Here are a couple photos for everyone. I think all they really need is some names. The first is Severino, the awesome elders quorum president in our Branch. The second is Rapael, age 10. The third is Carladaniela, age 8, the daughter of a less active we helped reactivate. The fourth is Valquiria, age 8. Overall, I think this has been a good week. 

I love you all, and look forward to getting some letters from you all tomorrow. Or atleast emails soon. I'm not sure I'll be able to check e-mail again later tonight. In general, it might be better to send any emails you would want me to read on Sunday. Occasionally the emails take a while to get to me. I know it doesn't make sense, but one time I started checking mail and half an hour later a five hour old email from mom poped up. 

Hi!  It has been an interesting week or so.  On the 4^th of July I went on a division in Tabuleiro 2.  A division is when I spend the day with a different Elder.  Tabuleiro 2 is an area that is rich and religious.  It’s a hard area.  We also had a bit of fun with firecrackers and all that.

On the 6^th I had interviews with the President of the mission.  President Gonzaga is pretty awesome.  I haven’t really gotten to know him well though.  I will get to know him better when I can speak better Portuguese.  We also dropped by to see Cicero.  He is such a simple man, but also pretty awesome, like a big teddy bear.

On the 7^th we made some torches out of an old Pringles can and oil, and some toilet paper.  It was pretty awesome.  We also took a ½ hour to an hour bus ride for a baptismal interview, that wasn’t for that day.  Quite a tad frustrating, but we got time to write on the bus.  We did some tracting but with very little success.  References are so much easier and more efficient.  On that note, if you could give the missionaries references and feed them regularly they would love you a lot.

On Sunday not much happened.  There were only 48 people at church, which was sad.  They used to have 120 frequently, but now it isn’t even 50.  After that we visited people with someone from the Stake Presidency.

Wednesday.  Oh yeah, probably the best and worst day in my mission so far.  First it was lunch time, so we had a half hour walk in total up and down steep hills to get lunch.  And we had to make lunch ourselves.  After that we were going to have a division, so we went out to Tabuleiro to get it started.  After we got there, around 2:30 on a busy street a young man, about 25, stole our phone.  He just walked up to us and said, “Passa o cellular,” and snatched our cell phone out of Elder Becker’s hand.  Best part is the cell phone is really cheap so he can’t sell it for much and the SIM card is superglued in.  Yes, President Gonzaga had all the SIM cards superglued into the phones.  Annoying for both us and the robber I think.  Don’t worry though, I’m fine.  I personally got a laugh out of it as that is going to be frustrating for him.

After that I was the companion with a Brazilian, Elder Tavarez, who doesn’t speak English.  We did some contacts and tracting, but the best part was Mutual.  Yes, we are running, planning, and prepping the YM/YW activities.  This was actually the first Mutual this branch has had.  So odd to have a large YM/YW group and no activities.  Anyway, we shared a spiritual thought, then sent the kids through a labyrinth of chairs blindfolded.  At the end they had to walk on a chair and bench, then do a trust fall.  Someone would guide the blindfolded person through just by talking and catch them when they fell.

I hope all is going well for everyone at home.

Elder Malmrose