Hellooo:

Soo I am in the office today and have the president and all the staff breathing down my neck, so its pretty fun. They are actually all really cool guys. Soo I have two things to ask rght off. Is Lowell Hicks still alive? I want to hear him play again. Second, well , its more of a request. If Dad is ever at an estate sale and there is a junker to buy, buy it! I promise you that you want a junker 4x4 for emily. I promise. After watching 16-19 year old girls drive for 6 years I have come to the conclusion that a small 4x4 SUV is the best for girls. Maybe like a suzuki sidekick or samarai. (they are good cars and cheap too)

But anyways, everything is good. I am getting better, the fatal illness is fading. I was pretty sick though, it was my freakin sinuses. It is so incredibly humid they filled up to the brim. I hate the humidity, is is only fun to be in for one week at the max. But I am getting better now.

I usually write things that I want to email to you in my planner, but this week was so exhausting that I didn´t even have time to write in my journal. So I´ll try my best to remember what was cool during the week. Well, basically, nothing fun or cool or exciting happened. The area is really difficult. But, last tuesday, we got a call from the president saying that a member of the 70 was going to come to visit and we needed to go to floripa to plan EVERY SINGLE missionaries travel route to get here. Athayde needed to do something else, so it was me that planned all their travel routes via bus. It was tough! Some of them had the worst schedules ever, like get a bus to a city at midnight and arrive at another city at 4, and then get another bus to floripa at 6 and arrive at 10. But it was the only way for some of them.

The 70 that came was Elder Mazzagardi. He was a HUGE guy with monstrous hands. He had a funny spanish-like accent. His talk was really cool. Its kinda fun to get so much attention from all the leaders of the church while you are on a mission. Thats just one more thing that missionaries lose when they go home. He spoke about some pretty profound doctrine, and I had to study my notes for a lil to understand fully!! It was neat though.

Hmm lets see, all we basically do in Serraria is contacts. We have to because there is no one to teach. It is really a terrible area full of drugs and gangs. But, we managed to find a couples familes, although not married and smoking, to teach. One family came to church and it was like the members had never seen an investigator at church.

On the plus side, I like my comp a lot! He is really funny and is almost fluent in english. I am still teaching him a little, and he makes funny mistakes, so it is fun. Haha, I´ll tell you one. It has a kinda bad word though. The word in portuguese for ``nigger`` is ``preito.`` But, preito also means ``black`` and ``dark.`` My comp was trying to say, ``do you have a dark past?`` but, he didn´t know there was a difference between the words ``dark`` and ``nigger`` in english. soo, he said, ``do you have a nigger past?`` hahhahaha all the americans laughed so hard. It was funny hah.

Well, as I said, I am in Floripa right now. We will work in Rio Tavares for this week, which supposedly is the prettiest area on the island. I don´t know where I´ll go next. Maybe back to Serraria, if the prez wants us to.

I got the package, thanks for the peanut butter.

Gotta run, love you all!!

love Elder Baker

Hello:

How is everyone doin? I am still in the hole of Serraria, and the work is really difficult here. Mostly because every single person that lives here is a drug trafficker. But its ok I think I will leave before next p day. If not, oh well. There are sooo many hills in this area I have already lost 8 pounds here! My first two areas (Baton Rouge and Tijucas) were extremely flat. So I am exra exhausted right now. Even worse, I have been fatally ill the past week because one night it was so cold I almost died. But the weird thing was that the mattress has felt on it so even though I was way cold I sweat a lot. I woke up almost dead, it was the worst. I have been sick ever since. When I go back to Floripa (which should be this week-my comp has to get surgery) I will see if Rich gave me any medicine that would help.

Last week we had a member of the church that is very famous here that the people call ``wizard`` come speak at the stake center in Floripa (which is GIAGANTIC-the church builds the chapels here enormous cuz they are a little bit more scarce) He is like a billionaire cuz he created a company that teaches people english for really cheap here in Brazil. I didn´t get to hear his talk, which was on how to become a billionaire because I was too busy making contacts to the millions of non members. The President asked that me and my comp and 2 other companionships go and help get names to go visit. Afterward a mexican lady came up to me and started talking fluently in english about how she was born into the church and lived in Utah for 14 years. She moved to Floripa, married a very catholic guy, and now is miserable because he hates Mormons. I felt so bad for her. She was crying and said that the church was everything to her. It was so sad. I got her address and we are personally going to visit her to see if we can talk to her husband. She said she told him that she doesn´t care what he says anymore, which is a good start I guess!

I spend a lot of time in the center of downtown floripa. Its kinda cool cuz it is the biggest city I have ever lived in. It reminds me of L.A. or NYC a little bit. Soo the Prez bought two air mattresses for me and my comp to carry with us cuz we travel around. Mine was faulty and popped, so we slept on the same mattress for a week haha. Strictly against the rules! the Prez authorized it though but said, ``be careful!`` haha. We went to swap it on Saturday at a mall. It is a general rule in Brazil that missionaries aren´t allowed to go to the mall. Malls here are called ``shopping`` which is really confusing. The first time I heard it was ``Você já foi pra shopping?`` which means ``have you already been to shopping (the mall?) haha its weird. But the mall was cool, everything is SUPER cheap. The brazilian missionaries complain that its expensive here in the south, and say São Paulo is even cheaper but I don´t believe it!! The mall was different though. Too bad I will never return.

My comp, who is kinda fluent in english, asked me to show him how to teach the lessons in english. I agreed to do so and started to teach. (I don´t know if you had to ``practice`` on your mission everyday Dad, but we do!) It was so weird, I couldn´t do it!! I would struggle to say a sentence or 2 in english and then say a few Portuguese words without even realizing it!! It was weird. My homecoming talk is gonna be strange. But its ok, I took that as a sign that my Portuguese is improving!

Mom, next package, could you send me some face sunscreen? With the strongest SPF you can find? In the summer all of the eastern part of the state gets to 110-120 degrees F, with 90% + humidity.

Thats about all I got. I am glad that everyone is doing well. My mission president banned emailing anyone except immediate family. I can´t even email grandparents anymore. Just sisters and parents. He is kinda crazy. I think he will calm down though.

Talk to ya next week!

Love, Elder Baker

August 15, 2011

Tudo bom?

HAPPY DIA DOS PAIS DAD!!

Hello everyone, my area for the next two weeks is called Serraria, and it is a hole. It only has favelas and drug dealers. But, At least it is only for 2 weeks!

So last week I packed my bags up and said goodbye to all my favorite people in Tijucas. I feel bad for them cuz the missionary that took my place there is another ``gringo`` (its the same in spanish right dad?) and he doesn´t speak any portuguese. The next day I sat around the office ALL day with my first comp M. Santos and Presidente Fernandez. He is so short haha. But it was a very relaxed day, something I am not accustomed to anymore. The next day, I sat around all day AGAIN. I did some random crap around the office but not really. We headed to Serraria early next morning, which is on the continent across the water from the island. Pretty close to Tijucas. I only get to travel around the East of the mission. And only areas that are having trouble. But, this place is such a whole! You might be shocked, but I would rather live in Baton Rouge!! I don´t think I have compared anything to Baton Rouge that was worse than Baton Rouge until now. Its such a pit here! There is just like 50 members and the chapel is a rented out house. Its so weird to see these places that don´t have a chapel or very many worthy Melkesidek Priesthood holders. I have soo much junk in the suitcases! I think I might start sending some of it home. I use the little one that I got in Baton Rouge to travel around in. Its hard to live out of a suitcase and not have your own personal place. I study at the dinner table haha.

it is sooo much better to live with 4 missionaries. Its so much more fun at night and in the morning when we are at home!

I got the conversion story from grandma!! Tell her thank you so much and I loved it! It was written like a novel, I can tell she spent a lot of time on it! I wrote her a letter too, did she not get it?? I sent it to the address you wrote in my address book 10 months ago. If not, tell me and I will write her again. She included some things that I had no idea about!! She saaid she was Miss Germany and Miss California? And I didn´t know grandpa Richard was a surfer? And that he played semi pro baseball???? Is all this true?? Oh, and she said that grandpa was a 70? Is that true!?

So I have been fatally ill this past week. It was sooooooo cold whenI got to Serraria and the missionaries were supposed to have blankets but they didn´t so I used a towel-like cloth the first night and got way sick. My sinuses are filled to the mex and it sucks cuz now its way hot. The stupid weather is bipolar. But right now it is raining and when I left Tijucas it was raining. It was pretty much flooded when I left!!

No my comp isn´t my first comp, its Elder Luciann Gustavo Cícero Cavalcante de Athayde. His name is ridiculous! and he is a really good guy. He is a lot like my first comp.

Well thats all for this week, I will basically get my package right when it gets here cuz I go to floripa a lot.

Love you all!!

Dad, desculpa que eu não mandei uma carta especial pra você pra Dia Dos Pais, más eu não tinha tempo nenhum! A semana passada foi muito agitado. Essa área tem bastante morro and meus pernas estão doendo demais!! Mas eu te-amo e eu sempre tenho muito saudade de você. Sou muito grato por seu exemplo que é quaise perfeito!! Foi perfeito na minha causa. Você é o melhor Pai que eu conhecie.

Love ELDER BAKER

August 8, 2011

Hey everyone!!

This has got to be really quick, because I have to finish packing my bags!! Yup, I got transferred! But, the weird thing is, I don´t have an area... Not even a house!! I will be JR traveling companion with the assistant elder Atayde! I will travel around the mission, stay in an area for 2 weeks more or less, and travel to another area! When we get to the area Elder Atayde will be senior to one missionary and I will be senior to the other.. So it should be interesting for the first little bit. It actually isn´t traveling to all the mission, just the the eastern part. Which includes the island! Hopefully I will get to know the island really well so we can travel around when we visit.

Check photobucket, I am gonna ask a member to put up pictures for me.

Real quick, it was Rafael´s birthday yesterday. We had secret meetings to plan his party throughout the week. My old comp M. Santos came to Tijucas to go to church, and we all acted like we didnt know it was his birthday. But as soon as he left (we had a member make lunch for him at their house) we ran to Rafael´s and put up decorations and made cake and cookies. When Rafael finished lunch at the members house, the member borrowed someones car and sped to Rafael´s house and beat him there, so when he walked in he had no idea! It was really fun. Its sad to get transferred cuz I love the people but I will be able to visit whenever I want supposedly, if it is convenient.

Sorry its really short but I will write a good long email next week. Love you!

Elder Baker

August 1, 2011

Dear Everyone:

How is everyone? Sounds like everyone has a cold huh? Thats a bummer. Soooooo Mom, I just counted out the weeks of the transfers cuz I know that they are 6 weeks, so thats how I did it. That isn´t official, but I am pretty sure it is right. Jonas loves to talk to you guys, and it is nice to have him. But I will have to find a new one if I get transfered. Did you get the message that Rafael sent?? He wrote on my fb. Hey Mom, where is Old Farm?? You said you bid on a place in old farm??

This week was good. It rained all week and Tijucas sucks and floods and my shoes suck though. We met this kid that I thought was 6 cuz he is so short but he is 15, has a full time job, and is in school. He pays rent!! We marked his baptism for next week, which has the possibility of me not being here anymore. I am nervous cuz I might get sent to the west, where apparently it is so cold in the mornings that the water doesn´t leave the tap and the toilets don´t work because the water is frozen!! So that will be fun. I will have to buy a jacket if that is the case. The fleece you put in my bag is doing well here in Tijucas though. Anyways, while we were at his house, watching his huge 60 inch TV that he bought (we are allowed to watch TV with investigators- weird huh? President Quieroz authorized it) and everyone is talking about how the U.S. is in some crunch of some sorts. I don´t understand the TV very well. Is the U.S. bankrupt?

I am excited about the stock. You gotta keep me updated on how it is doing!! Hopefully it will make some money while I am gone. I saw that dow jones was down like 1.5%, so thats that a good sign. I also saw that Reggie Bush got traded to the Dolphins? I don´t know if anyone cares, but I thought that was weird. Hey I have a question for Dad. Dad, what were those scriptures that you told me about that said ``christ sat down with them``?

I finished my first journal yesterday!! I will start the new little one tonight. I looked back a little bit and I had some pretty odd times in Baton Rouge. I am glad that I am here!! Last week I went on switches with that missionary from Paraguay. He taught me a little bit of Guarani, the language they speak there other than spanish. It is so stupid sounding! Haha it sounds like caveman language. But it was cool because we visited a member family that is from Paraguay that speaks Guarani as well and they conversed for a while and it was way weird. But Portuguese is going really well. I can almost 100% understand reading, and I can get the majority of what people are saying. They have to be talking to be though and I have to be able to hear it well. You know in english when you faintly hear someone talking in the backround and you can tell what they are saying?? I can´t do that. Not even close!! But its weird, when I talk to american missionaries in english sometimes I accidentally use portuguese words and I don´t even notice!!

The chapel had a little party thing this last week and had a bunch of native South American food. Not brazilian, they had weird food that the indiginous people eat. They had a drink called ``quentão`` which literally means ``really hot`` haha. It is made with ginger and grape juice and a bunch of weird leaves. It was pretty good! All the indiginous people live to be like 110 years old and everyone suspects that it is this drink that is super healthy. But, Brazilians like to put alcohol in it, so that ruins it. It was pretty good without alcohol though! The next day, Sunday, we had a member of the 70 come speak to our tiny congregation. His name is Elder Koch, and I talked to him a little bit before church. He is a really nice guy! He knows where we live, he travels to Utah a lot. (Obviously) He spoke about humility and said that poverty is not necessarily humility. That made me remember Baton Rouge! Everyone is full of pride there, even if they don´t have a house. Its bizzare.

We had a baptism this week of a kid of a less active member that lives in Bombinhas, which is really far away but still my area. I wanted to baptize him in the ocean soo bad but we have a crappy baptisimal font so I had to do it in there. The water was green... haha and really, really cold. Bombinhas is sooo pretty though, I want to go there when I am not a missionary.

I hear from Devan a lot, he is leaving on the 4th for Chile I think.

For the package, all I want is more peanut butter and if you can squeeze in that tie that you said dad found thats all I want. Oooo oo and an oil container for blessed oil. My old comp, M. Santos, asked me to ask you to send him a really ``cool`` one. So, if you can find a really huge shiny cheesy oil container, send it for him. He really helped me a lot, he is awesome. I invited him to stay at our house when he can afford to travel to the U.S. cuz he really wants to visit but doesn´t have a lot of money, sooo yea. They sell those at deseret book.

Thats all for this week, love you!!

Love Elder Baker

July 25, 2011

HELLOO:

Yea so, my bday was cool. It was actually fun cuz it landed on p day but the next one isn´t dang it. did you get a chance to look in my closet yet? I hope its ok.

first off, let me tell you a really cool story. Well, firstly first off, my first companion that I had, (the one I didn´t get along with too well) was in the psychiatric ward in Baton Rouge for a week and was released from his mission 5 months early due to a severe mental breakdown... So thats kinda sad. I hope I didn´t add to the insanity. But, on to the happy part of the story. I emailed one of my friends in Baton Rouge and asked about the work. He emailed me back and told me about a guy named Darius. he was baptized last week. I don´t know if I ever told you about him, but it was me and Elder Taylor who tracted into him and taught him a little bit about christ and about the book of mormon. He knew nothing of it beforehand because he is from the middle east and was muslim. I only got to teach him twice before I left, and it seemed like it wasn´t going to go anywhere. He was iffy about the message, and was meeting with Jehovah´s Wittnesses as well. But today I got the email that he was baptized and is going on strong!! It is evidence on how important it is to ´´plant seeds.´´

Last week the couple that me and M. Santos baptized were married. I went to the wedding. It was cheesy and poor, but special at the same time. EXCEPT that when the bride walked in they played music (I didn´t recognize who it was) that was in enlgish and it swore a lot-it was kinda funny though cuz I was the only one who understood it. The next day we went to the poorest place in Santa Catarina (literally) to visit some guy that randomly came to church. Some crazy guy with no shirt was running down the road with a huge butcher knife, it was a little bit scary. We didn´t find the guy we came to visit and decided to knock some door. The lady that lives there is a less active member and was praying that she could somehow receive strength to make it back to church. It was no coincidence that we just randomly decided to knock that door! She is a good person and I hope to see her at church. She didn´t come yesterday but said she can come next week.

My comp and I get along well. I didn´t know that things can grow mold so easily! We battle mold everyday. The walls grow mold if we arent careful. I love living in a dry place! I could never live in the humidity. Sometimes all I look forward to is having a dryer to use when I get home. We have to hang everything to dry, which isnt bad, except it doesn´t stop raining and the clothes cant dry without sun and grow mold if they are out there too long. Its tough!!

My favorite baptism so far, Rafael, said that he wants me to go to the temple with him and his wife, in late 2012. That would be a cool experience, but I dont know how likely it will be! But have you guys ever heard of chimarrão? Proabably not. It is a really strange drink that is native to the south of brazil and EVERYONE drinks it. You have to have a weird fancy cup and a cool straw to drink it. It looks like marajuana. Look it up on google.

Dad, have you heard anything about the full p day? Apparently, there are going to be a lot of changes starting this next transfer. Oh, the transfers are as follows:

August 10
September 21
November 2
December 14
January 25
March 7
April 12
May 23
July 4
August 15
September 20

I read Kate´s blog the other day. Thanks for the entry, kate! the 4th looked really fun. I hope you invite me to go shoot guns on the 4th when I get back.
I forgot to tell you, but tell hannah and chase congrats.. Its kinda late now, huh? Do you know where Hannah´s husband served?
So last week I went to bombinhas again. But, we spent the whole day there. We visited a less active family that literally lived in a wood shack. I remember katie writing asking if thats how it was. Well, in this part of bombinhas, it is just like the shacks in district 9 that the aliens live in. All the roads are not roads, they are just areas that don´t have jungle that an SUV could pass through. It is a really unique place. On the other side of the hill though there is a top notch tourist resort haha.
Mom, I know you´ll hate to hear it, but my teeth are getting worse. I may ask for braces for Christmas haha. But my bite is really weird now.

To top the email off, sorry that it was so spuratic, it was hard to remember the happenings for 2 weeks!
Mom, the english classes are improving and my portuguese is decent now. I can joke around a little, hold a decent conversation, and teach a lot of the lessons. Its pretty cool, I am starting to think in Portuguese sometimes!!

I gotta run, but I love you and miss you all!!

Love Elder Baker

July 19, 2011

Hi Mom!

Sorry I didn´t email yesterday, we couldn´t make it. But my birthday was way fun! A member took us bowling and to see a city in our area called Itapema. Look it up on Google. It was way cool, and of course it has the coolest beaches ever. I got the package yesterday! Everyone gasped when I pulled out the coca cola shirt. How much was it like 20 bucks at the most? haha. But after we went bowling and saw the city we went back and the guy who I baptized, Rafael, threw a pparty for me!! I had no idea! My old comp M. Santos camp and we ate caked and they sang to me and Rafael made pizza. It was one of the most unique birthdays I ever had. It was really special. The bishop was there too and he is a really good guy too.

Sorrry this is all I can write but I will write next week. Mom, I forgot to do the transfer thing, I will tell you next email. Dad, there is a company that is going to manufacture mircroscopic robots to try to fight against cancer (just like that book PREY by Michael Creighton) and if you can find or know that company, buy stock there. If not I think any company that works in bio technology will advance in the next few months. If you can´t find a company that works with biotech, buy G STAR stock. If not, SURFACE. If not, CAUSWELL, if not, then I don´t know. What ever you think will be good!

Love you and sorry its so short.

Love Alex

July 11, 2011

Helloo:

First of all, remember about the wooden box in my closet. Its all neatly organized, so try not to go through it or move it too much. AND DOn´t take my things to the D.I! I have a list... Dont try it. Also, you forgot to comment on the stock. Can you buy stock with that money or does it not work that way? I always thoughtthat I would buy stock before my mission and I forgot to do it.. But hopefully you can do it for me now! Let me know..

Sooo I didn´t know this but Tijucas (my area) is notorious for having the fastest speaking people in Brazil. Thats the only thing, if that, that people know about Tijucas. You can also use any sound that you can make to say hi here. I love doing it it is so funny. Youcan walk by someone and say ``obuubi`` and they will respond with another sound, which all mean hi. hah. I found a brochure about Santa Caterina and it had a big list of cool places to visit and fun things to do and Tijucas wasn´t on the list.. haha. But I love it there, it is so awesome for missionary work and I have a bunch of friends there already. I am saying there because I am not in Tijucas right now. I am in a random town called Forquilinhas on a division with the other LZ. We slept here last night. Whenever we sleep over at some other house the matresses ALWAYS have mold and always suck. And we never have pillows. I want to meet someone rich in Brazil, I know they exist, just not in Tijucas. I just want to sit on a decent couch. I don´t think I have been physically comfortable since I left Baton Rouge! Haha but its all good. the bishop invited a member of the 70 to come speak at our building, and he is gonig to come at the end of this month. IT will be awesome! Except our frequency is only like 50 people...

Fitts wrote me and the weather in São Paulo seems like it the same, but here gets colder. We definitely need to visit in the summer- the winter is WAAY cold here.Its kinda like Baton Rouge was! One day it is freezing cold with ice rain, and the next day I have to use sunscreen because it is so hot! But to not risk it, lets visit in the summer. Mornings especially are unbearable. The houses don´t have any heat, and are made of tile and bricks, so it is like a freezer when you are inside. I wake up in the middle of the night and I can see my breath!! and I remember that one of the East high news letters Matt Rider talked about getting out from under the blankets to get into the luke-warm shower. well, thats what I am doing now. Our shower sucks, and I would rather it be freezing cold! If I can get passed how cold it is I excersize and that warms me up. Speaking of excersize, my body is having withdrawls. My whole entire life I have been running and jumping and active. Now, here in Brazil, all I do is walk. I wish we could prosylyte without backpacks because I could at least run a little. But, hopefully when it warms up I will have a comp that will run with me in the mornings. It snowed like 2 cm in a city called Umauba (haha) and it was breaking news. In that brochure I mentioned it had a city as a tourist attraction and its main attraction was that it snows sometimes haha.

We had 2 baptisms this last week. They are both brothers of one of my prievious baptisms. Samuel and Nilton Correias Da Silva. One of them is 18 and one is 14. We think that the 18 year old will serve a mission. He said that he wanted to. How cool would that be! Mom, I don´t know the new mission prez any better, but he is pretty cool. He told us that in the mind of the convert, the name of the missionary who taught and baptized them will be permanently written for all eternity. I remembered that i had already seenan example of that. Kevin (the one serving in Cali) and his mom are examples of that. I could just tell by the way she was when we ate at Olive garden that she thinks very, very highly of Dad. I didn´t realize how cool that experience must have been for Dad until I got here in Brazil. I hope that happens to me!!

The Lord´s hand is very apparent in the work in Tijucas. It seems like I don´t have to work, I just have to show up. for example: We were walkin down some dirt road last week and a group of kids ran up to me and started guessing where I was from (they decided Germany) we talked with them for a little bit, and one of them invited us to his house. We went there, and hsi Mom and Dad are MARRIED (legally!!) and have already studied with the missionaries and are looking for a church. We didn´t do anything, we were just there! I will keep you updated on the family, but I think they will be baptized. My testimony is growing about how God´s way is the right way for us, even if we don´t think it is. I feel more confident about my faith now more than ever, and it has come from a result of prayer. I can´t explain why, I just feel more confident in our beliefs.

Hmm lets see, a couple days ago we were crossing the street and my comp ran into a way fat lady on a bike and she fell and rolled for like 10 feet.. It was probably more funny than that time in the MTC when the guy ran into the pole. I felt kinda bad for her but she wasn´t scraped or anything so I laughed afterward. My comp is liek 5´4´´ though I don´t know how he didn´t fall down too!! Something that made me laugh almost as much is when my comp tried to pronounce ``world.`` Brazilians CANNOT say world. It is so funny, they say ```hoodarhld.`` I guess that is a sound unique to english. I never realized! I am still getting along with him just fine. I want to live with another companionship though, I´m gettin sick of livin with just one other guy I don´t know very well.

Thats all for this week! Mom, I don´t know if the package came. They get mailed to the mission office, and the only time we get our mail is during a zone conference or a meeting with the prez, which only happen once a month. Soo, I think my old comp (he is an AP) will bring it to me onmy birthday, which happened to land on a pday. Lucky. LET ME KNOW about my closet and about the stock.


Love Elder Baker

July 4, 2011

Hey everyone:

This week went by fast, thank goodness. I love it when weeks go fast. Not because I hate the mission, but because when it goes fast it means I slept well which means I worked hard!!! First off, Mom, you forgot to tell me about my closet!!!!!!! Was it all eaten? I knew it. Did Lindsey get my birthday letter yet?

Alright, lemme tell you about the kind of work we do. The first thing we do with a family when we go into their house is play uno. I carry it around with us and it helps the family become more comfortable with us. I am not sure the new mission president will continue to allow it, but I like it a lot. Uno is fun and aall, but the confidence that it gives to the investigators in us is hard to do without Uno. The next thing we do, in the same visit, is bless the house. Our old mission president told us to say a prayer and bless the house and the inhabitants using the priesthood. There is a story in the new testament where Christ tells his Apostles to do the same thing, its pretty cool. It works well as well, we almost always get a return visit. We are currently teaching 2 families. One of the families we have already baptized 3 of the 7 kids. The parents are stubborn, but we are working with them. Their house is smaller than Mom´s bathroom. The Dad likes us a lot-he said that the way we conduct ourselves is the way he imagines Christ would do so. I know its not me. The setting apart of missionaries is something really special that I haven´t fully realized until this week.

Whats happening in Greece??

Yea, I got a new companion. It was so random. I told you a little bit about him last week, but now I know him a little better. He was baptized a year and 3 months ago, and before that he used to party and drink non-stop. He was a strong member of the Jehovah´s Witnesses. Dad and anyone that served a mission knows that the J-Dubs can be extremely hostile towards our faith. He has a strong testimony and it is really fun to work with him. He is teaching me how to solve a rubics cube. I did it once, but I forgot already. I need to practice more! But remember when I said my umbrella broke? Well, it was still functionable. But, on Sunday, someone stole it from the chapel! I found one in some weird room in the chapel, and I realized someone had switched this one for mine. Little did they know that mine was soon going to break for good. This one I am using doesn´t have a handle, but it works fine and its huge! It has been raining NON STOP, seriouslly non stop, for the past 6 days. It is sunny today for the first time in a week. The river than runs through Tijucas is flooding the roads and if it rains anymore, it will flood the whole city!! I saw pictures of when it happened the first time and it was like chest deep everywhere! I am excited to see if it happens. Maybe we will be able to tract in kayaks.

So we got to meet the new president. He is a little guy from the north of Brazil and hardly speaks any english. He gave a talk and he is an intense guy! He was screaming and hitting the pulpit and stuff! But, as with any Brazilian, he loves to joke and loves to have fun and laugh. He is a really good guy and I am excited to finally have a mission president for good! We had an interview with him and he reminds me a little bit of my mission president in Baton Rouge, except.. More fun. Haha. I guess there are going to be a lot of changes in the future, so I will keep you updated. I got to talk a little bit with my MTC friends and the ones that have been here for 6 months already speak really well! I am excited to get there. I had to translate for a new american missionary during a training and I did alright! But I am going to try to have a member upload all the pictures onto photobucket.

Nothing really exciting happened this week ,it was just really really rainy and extremely cold. I love the cold, and I love even being a little bit too cold, but it was freezing! The fleece that you put in my bag is saving my life. I hear from a couple of my friends every week on a chain email thing. I realized that some of my friends have less than 6 months left! Time is starting to go past a little faster, which is a good thing.

So were you able to send off the story about Grandpa and the line of priesthood authority? Also, I still wanna know about how the Schofield´s came in contact with the church. Not as urgent as the other things, but sooner or later I would like to know.

Sorry the email is kinda short, but I love you all and miss you!

Keep writing how you are, big long letters!!

Love, Elder Baker

June 27, 2011

Hey everyone!

So you say that it is getting really warm there? Well here it is getting really, really cold! Its so weird! I am glad though, I hate the hot weather.

I was wondering a lot about how the Schofield family came into contact with the church. It had to be pretty close to when it was re-organized right? I am assuming that early Schofield´s were pioneers cuz they lived in Spring City, which is a pioneer city right? Let me know. Maybe in the next package you can send a family tree or somethin. Also, did you get to send off that story about grandpa richard and my priesthood line of authority? If not, thats ok, just send it when you have time.

Oh yea, I got my birthday package!! Thanks for the pop-tarts Linds, I already ate them, and Katie the candy won´t last long and I loved all the pictures you all put in - oliver is really cute and some of the pictures were so hilarious of him! Olivia Carson and Charlotte are getting so big. The journal is really cool and I can´t wait to use it, the iPod charger works and now I get to listen to the awesome music Linds put on there (thanks Linds) the flashdrive is huge! I love the real salt lake shirt, now the stupid brazilians won´t make fun of me for not having a soccer shirt, I am excited to rep my team! I eat peanut butter toast everyday. Luckily my companion doesn´t like peanut butter.

Speaking of my companion, I got a new one. My old comp, whom I had a great time with and is my good friend, Joseilto Magalhães Dos Santos, was called to be assistant. We didn´t know until we got to the transfer meeting, which sucked cuz he didn´nt bring his bags. It was really hectic but it finally worked out. We got to say bye to thge president and his wife and give them hugs. The new president is apparently really short. Thats all anyone really knows about him. I got a new comp, Elder Distádio from São Paulo. He is 5´4´´ and 23 years old and has mr. Magoo glasses, but he is really funny and a hard worker so I am enjoying time with him as well. The end of this transfer will be August 10. I will map it all out and tell you all the transfer dates until I get home. Oh by the way, my comp and I have the same time out on the mission. 9 Months. He told me that we will be going hom on the 20th of September. In Brazil you usually get sent hom 1 or 2 weeks early cuz of legal reasons. So I have less than 15 months to go now!!

Nothin really new goin on here in Tijucas, just gettin really cold. There is a river that runs down the middle (a big river) and it almost flooded cuz it rained so much yesterday. We now have no potentials because me and my elder M. Santos worked so hard to marry 2 couples and to get them baptized we didn´t have time to find more people. So we are doing a lot of finding now. The english class is still going and I teach it alone now, so that tells you a little bit about my Portuguese. I can get the message past them now at least! Still lots of times though I don´t understand and just nod my head and say yea. It works out!

I am glad that you decided to come pick me up. If you need to you can use my b day money to buy tickets. Haha I don´t think that will even make a dent in the price but you can. It´ll be fun. I some pics of the kids in the front of my planner - the one of Lottie with cake on her face is really funny. She is so cute.

Thats all I have got for this week, Mom and Dad, get some sleep, you sounded tired!!

Love Alex

June 20, 2011

Hey Erbody, Hows it goin! Linds, I hope my letter didnt get lost in the mail. It´ll get there soon hopefully. I asked Junior Gonzaga to write happy birthday on your fb. He speaks a tiny tiny bit of english so I hope it was understandable. But anyways, all is the same in Tijucas. I learned about transfers and I will stay here with the same companion. Its gonna be rough cuz this transfer will be 7 weeks instead of 6. There is a possibility that I will stay here ANOTHER transfer after that. Ugh, I hope not. But Next transfer is August 10. But our mission president leaves in like 4 days!! Everyone is freakin out but I dont really know why. The next one will be just as good. But I have a question. dad and mom, how do you find time to study your scriptures? It seems harder the older you get. The english and music classes are getting progressively worse. Haha I think its cuz we haven´t advertised it enough. We are going to try some new ideas this week to get people to come. But during the music class I am practically a babysitter. All the kids love my accent and ask me how to say words in english and laugh when they hear it. Its so strange still to see people that can´t speak english! Everyone that hasn´t been to another country realizes that in other places people speak other languages, but it doesn´t hit you until you are trying to communicate with someone that literally doesn´t speak your language!! But hopefully the classes will result in something. If nothing else, we are providing service for the people. The missionary handbook says that we gotta do some service each week anyways.

Isn´t 10´8 not that much for a baby? I have heard of babies being new born and weighing more than that. Does he still have blue eyes? There are a bunch a little tiny 1 and 2 year olds in my ward and its so funny! One of them is named Rafaela and she will try to repeat anything you say! Even if its english! Maybe I will make a video or something and send it to you. But Mom, for the package, if you didnt already send a cool pen, send one. Also, if you didnt send an external hard drive, I need one of those too. I might need some deodorant soon, I only have 1 and 1/2 left. Oh and one time Dad told me about a pic of grandpa Richard in a convertable smoking a cigarette. I wanna see it! If its copiable, send a copy. I heard that Apple released a facebook type thing called ``iCloud.`` That is pretty cool I guess. One of the members loves technology and stuff so he always tells me the latest news. What else is goin on in the world? Anything interesting? Mom, how is the food storage coming? Better? This week I had to go on exchanges with a missionary from Paraguay. He speaks some weird indian language called Guarani and he taught me a little bit. It sounds like Tongan. But we were in a town called Forquilinhas for the day. Their apartment was literally as big as Mom and Dads bathroom. . But they have members there and the church is just the same there, so it was all good. Whenever I go on splits I have to go to downtown floripa for a little bit. The downtown is SO cool! I just want to be a normal guy and explore around! It is gonna be so fun! But The assistants have been back and forth from our apartment cuz one assistant that goes home in 2 days was teaching one of the guys that I baptized. Its tough living with 4 guys with a tiny little bathroom! We always order pizza when someone stays the night and I love it because the chocolate pizza is the best thing ever. It is so cheap too! Its like 15 bucks for a gigantic pizza. with soda. I cant wait to see what everyone thinks about the pizza here.

That will be fun about your calling, Mom. Good luck. I forgot what dad´s call is, something with the high priests right? I remember when I had my interview with the Stake President he had just interviewed Dad for a temple reccommend or something and he said, ``Your father will hold a high position in the church.`` So I am just waiting for that to happen. Did he say anything like that to anyone else? Tell Jamie Wissler and Larry that I will miss them and I will keep in contact when I get back. Jamie isn´t too far away so maybe I can go visit him every so often. Is Lowell Hicks still alive? I want him to play at my homecoming and if he lives long enough, at my marriage. I love that thing that he plays, I forgot what its called. So we had 3 baptisms this past week. One was the guy that I have been talkin about, Rafael Maximiano. He is definitely one to visit if we ever visit Tijucas. He is already a faithful member! He was so excited for his baptism! He chose me to do it too, which was pretty special. It was an honor to participate in his baptism, he will be a bishop or somethin one day. the baptisimal service was spirit-filled. Another family that we just got married was also baptized. They have 6 kids, all who were baptized previous to them. We finally got the marriage done and they were both baptized. The assistant that is goin home in 2 days found the family and baptized all the kids. We just finished the work with the parents. The Dad, named Ozelio de Jesus Vaz, chose me to baptize him. The baptisimal font is pretty ghetto, and he was afraid that the water was too cold. Haha we just baptized him anyways. But after the baptism Rafael invited us over for a celebration dinner and to watch a movie. Our mission president approved watching movies with investigators, so we watched ``Enrolados`` I dont know what it is in english, something like Roll Ups or Rolled up? Anyways, the one about Rapunzel. It was pretty good! I haven´t seen a movie in forever! I got word that Thor and Captain America are awesome so I am excited to hear if they are good from you guys. The next day when we went back for church someone had broken in and robbed the church! The only thing of value in there was the piano, and it weighs a billion pounds. We found it at the top of the stairs. Apparently the thieves dragged it to the stairs and then gave up and left haha. But we already fixed the lock so its all good. Thats all for this week, I love you and miss you a ton!!

Love, Alex

P.S. Isn´t it weird that every single person in all of Brazil still uses MSN messenger? I thought it was.

June 13, 2011

Hey Everyone!!

So Dad, first off, thanks for the email. Sorry this email might be a little bit shorter cuz I had to read it all but it helped a lot. Its just hard sometimes. Thanks for the advice too Mom. But anyways, the house looks AWESOME!!! It looks like it belongs in a magazine. I hope you can keep it up, I want to see it in person.

Do you think that moths will eat my clothes?? I am scared I will have no clothes when I get home.

This week went by fairly slow. Probably because the assistants had to come over again and we stayed up late every night. I just want to sleep. But somehow everyone always figures out that Elder Oaks is in our ward and freaks out and tells me to write him. But I dont even know if he knows who I am!! I know that Sister Oaks knows though, tell her I say hello. I remember when she taught me when I was really little, that was pretty cool. And tell her thanks for making her husband call me the day before I left. I didnt realize how cool that was!! Anyways, I recently heard from Treyden, Jacob, and Luke. Jacob is great, Treyden is working hard and is in Eugene! And Luke is in Bora Bora and is loving it. He sent a pic of the beach and I had to rival it so I went to a city called ``manto grande.`` Too bad it was kinda hazy but it was still really pretty. The hike was way fun but the busride to get to there was unreal. It will make any human alive sick to their stomach. It wound through mountains on dirt bumpy roads for an entire hour. It was pretty cool!! The city was like a ghosttown, which I dont understand cuz it was the prettiest beaches I have ever seen. The pictures dont do it near enough justice. Sorry it was kinda expensive to go there and the assistants insisted that we buy pizza 2 nights in a row, so thats why I took out 50 reais.

The poverty continues to amaze me. Some houses dont even have doors. It also is shocking because everyone is pretty much happy! Probably because on every single corner there is a bakery. I swear they make the best treats I have ever eaten. And they are so cheap!! There is a HUGE round bread that is 70 centavos.. Like 35 cents!! And it is bigger than my head. I want to open one there it would make millions. Ohh before I forget dont forget to record kevins farewell!! I saw the picture of us when we were younger. That had to be like 6 years ago. Have you seen it yet? I thnk he put it on facebook. But guess what? My umbrella already broke. I saw a t shirt hanging on some barbed wire and I wanted to use my umbrella to throw it on my companion but when I tried it wouldnt budge. I tried harder and my umbrella snapped in half. I guess thats what they call karma. But I tapped it all up and its good to go... Except it doesnt close. It still works though!!

I am glad that the Mavs won, even though I really dont like em much. I always kinda liked Dirk, maybe its because he is white. He has the best shot in the league.

We got a new cell phone and my comp thinks its the coolest thing ever but it looks like it came out in the 70s. Like I said, technology is way far behind here. He put three efy songs on there and he plays them non stop. I liked them at first but after the 352nd time I heard them I dont really like them anymore. And when he isnt playing them he is singing them, but he doesnt know the words cuz they are in english so he just makes sounds. Its kinda funny. Mom, I heard that me and my companion (Elder Joseilto Magalhães dos Santos) will proabably stay here in tijucas for another transfer. I am kinda sad that my president is leaving. He is so great, I am nervous for the new. No one knows anything about him. Our president´s Dad is the temple president in São Paulo and is friends with a bunch of the 70 so the PResident here knows a lot about the doctrine. He is also just a really great guy. I am sure that God wouldn´t call a bad guy for a mission president, so I am sure the next one will be just as good.

Dad, I think that we teach similar to how you taught on your mission. We have a flip chart thingy that the mission president wants us to use but we dont have things memorized we just go with the flow. But I think its the perfect way to teach. There are a lot of strange things in this mission though. For example, a group of missionaries that didnt want to follow the rules formed a ``mafia`` and basically didnt do anything that they were suposed to do. Apparently when Elder Bednar came 2 months before I got here he looked out at all the missionaries and knew instantly that there was apostate missionaries. Pretty cool the power of the But there are more changes coming in July besides the supposed P day change. Every missionary companionship in the world is going to recieve a portable DVD player in july. I am not sure why, but I imagine that some DVD player making company just made a WHOLE lot of money!! I played Uno with an investigator (we are allowed) and it made me homesick and I remembered playing Pit and Skipbo. I hope we still have em under the stairs!! The language is comin a long fine, I gotta run, sorry. Look up D efeitos n youtube.

I love you all!!

Love Elder Alex Baker

June 6, 2011

Hey Mom!!

It is pretty cold here, a city in the state of Santa Catarina reached negative 17 degrees yesterday. Its still really hot where I am though, just freezing in the mornings. The stupid humidity makes everything twice as extreme. When we wake up all the windows have water on them. I think that the eight months has just been normal speed. It seems like a looong time ahead but I hate looking ahead.

The language is coming alright, but I still cant understand! It still sounds like a whole different language! (which it is, but I have been studying it for 8 months you´d think I would know!) The english class was only so-so this week. Another U.S. missionary came and helped me out again. That kid is weird, he is obssessed with super strange doctrine of the church and he told me all about it. I learned some cool things though. Anyways, the english class was decent. We also have a music class (sorry I forgot I didnt say anything about it) my comp can play the piano so we have a class for that too. Our way of ``tracting`` is by acting like we are doing a study on religions. We go up to the person and ask them if they have a family, if they are legally married, and if God told them directly to leave their church and to join another would they do it. (which he tells people all the time!!) You would be suprised to see how many people say no. Its ridiculous! If God told the prophet to do that he would!! Nonsense. Anyways, the city of Tijucas just had a big old parade thing that was put on by the catholics. On sunday they had the parade and they had a band too. The funny thing was that they didnt start playing until they were right next to our chapel!

I am so excited for Kevin. I don´t know much about Guadalajara, but I think its pretty close to the border right? He is gonna see some crazy drug deals.
Anyways, the work is going well in Tijucas. We have the coolest guy ever to be baptized this coming week. His name is Rafael (pronounced Hah fye eyoo) and he is already strong in the church. I sat through gospel principles class with him and he had really good questions. We were talking about a less active and he suggested that someone go visit her from the church (he didnt know that there is such a thing as home teaching) he is really cool and he will definitely be one to visit when we come back. Hmmm what else. Ohh the package. Lets see, I need a new journal soon, I would like some peanut butter, and hmm... what else. Oh, I want to see the newspaper article about dads 911 story. Dad, if you have time, I would also like you to email it. I completely forgot the details and I want to remember!! I want to compare myself to Dads letters. Do you have any that you could photocopy and send in the package? Also, if you didnt send already, I would like an external hard drive. The biggest one that you think will be safe to send. There are a lot of things that I want to put on there. Ohh a cool pen!! remember the one that Dad gave me broke! I think thats it. Oh and just a couple random questions. How is the food storage coming? It is a big deal here because almost no one has it. I hope you are building it up? And are you still finding time to read with Em? I think that is cool. Other question; can you buy stock for me?
Hmm lets see what else? I cannot believe the poverty in some of the places I go. I am gonna have to take some pictures of the places that are poor, you wont believe it. And the people are all so happy and always laughing, Brazilians are so funny! The Brazilian missionaries can be a little bit annoying though.. The Brazilian culture is so different. The Presidents wife tells utah americans to marry brazilians because she thinks utah girls are bad (thats cuz she lives in provo) but I think a marriage between a brazilian and an american would be a big culture clash. But I think I will be transferred this next transfer. It is rare for missionaries here to be together for more than 2 transfers because Brazil is the perfect place for missionaries that are too good of friends to start slacking off. (I wouldnt slack off, but that is the mindset of the mission president) it is rumoreD that I will be the companion of the assistant that I mentioned in an earlier email, Elder Atayde. I hope so he is really cool. And that would mean that I would get to serve on the island!! It´ll be fun if I get to know the island because thats probably where we will spend most of our time when we come back. Speaking of which, did I say that I decided that I want Mom and Dad to come pick me up? I know its in 16 months, but I think we need to plan early. I didnt take a picture of my hair cuz its embarassing but its already grown back now. How are the Taylors doing? Are millie and paul still doin good? Hey Mike, did you take any pictures skiing this year?? I wanna see em! About the languages, I heard it was finnish. They have to conjugate every single word in the sentence!! I cant imagine that! Portuguese is hard enough to learn.

Well, thats all I have got for this week! This email was pretty long, I hope you enjoy it!!

Oh, Kate, no prob for the letter, P days here suck and if we dont travel a million miles to play soccer in another city with the other missionaries we just sit at home.

Linds, hows it goin. I love you.

Em, write me soon, how are ya doin?

I love you!!

Love Elder Baker

May 30, 2011

Hey errbody:

So you didnt comment on the haircut. A member told me the other day that my hair looks like grass. After she said that everyone laughed for 20 minutes. They really do say whatever comes to mind its so bizarre! Lots of things they say are slightly crude and completely random. I like it its really funny. As usual, this p day sped by. Especially in Tijucas. Maybe if I wasnt a missionary I could have some fun. Well, I will say I could definitely have somefun cuz there is a beach really close to here. Anyways, whats new! HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE!! I sent a hand written letter last week but it probably got stolen. Let me know when it gets there! If not, I will write you another. Well, guess what happened to me. We were playing soccer with some investigators and I got bitten by some exotic mosquito. The next morning I woke up and my skin was numb. EVERYWHERE. It still is a little but it is so weird, if I put my hand on my arm I cant tell that its mine. It freaked me out at first so I wanted to see if I could feel anything so I bit my arm and I couldnt feel it and when I looked at the bite it was bleeding! But dont worry, the assistants of the mission stayed at my apartment the other night and one of them is a biologist and he said that it is just a toxin in my blood that will filter out in a couple days.

This week was just a bunch of travelling and doing odd jobs. The music class we had went well, we got a couple new investigators out of it. I called and asked for some help with the english class because I dont speak portuguese too well so thats why the assistants were here. But the class went great! There were millions of péople that were just in awe because two americans were teaching them english. They asked us to speak in english for them and we talked about the funniest stuff right in front of them because they had no idea what we were saying. But we have a little form thingy that they fill out and it talks about what we as missionaries do and it asks if they want to have a visit from us. We have 3 more families to go visit this week as a result of the english class! So it worked really well. I was told we were placed here because they needed to put two trustworthy missionaries in Tijucas because we gotta baptize like crazy because if we get the membership up to 80 active members, then the church will build a chapel here. They already bought land for it and now are just waiting for the membership to grow. We drew up plans for the chapel and it is gonna be really cool. The terrain that we have is really long and skinny though so the chapel is going to be a little bit different. The funny thing is that there is a Kingdom Hall (thats what the Jehovah´s Witnesses call their chapels) right across the street! We are going to be shaking our fists at each other on Sundays.. just kidding. But the Testamunhas de Jeová hate us!

The language is coming well. How come no one answers my questions! I usually have a question or two a week that kill me tha tI really want to know and it sucks enough to wait til monday. My question was: What are the most difficult language to learn for english speakers? And accept Junior Gonzaga on my facebook! Anyways, about the language. We gave a training to the members here in Tijucas about how to get their chapel built as fast as possible and I had to talk a lot and I did fine and they all understood. So that was pretty fun. I love to talk to little kids because they are the most willing to help me. Its kind of embarrassing when I have to tell 3 year olds I didnt understand. I dont think 3 year olds understand that there are other languages! But sometimes I wish I was called to James Little´s mission cuz I love Asian languages. And then I think how much harder the language would be!!

Mom, here is my spiritual experience for the week. We went to this 15 year olds house to do a drop visit (cuz she said she didnt have interest in the church anymore) and when she got there she told us that she had a change of heart and wanted to be baptized. Even better, her little sister wanted to be too! So we had two baptizms yesterday. The baptisimal font is sooo ghetto here. Its a tarp that we shape into a huge bowl and put water in. The water was soo cold because they dont have heated water here. It gets really cold hereat night its shocking!! Its a good cold for me, and doesnt compare to real cold. But I definitely need an extra blanket.

We had to go to Floripa a couple times this week and so thats why I dont have much to say.did you send the package yet? I saw a picture of the Presidents house and it is HUGE!! But there are some sorta nice houses in Tijucas. I found the road that all the ``rich`` people live on. they consider someone rich if they have a car or if they have a dryer. They are insanely rich if they have anything made by apple and it is unheard of to have a swimming pool.

Thats all I have for this week, Kevin says he might get his call on the first!! Let me know!!

happy birthday again Katie!
I wish I could have seen mom bowl 4 strikes. I will be back in 2013 to beat her.

Love you all!!

Alex

May 16, 2011

MOm, saddest thing I have ever heard. I was in a members house getting a drink of water and I heard my favorite band (RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE) playing on the TV during a commercial. I ran over and they are playing in a music festival in a city called Ita that is only 9 hours away from TIjucas! They haven´t been together since 2000 and then all the sudden, while I am gone, they decide to play a show. And it is right next to me.

Anyways, everyone still talks about Osama. I wish I could read a TIME magazine or somethin. OH before I forget, can you record Devan´s farewell and send it to me? Its this sunday I Think. I saw on the TV that there is already Osama merchandise for sale. I even saw a shirt in FLoripa! Sorry if there are random capital letters this keyboard is weird. But this last week we had a way cool lesson with a guy named RAfael. (pronounced ha-fie-ayoo) I taught him the first vision and then he accepted the invite to be baptized immediately! ITs always fun to get such a quick yes because it reaffirms my testimony. DAd and Mike and KIt probably know what I am talkin about. But he is really cool. The people here are really fun!

My focuses (besides missionary work) change so rapidly its so weird. I was wanting to be in the FBI and then the other day all I wanted to do was produce movies. I Have ADD. But guess what ? I ate at McDonalds! It was pretty much the same food except I had a guarná with it instead of a coke. THe menu was really small though. ONly 6 burgers.

You said that ELder Oaks might come to BRazil agin? TEll him to come to floripa and talk to me! THAt would be so cool. OH for my package try to find somethjing called a GYROBALL. ITs a forearm workout thing but Its fun to do. ALso, anything that I could do while riding the bus. I remember that thing (like a mind puzzle) in brookstone but I Dunno if they still have it. Oh and I decided that you need to pick me up off the mission cuz thats when my Portuguese will be the best. OK?? OH and for the package can you get another jurnal do you think?: I HATE THIS KEYBOARD. BUt I baptized a girl named Fernanda Caroline SArmento on SAturday! IT was a pretty neat experience. SHe is only 14 but she came alone to church, and said she wanted to be baptized. SHe already is on the right track!

TEll kevin to email me the second he gets his call. SOry this email has been so spuratic but I Gotta hurry. TRansfers were this week and my comp was suposed to get transfereed but he wanted to stay put so he called the pres and asked and he said it was ok. So we are in tijucas for another transfer. I was gonna go to bombinhas tday but it was raining really really hard.

SOrry its short this week, I Gotta go! I love you!

ALex