We've been so busy this week! We found a new area in our area with tons of people just waiting to get baptized. It's about a thirty, forty five minute walk away and is in the middle of nowhere, but when we arrived, within five minutes and on the first street, we got about 15 more investigators, half or more of which want to be baptized. We encountered this huge family down the street and were talking with them, then their oldest daughter asks, "does your church baptize?" so I said yeah, then she replies, "Good, because I want to be baptized." First time an investigator ever extended the baptismal commitment before me! And better yet, all of her other siblings were clamoring "I want to be baptized too!" So good. Então, these coming weeks, we're going to baptize like crazy. In the area next to that, lives a member who teaches a capoeira class- capoeira is that fighting mixed with dancing I'm sure you've seen before- but, we first taught the whole class about the gospel, afterwards, did some capoeira with them. I fought my companion and this 12 year old kid, but I only know a few moves, so I looked like a complete fool in front of everyone, it was great!

How are you doing?? Everything is going well over here in the inferno of Northwest Brasil! We had another baptism on Saturday, it was for this 14 year old kid named Edimilson (his last name is even worse!). That day, I went on splits with Élder Barth in Paratibe- just to arrive in his area takes 15 minutes, then we had to walk to appointments on the furthest side, we visited investigators in all three favelas (the super poor parts of areas in Brasil, where there are just houses stacked ontop of houses, super interesting, but terrible at the same time), and went back to our house to get baptismal clothes and other things, so I was wasted tired. Then, when the baptism came around, my companion had the keys to the chapel and was in a different city, Élder Barth and I went to find Edimilson, but he wasn't home, and the bishop and president of the quorum wasn't there. So, we waited for about half an hour after the scheduled baptismal time for the keys to the church, found the boy, the president of the quorum showed up, but the font wasn't filled at all; turning it on, we realized that it would take hours to fill up, so we got buckets and pans and filled it up by hand. Then we got to the baptism, we walk into the font and it's super low, I'm dead tired and sweating, but we make the hold, I say the baptismal prayer, then dunk him, but it felt weird and his hair came out because the water was about two feet high I realized. So, I try a second time, still feels weird, and his hair comes out again. After assessing the situation, I realized that I was baptizing him backwards, with him holding my left arm, but facing the wrong way, so I couldn't hold his back when I baptized him. I felt like a complete idiot, haha. So, we rearranged, I said the prayer, and SLAM DUNKED him into the water, making sure everything was submerged- I'm pretty sure his back hit the ground. And it was good! He was baptized and all was well. Then we went back off to Paratibe to finish off our appointment. I'm doing my best not to drink the water; I've drank more soda here than ever in my life, I'm getting sick of it, haha. So now, I'm trying to invest in some Tampico, it's so good here. But no, the milk here is so gross; it comes in boxes and you don't have to refrigerate it- I do, but it still tastes like cows smell. I keep thinking that I'm buying better brands of milk, but my companions tell me that I'm loosing my taste, I believe them, haha. Ok, the pictures: bebido is me talking to this very drunk guy on the street, I talk to so many, haha. Chuva is a picture from our veranda, this is what it looks like when it rains here; we're in the process of building an ark. Edimilson is Edimilson at his baptism, look at how excited he is! He was smiling afterwards, it's all good. Élder Barth is him eating a slice of chicken, corn, bacon pizza with ketchup, mayonnaise, hot sauce, and peanut butter; Brazilians love peanut butter. Favelas is a photo of Élder Barth and I preaching the word in the poorest parts of Paratibe. And formigas is of a kid who we helped collect these giant, flying ants off of the street- they cook, then eat them here, hot pot of coffee! I love you all and will be reporting back soon. Te amo

Happy Easter~ It's called Páscoa here and all they do is give eachother these big chocolate eggs filled with candy. I don't think that anyone here even realizes that it's about Christ's resurrection, just a day of chocolate. Kind of sad. But that's why I'm here! I watched all but the first Sunday session of conference. We watched them at a stake center in Rangel. They couldn't get any of the TVs to work in English, so I got to watch it in português, which was great, but I'd rather hear the actual voices of the prophet and apostles. Plus it's hard to take Thomas S. Monson seriously when he sounds like Count Chocula. I'm going to have the same address the whole mission, it's the mission home address; it goes there, then to our areas. But no, I'm in the same place as before, I just have a new companion. He's the man! We have so much fun together and work so hard. My week was good! Busy, and we didn't have time to teach much, but it was fantastic! It's all just getting better! Anyhow, I'm doing very well, everything is great, I'm darker than most all Brazilians now because I forgot sunscreen two days in a row, and serving the Lord is wonderful. I love you! Be safe and good!

Ola! I'm going to send a bunch of pictures to show you a little bit of what goes on every day here, I know you'll enjoy them, haha. I'll explain them a little for you. Bonita is a photo of a part of our area that Élder Padilha and I discovered; pretty much a huge forest/plain, so pretty. Burro is a photo of this donkey that was sleeping in the middle of the road one night, so I decided to take a picture with it; but he got up in the middle and about killed me (he's rising in the picture). Café is when I made breakfast for everyone in the house; eggy in a basket and suco de maracujá (passionfruit), so good. Comida is a photo in the house of a member, Irmã Daguimar- if she sees us walking down the street, she'll invite us over to her house and make us a ton of way good food, it never fails- and this is one of those occurances. I don't remember what Eu is. But Eu Floresta is a picture of me in the middle of that forest zone in our area, so sick. Eu Guarda is me next to this bridge over a river, it rained a ton that day, hence the guarda chuva (umbrella), the streets were flooded! Família is me with a the children of a family of investigators, we're going to baptize both of them- I danced tango with the boy in their living room, long story, haha. Macacos is a photo of me feeding a monkey a mango in the front yard of one of our investigators, it was so legit. Manacés is a photo of the first man I baptized next to a sign that basically says, "fear the wrath of God" and a bunch of other nonsense, he was assisting us with lessons, he is so firm in the church and is trying to serve a mission! Novo is a picture of us today leaving the bus port all crammed into a car the size of a VW Bug, five people. The one in the middle is my new companion, Élder Carvalho, he is way legit. And Remerson is a picture of the boy we baptized a few weeks back on my shoulders as we walked down the street to church. We now have two families, one which we're going to marry on the 21st of April, three men to baptize, and about five kids to baptize- so sick! Oh, I received a new companion today, Élder Carvalho; he's the jam. He's Brazilian, surfs, wakeboards, and does a ton of other stuff that I do-I'm the only American in our house and one of two or three in our district. I eat a lot of chicken, tons of weird vegetables- my favorite is macaxeira (like a huge, potato, but way better), macarrão (like spaghetti noodles, but seasoned), and just various other things, something new about every day. I cook for my companion and everyone in the house, thank you so much for teaching me mom!

Tudo bem?? This week was great-Élder Padilha was making me memorize lessons and I hated it, so I had a talk with him about teaching people, not lessons- he figured it'd be a good idea, so he let me try it out and that's when we started getting baptisms. He's the district leader, so he asked me to teach the way I teach to our district in district meeting last Tuesday. I agreed, and taught everyone the way I teach, focused on the Atonement and not just preaching our church and telling our investigators that they need to do things, instead simply asking questions and making them commit themselves- this was all in português, haha. But, it went really well and they all liked it and said they'd try it and lo! everyone has baptisms or multiple this week, one companionship has four! It's legit, this method works so much better than what they were doing before, it's going to change the mission. We're teaching this family right now. They love God and Jesus and are reading the BOM every night. They almost literally have nothing though; their house is smaller than my old room, they have no furniture, their TV is on top of a cardboard box, and they have a blanket on the floor that they sleep on. They are so humble. It really made me realize even more that we have so much, that we're all so spoiled. Don't ever take what you have for granted! Simply living in the US is such a privilege, you have no idea. Também, having the gospel, that's even more important! Most of the people here don't even think that Heavenly Father cares about them. How sad! Be ever so grateful that you have these things in your life- EVERY MOMENT. None of you have seen what I see every day (except maybe dad Dellrie and Kenney), poverty on top of grief on top of despondence on top of difficulty after difficulty. It is so sad, but I'm here to do my job and help them out, coisa boa! I love you all, love the gospel, love the Lord, I'm sweating my butt off and preaching the Word. Peace.