Lap 2.

On Wednesday, I finished lap 1 of the great missionary race here in Brasil. Dad keeps asking if I burnt a tie as part of the missionary rituals. The answer is no. Those who know me even a little bit should know that I wouldn’t be able to stand the sight of a tie burning in front of my eyes, let alone one of mine. Nevertheless, as a way to better commemorate my part of this 'ritual', I decided to give a tie away to someone too poor to have one. That seemed far more appropriate :)
First off, YAY! Rob’s doing better! IM SO HAPPY! I’ve been praying really hard for him.
So. This week was a lot better. Things got worked out really well with Veleda. Her baptism is scheduled for Saturday, but there is a high chance that it will be moved to next Saturday for cause of preparedness. Nevertheless, we are happy that all the issues got worked out :) She seemed to really enjoy conference; I’m anxious to see everything she thinks now.
We also found some good investigators. Their names are Alexandre, Junior, and Iracy. All of them have FAMILIES! :) We first encountered Junior while clappin doors in Tomazette. He greeted us very warmly. He has a wife Graziane, and two twin daughters Ana and Maria at age 7. They seem very promising. Alexandre was a man we found in Antônio Reis, again, clappin doors. Actually, his gate has one of the old fashioned cool little brass bells to ring instead of clapping. That was a big influence in my decision to try that door, haha. The bell was too cool to resist. We tried a few times, but he was always busy. Well, he finally let us in, and again, accepted us warmly. We started, you know, asking about his job, family, religious background and what not. He said he was in the Police/Military (not sure if I told you, but the police IS the military here). So when we were teaching him about the importance of Priesthood Authority, we decided to compare it to authority in the Military. My companion asked, "So what’s your rank in the military?" He said "Captain." We paused for a bit. Not sure how it works in USA, but here, being a captain pretty much means he’s in charge of everyone here in Santa Maria and its surrounding towns. So yeah, we're teaching the Military captain right now. Also, we found Iracy and her daughters. They’re really cool. Her daughters are of the type that, if converted, could be really good tools in activating the young men in the ward. This is good.
Also, Call out to the YSA choir at General Conference. They were really good. This one was impressive. Other things about conference - it was INCREDIBLE! Loved it! L Tom Perry, Jeffery R Holland, Deiter F Uchtdorf, and the french guy were my favorites. Ba, tchê. Foi muito bom, mesmo. I also got to sit by Elders Lang and Smith from the CTM. They’re cool cats. I will run into them and take a pic (with matching ties) with them tomorrow at the multi-zone conference.
Yes, I am singing in that. I am singing with Elder Pierce. Hes... really good. 1st chair all-state tenor 1 of North Carolina, and he spent a year in BYUs opera program before coming here to Brazil. In the mission Santa Maria, there were the beloved "three tenors" that Presidente Parrella named. Him, Me (I’m more-so tenor now than I was, but still not a tenor) (but I’ll take it) and a guy that went home. So now the two tenors are together, in the SAME DISTRICT. District meetings are really fun for cause of this. I will film if I can, mom.
Last thing real quick. So I sent some fotos of some food. I always cooked well. I have never cooked ramen on my mission. I think Sister Parrella would kill me if I did. Nevertheless, I was cleaning our cupboard, and I found a little folder full of recipes from Sister Parrella herself. This sent me on a cooking-mania here in Santa Maria. They’re really good. All really healthy. Most really simple. Among the ones I’ve tried includes: Collard green potato soup (as seen in foto),

Sautéed bananas (awesome!) Chayote omelet (Chayote joins cauliflower in the "completely useless vegetable" club, but this recipe taught me the trick to really good fluffy omelets like the restaurants). I will be making a black bean soup today. I’m excited; I always liked cooking. There’s only one that I wasn’t a huge fan of, and that’s the microwavable cake. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t good, you know?
But, I’m happy. It was a good week. And I moved up in my missionary rank from "Novinho" to "novo." At a year, I become "expirienciado" and at 18 months, I’m "vovô."
Love you guys. tty next week.
Com Amor,
Elder Wassom.

So the blurry one is me and my COMPANION so yall can identify him. A few others include me and the city, and I am learning to cook better. The soup was good. The... uhm... microwavable oatmeal cake-in-a-mug was about as good as it looks.