03/18/2009 What´s up doc?

Hello Family and Friends,
How are things going around your part of the world? I hope everything is going well.
Everything is going a lot better here in Varginha, last week there was a switch in the guards and I received a new comp, he is American and his name is Elder Kezerian (his ancestors are from Armenia) and he is actually the grandson of President Boyd K. Packer.
Like I said things are going really well here. All the problems, all the stress left with my last comp. My new one is the greatest, he works hard, he’s motivated to follow the rules of the mission and he’s still learning the language, he has about five months on the mission.
Did I ever tell about being a district leader? To tell you the truth it is pretty fun, in my district there are six missionaries (including me). It’s my responsibility to make sure that every companionship is running smoothly, that all the areas are going well and the investigators of each. Normally on the mission each district is made up of four missionaries (the DL and his comp and two others), but in my case there are six of us my comp and I, the elders (Elder R. Costa and Elder Morias), and the sisters (Sister Luna and Sister Harman). So this is how it basically works in Varginha there are two branches (Sion and Varginha) in each branch there are four missionaries, in my branch there is my comp and I and the sisters. In the other branch there is the elders and the ZLs (Zone Leaders, which don’t really count for anything, they just stay by themselves). What happens is that everything that goes on in the city, I pretty much have to be aware of it (that is things that could slow down the work or stop the work from progressing like it should). So life is pretty busy all the time, for example if anyone is going to be baptized in the city I’m the one that interviews the people, even for the ZLs because they can't interview their own investigator, the same is true for me, so the ZLs get to interview the investigators in my area.
There are going to be a lot of changes on the mission here in a little bit, because right now there are two missions in the state of Minas Gerais. The east mission is going to close and be divided between two missions. A part in the very south is going to the Rio de Janeiro Norte mission and the rest is going to join with our mission of Belo Horizonte, which in consequence is going to become a lot larger with more missionaries.
In a little bit, is going to be general conference. I am really excited to be able to hear one more time from prophets of the Lord, but am also saddened because this one is going to be my last conference on the mission.
Know that all is well with your son here on the mission. I hope you liked "a look into the life of a missionary".
Love,
Elder O’Brien