Oi tudo mundo!

First things first:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I consider it a tender mercy to write to you on your birthday! I hope your day is filled with lots of chocolate covered almonds and apple pie :)

Second: HAPPY HALF-BIRTHDAY YESTERDAY TANNER!!!! It´s official- you are now 17 1/2 years old. (haha I almost said "you have 17 1/2 years")

This week was really good, and a little hard on the stomach... Hey Elder Eliason, I just about laughed at your letter because you said the same thing!

But really, so this is what happened: Friday night we went to a house where the wife is a member but the husband isn't. And he has questions. A TON about the church. And he knows the Bible better than anyone else I know. And he loves to pick on the new missionaries. So we get there, and the fisrt thing he does is sit us down and starts pounding me with questions. Questions like:

-In Isaiah 4:1 it talks about 7 women for 1 man. Why is this? Why is this allowed? I only have one wife, and I don't want anymore.

-What are the three places in the Bible where it says that a member has to pay tithing?

-Where in the Bible does it talk about Joseph Smith?

-Where are the gold plates now?

-Exactly how many wise men were there that visited Jesus? Where in the bible does it say?

His argument was "you were born in the church, so you have 19 years of studying. You should know all these answers..."

Then, we sat down for dinner, and had some juice. Now, I've drunk more juice here than probably my whole life, and a lot of times, I don't even know what kind, but this time, when I drank, it was SOO BITTER. It stung my throat and it was everything I could do to not spit it out. My mind was racing to figure out what it was. Then the husband said, oh yeah, this is ONION JUICE!!!!!!!! OH. MY. WORD. It was seriously the worst thing I've ever drunk in my whole life. But, I saw all the other missionaries drink it, so I sucked it up, and finished my glass. Then they said, "oh yeah, you have lunch with us again on Sunday." I wanted to cry.

We were at the church on Sunday greeting people, and this husband and wife showed up. It turns out, they are super active, and were just playing with me. They like to tease all the new missionaries! It turns out, everyone else had LIME juice while I had onion. And they were doing everything they could to not laugh at me. When we returned yesterday for lunch, we had churrasco. MMMMMMMM SOOO GOOD!

Well, the work this week. It was pretty good. So we called one of our investigators on Thursday to see if he still wanted to continue and if he was serious. Well he said, "I've been thinking, and I want to be baptized." WHAT?! Awesome! So, we set up an interview the next day. He passed, and in the interview, they set up his baptismal date for the next day, Saturday. So we had a BAPTISM on Saturday!!!!! It was so wonderful! SO wonderful. But... he didn't come to church on Sunday. yeah. So he never received the Gift of the Holy Ghost- that which seals his covenant. Oh it broke my heart! We will try to work hard this week with him, so he will come to church this next sunday and receive the holy ghost then. I'm praying for him in all my prayers.

This work is so important, and I am just so grateful to be a part of it. I know the Lord blesses us when we are weak and he makes us strong.

I love you all, and hope you have an amazing week!

Com amor,

Sister Eliason

P.S. Mom- Tyler is right, Brazilians usually don't use any seasonings- just salt.

P.P.S. THANK YOU for the super bowl update- GO DENVER BRONCOS!