Happy Halloween!

Dear Family,

I´m not sure if you knew it but yesterday was Halloween. If I wasn´t American I wouldn´t have had any idea. They don´t celebrate Halloween here. It was sad. Although Elder Silva and I did trade our nametags. It wasn´t the most creative costume, but when you are in this line of work you really don´t have that many options. But it was interesting how many people noticed and how many didn´t. Heh.

Also, Happy Birthday America! One year older and wiser too. Or at least that´s what they say.

Today I was supposed to climb the volcano again. But we learned on Saturday that we have our Zone Leaders´ Council tomorrow. Talk about short notice. I don´t know if we would have even found out except Elder Silva and I were doing our weekly planning and remembered that the past 2 months the Council had been in the first week of the month. So we called the assistants to verify and they were like, "oh yea, the Zone Leaders´ Council is on Tuesday and you guys are flying on Monday." So that shot our Zone Activity to bits. Which stinks because next week is transfers. But we´re going to try and get something worked out. Maybe have 2 zone activities next transfer. Hmm....

On Friday I was sick. Being sick on the mission is not a fun experience. I guess I should say I have been sick since Friday, but I was only down on Friday. We managed to get a member to stay home with me and another to walk with Elder Silva so we didn´t lose that days work. But staying home isn´t fun. It was weird though because sitting/laying down I felt pretty good. It was only when I got up and started doing things that it really hit me. So I´d feel bad just laying in bed because I´d feel fine and then I´d get up and start cleaning or something and I´d have to lay down again. Headache, stomache pains, sore throat to the max, it was unpleasant. And since then I have had a bad cough and sore throat. But I don´t know where to find cough syrup or cough drops. I guess I could try a pharmacy... it´s not like they have gas stations here.

Oh yea, and I´m actually in Praia right now. We flew in this morning. I´ve flown more on my mission than my entire life before. Go figure. But I will be spending my P-day in Praia which is pretty chill I guess. Although we didn´t have a chance to clean our apartment before we left. I hope the other Elders do a good job. Also I heard that the house we are staying in the next few days hasn´t had water all transfer. Not a good sign. But I will be staying with Elder Brown, one of my MTC comps so that´s cool.

On Wednesday I went on a division to Patim. It was a pretty good division. The members in that area are really nice though. They always send the missionaries away with food, be it corn on the cob or little watermelons or whatever. Speaking of, that was the first watermelon I´d had since I got here. It was super small and still green, but it was still good.

Well, that´s all folks.

Elder Peterson.