we announced to him that he could be baptized finally and that we wanted him to go to Recife for the special district conference two days later and be baptized in the font there. He agreed.

Wednesday we had a special fast because one of the members of the branch (who has a VW bus that we needed to take everybody to the conference in Recife) could not go. At the end of the fast the member came to our house to give us the answer. He said that he could not go but that he had prayed about it and the Lord said he should go, so he decided to go. I was so happy. Obviously it was an immediate and direct answer to our fasting and prayers. Because of his decision we had a representation of 19 members who could go to the conference.

Thursday was the big day of conference. We left early by bus to make the four-hour trip to Recife. At noon we held a missionary conference. I gave the opening address, speaking on “Priesthood Stewardships and the Blessing Powers of the Priesthood.” Sister Johnson and Sister Hinckley spoke next. President Johnson spoke after them. During his talk I had my interview with Brother Hinckley. Finally, we had a two-hour question-answer period with the visiting Apostle, after which he spoke for a while to us. That was truly a great experience. In the evening was held the district conference with a packed chapel. President and Sister Johnson and Brother and Sister Hinckley all spoke, the latter two using interpreters. Elder Hinckley’s talk was so inspired, at least the things the Maceió members needed to hear.

After a full day of all that, we still held a baptism service following the conference. My companion and I both baptized and confirmed.

The next morning, following a night spent beating off mosquitoes in our hotel room, we had the first of a series of six leadership training conferences. At noon we left by bus to return to Maceió, arriving back in time for Primary.

Well, you see that it was a full, inspiring, exciting week. Tiring too.

Recently I received an application for readmission to BYU. The spring semester begins February 4. That leaves about a month of free time before school starts. You might keep an eye out for any jobs that might be available during January. According to what Brother Hinckley told us about the draft, I should have no trouble. My number is 227.

São Paulo now has its third stake. Zion is growing down here in Brazil on every point. Brother Hinckley effected its organization just last Sunday. Prospects for Rio are looking better all the time.

Please express my regards to everybody in the ward, particularly to Brother and Sister Garner, Sister Hurren, and Sister Leavitt. I’ll have to be closing this letter or it will cost a fortune to mail it. May the Lord’s choice blessings be ever yours. Have a happy week. Write sometime.

P.S. I was going to mention how well we’ve been eating here in Maceió. We have a full-time maid (Dona Crueza) who shops and cooks for us. We have taught her how to fix all sorts of good stuff to eat. We are among the few elders in the mission who regularly eat apple pie, oatmeal cookies, pancakes, French toast, beef stew, baked potatoes (Brazilians eat potatoes, but not baked), plus tomatoes and cucumbers and carrots, etc.