Ficando Velho Em Vila Velha (Getting Old in Vila Velha)

Dear all,

I was not transferred very far from Itacibá. Now I am in Ala Glória (yes, the translation is Glory Ward) in Vila Velha. My companion is Elder Dantas, from a small town called Caicó, Rio Grande do Norte, Brasil. He is 24, and has a little less than six months on the mission. I am the district leader of the Distrito Glória. It is just us, and the other two missionaries that share our ward: Sister Dias and Sister Zeller. This is the only ward on the mission that has both Elders and Sisters. If you have good memories, you will recall that when I was in Anchieta, Sister Dias was in my district. I sent a picture at that time. Funny that Sister Dias is in her last transfer as well. Most of the time, all four of us have lunch at the same house. Ala Glória is a really neat ward. There are a lot of ex-missionaries here and the members are all really friendly and neat. The ward is comparatively small in geographical terms. Especially since it is divided into two halves, one for us and one for the Sisters.

So, this week was pretty much just the back-breaking work of getting to know the area. Lots of walking, lots of getting lost. Even though my companion has been here in the ward since he started his misison, he still gets just a bit lost sometimes, and doesn´t always pick the fastest route. However, he is really a great companion. He is humble, clean, organized, calm, and hard-working. He is the only member of his family that is a member of the church.

We live up on a hill, and you can see a little bit of downtown Vitória from up top, and you can see the Terceira Ponte (Third Bridge), and some skyscrapers from the neighborhood of the mission office. Ala Glória is on the mainland, just across the water from Ala Vitória (remember that Vitória is an enormous island), where I started my mission. There are a lot of hills in our area, but Vila Velha usually has a nice clipping breeze from the ocean. The gigantic chocolate factory of the chocolate maker Garoto is in our ward, across the street from the chapel. It is a touristic point here. I will surely be visiting and taking advantage of the ten minute all the chocolate you can eat without drinking water session that comes after the tour.

We marked a baptismal date with Jânia, about 45 years old. She had a stroke about 8 years ago and it has left the left side of her body almost useless. However, we got an Irmão to give her a ride to church, and she was ready and waiting. Her sister was baptized thirty years ago and is inactive. She is reading the Book of Mormon and is determined to be ready for her baptism on the 21st of July.

One complaint: We had to walk for half an hour to get to this LAN House and then, it was all full of little punk kids playing online games and cussing, so we had to wait to use the computers. Now we have to walk back and buy groceries and then we will be able to relax.

Funny stories to tell next week.

Love,

Elder Bodily