11-17-12 letter

Dearest Family and Friends,

All is well here in Porto Alegre. This week we are taking care of an Elder that had appendicitis. Last Sunday Elder Singelo was not feeling very well and this has been going on several days so Monday afternoon we went to the hospital "Mae de Deus" to see what was going on. Long story short- Elder Singelo is okay. But 5 minutes after we got to the hospital another 2 Elders showed up, Elder Afualo and Elder Garner. Elder Garner was having terrible pain in his stomach and throwing up. He said how it was sharp pain and described it a little. I thought that it was his appendix but he was just hurting on the front of his belly, a little high too, so I didn’t know what it was. I went with him through a few checkups to help with translation, but the doctor spoke English fluently so I wasn’t even needed. It turns out that it was his appendix. Elder Singelo was ready to go home at 8:00 that night and we left Elder Afualo in the waiting room. Tuesday morning, after many phone calls during the night, I went to the hospital to switch places with Elder Afualo so he could sleep. During all of this President and Sister Castro were in São Paulo for a conference for Mission Presidents. I stayed there through Elder Garner’s surgery and he got a room at about 1 in the morning Wednesday, so I got to sleep at about 2:30 :) They switched with me the next day in the morning, 23 hours in the hospital, yah! Wow, I was pretty tired. But Elder Garner’s surgery went very well and he is recuperating very well. He is now staying with us, so we switch with the secretaries who will stay with him during the day and night. He will stay with us until next Thursday.

Something awesome happened Monday morning. We were invited to give a lecture on the church in one of the biggest colleges here in Brasil, it’s a Catholic college. It was the theology department that invited us. We went with Brother and Sister Sarmento from our ward. They both have callings as public relations in the church. They had several good questions; lots of them are studying to be "fathers" or "padres" in the Catholic Church. The only thing that was difficult was that they had many subjects with little time, but we were able to give everyone a Book of Mormon and other material of the church.

On Thursday morning we had a visit from Elder Aidukaits from the quorum of the 70, it was incredible. He talked a lot about planning and our area book. It was a training specifically for the missionaries. There was half of our mission (all the missionaries close to Porto Alegre) and half of the Porto Alegre North mission. I was able to learn a lot at the conference.

Want to know a blessing of serving a mission?, I wasn’t forced to see the twilight movie with anyone like Dad was ;) haha.

Happy Birthday Daniel!!! Wayne and you have birthdays very close one to the other! How old are you now?? 25?? I don’t remember anyone’s age anymore. What are you going to do to celebrate?? Stay at home and watch a movie with Wayne and Liz I imagine haha...the life a parent!

Thanksgiving is this week?? I had no idea! We will have to roast up a turkey or something. Let me know how the turkeys trot goes!

Yes, everyone starts Christmas things way early here. They don’t have Thanksgiving, so it is the next big thing to focus on.

No, Lucas has been a good little guy, haha. When President Castro and his family went to the hospital Tuesday night to see Elder Garner, Lucas wanted to stay the night with me. He asked his mom "can we go get 2 mattresses from home so I can stay here with Elder Dawson?" Everyone started to laugh and he kept saying "it’s not a joke" haha. President has 3 kids, Eliane, Gabriel and Lucas. We don’t go to there house a lot, but when we do, Sister Castro makes something for us really good! Those buildings right next to the chapel are offices Dad, the mission office, job searches, family history, maintenance, stake offices, etc.

I love you all very much and am very grateful for everything!

Tchau tchau,

Elder Dawson