"We helped a member build a wall..."

This week was super uneventful.
One thing pretty interesting is that I seem to have an allergy to the north side of the city. I have a runny and congested nose like I had basically the whole time I was in Semiramis. It is kinda weird, I think I am a little bit allergic to the dust here, which is abundant because of the construction happening here. I talked to Sister Tavares, she told me to get some allergy medicine. So we will see what happens with that.

Well, Rodrigo smoked marijuana and cigarettes again. We took all his cigarettes from him and he said he only lights up socially, so he will basically have to stand up to his friends and tell them that he won't smoke weed anymore.
We are hoping to baptize him and his brother Clayton on Saturday between sessions of conference. We will work a lot with them this week.

Our other investigators have basically all fallen through. We honestly didn't do the best work this week, so we really didn't have a lot of result. I couldn't really have expected anything different.

So on tomorrow Elder Allred and I will work together for the day, that will be a classic. It's pretty weird to think that we kicked it at USU and now almost two years later we are working together like 5,000 miles from home. But a classic no doubt.

Really nothing interesting happened this week. We helped a member build a wall, that was kinda cool, but I got a pretty heavy sunburn on the part of the neck that the collar generally covers.

Well, I hope things are better this week. We have some pretty high goals, so we are stoked to make it happen.

Love

Joseph

"...best experiences of my mission was on Sunday."

Some post rain recovery in Maxi (Brasilian word for Sam's Club)

A horse

This was a dang sick week. We had a ton of people at church including these two kids, Elber and Clayton. They are pretty guaranteed baptisms on Sunday. So we are stoked for that.

Today we had lunch at President's house because our zone had very clean houses when Sister inspected them.
We got there and did some practicing and then got a surprise present: 2ish hours of soccer! We have two ex-professionals in our zone, one who played on the u-15 Brasilian national team, so it was pretty dang sick. Elder Allred and I slayed like always.

We worked a lot this week and had a lot of results. We have a lot of new investigators and people moving forward. Probably one of the best experiences of my mission was on Sunday. We were at a members house teaching Elber and this dude named Rodrigo. We were teaching about repentance and baptism and stuff. In the middle of the lesson he was like "I want to talk privately with you guys after the lesson." So we were like alright whatever.
We went with him to the kitchen of the house and he was like "After you guys visited me for the first time I didn't really want to change that much. I drank, smoked cigarettes and marijuana, and stole things since the last time you visited. I didn't even read the Book of Mormon. But now as you guys were teaching me I realized that really I wasn't just lying to you guys, I was lying to Christ. Now that you said the things you said, I want to change and get ready to be baptized."
It was pretty dang sick I felt way happy for him, probably kind of how a bishop feels when someone comes to repent. I'm really glad that now he will be able to progress and be baptized. He is Clayton's brother, I think they will really help each other.
After the lesson we had to cross a big bean field and Elder Amaral and I made a dank freestyle video. Then there was this theif-looking dude at the end of the path and elder Amaral was like "Your camera is gone" But I was like no way, so we cut a different path across the field. He was in a urinating pose the whole time, like four minutes, so that is pretty weird.

In the box I could use some stick antiperspirant deodorant, Degree. That's all I can think of.

Word to all my friends at Utah State and around the world.

Thanks for all the help, love you all

Joseph

The party

21 years old

Jerusalem...

"...I started looking pretty intelligent with those glasses."

Well everyone in our teaching group cut us on Saturday. We had this nine year-old girl that read 50 pages of the Book of Mormon because she liked it, but her mom said they will not receive us any more. The same was the situation with three or four other families that we were teaching and that were progressing. So that was really lame.
But a member brought two dudes who are basically ready to be baptized, they already came to church many times and received the lessons. We will see if we can make it happen on Saturday.

My birthday was pretty lame, it was Carnaval. There isn't really a lot of commemoration in Londrina, but people are off work so they generally visit relatives and always drink.
Teaching is pretty difficult, kinda like it would be on the 4th of July in America. Fortunately it was just a few days. But I bought this good pizza and ate it with Ranch, that was nice demais. That mini rhyme made me remember, Elder Amaral and I will probably present a hip hop version of some primary songs or something in the talent contest in the ward. It should be pretty good. Rap in Portuguese is alright, but I prefer rhyming in English. I will record it and hit you up.
Those Learning glasses you sent me have helped a lot. I started parting my hair and I started looking pretty intelligent with those glasses. I enjoyed all the things you sent me and all the letters, thanks a lot.
To the Johnson children: The MTC is dang sick if you like learning, eating, feeling the spirit, and playing sports. I dunno what those missionaries' problem is.

We started teaching this stellar couple, Jose and Sueli and their two year old daughter Sandra. They are dang sick and are stoked about the Book of Mormon and stuff.

That's about all I have to report. I forgot my camera, so the Birthday photos will have to wait til later. Love you all, pray for you daily.

Joey

Jerusalem...

"My comp...likes to rap with me as we walk from activity to activity."

Well, I don't really know what was going on in this area, but they were not teaching very much and weren't bringing people to church. We found a bunch of dang good people really fast. We have a few incomplete families we are teaching, and a lot of potential baptisms.
It was cool to see all the members of Semiramis on Sunday at church, they were all really happy to have me back in the neighborhood.
On Wednesday, I got a call from the secretaries asking what airport I want to land at. It was really weird, I wish they could have called closer to the end. I will land in Salt Lake (I wanted Logan, but it is impossible) on the 18th of August. SO that's that.
My comp is the MAN!!! He is Elder Amaral, he is from Maceio, Alagoas, which is the most violent capital in the country. He is sick, he has fought people in the street before and stuff. He likes Bob Marley and Matisyahu and likes to rap with me as we walk from activity to activity. He is dang ill, and he is psyched that we are finding good people to teach. He made some good/weird breakfast thing today, it was pretty cool I guess.
I will probably do nothing special on my birthday, just work. Maybe at night I will eat ice cream or order pizza or something. Jim/Elder Allred said he will hook me up with a dope present of some kind. It will probably be an Ensign, that's about as dope as it gets for missionaries.
I don't have a lot to report, all of the missionaries in my district here are super motivated and do a fantastic job. The sisters (really just one of them) talk a lot, so I have to reserve about 20 minutes per night to hear about their activities. But Sometimes I get lucky and the less talkative one (the American) answers the phone, then it doesn't take very long. So that's about all I have to say about that.
Love you all,
Joey

Jerusalem...