(Link to photos --> CLICK HERE!)

Hello everyone!
It has been a LONG time since I have written, but this post won’t be the monster that it should probably be. I have four days left here in Fortaleza and then it is off to two weeks of adventuring. It is even worse than last time; there is now 14 pages of journal single-spaced since my last post.
Let’s see, on November 8th, we went on splits with some of the Elder’s from the office. There were three of them, they had one appointment and some referals to look up. I went with Elder Dustin Olsen (Chantelle if you read these posts, yes, this is the same Dustin Olsen you went to High School with, he says hi!) while Hector went with the other two Elders. They had some people call in wanting a copy of the Book of Mormon.
I really enjoyed the time going out to the appointment and coming back because we had so much in common to talk about. Our apartment can be too quite some times. When we got there we talked to a couple. The man is a member and is living with his “wife”. They are trying to get married but when you are poor it can be difficult, so the mission is going to help them out. They are really excited. She wants to get baptized, and will be (when they are married and not living together out of wedlock). She has as strong testimony of our Savior; we talked to her about faith in Christ, and living His gospel. We also taught her about fasting. Oh how I wished I were a missionary again. I could feel the comfort of the Spirit as we taught and could remember the joy of dedicating myself to the Lord full-time. There is nothing like it.

That weekend we took our first real big vacation. We went out the absolutely incredible paradise resort town of Jericoacoara. All the pictures on this post come from the trip. It is like waking up every morning in a post card. Everything was picturesque. My pictures I put up on facebook (link above) can very ineptly give you a sense of what it was like. On the dune buggy ride we took in the morning there were a couple of times where I closed my eyes because of sand (everyone else was smart enough to have sunglasses. I think I was the only one in the entire city to not have them) and would think, "am I really cruising along a tropical beach in a buggy on some random place halfway across the world?" Opening my eyes could only bring a grin. It was pretty neat. On the trip we saw seahorses, nearly extinct yellow crabs, crossed a river on a ferry, kayaked in a fresh water lagoon, made new friends (Marcio, Lia, and Claudia), and went to the spot where a city once stood. They had built it upon the sand. Silly Brazilians, we learn not to do that in primary. “The wise man built his house upon the rock, and the foolish man…” you know the rest.
That night after one of the most fabulous dinners ever we watched the sun set over the ocean from the top or a snowy white dune. There even was a couple galloping by on horseback along the beach at sunset—straight out of a fantasy book. There was a group praticing capoeira on the beach and walking back into town we were surrounded by music and light. It was a fabulous weekend, in a more relaxing indulgent way. It was a wonderful break though by the end of the second day I was itching to get home and get back to work. If I had the chance now between Jericoacoara again and missionary splits I would choose the latter in a heartbeat.
I have discovered Bonbons here. The hazelnut chocolate ones covered in milk or white chocolate are to die for. We use Bonbons to motivate our students to achieve their goals.

In institute the next week, Natália told me a wonderful story. She said Brother Carboni, who is the institute president in another stake, had a daughter that past away. Even with the truths of the gospel he was really struggling with this and hadn’t found a way to reconcile his feelings. Later he had the opportunity to go to Salt Lake City to go to General Conference. After the conference he had the opportunity to be in the presence of the prophet Gordon B. Hinckley with some others. With out brother Carboni ever saying anything to President Hinckley, President Hinckley turned to brother Carboni and said, “please be at peace about your daughter, she is happily teaching the gospel in the spirit world right now”. The Lord works in wonderful ways.

The next weekend we went to the fish market in the morning and bartered for all sorts of fish we had never seen before; big fish, small fish, (red fish, blue fish jk), fish with teeth, squid and more. We had them fry up several different kinds of fish and a bunch of shrimp for us. We ate until we couldn’t eat anymore and on the way home gave the leftovers to a starving little boy. It was a good morning.
In the evening we went to a rock concert (that wasn’t so hot at first) and stayed for the first couple of bands. It started with a bad 50’s rock cover band and moved on to what Hector called “butt rock”. It was a Brazilian attempt at Metallica...not so good. However, in the evening there was a great young band that had a sound that was a mix between Coldplay and Radiohead, and after that there was a Brazilian Singer (girl) who sang beautifully to much more traditional Brazilian sounds and rhythms. So it ended well.

I am going to leave it there for now. It has been a truly wonderful time here in Brazil and I feel like I was able to really immerse myself in the culture and make a difference too. Above all I feel like I drew closer to my Savior during this time, which was largely my intent for coming out here. I can say even more strongly that I know that God lives, and I know His Son lives and loves me. He loved me and each one of us enough to die for us. I am thankful for a merciful God that has given us the truths of the gospel, and has given us scripture that we might learn to mold our lives to His principles. As Alma “I would not that ye think I know of myself, but of God”. I am grateful for a Father in Heaven who has given me the Spirit so that I might know these things, as I know now, with all certainty of heart. See you all when I get back in less than three weeks!
Yours truly, Jason