We have little victories every day.

All is well, all is well! Tudo bem!

First off, I want to tell you that I saw the MASSIVE RAT in the sewer yesterday. It was seriously the size of the cat. And I saw a smaller one this morning. What am I doing in the sewers? Tracting, sleeping, making breakfast. We have open sewers, here! Sewage flows through the streets next to piles of garbage! Oh yeah! It´s sweet!

I can´t emphasize how ghetto everything is here! More than half of the businesses I see, actually probably more than 3/4 in our area, are ran out of garages. It´s soooo sketchy!

It´s been raining all week, so not much heat nor humidity. It gets surprisingly cold here, like in the 60s! Low 60s at night! I have to use my blanket!

So, Elder Baisden (my American companion) and I thought Thanksgiving was last week, and he got super trunky. Oops! Yep, there´s no Thanksgiving in Brazil, but we have feasts every single day, when we are fed almoço (lunch). Luckily, we walk a TON. We probably spend a few hours a day walking up the hills and through the alleys of the city. We´re always sweaty! Cool thing about Brazil: culture allows you to go up to any house and ask for a drink of water, and they do it happily! Not so cool, you don´t know if the water is clean or not.

Elder Aguiar is 24, and joined the church 3 years ago. He was a member for a year and a half before going on a mission! He´s crazy awesome! And Elder Baisden and I help him learn English. He and Elder Baisden went into the CTM together and are super tight! You should totally send us Natal (Christmas) ties! And some simple recipes would be great! I have a recipe for Brazilian Lasagna for you (SO GOOD) that I´ll send next week, maybe with some pictures (maybe).

Not much else to say. I wish you could just read my journal, because I forget stuff right after I write it down (I´m at 135 pages in this one). But it´s in Portuguese half the time, so that wouldn´t do!

People love me here! It´s fun being an American in Brazil, able to sufficently speak Portuguese after only 2 weeks!

The work here is really hard, and we haven´t had much success, but the people are ready, and we have little victories every day. Something´s gonna give this week! I just know it!

Keep up the scripture reading!

I love you!

Elder Richins