Greetings from Carregado!

Hello Beloved Family!

Life is great! I am now serving in the bonified area of Carregado with Elder Timothy Daniel Hansen. And alas! we´re moving apartments today and I do not have my planner with me that has Sandra and Neuza´s full names. Sorry! Next week for certain. And incase anyone is interested, the apartment address here in Carregado is:

Praceta João Álvares Fangundes
Lote 2 11ºDto
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Anyways, life is great! Elder Hansen is serving his last 6 weeks and will be going home on August 7th. But I´m gonna do my best to keep helping him work his hardest, sprint to the finish, and avoid that silly disease of Trunkyitis. But shouldn´t be too hard, because he is a good Elder who has and is working hard. I´m excited to be working here - lots of work to do and challenges to rise up to! Great day great day great day!!! When I first arrived I found out that we´d be moving within a week (today) so I didn´t unpack everything. We finished moving over all of our stuff and we´re gonna get our shopping done and then clean up the apartment we´re moving out of. Busy busy busy.

Carregado is gonna be a blast! There are some good members here, they just need to get fired up! I would use Dad´s mighty battle cry (Woo-Woo!) but I´ll save it for dire circumstances. ;) We´re both in the branch presidency - Elder Hansen is 2nd counselor and I am secretary (I guess that doesn´t really count as being part of the presidency but oh well, I get to help!). Most of the members live in a town that is further away and we can only go over there every so often due to limited travel funds, but I´m sure we can make it work to go over there and work with them when we need to. The 1st counselor in the branch Presidency, Irmão António (he´s Cape Verdian!), lives near us here in Carregado, as well as a Brazilian family. Unfortunately, the step dad, Leandro, only got baptized to marry the mom, Adriana, and is a lazy bum. But Brenda, Adriana´s 16 year old daughter, has a heart of gold and the missionary zeal like no other. She´s got a little brother Samuel, who just turned 10. Good family.

Anyways, that´s about it. Question for the board (aka all you amazing family members who have greater wisdom and experience than I at firing people up): any advice? I´d love some!

Thanks Kit and Kev for those great pictures along with the news in your blog post email thing! I love my family!

K, Mom asked me if I want anything for my birthday. Honestly, I can´t think of anything I really need besides the electric razor... AND of course all of your wonderful love, support, prayers, and emails! :D If ya´ll really do feel like sending stuff, then good ol´American cereal and goodies, peanut butter, and handwritten letters never hurt. Otherwise, whatever you think I would like, especially as a missionary, seeing as the majority of you know what missionaries like to get.

Hey Mom and Dad, could ya´ll send me my other memory card that I mailed to you before? The one I have is raking in the numbers - over 700 pictures. Just wanna be safe!

To quote a wise man: `Well, I love you!` It´s true... I love ya´ll and am praying for you! Let me know about all the fun you have at Aspen Grove!

--Elder Ellis V
CM SBF FDP S&H