easter=kill judas iscariot‏

So to start things off, no the pics never went through but it isn't because of inbox space because I have 7GB free still. I think it is because of outdated lan house browsers that I cant see them because there are a bunch of blank boxes... but who knows.

But yeah, easter is nuts here. The first thing I noticed is that they give chocolate eggs to EVERYONE that are hollow. Sometimes they put video games in them, or more chocolate, or sometimes nothing. And the kids get presents. But that is not way out of the norm right? well, then one day we were walking down the street at night and this policemen stopped us and I was like "what gives broseph?" and he told me that there was a parade coming. Then for the next 10 minutes people walked by super slow. The guy in front was dressed up like jesus and was dragging a giant cross across the ground/kind of on his shoulders. Then there were roman gaurds with him. Then a lot of catholic preists walking behind him in preist robes with their hands together prayer style. From what I gathered from local people it is supposed to be a reinactment of what really happened, and I don't really remember the priests in the bible being catholic, but it was a nice addition. Then there are just all the members of the catholic church walking behind them in normal clothes with candles. neat.

Then like a couple days later, someone told me they almost died in a car accident that same day. And so, I asked how the car accident happened, and he was like "because of JUDAS." So apparently it happened like this: they were driving down the street and saw someone laying in the road, so they swerved to miss him and almost hit another car and like spun out and when they stopped they ran to go see who was in the street so that if it was a drunk they could get him to the sidewalk or something. When they got to the guy in the street they saw it was a dummy and they were like "oohhh, it's JUDAS!!!" and ran and got in their car and ran it over a few times and then left. So that story left me dumb founded. Upon further inspection they informed me that on easter you get a dummy and dress it up like judas iscariot and find creative ways to beat it to death in defense of the ressurected savior. While it makes little sense to me, I find it quite funny and exciting. In most churches I have seen around here lately there are all these little kids like knifing judas iscariot in the neck and stuff. They sure hate judas. So that is fun.

Other than that we are just learning portuguese and how to be a missionary. My companions name is Elder Burkett. He is from Pennsylvania and is a farmer. He loved to work on cars and then do crazy stuff with them before the mission and is super laid back and humble and a hard worker. I think he is hilarious. One example of a normal quote is "One time, I grabbed one of those Dodge Ram sport 2 wheel drive trucks in it with a bad engine, and it had another engine in the back. So I put the other in and it still didn't work. So then I got frustrated and put a 5.9L 360HP in it. I had to cut the oil pan to get it in there, but now if you give it some gas, you can peel the those tires right off." Also one time, he cut a four-wheeler in half and put a street bike engine in it and then put it back together and then took it to like 150mph. And everytime he tells these stories it is really slow and like an old man. And he loves working hard which is the coolest because he is ready to do whatever and never complains even though I am pushing him a lot. He is going to be a really good missionary too because even though he doesn't really speak portuguese, I can tell his heart is in the right place. So that is fun.

All in all he is a great kid, and this is a great ward, and even though this week went incredibly slow the members are giving refferals and we are going to get a lot done here.

To end I am going to try to remember a George Albert Smith quote I read this last week. please excuse the butchering... "Every happiness and every joy that has ever been worthy of the name has been a result of obedience to the commandments of God, and following his council."

Life is simple. I love you all and I hope you all have a great week. Laterssss.