Thanks mom, I am feeling better. Foot pain is just a normal thing now. I already have a lovely farmer´s tan, and a tan from my shoes. Although that could be dirt. The dirt is red, so it blends in with my pink skin so who knows. Also I am visibly losing weight. Especially in my face and stomach. It´s great. It helps that I am sweating nearly non-stop and I don´t eat dinner. 

We are the only missionaries in Cerquilho. We´re teaching a lot of people. 4 invest. Went to church yesterday! 2 have already been baptized and need confirmations and the other two are normal investigators. Except one is crazy evangelical haha. The other is Felipe and he is so great. We´ve been teaching this family with a mom, dad, 15-ish yr old daughter, and an 8 year old named Cadu. This kid is so great. They are reading the BOM, and I literally can envision them in their temple clothes together. But they didn´t go to church like they said they would, and it kind of broke my heart. So we´ll see how it goes. a typical day is assim: wake up like you got hit by a truck, do a few ab exercises, get ready, personal study, companionship study, training, leave, meet with investigators, clap gates, (everyone has gates and walls around their houses it´s great I want one), climb a couple hills, eat lunch with a member, ask people for water them smoothly tell them about the gospel while holding their cups so they can´t leave, listening to people tell us about how they´ve already been baptized, finding a couple people who would like to hear our message, meet with more investigators, stop people on the street to invite them, go home, plan, drink water, eat a banana, go to sleep, repeat. But it doesn´t get boring because we meet new people every day, and I’m a represent ante of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful to have the power and authority to bring god´s children unto him again.

 Also the mangoes here are AHmazing. And I didn´t like mangoes before. Please keep sending pictures, I like seeing you guys. Guess what we get to skype in 3 weeks!!! Thanks for the packages! I’m so excited! I know I’m loved, I just sometimes forget because I’m across the equator. I think the biggest problem I am having is the fact that you can´t flush toilet paper here. You just put it in the garbage basket by the toilet. It´s disgusting. But at least it´s not on the floor. Here´s some pictures!!! 

Aw thanks for doing a fast for me! I’ve already done 2 fasts here, and it´s been interesting. It´s not the hunger that bothers me, it´s the thirst. guh. But I have already seen so many blessings from fasting it´s pretty awesome. Haha at least people put up Christmas lights there. People here just put a tiny tree in their houses and call it good. It´s funny though to me, because it is summer. It´s not Christmas. Although I am excited, because maybe the hearts of the people here will be softened. Thanks for the packages, I’m excited. Hopefully they´ll be there in time for the Christmas conference. The zone conference was pretty awesome. It really helped me change my attitude. There was a whole section about not being a victim, and I was like ´´ok dad thanks´´ haha jk but it really was great. 

It really is pretty clean here in Cerquilho, especially compared to other areas. We hung with the sisters in Sorocaba after the multizona, and there is trash everywhere. It also smells really bad. So I am grateful to be here. Although this area is fairly rich, the contrast to the US is incredible. The floors are either concrete or tile. The tap water tastes like dirt, but is safe to drink. I can´t really explain it. It´s just so different. The people here are all really nice, but also very stubborn and hard-hearted. Especially the Catholics haha. It´s tradition so they don´t change even if they want to. But sometimes we´ll get people who surprise us by saying, yes they would like to be baptized. we´re so used to hearing people be like ummmm I don´t think so, or not right now, or no. so it´s great when that happens. Also, we have this recent convert who has a major drinking problem. It´s complicated and his wife came to the church yesterday begging us for help. We talked to him, and he is just so stubborn. He comes home drunk, and she beats him because he keeps drinking, so he drinks to drown his sorrows. Repeat. It literally breaks my heart. And he will not stop drinking. He will not. as we were talking to him yesterday, I felt impressed to tell him, “(his name), I am a representative of Jesus Christ, and I promise you, right now, that if you do everything you can to change your life, God will do the same.´´ hopefully that sunk in. I don´t know what to do with him. But we also found a lady while we were fasting, who, when we invited her, immediately said, yes ii want to be baptized I want to change my life. Wahaaaaaaaaaaat. And then another lady accepted right after her, who has cancer, and her son is in prison. All I can say is the lord works in mysterious ways. That´s my testimony of fasting right there. 

Anywayyyy, this is the letter I wrote to the prez, (weekly email to mission president),  but it sounded like a normal mission email so here you go. 

“This week was a lot better than last. We had 4 investigators come to church, two of which have already been baptized and need to be confirmed. We were hoping this family we are teaching would come, but they didn´t and it kind of broke my heart. I could literally see them in their baptismal clothes, and temple clothes. They were reading the LDM (Book of Mormon), but they didn´t come to church. But maybe next week. 

I´m starting to get used to foot pain now, and although sometimes I have to limp along, we still get where we need to go. I´m pretty sure I have people carrying me sometimes though, because sometimes the hills seem unconquerable. They´re honestly not even that bad usually, they just look really foreboding when I´ve been sweating and limping for 13 hours already. But I always make it. Not gonna lie, this is really hard, but I have already seen the blessings. The other day it hit me that I am actually a representative of Jesus Christ, and it is my duty to invite people to accept the gospel. I usually am rather timid around others, and it takes a lot for me to talk to strangers, but I now know that it´s not me who is speaking. I am speaking for the Lord. And when I think of it that way, I am able to speak with the power and authority I need to penetrate people´s hearts.”

Anyway I love you guys so much, and I miss hanging out with you too dad. Your letters are great as they are, there´s always a part that makes me laugh out loud and people look at me weird. But it´s great. Also you think the pizza in the US is good? Weeeellll let´s just say they have a type of pizza here that is normal pizza, but inside the crust? Melted chocolate. Yeah. I know. I haven´t tried it, but it is my dreaaaaaaaaaaaaam. nossa. Also we have this investigator named Felipe that has been going to our English class, and he is super great, and he gave sis Robinson and I little finger puppets of batman and robin which is perfect because she is my trainer and batman is robin´s trainer!!

LOVE YOU ALLLLLL!!!!