now onto my week, well first of all i want to make a shot out to boo, max, abby and jenny be saying that here in brazil there are more stray dogs than i have ever seen in my life. even just dogs for that matter, literally every house has at least one dog, every street has a roaming dog, and very often i see stray dogs running in packs of 4 or 5, i mean what the heck?? haha its just a wierd thing that i thought you all should know

MArriage MArriage marriage!!! we have two couples who we are teaching who now have not only baptismal dates, but are getting lawfully married the day before as well! its very exciting for me, since im so excited for marriage. both of the couples are really nice, and i theyre going to be married the very end of this month or into november, since we have to plan for the weddings. im glad that i get two transfers here then!

we are baptizing someone this sunday! his name is john, and he is a 15 year old boy. he has a book of mormon, recieved an answer to his prayers that the book of mormon is true, and reads every part of the BOM that we leave for him when we teach. he is really a great investigator! he came to church for the first time yesterday and liked it alot, so were going to have a baptismal service next week after church for him. he has been asking lots of questions about a mission and how to go on once, ect, and he seems really interested in being a missionary! which is crazy exciting for me because if my first baptism is someone who is going to eventually be a missionary, that will be incredible!

so a funny story from yesterday, we picked john up from his house to go to church with him (on foot of course) because he didnt know where it was. and we got about halfway there, wearing our suits because its church, and it just literally started to pour rain, like bad hard pittsburgh sort of rain! and we didnt have an umbrella or my jacket or anything, so we ran there and they hadnt even opened the gate around the church yet. so i literally got soaked in my suit from head to toe, just completely drenched. i was miserable for about 4 minutes, then once i realized (once inside the church building) that my camera and portuguese scriptures were unharmed, i accepted it and it was fine. but it was nuts! i guess my first crazy mission experience, because it was like 2nd coming type of rain. but a member drove us home to our house real quick to change our clothes, so it ended up being ok

i bore my testimony in church, in portuguese! for the first time since conference was last week. it was nerve wrecking, but it went well i think! one thing that happened during church that was incredible to me that i didnt relly think about was this. i couldnt understand most of th people bearing testimonies for many reasons, but i still felt the spirit. which was a testimony builder to me because through that i knew that even though i couldnd personally understand what they were saying, the spirit was there, so incredible!

my portuguese is improving, my district leader and people in my apartment tell me that i already speak better than many americans who have been in the field for 4 or 5 months, but i dont let it get to my head, because i know through my patriarchal blessing its one of the gifts god has given me, speaking and teaching, and so i know that since those are being helped with that i need to focus on the doctrine. which is exacly what im doing, i study scriptures hard every morning, and im beginning to memorize them so that i can p ull them out to help investigators.

sunday afternoon tracking, the song ´sunday bloody sunday´was in my head the entire time. because yesterday tracting was literally the least sucessfull day weve ever had. NO ONE was in there house, or NO ONE wanted to recieve us. and i was curious why? then we stopped by a members house for water, and i realized that two of the big 4 in brazilian soccer were playing, and thats why nobobdy was around to listen to us. sunday bloody sunday. the world stops for soccer here! when someone scores a goal, you can hear screaming in all the houses around you. but just so dad knows, our official brazilian club team, i have decided, is a team called... palmieras? something like that, i dont know right now exactly how to spell it, but their colors are green and white, and i like theyre logo, so theyre our team. i cant say i like them for any other reason because i dont watch any soccer out here of course, but they are our team!

one of the american missionaries (one of my zone leaders) in my house has all these jeffry r holland talks, and he is such a great speaker. i bought an 8 by 10 picture of him in the sao paulo distribution center, and he currently hangs over my desk at home. speaking in plainness! i just love it

the jacket that we bought for rain and winter has worked out beautifully yesterday. i broke it out after we changed into dry clothes, and its completely waterproof, and without the liner it doesnt make me super hot. it was a great buy, thank you outlet malls! that was so much fun going there as a family, me mom dad abby jenny michelle, i wish joseph and alayna could have been there but in the future they will be!

so we made a goal for next week, in order to try and help reactivate members, to have a family home evening every night of the week next week, with a different family each night, and each family will invite an inactive family that they know. i think its going to work out well! we have people alrady commited, and its going to help the members here, brazil has alot of inacticvity problems, i mean who doesnt, but brazil is especially bad. so were doing more than just trying to get baptisms! which i love

and now, i go to buy myself some food, so i have to get off email. know that i am eating healthy! and am making smart choices. also, im the only missionary in my apartment who really works out in the mirning, im sure its because the mission has worn down on them, but i dont really ever see myself stopping. im following all the rules to exactness! and its helping all of us, i know it.

i love you guys, so much! thank you for being everything that i care about, my wonderful family, my amazing girlfriend and everything she does for me. you are all such an amazing support, it is incredible! i dont know how i can repay you guys for all you do for me, other than always email, try to be the best missionary i can be, and when i get home be the best son, brother, and husband humanely possible! i love you guys so much, have a fantastic week, i will work hard and hopefully have a good one too. the next time we email, i´ll have had my first baptism, and already be halfway through my first transfer! (even though you have 2 transfers with your trainer) its still incredible to think. i love you guys! talk to you soon :) bye!