"...it was worth it because we taught the ILLEST family ever!"

Hey everyone.
This week has been pretty good. All of our investigators are moving along nicely, well almost all of them. A couple cut us, a couple don't really get anything. But we are moving toward baptism well with Luiz and Lourdes. Ari and Neide are still ready to get baptized on the 7th, everything is good for them. They have been investigators for like a year because their marriage papers have taken so long. But now their day is arriving!! So that's rad. The branch seems to be coming along a little bit. People seemed a little more happy this week than they were the weeks before, so that's amazing to see (thanks for the prayers!).
It has been pretty rainy here. Of course it rained the most when we left our umbrellas at home, so we spent all of yesterday cold and wet! But it's OK, we didn't get sick and it was worth it because we taught the ILLEST family ever! Well, aside from mine.
But this dude Ederson and his wife Flavia are having a few (a lot) of relationship problems. We found Ederson about a week ago, he liked the message. We went back to teach him about the Livro of Mormon. He also thought the book was cool. He asked us about what it is like at church, so we explained how everyone there is a volunteer, nobody gets money to do what they do. He couldn't believe it!
It always gets a little awkward when people start bashing other churches while we are there, but he basically called out every evangelical church and said they are corrupt. Anyway, we scheduled another visit with him when his wife would be there. We visited and taught them for about 45 minutes, teaching her about the restoration and the Book, then teaching them about how families can and should be happy. They really liked it and seemed excited to learn more and visit the church. So we are going to be working with them a lot in the near future. They are probably the coolest family we have found to this point, in this city.
I have been learning a lot about the Brasilian military. Dang, senseless corruption! Elder Carmo always talks about how they did all sorts of stuff just to inflict pain (like do pushups with closed fists on asphalt and drink chicken blood), then he says that nobody could ever beat the Brasilian army because they are so tough. I always just say Well, actually people could beat them because your army would be so sick and in pain! LoL.
He talks about his commandant that he really likes. This dude is like a dang Nazi general!! One time a dude sold him rotten meat, so he took four soldiers and put his pistol in this meat salesman´s face and just yelled at him about respect and stuff. I was like dang dude, that's the one of the problems in this country, the military is above the law! I explained clearly how a government has (or should have) levels of authority with checks and balances to keep big headed people from getting more control than they should. But, he is confident that US vs Brasil is a victory for Brasil, so whatever.
Well the work is going really well here. Oh mom, they don't need materials or anything like that here, but thank you anyway.
Charlotte, get a pulsar. Buying a newer car is just a joke, immature. The older the car is, the more experience it has, so it is more reliable. The CTR rings that you sent me for my birthday are stellar, I have tamed a couple kids with them. I got the bag I ordered from the mission, it is smaller and I carry it in my hand so I don't get so sweaty. It is very nice to have. I got a Christmas card from Lara last Thursday that was mis-sent to Thailand...That explains why it took 3 months to get here!
Love you all
Joey
Tudo que faz, faz com amor.