Day 378 (20 Years on Earth, As of 3 Days Ago)

I was planning on calling for my birthday but the internet cafe here doesn't have webcams or headsets. Today I bought a headset with earphones+microphone for pretty cheap (26 reais) and I'll buy a cheap webcam this week. I'll try to make a call through Hangouts. I think we'll be able to talk but there'll only be video for your side of the call.

I looked today and realized that the last email I sent is titled "Jan 18", in my head I guess I was still a month behind.

Anyway, I got here in São Gabriel on Tuesday, and my new companion is Elder Arilson Marques from Belém (northern Brasil).---

Celebrating one year on the mission (this was in Santa Maria) with a giant Xis. ---

This week flew by and since both of us are pretty new to the area (Elder Marques has 6 weeks in the field) most of it involved deciphering the area map. Basically it's like starting from zero, because it seems that there isn't much of a large group of investigators, but the work is going well. We were able to have 3 investigators at church and we've already marked a baptismal date for March 16th with Richard, a 10-year-old who's part of what's called an "incomplete family" by the mission, in the sense that not all of the members of that family have been baptized.

He's really good, understands everything we teach, and it's as if he's already been taught everything. He moved here with his family a few months ago from the Porto Alegre mission and already was going to church regularly with his great-grandma. He's so good I'm actually amazed he hasn't been baptized. Elder Marques says that it was only recently that the missionaries realized that he still wasn't baptized, because he was always there at church on Sunday.

São Gabriel seems a lot like Ijui, but without all of the ragged, steeply inclined hills. Also, the chapel is in our area (this city has 3 areas, 6 missionaries total), which is nice for bringing people to church. Everyone is more open in general than in Santa Maria. So I call that a good start.

Soon after I send this I'll try to start the call.

- Spencer