FIRST WEEK IN Brazil

First baptism of my mission this week! WOOHOO!!! Best Christmas present ever. Besides a ginormous T.V. That'd be cool too. Anyway, Elder Dup and I got to baptize two of our investigators this week, Iuri and Iago (brothers). I baptized Iuri (yes, in Portuguese), and Elder Dup baptized Iago. Iago is old enough to recieve the Aaronic priesthood and enter into the Deacon's quorom, and I'm really excited to see him continue to progress. Iuri is 11, so he is almost a Deacon also. Both of them are really excited, and though I still can barely make out a word they say, I know they are both building their testimonies each day. 

Besides it being Christmas and all, and besides the baptisms, not much has happened this week. So many people were gone for the holidays! I don't blame them  though; Brazil has a ton of awesome places to go visit during the holidays. Anyway, this week, we made a new friend! On Thursday, after our lunch appointment, Elder Dup and I made our way back to the apartment. When we got there, I found a big fat lizard resting on my pillow. Yup. Just chilling there, like he owned the place. Elder Dup, my mission daddy, fearing for the well-being of his son, chased the little guy outside. He got bit a couple times, but he hasn't started growing scales or anything weird yet, so I think he'll be fine.

This coming week, Elder Dup and I are expecting a bunch of baptisms. We have a lot of dates set up for this week, and they all seem really solid! Our last date was set up just yesterday. It was the coolest thing ever! This guy, Dacio, probably about 60 years old, came to church, started talking with us, came to gospel principles, and said he wanted to be baptized! Elder Dup asked him if this week would work, and he was all like "Yeah this week will work!" Except in a completely different language, so I don't know exactly what he said. Elder Dup says he was really excited about baptism, and that he was sharing how his own personal thoughts about life were answered by our gospel. The whole time I was looking around, trying to find the angels that sent this guy. Really! It was so cool! We're really excited to teach him this week, and to see him baptized, and eventually to see him called as an apostle or something.

It's really been an awesome week. I can't wait to see what this week has in store! Atê mais!