The Classiest Nut in Brazil: "heeeeeeey yall, heeeeeey yall"

so. This week has been really good and hot. We worked our butts off, I lost 5 pounds. I feel like a popsicle. In the furnace in one of dad's fabs, you know, one of those that makes plasma etc...that is hotter than the sun? It was rough. I know that the Lord really was thinking about me when he sent me here. Both in Passo Fundo and in the Rio Grande do Sul. I don't know if I would survive any other mission to the north. Passo Fundo is the coolest city in the mission. but, Nevertheless...... my boots melted this week- we use cheap mason's boots that you can find in any construction store, mine say that the can take up to 300ºc. I call their bluff. They melted to the point that I am walking with about 3 cm^2 exposed of the sole of my foot on the blacktop, stonetop, dirttop, etc.... enough about my shoes. I'll buy new ones this week, they're cheap, usually about 15 bucks.

We were going to have 3 baptisms this week, but they all fell through, how dissappointing :( the first, Vitor, marked the baptismal interview, but when Interviewer arrived, 1 hour behind schedule, he had left and was in another city. REALLY BUMMED. The other two are Lua e Leonardo, they are brothers who are 8 and 10 years old. Very very intelligent boys, but the problem is that their dad is a drunk crack-addict, that treats everybody horribly. Well, he wanted us to teach them, and take them to church. Cool right? well, we can't baptize anybody unless they have a resource (family or friends) that can help them '1- go to church and 2-stay active. Well, our family that we got them to be friends with and everything got in a car-accident out in Argentina, and will have to stay there, for a LONG time...so we got another family to help us, but when we went to get them Sunday for church, they weren't home. The house was completely open, but there was nobody there. What sadness :_( So. Going on.

We ´pulled some teeth' this week, and got a reference out of a member that said that he didn't have any. We visited the reference 10 minutes after lunch, and wow. We will baptize him this Saturday. Talk about incredible. We got to his house, (his name is Alison) he's 18, studying Civil Engineering at the University of Passo Fundo. Talk about a very smart dude. Very VERY smart. We talked to him, he had already conversed with the missionaries before hand, but hadn't been baptized because he wanted to continue the family tradition of being Catholic. Well, we challenged him to read 2 Nephi 31, and then the first 30 verses of Alma 5. Afterwards, read the last 2 paragraphs of the introduction. He accepted. We came back 3 days later. We came in, sat down, he gave us popsicles and said "Elderes, this is crazy". I asked as to why, and he responded that he read the 2 chapters, and it blew his mind. He said that he sat there for almost 3 hours thinking about the questions from alma 5, and how he needs to prepare. He then admitted that he lost the introduction page, and didn't read it, but remembered that we challenged him to pray after reading and pondering and he did such. As he prayed, he said that he felt a "wave" pass through him, of peace and tranquility. He was asking for an answer as an opportunity to help somebody find what he found. As we came back, and he said this, I felt constrained to read Galtas 5:22-23 with him. He quickly identified that what he felt was a clear and utter influence of the Holy Spirit. We then read Moroni 10:4-5. He read it slowly, then read it again. Looked up at us and we all got crazy goose-bumpy. He looked at us and said
"dude, I'm freaking out here. It's too perfect." We then read the last 2 paragraphs of the Introduction of the Book of Mormon, which clearly states, that he who recieves the Holy Ghost will 1- know that Jesus Christ is the Savior, 2- The book of Mormon is true, 3- Joseph Smith was the Restoring prophet, and 4- that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is the kingdom of God here on the earth in preparation for the 2º comming of Jesus Christ.

He looked at us and whispered. "It's all true." We then asked him what he needs to do to follow this anwer. He responded immediately. "I need to be baptized as soon as physically possible, but first I need to talk to my dad, to assuage him, can I be baptized next week?"

YES.

Yes, you can Alison. I'm tearing up.

Anyways, I love this work. It's rough at times, but as they say here in the south, It's like peanut brittle, it's hard, but it's sweet.

so.....My new companion: His name is............. Elder DeYoung.

He's from Ogden, Utah, he has 1 year and 4 months on the mission. He is very obedient and has his head on the ground. I'm excited. He plays ukelele, loves the same type of music that I love, etc. Very fun. Elder Spadari went to Santa Cruz.

anyways, GO USA, the brazilians don't really give a care about the winter olympics, they have almost nobody competing, so they're "nem aí" or "not even there"

Thank you for the prayers and support- go give a refference!

Elder Eliason