Moonwalk for the Lord

Well, what can I say, another Christmas has come and gone.
My Christmas was great. It was great to talk to you guys and hear that everything is going great. Thanks to all that sent me a package. I loved them all.
Well 12/26/09 I had another baptism. It was a girl named Samiley. She is 15 and her cousins are members. We had been teaching her and she was progressing so well that we decided to baptize her a week early. She was so nervous to be baptized though. She thought that she would have to change her life and stop listening to Michael Jackson music and all that. ha ha When she said that, I just stood up in the living room and started to bust out my MJ moves, and do the "moonwalk." It was so powerful it just about melted her face off. And I said, "Look, I like Michael Jackson and I'm a member of the true Church of Jesus Cristo, so what do you say lets be baptized?" And she said, "Yes."
So I'd like to thank Rob Haynes and Jason Carpenter and all of their friends for teaching me how to "Moonwalk" when I was little. :) It's funny how people think that baptism will change their life too drastically like they can't play basketball or can't wear jeans and stuff. But it's sad at the same time because there are many churches down here that do this, they don't allow anything. So sometimes just at the word "baptism" people get scared and run away. But I love teaching them about true baptism and how the Church of Jesus Cristo [Christ] has this atoritade [authority] to do this work, I know that this church is true and that only through this Church and atoridade [authority] one can be saved.
Happy New Year to Everyone,
Love,
Elder Manis

Short Man

Eai Familia,
To answer your questions; ya Campos is pretty far away from the coast and ya, it's a big city. Lots and lots of people. It's about the same size as San Diego. My new companion is Elder A. Silva, this week I got to know him a lot better and he is a crack up. Remember "50 First Dates", the little dude that wants to be a body builder? haha Well that's A. Silva. haha In the mornings he always does push ups and stuff, and I always ask him how many push ups he did. He is always like, "I did 37." But he says it in a big tough guy voice. He is funny, he bearly comes up to my shoulder. Let's just say he has "short man syndrome" haha its so funny.
Here in Campos it has been storming a lot lately. There is a huge river that has been overflowing and wrecking houses and stuff, its sad to see. :( And when I say storm in Brazil, I'm talking 500 times crazier than a monsoon in Arizona. It's crazy to the max.
As far as work, its going great. It's so amazing to have members that actually love you and want to help you in any way possible. It's amazing, it's heaven in comparison to Cariasica. The lessons are coming along great. We have found some really good people that I feel that the Lord has prepared for us. It's so amazing to teach someone that actually pays attention. Not only with their ears but with their heart. I can't explain how much less stressed I am here. haha But of course with all the good there is bad as well. We still find the people that don't want anything to do with us. But like I said before, the ones that listen make it more worth while.
As for Christmas. It doesn't feel like Christmas at all. It's still hot here and there is nothing going on Christmas wise, like Christmas trees and stuff. But its all good. I'm looking forward to calling home and talking to all of you. Just a warning, its been a good couple of months that I haven't spoken English so it's probably gonna be a little backwards when I speak to you. But it's gonna be great. I will call home Christmas Eve and give you all the details and stuff, for calling. I'll call about mid-day there, OK?
Thanks guys.
Love ya,
Elder Manis

Campos

Hey Guys,
Well, yup I got transferred. I'm now it the city of Campos in Rio de Janeiro. It's pretty cool down here. My area is on the outskirts of the big city and is the smallest of the mission. I have no clue why. Missionaries haven't been in this area for about 6 months. The area is known for making missionaries depressed and making them skinny too. Ha Ha Or you could say the food sucks.
Well, to tell you the truth, I don't see any of that. This is almost the best Christmas present ever. The branch is great, the members leave [church] with you and teach lessons. The branch president has about 160 references for us, so now all we have to do is get to work. Ha Ha It's going to be great. I think we are going to have a lot of success here in this city. President said he was holding this area out for 2 missionaries whom he could trust to work hard day in and day out. So I got a lot of motivation from him. He is the best, I love him.
My new companion is Elder A. Silva from Fortaleza. He is cool, he is really short and stocky and is a hard worker. We have been out for the same amount of time in the mission field, so we are both senior companions. Ha Ha I live with 3 other Brazilians again. :) It's great, I never speak English. It's the best.
Well as for the Christmas phone call. I'll call you a week before Christmas to talk to you all about what's going to happen, what number you will use to talk to me and all that. Sorry guys, no Skype ;(
I gotta go. I have a lot of stuff to do to get this new area on a roll. (haha P-day.. relax, haha ya right, hahah)
Love you guys,
Elder Manis