Matt: June 29, 2011

Dear Family,
Wassup? So after the Debby Downer of a week we had last week, this week in comparison seemed real good. We've just been work work working all the time. Saturday we taught this lady and even though one of her 8 dogs was barking throughout the entire lesson, it went well. When we went to go get her Sunday morning to go to church she was already leaving the front gate as soon as we turned the corner. Then yesterday when we went back to teach her the plan of salvation the spirit was strong and she accepted the invite to be baptized. She said, "I don´t know about July 9th it´s real soon, but if that´s the day you´re having the baptismal service I´ll try and get ready." (oh yeah as if we couldn´t do it any other day) Awesome. So I came back saying, "Yeah it´s coming up here soon, but 3 things will help you the most be ready for this day. First: Praying to God to see if these things are true. Second: Going to church again. And third: aghhh, and this is our fault, I´m super emberassed because we don´t have one to give you; but reading the Book of Mormon will help you as well. We don´t have books right now, but we are going to try and find one, and-"
"Oh but Elder I have a surprise for you." Then she went to the shelf and clear on the top one she pulled out a dusty, musty, rusty old Book of Mormon and said, "Everybody told me to throw this away for a long time, but I held on to it because I thought one day I might use it...This was my daughters before she passed away. She even marked this part with a flower."
That´s when things got really emotional. She got all misty eyed, and my first begotten son started to cry a little. I wanted to cry or have some show of emotion, but it just wasn´t happening. It was one of those really tender mercies; one of those special moments when you can visually see a turning point... Awesome.
Well other than that, not much of the stuff you guys would like to hear about happened this week. Just same old same old.

Rhett&Erika- Congrats on having a baby. I am super proud/excited/happy sei lá for you guys, but the feeling is strong. Thanks for the pics, y'allsies are looking right nice now ye-HEAR!
Jor- There are few things uglier than the Brasililan street dogs, and one of them is a Portugal Portuguese accent... WOOF! Brasil é bem mais legal, já sei já. Pigeon a la mode sounds delish! Keep up the awesome business. Yeah anything that has to do with the birth process makes me queasy.
Al- I think I already mentioned this but your son´s initials are PDA... Just saying. Brace yourself for the middle school years. Especially if you decide to move and live here in Brasil... double woof!

Well I love you all. Sounds like everyone is doing great. I love you all and am enjoying my time here in Brasil.
THE CHURCH IS TRUE!

-Elder Matthew Wright Gegs "goal blocker" Gagon I of Curitiba