Time to kick up the language a notch - Gringo movin in

Well, none of our investigators went to the Church on Sunday. We´re working with a really great family. We invited them to an activity and the mom took off work. Unfortunately, one of the little girls in the ward had a birthday party and so our activity was cancelled one day before it was supposed to happen just so that everyone could go to the birthday party. We received a couple references this Sunday and we´re going to contact and teach them this week. I think that this transfer (which starts tomorrow) will be a good one.
So I´m staying here in Trancredo Neves and my companion will be transferred for an area very far away. He was wanting a change of scene so I think it´ll be good for him. I found out today about my new companion but it looks like he´s American.  Do I really speak Portuguese well enough? Does he? Well, it´ll be an adventure that´s for sure. At this point pretty much everyone can understand all the things I´m trying to say. I just need to work on polishing my abilities.
It snowed? Living here, it´s hard to imagine that snow exists. Of course it´s already going to get a bit colder and eventually it´ll be freezing cold here. There´s not really a middle ground - when it´s summer you pray for winter and when it´s winter you pray for summer. Right now, I´m in the "pray for winter" phase.

Going Well...

Ha! Mom... it really is impressive how you get yourself in to trouble
so often. (referring to multi-car accident).
Well, my companion will probably be transferred this next
week and I´ll most likely stay here. Tonight, I´m going to watch
"Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" with a family. They are
terrific, and really interested in the lessons. We´ve also got a
couple of families that I found this week when I was on division with the
District Leader. I´m praying, studying and trying to humble myself - I
think that there´s a few families here in my area who will accept the
gospel before I´m transferred out of here!
In April, we´re going to receive a visit from an Apostle. They haven´t
told us which one yet but he´s supposed to come to our stake here. I´m
also excited for General Conference. It seems like the other day that
we had the last general conference. My mission is passing by fast, too
fast! I´ll try and take pictures a lot this week because it´s probably
my last week with this companion and I have some member and
investigator families with whom I´d like to to take some pictures.
Love you all, Elder Hanson

The 'Elect' have to be here somewhere

Well, things are going interestingly. One of the families we were
working with "chose not to carry on/ take a break". So I´m not too
pleased about that. We have one family that we´re working with that
might come through on things. I´ll be going on a devision with our
district leader tommorrow and Wednesday. We´re on the hunt for new
investigators (after a lot of people went cold on us). We´re not giving
up yet. I´m praying and studying a lot. I know the Lord can work some
miracles.
Elder Costa is a member of the Presidency of the Seventy and he´s the
leader/authority in the Brazil. He´s in the middle of the picture I´m
going to send. He and his wife are terrific leaders, teachers and
saints. When I introduced myself to Elder Costa I didn´t know that he
spoke English (at least not well) but he looked at my name tag and said
in English "That´s a great name, It´s almost like handsome" (That´s
right dad, it´s not just the high priests in our stake - but the joke
has caught on with the general authorities in other countries).
Not too much out of the ordinary here. I´ll let you guys know about
things next week.
Love you guys
- Devin

Elder Costa is visiting

Well things are good. We´re getting some references and I think less of our lessons will fall through this week. One of the families we were teaching has a "friend" who said a whole bunch of stuff against the Church including that we baptize in the name of Joseph Smith. Terrific huh? I managed to salvage some things and we have another lesson with the family. It should be alright.
This week we attended stake conference and wow... there was a lot of people there. The speakers were great and there was even a choir from (I think the Porto Alegre mission) The President of the Porto Alegre Temple spoke there with his wife, Our Mission President also spoke and at the end... A Brazilian Seventy named Elder Costa spoke. It was terrific. It was terrific to see a lot of people and everything so organized. When we all got up as a congregation to sing "Teach me to walk in the Light" (Which clearly has different words in Portuguese) I felt the spirit very strongly. I also felt it very strongly during all the talks. None of our investigators made it out (it was a different building) but some of the other Elder's investigators did.
Tomorrow we (The Missionaries) will have a training with Elder Costa (The Seventy from Brazil). I´m excited. The work's tough but we´re getting some references and setting some goals. The Zone has sent out some numbers that we should be matching as a zone but a lot of people are having trouble doing this around here because few people are letting the missionaries in.
I heard a new Spider-Man is coming out. NONE of you are allowed to watch it until I get home <crosses arms stubbornly>.
I´m starting to do a better job with my journal. There´s some days where there just isnt time but I´m doing better about it now. I´ll have to gather up another bundle of pictures from my companions (because they take more pictures than I do) to send home next week.
Love you all.
Mom: Could you let me know the Hillstead’s Address?