Primeiro Batismo

Oi familia. There is bunch to write about this week and I hope I can get it all in, but the first and most exciting news is that William, one of the young men we have been teaching was baptized this last Saturday (which I performed) and was confirmed on Sunday! I was so happy, I am really excited for him. Ha the first thing he said after coming out of the water was. Oh, legal. (wow cool!) I had to laugh a bit inside. He is a joker, but really committed to The Lord. His father also came to see the baptism and I am excited to see how he felt, ha Willain's sister asked if she could be baptized too, she was so bummed when she found out she had to wait until she was eight.
   Also, we had our first transfer out here in the mission field this week. Elder Amaral left for Porto Alegre and we had  Elder Hansen come here. He is a great Elder and I am grateful for his being here. He wants to speak a lot of English with me though and I am trying to keep my mind geared towards Portuguese so probably going to ask him to speak to me in Portuguese.
Also I got the package this last week. Thanks a million. When I saw the box said cookies, I didn't expect homemade peanut butter cookies vacuum sealed for freshness! So excited. They haven't lasted long, I was sure to share, a few mysteriously disappeared too... I also got a healthy dose of letters with it. Thank you Heidi for the pictures too! Ha and the bubbles. The peanut butter just was wonderful, and fruit snacks just topped it off. Why have we never eaten the Welches kind before, they are so dang good.
So, I also had some interesting cultural experiences this week. Elder Gramosa found some sugar cane and so it was naturally brought home with us. And we cut up some sugar cane and had that for the past couple of days. I felt pretty cool eating wild sugar cane with my companion from Bahia.
So also, we ate capibara at a member house last night. Essentially it is the world's largest rat. It lives here, and Irmão Paulo had killed it a few days ago and we had churraso last night. This is a rodent about three feet long from what I understand. I only saw a drawing of it in the dictionary. It was actually really good. But I will eat almost anything.
When you are feeling down, count your blessings. I have really tried to write them down before, you don't have enough paper, trust me. I really felt full of gratitude this week. I know I have it good. And amazingly, I don't mean that in a material sense. Yes there is a lot of poverty here and I am grateful for my material blessings, but especially I was overwhelmed with the blessing of being born into a family that has the Gospel. Where we love each other and my siblings are my best friends.
The Lord also saw fit to humble me this week, I won't tell the whole story, but I had a moment when I really let my pride get the better of me this week. And somebody that I don't usually feel like I would want to take advice from really helped me out.
I read that same day, about The Savior being tempted of Satan, the temptation really wasn't in hunger, or falling off a building. It was in the word IF, to prove something, to satisfy pride and to prove a point. The Lord submitted to the will of the Father in all things. Just the majesty of His perfection astounded me this week, how easy it is for a split second to give in to our pride, and not once did He.
   Well, we passed up our goals this week, so now we are headed off to eat churraso and play some sports today. Pretty sure we are going fishing next P day too, so that is something I am WAY excited for. Only been a few times with dad, but I really like it.
I love you all, have a good week. And just another thought, if you have to say something, make sure it uplifts, or if there is a problem, speak with who you need to speak with. NOT anybody else. Okay, take care, I love you all.
Seu, filho, irmão e amigo. Elder David F Morgan