Jau

This week was totally awesome! We had sushi, yes sushi, although it was not as good as in Seattle. For New Years, we traveled to a town right next to the river and had barbecue with some of the members. I felt so full after eating, but it was fun. We got some pics by the river!

Okay, miracles of miracles! We have a family that is totally and wonderfully elect! They have three kids, Moses and Gabriell who are 7 and 9 and a son that's a drag queen and won´t talk to us. The four of them came to church and we´ll baptise them in two weeks. But the miracle is that the first day we went there, we explained that we don´t smoke or drink (two things they had problems with) but we had yet to teach them the word of wisdom...but when we went Monday, and after a totally awesome lesson, we had a conversation that went like this...

``So how many cigarettes do you smoke a day?``

``We smoke three packs a day``

``And how many have you smoked today?``

``Oh, we haven´t bought cigarettes since the first day you girls passed by.``

....BREATHE. So then we said,

``And Paulo how about acholl?`` (alcohol)

``Oh, I haven´t bought any since the first day you visited.``

So, yeah, they rock, and we´re going to baptise them. Then we went and visited another person who came to church on Sunday, his name is Ricardo and he´s 17. When we visited him he told us that he had a problem with drugs...okay, we asked him when the last time he used was and he said (drum roll) two weeks ago, and that he´s trying to change his life....UM PERFECT! We watched Faith in Christ and the spirit was very strong.

As a companionship we´ve made it a goal to go visit all of the menos active people in the branch and try to get them to come to church, but it would be so much easier if everyone did their home and visiting teaching. Here in Brasil, where only three people have cars, I can understand why it's hard, but back home- everyone has a car! I hope that the ward and the stake have 98% or higher on home and visiting teaching, it´s not that hard when you have a car! Yes, seriously, our job is to baptise them, the ward has to keep them active. Seriously, home and visiting teaching are easy, just take them cookies and ask if they are okay....come on, and it takes less than two hours. So, please just do it!!

As for me, I´m good, learning a ton and trying to be more confident. Thanks, hope you guys are doing well.

Love,
S.Stapley