Hey Mom and Dad and everyone!!

That 5 generation picture is probably the coolest thing I have ever seen.  It was so good to see pictures of everyone.  Conner got the priesthood!!!  WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I  It is so weird to think that little Sara is going to college.  I am so happy that she was able to get a half scholarship!!!  After this first semester she is bound to get the full scholarship.  

Easter was really good.  We had a really cool pesquisador that went to church named Yuri- his baptism is marked for this Saturday.  We have to teach his mom though so that she can approve his baptism (he is only 17).  He has never had any kind of religiousness in his life at all (SUPER RARE here in Rio).  He is like an unspoiled canvas- free of the apostasies of the world.  He said some of the most profound things in the lesson we had with him on Saturday.  It seems like the good moral base that his parents gave him as a kid give him an easiness to understand and link the principles of the gospel together. We were teaching him about how the gospel blesses families and how God gave us our families so that we can be happy here.  He stopped and thought and said, "and just to show how much that God loves families, He did not send his only Begotten alone, but to Joseph and  Mary.-  families have got to be really important for Him."  

On the way to search for our pesquisadores before church, we got a call from the mission secretary and he was like" congrats Elder!!  you get to look for a new house!!"  We are going to be getting another pair of Elders here in my area!!!!!!!!!  Sulacap1 and Sulacap2!  We had the help of a member, and we found a new house already that is in a great place stratigically to divide the area.  Super psyched to get a new pair of Elders and help this ala grow super fast!  Also, another area in my district (Bento Ribeiro) will get another dupla of Elderes.  Our zone just grew a ton!   The work is going to fly and PDAYS are going to be super fun.  

This week, we were going to the train station to get to the mission office to drop off Elder Namanny (he finished his mission).  We had to grab a van (some crazy people like to drive vans around here to give people rides and charge 2,50 R$.  Sometimes these vans are run by the government, sometimes by banditos, but everyone uses them.  They drive CRAZY.  The road was slick and we were on a one way street with 5 lanes.  The light turned red and everyone was coming to a stop .  The van swerved to get into a lane without anyone in front, but aparently the car in the next lane over wanted to do the same thing.  The van driver threw on the brakes, the tires locked and we started to skid.  the wet asphalt wasnt giving any traction and the driver did some ninja move and hopped the van up onto the sidewalk, fishtailed, and screamed to a hault right beside a huge concrete telefone pole that we almost nailed.  Elder Namanny  and I looked at eachother as if to ask "Did we almost just die??"  I am glad we had prayed for safety before we left, because I know that God protected us.  I have already seen various vans slammed into telefone poles, but that day, the only casualty was my stained pants.

That pretty sums of the highlights of my week.  My new comp is Elder Amorim from Brasilia- he is a hard worker and has a little less than a year on the mission.  I have to train him how to be a ZL.  I am thinking with us receiving a new dupla of missionaries, I am going to have to stay here in Sulacap to help out this next transfer, but thats ok.  We have the trust of the members, and have a alot of great people to teach.  

Love you all!

Elder Stinnett