8/8/11

Hey you guys! Wow! This new area is so good! Instead of a branch full of youth, I´m now in a ward full of families! My new area is a really new part of the city, with a lot of young couples that live here, and the church has really flourished here in the last few years. The ward here has already divided 2 times, and the people are excited to help out the missionaries. I´m teaching a lot of families now. The biggest problem is that it´s really hard for people to get married here in Brazil. You need to have your ID, 2 testimonies, $400, and your birth certificates. Your birth certificates have to be new, and if they´re more than 3 months old, then you´ve got to go to the city where you were born to get a new one. It´s a little retarded. We´re helping 4 families get married though, and if everything goes right, one of them will get married September 10th. We marked the marriage and the baptism just this week! The very first time I was at their house I made them choose the date, and now the whole relief society is excited and preparing things for them. My companion was born in Argentina, but lived most of his life in São Paulo. He speaks Spanish, so maybe I´ll learn a little bit with him. :P He´s 24, and has been a member since he was 12. He waited a little bit to go on the mission, because he was drafted for the airforce, and then worked for a couple years. He´s pretty quiet, and responsible. He acts a lot older than I do, and I´m a little afraid to goof off in front of him and sing in the shower and stuff... he´s been on the mission for 4 months. We had a zone p-day today. We played soccer in the sand, and ate açai. It´s a cool fruit that is popular in the north end of Brazil. I´m a little tired now, and I´m ready to go home and sleep until 6 o'clock. I hope that everyone has a fun week this week! I´ve still got to get to know the rest of my area and my ward members, but next week we´ll already start to baptize people. This week we marked three baptisms. A girl will be baptized next week, a boy the week after, and the woman who we´re helping get married will be baptized after the wedding. Thanks for all your letters and prayers! The church is true! Love, Elder Forsyth