This is getting exciting!

Dear family,

This past week was was crazy. I had very little time in my area because we did 4 divisions. It was pretty cool though to get to go to so many areas in such little time. I love exploring Brasil haha! 

This week, we had a huge miracle.... 86 people in Sacrament meeting!!! It's growing so quickly here! We´ve been doing weekly fasts and we´ve been seeing weekly results! Araripina has been open since October of 2013 (Remember Elder Gerdner from Pacajus? He opened it :) ) and it's always been a pretty slow growing place. We didn't even have enough room in the house for everyone! We had to open up one of the side rooms to fit everyone. Best part is is that President Costa (District President) decided to do a surprise visit that day! He wanted to make us a Branch in the moment, but unfortunately, when he did interviews, we faulted 3 worthy men! I was so sad. But now we´re going full speed ahead. We´ve organized our missionaries and split up all of the people that are close to getting the higher priesthood or that have it already and can be reactivated. We´ve made a goal with the Elders and with these men to be worthy and ready on the 15th of March. If everything goes perfect, we´ll add 12 men with the higher priesthood to our group in 2 Sundays. I love this work. I know that the Lord really will provide a way. This is getting exciting! Pray for us!! 

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

-- 

Elder Hamstead

After our last district meeting :) (not sure what happened to Elder Munsons face haha)

JAN 27 Walking on the shady side of the road

Hey mom! So the appointment today went well. The doctor confirmed that it isn't cancer or malignas. She took out the stitches without any problem. I was in and out in a snap! The doctor just said that I should try to avoid direct sun light..
I don't think that it made much sense either. The doctor that cut it out had thought that it was cancer because it is strange for something like that to just appear. I called president to get permission to let you know how it went and he said that I could and he wanted to be copied on the email. So I'm gonna send the email to let you know how it was and you can respond with this. Or however you want.. Last week the doctor said that I should wear a hat or something to protect my skin for the rest of the mission. But the area presidency shot that down haha  Guess Im gonna be working on the shady side of the road  from now on haha

So the bus takes super long because it doesn't go directly to Fortaleza. It goes out of the way to other cities and at a couple stops on the way, it stops for about 30 mins. I sent you that report thing. I hope you can understand it, because I cant haha. That trips sounds awesome!! I miss going to the temple so badly and cant wait to go with you guys when I get back! Is Gma gonna move to our house? That article was super cool! Id love to have a hardcopy of it :)

Haha ya I wish. But the surgery went well. It was really weird. The injection at first hurt a ton. but after, I felt nothing. but just the realization that she was cuttin into my head made me sickish. She cut out a pretty big chunk though. I think youd be happy with it haha :)

The view on the way to Juazeiro

Some cool rocks that I saw on the ride :)

JAN 20 FAiITH + WORKS = MIRACLES

Sorry for not emailing yesterday! I was traveling for my surgery, went very well this morning. The doctor (a member) wants me to wear a hat for the rest of my mission. President is gonna try to get permission for that. Sister Fusco was there for the surgery and after, took us to Burger King / bought my medicines / gave me a bottle of presidents 100SPF / and took us hat shopping (She knew a place close by that has hats with built in UV protection. If it gets approved, she´ll buy one that we looked at for me). I'll be traveling next P-day as well to come back to Fortaleza for a checkup (I'll leave to Araripina tonight) and the tests on the chunch that they cut out of my head will be done in about a week. 

Ok, so last week was a pretty cool week. We were super rushed the entire week, in our area and in our zone. But somehow by the grace of God, we were still able to squeeze in 2 baptisms. Probably the 2 most stressful of my mission. I feel like Satan literally did everything in his power to stop theses baptisms from happening. But in the end, he lost, as he always has and always will :). These 2 girls are awesome. Their names are Gerlania (the one in the middle) and Erlani (with the green towel). Before you start thinking too much, the baby in Gerlanias arm isn't hers... It's her sisters. They've both had difficult lives but their huge change (that they had in the 8 days that we knew them before the baptism) was big enough to have an affect on me. It's crazy what God can do. Faith + Work = Miracles. 

n the Hospital with the chunk of my forehead in a bottle :)