"I even gave a nice wave trying to wake up everyone from this dead stare at my feet."

hey family!
the new area is pretty cool here, but it looks like we're going to do alot of traveling this transfer, so i'm not sure how much work we're going to get to do in our area. The first trip that we took was on Monday to Manaus for the zone leader meeting thing that i told you guys about 6 weeks ago. I'm still here in Manaus, and i'll only leave tonight at 9pm on another 5 hour bus ride to Itacoatiara. And then next monday, i'm going to come back to Manaus for Zone Conference and interviews. And then we'll probably go back again Tuesday or something. and then we go on our splits with all the other companionships in the different cities, which will be about... 3 more trips, 1 by boat, plane, and bus. So.. as you can see i'm going to be traveling alot, which is cool, i like to travel and see other places. Last week was pretty interesting. After i emailed you guys and left the internet house, i was walking home with E. M. Souza, but i was just in shorts and sandals, and people just started staring at me when i was passing. Really odd and weird.. and then E. M. Souza pointed out that it was probably my feet everyone was looking at, because they're really really white. And on the way home we passed in front of a school, and all the teenagers were doing this little whisper giggle and point thing.. and then we got through that.. almost home... and then there was a huge group of people waiting in this government food line thing. And at first, only a few people noticed my really white feet.. and then everyone started to notice and looked over at me and didn't say anything, just stared at us as we passed.. I even gave a nice wave trying to wake up everyone from this dead stare at my feet. I guess the indians aren't used to white people... i think it must've been something like the conquistadors when the indians saw them for the first time.. as we passed everyone turned and watched us leave. So that was one of my weird first experiences in Itacoatiara. things are looking pretty well for families to baptize. E. M. Souza has been teaching some families here for a few months here and now they're accepting baptism and are almost completely ready. We have 2 families for April 10th and a few others for April 17th. So this is going to be a pretty great transfer. it looks like the eggstravaganza was pretty fun. thanks for the pictures! congratz for getting 3rd prize in the cookoff Laura. ya, If you could sign me up for MCC this fall that'd be great. and if you could send my application to BYU for the winter that'd be great too.

General conference will be pretty good. I was pretty excited because Elder Jeffrey R. Holland is going to come to visit our mission in the end of April, but i'm not going to be able to see his visit, because i'm going to be stuck in Itacoatiara. So this is the second time i miss an apostle coming to the mission. Last time it was Elder Cook in Cuiabá. So that's kind of lame. i guess i'll get to see a recording of the meeting or something. maybe i can convince president to let us come or something.

My companion also is a zone leader. We are a pretty odd looking pair but we get along great. Maybe you've heard of that TV show "Rob and Big". We probably look alot like that, just the mormon version.

Thanks for the email and pictures! Great to hear from you guys again. Have a great week, love you guys! bye
-Andrew