Acre is in Brazil/Bolivia - What?

To Dad:

can't read any books outside of Preach my Gospel, The standard works, Jesus the Christ, Our Legacy, and True to the Faith... So right now i'm studying attributes of Christ and about the Holy Ghost again but reading all the scriptures, marking everything, using the dictionary to get a deeper meaning from words and all that stuff. I've already studied it once, but i wanted to improve my teaching, so i'm working on the 4 things that will improve it according to preach my gospel: Christ attributes (Faith, Charity, Hope... etc), studying the lessons that we teach in Chapter 3 of Preach my gospel, improving with the language, and trusting in the spirit. i was asking my mission president about a lot of deeper secrets and stuff about the church and although he responded to them all, he said i should concentrate all my studies around Christ. Learn everything i can about, how he taught, how he was, because being a perfect example for us, if we can learn and act exactly as he is, that's the best anyone and anything could do. So, i can't read any of the heavy doctrine books right now but usually my companion has a cool talk from a leader that he'll give to me to read.

This week we baptized 3 people. It went well and smooth. The problem with that sunday is we were invited to about 3-4 dinners, and brazilians don't listen when you say "I can't eat anymore" or "Give me just a little because i'm already full". So although i make a great effort to eat it all, i have to leave a bunch so i don't throw up. We've got one marked so far for this sunday.

you were called to be a juror? What do they do? That's cool that the family history is going well. So there's a bunch of stuff that you need to correct? Is it hard to work in the morning when you're up late doing family history? Hope it's all going good for ya there.

The new area here is cool. did mom show you the photos that i took of here? It's alot cleaner and prettier than my last area. Also the people are a little more teachable. It's hard to find good men here to teach, because the men to women ratio here is 1:7. Yes, 1 man for every 7 women. I'm not sure how it got like that, but it gets a little difficult for church leadership. also there are a lot of cool sites here to see. The history about this state is a little weird and sad. It USED to belong to Bolivia, but Brazil cheated them  in an aliance and took it from them. Bolivia is in denial right now, and still includes the state of Acre (where i'm at right now) as a part of their country. Acre is still on their country flag. So it's kind of interesting, but all the people here say they're a part of Brazil and don't know anything about it. It's one of those hidden dark truths that countries try to hide... haha.

I hope the work there with the family history continues to go good. Good luck with all that. Have a good week. Love you dad! Bye
Love, Andrew

To Mom: (*Note from Mom - I asked Andrew how he was getting along with his companion and reminded him about the story one of the Mission Presidency told us at the airport, about how you should treat all your companions nicely because you don't want to be the bad companion story if they become a General Authority - This Brother had Jeffrey R. Holland and Gene R. Cook as companions).

I'm glad you liked the photos. I tried to take some good ones. Sometimes it's a little hard, because i don't want anyone to see me taking pictures, just because it's safer to not look like a tourist right? But yah, there's some way cool sites here, and everything is going great. Learning a bunch of stuff, getting more comfortable with the language. I've been focusing a bunch on using simple words, because the people here haven't had a public school here for more than 18 years, so everyone over 18 that didn't have a lot of money to afford private school, doesn't know much about reading or writing. Some people here can't read or write at all, which in turn... makes it very hard to get a testimony of the book of mormon. Fortunately, i haven't ran into anyone yet, just heard stories from my companion here. I'm always being nice to my companion. We've never argued, and I won't let an arguement come up (takes two to argue right?) we're doing well. We planned 4 baptisms and 3 of them happened. The 4th decided he did not want to go to church and didn't get much of an explanation. During the week before baptism, that's when it's believed that Satan works the hardest. People get strong feelings of self doubt, not enough preparation for baptism, or fear. And when we arrive and ask why they don't want to be baptized, there's never a good thorough explantion. Just I don't feel prepared, even after all the lessons being taught, the baptismal interview. For this i just want to shout ISAIAH 55. I'm not sure what it is in english but it's basically God saying "My thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways are higher than your ways." Gets annoying. But the three that we had were part of a way cool family and they went very smoothly :) For this week we have so far one baptism marked. The apartment is cleaner. Well... the dishes are anyways, which is a good start. It's hard because i'm trying to read and learn everything but there's so much to study, and apply that there's no time for anything else. I've been studying a bunch about the attributes of Christ and reading all the scriptures i can find about each attribute in Preach my Gospel, the topical guide of the scriptures and the bible dictionary. The study goes well, and i'm learning, but i'm going slow, taking in each word, using the dictionary to get more meaning out of each word... just looking at what i've written i feel just a little crazy.. ha. but i can feel like everytime i study i'm learning something bigger and newer. Sometimes i think if i just had a whole day to study about this i could just get out of the way and finish reading Jesus the Christ. It's a dang big book!

That's cool about the new stake business, but that stinks that you got sick and couldn't see it Are they close to splitting any wards or stakes there? I remember before i left our ward was so big! Man, it's weird to think that we have wards with over 500 people, even some over 1000 in one time in Utah (as my companion said). That's crazy that dad is working so hard with the family ancestry thing. Is he getting way tired for work and stuff in the morning? that's good that laura is finding stuff to keep busy. It always stinks when you've got a big break... and nothing to do. Some things that i need would be: rechargeable batteries, a flashdrive to store all my photos, and... some more pens... ha. I lent some to my companions but they started losing some. I've got a few but i don't know how long they'll last, and it's always good to have a few extra pens. 3-4 pens would be good.

Well, i'm glad to hear you're doing good mom. Have a good week! Love you so much. Good luck with work and keeping Laura busy!
Love, Andrew