Choo-Choo!!!

This week was awesome!!!!

So basically, I was just traveling the whole week. We had only two Zone Conferences this week but lots of other stuff to do away from BH.

The first stop was in Sete Lagoas!!! It was awesome to pass by there again and see old familiar places. That place is really beautiful. Going there and back, we just rode with the President. We talked about a lot of things during the trip. We talked first about the mission, then missionaries, then future leadership callings, then somehow we got on the subject about marriage. WEEIIRD, It’s kind of weird to think that now after the mission, any kind of dating situation could have an eternal consequence, unlike before the mission when I knew that whatever kind of relationship I had would have to end at some point.

I am super glad to have served a mission because it has helped incredibly with my ability to just TALK; talk to any kind of person and start up a friendship. My mannerisms towards people have really changed. I will still have some situations where I know that people will be like, "Man, that is one weird dude." But it will be a lot less often than it was before the mission.

After our first Zone Conference, we got back at night, packed our things up and then got a midnight bus headed to Ipatinga, a city about four hours away by bus. Got there, got to our room, slept for about an hour, and then went off to do our second Zone Conference. It was pretty hard to stay awake the whole time, even harder to look excited. But it went really well. After the conference, the president told us that at the chapel that they have in the center of Ipatinga, there would be a special open house the next day for all of the major politicians of the city. The mayor-council,  the commission, the public relations committee, health care committee; all the big dogs with the money. The President said that originally he was going to have the Zone Leaders head up the open house, but then he felt that we needed to do it. So we cancelled our trip going back home that night, got everything prepared the next day and met with the City politicians and leaders. It was really cool. The church hired a company to make appetizers and drinks and have someone in a tuxedo bring it around to everybody on a silver dish. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera so I don’t have any pics, but it might be in the Ensign or in the paper and I'll snatch it. After the open house we did a 24 hour division with the Zone leaders until Thursday night, slept in our room, and bought a bunch of junk food.

The next day we worked for a few more hours to kill time until three o'clock, because we found out that there was a train line from Ipatinga to BH, and come on, like I’m gonna pass up on an opportunity like that! So we worked until our departure time and then took the train home. We got back here at about 9 o'clock last night. The train was awesome!!! You could go between the two cars and just look out the half door. I felt like I was in the time of the Great Depression, train jumping to get places. I felt like a kid again.

This was the fastest week ever! Its weird to think that after this letter, there will only be two left that I will write.

Love and miss you all!!

Elder Smidt X