"...I went without brushing my teeth for like two days."

It was a very good Easter this year, we baptized Pablo on Sunday. He is a pretty dedicated dude, he calls us like every day to see how we are and see if we are going to pass by his house. His mom, Osmarina, was confirmed, and Pablo's dad went to watch the baptism. Ill try to include a few photos.

As always my time is short. But the zone is doing pretty well. The assistants came to work here during pretty much all of the last week, and I basically did a tour with one of them. It was kinda thrown together, so I went without brushing my teeth for like two days. I used the good old finger and toothpaste method. Also I used the same pair of Gs for two and a half days. It was pretty disgusting, but we had some really good results. The goal for the mission was 100 baptisms last week, which we didn't get, but we will try again this week.

The Easter box still has not arrived, it is definitely in the mission office. I will get it either next Monday or in the following days, during which we will be in Londrina for a ZL conference. BUT Elder Villela got a bosssss Easter/birthday box that his mom sent to the bishop's house with Reese's and Butterfingers and stuff like that. Seeing that he lives in Belo Horizonte, I don't really know how she got her hands on that stuff, but it's better not to ask questions.
Dad, didn't you pass in Belo Horizonte? Maybe you baptized his grandma or something, that would be cool.

Other news... I am pretty stoked to use Skype for the communication on Mothers day. That will be cool seeing how you all look and stuff. I saw in the photo that Spencer is completely different, you look a lot older. But it's all good.

Honestly I don't think I have any other news. I love you all, we are working a ton and seeing a lot of miracles here.

Love

Joey

ELDER J. P. BURT

CLASSIC 435 STYLE

"...I have never seen anyone so ready to be baptized."

Bauru is totally different than Londrina. It is basically a lot more ghetto and sick. People throw up low-quality graffiti in all places possible-the church, the front of our house, broken trains... it's pretty dang ill. Also the streets are totally full of sand, like all of the streets. I Can't really figure out why or how that happened, but the fact of the matter is that it is that way. But it's safe to say I love this city.
So on with the email. So the ward I am currently in is the Independence Ward, and I have never passed in any ward even a bit similar. The members here are so dang boss, we get a ton of references and this is the ward that basically is baptizing the most in the whole mission. I had never inherited a baptism in all the times I have been transferred. When I say inherited I mean have anyone progressing. But I got here and there are a lot of people already on the path.
On Sunday we baptized this super sick lady named Osmarina. She was super stoked and I have never seen anyone so ready to be baptized. She was taught four times over the space of 12 days before being baptized. Her son Pablo will be baptized next week, he already wants to go on a mission and learn to play piano in sacrament meeting.
We have a bunch of other people who are also moving forward really well and we are pushing to baptize three people on Sunday.
Well, zone leader basically means a lot of phone calls and organizing a lot of stuff. We do a weekly letter/newspaper on p-day, so my internet time will be seriously reduced from here on out. But I will work to increase my typing speed to get better letters to you all.

Love you, this is the Lord's work!!!

Joseph

Transferred again

Well as the subject suggests, I have been transferred again! Actually, not til tomorrow, but tomorrow I will get a bus to Bauru, which is actually in the state of Sao Paulo. I will be a zone leader there with Elder Villela. I have worked with him a few times, he is a good guy and a dang hard worker. So I'm pretty stoked for that.
We had a lot of success this week with the new missionaries. We found a lot of new people and were able to teach more than I have taught in a long long time. We found a lot of good couples/families that will progress a lot. Alecsandro has kind of fallen off the map, I was finally able to talk to him yesterday, he said we can pass by on Wednesday, but I don't really know if he wants to receive us.
Well I need to go pack my bags and plan a ride to take me to the bus station tomorrow.
Love you all very much
Joseph

"...the spirit was bomb."

Well yesterday all day and this morning we were in conference with the leaders from the four zones in the proximity. It was dang sick, we studied some dang ill stuff and the spirit was bomb. So seeing as today is Tuesday, we were instructed to use internet briefly.

Sickest thing of the week... Charlotte is getting MARRIED!!!!!!! YEAAH!! That was basically the topic of various talks this conference, so that is good that you are following that counsel. It's going to be kinda weird to have in-laws, but whatever. I'm glad I'll be home in time to see it happen. And make some solid "Contacts" at the wedding rarrarra. YEAH!

Second sickest thing... This family we are teaching, Alecsandro and Adriana. We found them last Monday. They are not very religious, which is always good. They both read the Book of Mormon and are liking it. Alecsandro went to the Saturday morning session of conference and was impressed. Adriana didn't go because she is expecting a child in a few days. They have a lot of potential.

Third sickest thing... CONFERENCE!! The marriage talks stuck out a lot, dang Elder Scott put on the pressure like no other. We watched the Saturday morning session and the two on Sunday. I used the learning glasses, and most of the other people here really didn't get why I would possibly use glasses with no glass. They'll see...

Fourth sickest thing... Ten American missionaries that were without visas to come here got their visas!! They will get here tonight and two of them will sleep in our house. That will be quite the adventure, maybe.
Barack Obama came here basically to negotiate their visas and it looks like it worked jajaja.

Fifth sickest thing... Elder Amaral, he is dang sick

Sixth sickest thing... Working with old Jim for a day. It was pretty classic.

Rodrigo has basically disappeared, well see what happens with that.

Well, this email didn't turn out too bad I think. But alright yeah my English paragraph forming is toast.

Love you all

Joseph

Jerusalem...

No letter today.

The missionary mom world is a small one. This is what Elder Derek Titus' mom heard and shared with me.
There are 24 incoming elders from the states, arriving tomorrow, April 5th. Also the Londrina Mission is opening up six new areas. If this is correct, then the existing elders were and are very, very, very busy.
This is such exciting news! Especially because there have been troubles with visas and getting the missionaries to the place they were called to serve!
Knowing my son is so busy serving and preparing for others to serve makes me very pleased.
Doree