Evidently they never run out of animals in Brazil that want to know the truth.

E ai meu amigos em EUA! (Hey there my friends in the USA!)

Muito bom aqui. Eu gosto do Brasil. Oi vocês via Copo do Mundo? VAI LÁ BRASIL!!!!!!! (Very good here. I like Brazil. Did you see the World Cup? Go Brazil!—something like that . . .)

I will hit 4 months on Wednesday!!!!!! or Quarta-Feira!!!!!!!! (And it looks like he finally learned to tie that tie!)

Okay time for Inglês! Well okay this week we had a baptism, and because I am newer on the mission I got to do it. Her name is Irlaini Dos Santos De Deus. She is 13, and her best friend is a member who brings her to Church on Domingos.....

It’s been really hard this week, not because we are slacking or we hate each other.... in fact we do the opposite of that... Its because of the World Cup. I’m in Brasil where everyone freaks out! We are allowed to watch the games but after we just go home..... it’s like 6 when we get home... it’s for our safety, because people are drunk and stuff on the streets.... It’s pretty good though.... Lots of people aren’t on the streets or home because of this though, so it makes it hard for us to get work done. Normally we get work done but once the World Cup is over we will go back to normal.

Oh man, at one almoço (lunch) this last week my comp who is Brasilian told me that one thing was peixe..... which is fish, and I really don’t like fish, so I decided I’d brace myself for fish and then I took a bite and it tasted okay.... but not really fishy.... so then I looked at him and he said, it’s not peixe.... it was pretty funny!

Taylor has gained much. . . strength?

My comp is Elder Malaquias; he is from Curitiba and his whole family are members. Oh yeah he is 20 and has been on the mission for 10 months.

And we teach Inglês here and I was having the guys do sentences, using verbs I gave them and one guy wrote, “Shut up and drink your milk!” it was really funny!

Oh yeah on Saturday we went with the Branch President to help him and his wife clean the church and we needed to clean our baptimsimal "font" (it's more of a pool) and so we got in our normal clothes--I had on jeans and a t-shirt and a hat. And the branch president knows a little english and he said Holy Crap! when he saw me.... It was funny....

Not the vision that scared the Branch President, but it would scare most people. . .

And Brasil has won their 2 games in the Copo Do Mundo!!!!!! Vai Lá Brasil!!!!!!!

I am Elder Richardson, Cartographer, and Keymaster in Américo Brasiliense and I end mine epistle amen.

Love you guys um grande abraço! (a big hug!)

Elder Richardson

So tough, so very cool. . .