Take the poison of your age, don't lick your finger when you turn the page

Oh hi, family. I didn't see you come in there.

First off, thank you so much for all the emails! It's hard to be beat a full inbox of messages from people who you love. It helps that you all speak English, too. I'll try to respond to everyone, but if I run out of time, know that I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally appreciate everything you said.

The highlight of this week was definitely Elder Scott's visit. He came to speak to us on Friday afternoon. A few hours before he arrived, a few districts, including mine, cleaned up the street that runs in front of the MTC. We picked up trash, swept the gutters, and picked weeds out of the cracks in the sidewalk. As we worked, some passersby would stop and talk to us. An old man with maybe six teeth talked with the members of my district for a while. I couldn't understand most of what he was saying, but he seemed to be grateful that we were helping. We saw him again later, and when he finished talking to us for the second time, he reached out, scratched my stomach,did the same to one of my companions, and walked away laughing.

Not all of the old men here are as nice, but they are all equally unintelligible. Today, as we were walking to the place where we write our emails, I greeted an old man on the street, who replied in the same way. We didn't stop to talk to him, but he continued to speak (or shout?) at us until we reached our destination. We walked into the shop, but he kept talking. We stopped and tried to listen to him, but I barely understood anything. I did catch him say something about President Obama, and I'm pretty certain that he was saying a lot of bad things about the Church. He didn't scratch my belly when he left.

Anyway, back to last Friday. Elder Scott was supposed to speak at 2:30, but he didn't start until sometime after 3. My companions and I sang in the choir, which is always fun. A lot of missionaries have been leaving (in fact, many had left that day), and only three have arrived from Provo in the last two weeks. I guess they're having visa problems. Anyway, there weren't very many people in the auditorium when Elder Scott spoke, which turned out to be really nice. He spoke about the importance of having the Spirit in missionary work. He also talked a lot about learning Portuguese and building unity with our companions. But the best part was his testimony. There's something different about hearing a living prophet or apostle bear his testimony; they don't talk about how they know that the gospel is true because they read the Book of Mormon and prayed about it. Elder Scott almost seemed afraid that he wouldn't be able to express his testimony directly enough. He has such confidence, even knowledge, that the gospel is true. He bore powerful witness that Jesus Christ directs this church. I felt the Spirit so strongly while I heard him speak, and I know that he is an apostle of the Lord.

Everyone got to shake Elder Scott's hand after he spoke. The whole afternoon was incredible, and it more than made up for the otherwise boring week. I'm trying not to lose sight of why I'm here. It's hard to stay focused when you're sitting in a classroom all day, though. I'm just trying to be patient and do my best.

I'll try to write some of you individually now, but I only have a few more minutes. It's so good to hear from you guys.

love
elder wiggins