I almost forgot- In my first lesson, on the day of my transfer, I taught this man named Alexandre; he's about twenty-six years old, he lives alone in a house that is smaller than my room in the house in Arizona, and is a really great guy. We came to his gate, clapped our hands (that's how they knock on doors here), and he answered. He was only wearing boardshorts, no shoes, no shirt. He sat on the ground as we sat on the chairs he had on his porch outside his front door. We taught him the first lesson, and about how God loves him and wants the best for him. Then I testified about the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, Thomas S. Monson, and about how he could have all the best things through his faith. We then challenged him to baptism- he accepted! A baptism in my first lesson, it was so legit. We've followed up with him a few times and he is excited to be baptized, agreed to live the word of wisdom, knows the Book of Mormon is true, and is reading it everyday.The members make AMAZING food, last night, we stopped by this sister's house and she layed out this feast of Brazilian style food: eggs, rice, beans, couscous, chicken, this lo-mein like stuff, things I don't remember, and this amazing juice made of these little red berries we don't have in the US. If I wasn't walking in the extreme heat every day, I would come home so fat. There are so many amazing fruits and vegetables here, it's ridiculous! Yes, the humidity is ridiculous, it makes the heat all that much worse. I eat lots of beans, rice, meat, the lo-mein stuff (they call it spaggheti here), fruits of all kinds, macarrom (which is a Brazilian version of Top Ramen), and more rice and beans, also rice and beans, and after rice and beans: rice and beans. Tá bom! I'm getting used to it though, not sweating nearly as much as my first few days. We have a good breeze almost constantly here, which is nice. Seriously though, turning the pages of the scriptures makes you sweat, just having a thought makes you sweat, it's great. I don't have to wear my suit coat. I can't speak português as well as I need to, it's a challenge just communicating with my companion sometimes, the people here speak so fast and inaudibly so I don't know what's going on most of the time, There's so much stuff I have to learn, but it's all good, I will. The Lord will help me out, he already has.

Elder Dellrie Finally in Brazil!!

I placed a Book of Mormon on the plane! Reva was her name, she was this little old Brazilian woman, and she didn't speak English, so I gave her a summary of a bunch of the lessons in português, so sick! She was baptist and had never learned anything about the Book of Mormon before or our church, so I told her all I could. She said that she'd been watching me and was confused when I was reading out of the português Bible, since I was Mormon. I explained that we read the Bible along with the Book of Mormon, that we believe they're both true, and asked her if she read the Bible, she said she did and she loved it. I asked her what she felt when she read it, she said "paz, muito paz" (peace, much peace). So I opened my Bíblia Sagrada to Gálatas 5:22 (Galatians 5:22) and read to her about the fruits of the Spirit. She agreed that the Spirit made her feel all these things in her life; I told her that I felt these things when I read the Bible and Book of Mormon as well. She was interested in the BOM, so I pulled out my português one and let her look at it. She was very interested, but knew nothing about it, so I explained to her how Joseph Smith translated it and how he was a prophet. She found this very interesting. She started reading the summary, so I let her alone to do that. All the while, Elder Hutchison and Elder Ritchie were just watching us, so I turned to them and asked if they had a passalong BOM, but they didn't. She turned to me and said "muito interessante" and handed me back the book. I asked if she'd like to learn more about the things I'd taught her, she did. So, I told her to take my BOM and read it, but I wanted to write her a little something in it beforehand. So, I wrote my testimony in português in the front cover and handed her my Livro de Mórmon. I bore testimony to her that if she read and took Moroni's promise, that her life would be so blessed, that I knew she'd have happiness every day of her life (she has cancer and that's been causing her a lot of stress), and as I did, she reached out and grabbed my hand, tears came to her eyes as I finished up, she thanked me and promised she would read, then we went our separate ways. It was such a good experience! But now I don’t have a português copy of the Book of Mormon! Anyways, I arrived in Brasil at about 2:00 AM Arizona/ Utah time, so I was dying in São Paulo. It was so hot there! I felt like I was going to pass out. It was really frustrating too, the church travel people sent these two tiny little Asian women who didn’t speak English and wouldn’t respond to our português to lead us around the airport and help us exchange our dollars for Reais (which look like Monopoly money). And then the phones wouldn’t work, I was hating São Paulo. But then we took a three hour flight to João Pessoa, on which I slept for the first time in days, and then it was all good. João Pessoa is beautiful! So interesting too, the culture is so different here and the food is all very strange. When we arrived, we met up with the district in our zone, which consisted of about 15 Brazilians and Elder Jensen! He’s forgetting English and has this funny accent when he speaks it. But yeah, we went to the mission home and had orientation and lunch, followed by more orientation, then dinner at Presidente Fernandes’ house- it was so good. Afterwards we found out the areas we’re going to be serving in and our companions. I’m serving in the Rangel área, Valentino zone. We then crammed all twenty of us missionaries into this tiny little missionary apartment and spent the night across the street from the president’s, it was terrible. We woke up the next day and went to a bus station to meet our new companions. ! My companion is Elder Padilha (pah-jill-yah), he’s Brazilian and doesn’t speak much English, he’s the man. Our house is really big! It’s on the second story of this flat and is way legit, I’ll send pictures. I’m in Valentino right now, it’s amazing! So beautiful, but really hot, like everywhere else. I can’t even explain to you the heat- basically if you raise your arm to look at your watch, you start sweating as if you’d biked the Tour de France. Ridiculous! I’m getting used to it though, I’ll be in it for the next two years, so I might as well early. Well, I love Brasil, minus the heat, my companion and roommates are great (I’m with my companion, another Brasileiro, and an elder from Tennesse), my house is way cool, the gospel is true, it’s all good!