We received this letter from Reed in the mail, today.

December 4, 2007

Dear family,

We are working hard. It is odd to think of and amazing to see the progress we all have made. The language is coming to us all in leaps and bounds. I can hardly believe that in under 1 month I have learned so much of the language. I can freely tell the Joseph Smith story and the rest of the first lesson. I have no IDEA what they respond to my questions but I can generally figure out whether it is possitive or negetive. We practice our lessons by giving them to Brazilian Missionaries. Today we lost our Brazilian roommates. It was fun to have them and it will be wierd to have our room just to ourselves. The Honeymoon period is over and my companions and I are beginning to chafe. But we are working things out. I haven't broken all of the mission rules yet so there still is hope. Just kidding. I am being very obedient. Some of the rules are odd but I am doing my best to keep even the wierd rules. The only rule that annoys me is that you can't go into another missionaries room without your companion. So when I want to talk to someone I either have to drag my companions around or talk from the door. It is quite difficult to get all 3 of us to completely agree on anything. So we have come up with a phrase "The Power of two compels you." It works most of the time. I have found joy in music. We sing alot and I sing even more: in the halls, the shower, and in our room. It is very nice and very uplifting to sing. And no one tells me to stop singing because I am singing church songs. I am even in the choir, though choir is not as fun as singing by myself. I can sing most of the hymns in Portuges and I am practicing so I can have them memorized. Everyone has been showing off pictures and making themselves home sick, but don't worry about me in that regard. I am not homesick in the least. I just want to get out into the field. Also everyone is amazed that I have no pictures of my family, but I don't need them. Good bye for now and good luck with everything. Be sure to tell me how the wrestling season is going. It is the only thing that I really miss.

Elder Reed Risenmay