"Note to self: Do not fall in the River"

The ward where Andrew was serving had a party for him on his P-Day "The Birthday Party was also for Raifran who is in the middle of the photo with longer black hair."

Opening his presents - He looks a little worried.

According to his letter below Andrew says they have a tradition of smashing frosting in the face of all the party guests - It looks like they got him good.

Yay i'm 20 now. The actual bday was normal, but pday, or yesterday, i had a bday party with the ward and got socks, a tie, and also (to my surprise) a 1G memory card. So that was pretty cool. Also, it's "tradition" here to smash frosting into the faces of everyone at the bday party. So i got some great pictures and a video of it all happening and the chase and eventual capture of me. It was a great and fun night. it's also the reason that i couldn't send the email yesterday and why i'm sending it today. I also received the packages yesterday. I took pictures of everything, read all the letters, opened the presents and stuff. I still haven't sent that cd that i made of the photos, i just need to find time to make an envelope to fit the cd. I still haven't seen the package with the razors and everything, but i will get them eventually. If they're in Cuiaba it (according to the secretaries in the Manaus Mission) is their responsibility to send them, because they didn't give fair warning to the family about the address change. It should all end well, and if i don't hear anything about it this week, i'll call up the office again to find out more about it. Today and tomorrow we have the conferences, and after we have the transfer. So we'll see how that all goes, and how it ends up. I hope to go up, even though it'll be hotter, to see Manaus or Roraima, Roraima being the furthurmost north you can go in Brazil. This week some cool news. i saw a giant spider in someone's house about the size of my hand. I got a picture of it too. There's a lot of weird crazy insects and spiders and stuff. Also saw a crocodile in the river... so, note to self: do not fall in the river. and also, we marked a baptism with a woman in a family, and we'll see about the rest of the family. I still haven't taught the family, because they met them during splits with another group of missionaries, but i hear the whole family was really interested. Still haven't seen that boy that went to church and everything. He went to another city for treatments. I hope he's doing better now. It is still hot here. Even the brazilians everyday complain and everyone talks of moving away, but moving away requires money, and none but a few can fulfill that requirement. That's cool about the prisoner trip dad. did you get to spend a little time in the city, or only had time to get the guy and go?
Hope it's all going well for you guys there! Have a good week, i'll let you know what happens with the transfers and such this week! Talk to you guys next week, love you guys lots! Bye
-Andrew
PS: Laura, Good luck with school that's coming up. Don't worry about being a freshmen... before you know it you'll be a sophomore... ;)