Momma!
Sorry this letter may be kind of short this week. We are running kind of behind today because we had a zone conference in another city called Marilia and we missed most of P-day. The transfer is going well. You were right that the city I am in is called Bauru. It is rather large, but it obviously split up into a bunch of different areas, and yes, there is a stake Bauru. Transfers are done by onibus, but they are not rickety old chicken buses like you had to use. They are nice rented tour buses like we would use on band tour or something. So, I was pretty sad to leave Cambé and Elder Lee and everything, but life goes on eh? So now I am in ala independência in Bauru. My companion is named Elder Crosbie. He is the Zone leader here in Bauru. He is a basketball player from Logan and he is pretty cool. In our house also lives two other Elders, The other Zone leader Elder Vilela and an American Elder Neal. Elder Vilela is from Belo Horizonte Minas Gerais and Elder Neal is from Oregon. They are doing an interesting thing here where each of the Zone Leaders has a junior companion (me and Elder Neal) instead of being together. The idea is to give training experience to younger missionaries. The ward here is really good. Last month they really did a number here and baptized like 25 people. The attendance is like 200 every Sunday and the people are pretty excited and active about the work. This week has been a little bit trying and tough because we had transfers and also it is the beginning of Carnival and everybody is going on vacation, but I am excited to get to work here and baptize até o pó! It has been raining all day for the last week here and all my clothes and shoes are soaked, but we´re still smiling and it´ll be a great week. I was thinking about how I am probably pretty close to Nils. I´d like to hear how the others are doing later for sure!
Please know I love you a whole ton and you will always be the best mom for me. Here is a digital hug too. I´ll send some pictures next week! I know that this is the true church of Christ. I know that God lives and loves us. I know we have living prophets today and that is awesome!
-Love Elder Markham