So, I am in my new area, Jose’ Walter 1 and 3. Since being here I have gained 3-4 kilos. I need to start working out every morning!!! So everyday we wake up and just start our day and what-not. I have yet to really start a day for the last 4-5 weeks “normal”. Normally we have a personal study time, but for the last few weeks we either are teaching people in the morning, so we don’t really study, or we are on a bus for a division. Even this week will be thrown off a bit because we have Zone Conference on Thursday.

This past week was the 18th I think, which means I hit my 5 month mark!! Which is so, so weird!!! It’s going by so fast. I mean you fall asleep, and the next thing you know, your mission is over! Elder Deffense says the missionaries who want it to be over, it feels like an eternity, but the elders who want it to slow down, it feels like it is only a second.

About your little saying “that the harder you sweat, the prettier your wife will be”, there are a ton of little sayings like that around here. Like if your, umm... plaqueta... your name tag thingy, I don’t remember it in English. Any who, if that is kind of falling off then someone is thinking about you. Umm... if you drop your scriptures or they fall and hit the ground your wife gets fatter or gains weight, and then to lose that weight you have to work in the rain. And when you work in the rain your wife gets more beautiful or something. I don’t know we just have a bunch of them. haha

So we had this one kid all ready for baptism. We even had the interview all set-up, and our district leader walked all the way here through one or two areas just to get to about his house and for him to come out and tell us that his grandma said that he couldn’t get baptized. It was really discouraging. One problem we are finding is that a lot of people here have already talked with the missionaries, have gone to church, and some have even gotten baptized but are now some other religion. So it’s one of those things that we are trying to find the people that haven’t been ¨tainted¨ by the world. There are many churches here who do preach against us. A matter of fact, in this new area of mine is the first time in my life that I have been denied service at a haircut place because we are missionaries. Haha. It was rather funny actually. But whatever, it really isn’t a big deal. haha

The other day we had lunch at this house and after we eat we always ask if there is anything we can do to help them. And to my surprise they actually said, “yes”!!! (usually it’s no) Basically we ended up doing some demolition and replacing a part of a floor for these people. So we spent almost a whole day helping them. Before his mission, Elder Deffense did about everything there is to do, waiter, construction, firefighter, and probably a ton of other stuff, so he did most of the actual work and I did all the other work. haha.

So I have a weird story. So... our chapel or building is the Stake Center. We have cats living in our kitchen. Yep, that’s about it. A mother cat came into the building, chose the kitchen, and had a litter of kittens, of which I believe two are left. The members clean up after them and buy food for them and they are stinking up the building, but no one seems to care. Just to tell you, it’s a little weird. My companion and I took the kittens and put them outside when no one was there, and then we put the mama cat outside and closed the building so they couldn’t come back. But they have become so dependent on the members that we opened the window and let mama cat carry her two kittens back to the kitchen. It is so weird!!!!

So yesterday at church, our conversation somehow ended up by Elder Deffense saying something about me being almost ready to be a senior companion. I just started laughing at him because I am so far away from that. I have a ton to figure out before then... like the language. I am sometimes told that I am really good at the language. And then other times people just stare at me like I just spoke to them in English.

I really want to finish reading the Book of Mormon in Português before my 6 month mark, but I have had less time this transfer so I am way behind on my reading schedule. I’ll see if I can actually do it... It will be really hard but hey... it’s worth a try!!!

So how is family pray and scripture reading working out for ya all? Who else has mission calls coming up soon?

Thank you for sending another Patriarchal Blessing for me because I have read the copy I have so much that it is almost in pieces.

So I have a bunch of letters that I will write back to. Kendra, Jessica, Maren, Sydney, Ashley, Nicole, Gabrielle... and I think that is it. I probably won’t send them all at the same time. But know that I got them. And did you all send more pictures for me like of home and stuff and all that?

Hey just a reminder if you could look at the hammock and guitar thing.

I hope all is well!!! Love you and miss you all!!!