Elder Chris Dellrie

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