I look at my shadow in front of me as the hot Brasilian sun beats upon my back, I hear loud voices of young girls shouting and talking in loud voices, obviously to grab our attention, I laugh to myself as they pass and think, they are no more than 12 years old, but then I realize that those kinds of things are normal for Brasil.... Just like a lot of the world.... I look up and as a car passes by I look quickly to the ground to avoid getting dust in my eyes. The dust is already on my shoes and pants and I don't want it in my eyes... then I hear a loud voice of a man, and he shouts " Hey Elders!" and points in the air and starts clapping as if we are rock stars...obviously he is drunk, no drunk man lets us pass without saying hi. They love us. We don't get hurt.
people respect the Authority, the Power we have. they can feel that.

So anyway, my week was good, it was hard, but good, we did a lot of contacts and knocked on a lot of doors and nothing came out of it, no one wanted to let us in.

We tried so hard...

Then on Sunday when we got to church a member gave us a reference and so we passed there in the afternoon, the family was great, they were exactly what we had been praying for, a family that can be ready to have the gospel in their lives!

This last week was short, long and everything in between. we taught a girl named Gislaine, she is 25 and is engaged but wants to break it off because her financé is lazy.... and not exactly what she was looking for after all and she is loving the visits and is accepting all of it... she is reading the Book of Mormon and is very excited. We just need to get her to go to church....

I did a contact with her last week and she wanted us to come over the next day, which is rare and gave us food twice!

That is about it.... The transfer is in 2 weeks and this Thursday we have a conference with Elder Godoy..... I hope it isn't lame, I´ve heard that some of his trainings are boring....

So anyway, Happy Graduation, Happy end of School and Happy Birthday Chantay Carter!!!!!!!

I hope your week is good,

I am Elder Richardson, LD and I end mine epistle, amen

Is Taylor ever this serious? Really?
Joseph Smith Jr. Street--how cool!

I look to the left and then I look to the right, I look back to the left and an old car passes by, I say after the next one.... slowly in my mind, thinking about 3 steps ahead of what I am going to do.... I say, NOW!!!!!!!!!! and run across the road and jump the barrier as if in an action movie, I stop and see that no one is coming and continue until the other side, I am back in a place I know, we continue to walk and see no one on the street... then two bikes ride by with 3 children on one and a boy and a girl on another, they are probably dating. We pass in front of the bar and see all of the drunks sitting and watching us silently, not saying a word. I stop the man in front of me and my comp continues on to talk to the woman with 3 small children in front of her house, I ask the man if he has ever talked to missionaries before, he says he has, but doesn´t remember when, so I try to get his address and he says he is always busy and gets home only at 5, I tell him I work until 9:30 everyday so no problem, then he tries to say he is from another church and I tell him, it's ok, our message is for everyone, so he reluctantly gives me his address, it's probably fake, and I move on to rejoin in our journey with my comp.

I make many phone calls, I call my district and talk to one of the Elders, and I say hey, we should do a division tomorrow, meet us in the center after lunch, give me a call when you are done. He says ok, when will it end, I say about 6:30 or 7 tonight, I have stuff to do Friday morning..... We meet and do our division, we work hard and walk to the other side of the city and back in 2 hours.... no distance is too much for us...

So anyway, my week was good. It was kinda long though, I did a division with Elder Sharratt and we met a girl who was baptized my Elder Holmes and Elder Duncan....

We also went to Rua Joseph Smith Jr. We crossed the freeway and went to a school where I heard a beautiful sound, that of a trombone and went and played with the kids learning to play trombone, man that was fun.

We went to Birigüi and had a meeting with Presidente Prieto and the Assistants, which sounds like a rock band name. I got a package with pens and stuff, it was cool and it also had pins (tie tacks) and an oil vial for blessings.... que bom, now I have one again. (His was lost when his bag was stolen before Christmas.) And thanks Dante for sending the Belle keychain. I have it hanging on my bag.

We had a Churrasco for lunch with fresh coconut and some plant called Mandioca, it was pretty good, the guy always makes Churrasco for us. Then another lunch we had with some Gaúchos and I left there speaking with a Gaúcho accent, that was pretty strange....

Other than that my week was pretty normal, work, walk, work, walk, work...... but it was a good week nonetheless.

When we were knocking on doors I pressed an intercom button and a dog answered and started barking and no one came, so we thought it was a house run by dogs.... it was kinda creepy.

I am Elder Richardson, LD, missionary of Araçatuba, and I end mine epistle, amen

Taylor and his companion Elder João

I walk down the dusty road and I look to my right and I see a field of grass, and I look to my left and see a dog walking along the street and in the distance I see someone walking toward us, and then I see the small store on the corner that is also a bar. I stop and take a look at my planner as I wipe the sweat from my head and wait for the person to come, I talk to them and I get the address saying, we´ll visit there another day, not knowing when I will be visiting them. They walk away probably with many things clouding their mind.... we enter the store to buy something to drink and to get out of the burning sun. I find what I want, Guaraná, which is kinda like Root Beer, well ok it has nothing to do with Root Beer, except you have so many different brands and it is all the same thing and everyone has a slightly different flavor but it is all.... GUARANÁ....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLI ROSENLOF!

So anyway this last week was good, but hard, we didn´t get in a single house this last week, well ok new houses, and even the older houses that was hard, like no one was home and no one wanted to go to Church, man it was really hard. It was a good week though, I liked it.

So anyway, I have a funny picture of Elder Passos eating pop rocks and he looks as if he is in horrible pain and I showed them to a girl and she about died laughing.

We always have a lot of drunk dudes talking to us about whatever, they ask for money, just want to talk, some just say hi, but always, always, always the drunk dudes get us.

We went to an English school again and made pancakes, that was fun, but I always forget to speak English....

During a lunch, we were waiting to pray so we could eat and then the lady and her son held hands, and so my comp said something funny thinking they were joking, and so I waited for the prayer and the lady looked at me and said in a stern voice, " take his hand." so I did and then she started to pray.... ok maybe for some of you that isn´t that bad, but here it is, that is a very evangelical thing to do and other churches do that, and so we try to avoid all appearances of other churches because it can confuse the members here and then other things will go wrong.

Oh I don´t know if I already said this but my comp ate McDonald´s for the first time a couple weeks ago and so on Saturday we got money for lunch and he wanted to go there, so we did, he loves McDonald´s..... hahahaaha

Oh I ate pumpkin for lunch last week that was the weirdest thing I ate last week...

That was about it, it was a good week.

I am Elder Richardson, I know this Church is true, I am a missionary, LD, in Araçatuba, and I fight for Truth, Justice, and God Almighty. I do what I must do, I encourage all of you to take up your arms and join me in this ongoing battle that we will win in the end, and I end mine epistle, amen.

As I walk down the street the hot Brasilian sun beats upon my tired and scarred face, scarred from the sun and the dirt that constantly flies through the air of the interior of São Paulo, I look to my side and I see a man, sitting in front of his house, and I know that he will not leave until it is time to go in to sleep, I look to the other side and I see a girl in short shorts and a tank top with a hose in her hand cleaning the sidewalk and her sister is sweeping the leaves, I then wonder who should I talk to? who needs the gospel in their lives? they all do so I tell my comp to take one side as I take the other, Then we knock upon the doors of the houses one by one, to see if anyone wants to hear our message now. Some say yes, some say no, some not now. When? When will they hear it? We may never know.....

Then I sing a song, hooray for p-day the best day of the week it always came with email and no lunch unless I pay!

This last week was good, I got to talk to my parents on Sunday, that was cool, my new comp is Elder João he is from Rio Grande do Norte, and he already served a mission but is now doing a cortopraza one to help out. The funny thing is I speak better portugês than him.

I talked to a girl that looked like a vampire and then some drunk dudes asked me about what team I go for, so I lied not to get in trouble and the guy said Hey look even the Elders go for that team!!!!!!!!

I actually asked to eat a tomato, and for those of you who know me, know I don´t like them, but I ASKED FOR ONE!!!!!!!

This week was good, we did a bunch of contacts and worked hard!

Here in Araçatuba we have some of the hottest girls ever! Just so you know!

I love it here, I want you all to serve. You all need to go so you can gain a testimony of the Savior and serve the Lord.

I love what James E. Talmage said about the Savior in Jesus the Christ:

“Even the profane sinner in the foul sacrilege of his oath acclaims the Divine Supremacy of Him whose name he desecrates.”

Even the bad know Him.

I am Elder Richardson, LD, and I end mine Epistle, amen

Well another transfer has come and gone and now we have the novidades!

I´m still here in hot hot Araçatuba and I will get a new comp, apparently he is a member from Américo Brasiliênse, my beloved first city. I will find out later today.

So anyway this week was good, it went by fast, and so did this transfer. Now I will have to do everything on my own, this kid hasn´t even gone to the CTM yet!

Now I´ve got to be a super missionary, for real this time!

This transfer will be good, I´m going to make a year and 3 on the mission at the end of this month, crazy huh?

So I really don´t have much to say except it was a good week, we worked pretty normally, I went to an English school again to help out, it was pretty fun.

I love it here actually so I´m not bummed out that I´m staying, I´m actually pretty excited to be here still.

I´m sorry this one is short. But hey nothing super crazy happened!

Love you all

I am Elder Richardson, LD, and I end mine epistle, amen