Pictures from Brazil!

Nicole Ritchie the dog - she followed us nearly 5 miles one night. We love her!

Morning in Justinopolis

Baptism - Wanderson is the young boy that Zack really loves!

Beautiful Justinopolis!

The Brazilian girl that I will adopt someday!

Elder Excell in Justinopolis, Brazil

The Justinopolis sunset! Gorgeous!

Baptism!

The famous outdoor kitchen!

Funny sign at the CTM

The Fastest Week Yet! -Justinopolis, Brazil

wow! this week went by so fast! i've gone from writing in my journal every night thinking the day went by fast to thinking when i write this weekly email that the week went by fast! it's awesome! so, i had an outline written up like i do every week so i can remember everything i wanted to say but i think i forgot it at the apartment so i will do my best to try to remember everything!

this week, once again, was a week of firsts... the first time washing clothes by hand (that one was interesting but i would say positive) and it was the first week making cookies and pancakes brazilian style... they dont have a lot of key ingredients here so we have to substitute a lot but my comp and i are both extremely thankful for the recipes you sent me mom! so thank you so much!

anyway it's been an intense week! we got to go into the office once for interviews which is awesome because i got mail!!!! i love mail - it's amazing! anyway thank you to all that wrote and i look forward to writing you all back when i find time!

so about justinopolis...i've told you about the scenery and now you have pictures to match it, but also, dad wanted an address. we are on avenida denise cristina da rocha 2555 a. from what i know, it is the only apartment building on the street and it is a couple miles out of justinopolis. it will be close to bairro sonia (the favela) and bairro botafogo. anyway, see if that helps you find it.

so this week has been awesome! we are still keeping way busy! we had two baptisms on sunday and i actually got to do the baptizing which was way sweet!!! his name is wanderson... and then like another 12 names... the name was almost as long as the ordinance prayer! haha. but it was a very cool moment to use my white clothes somewhere besides the temple.

this week i ate some weird stuff. number one weird thing that i ate with not much liking was chicken feet! =( definitely not the best! but i still continue to eat whatever gets put on the stove at the members house.

you also said you wanted to know a little bit more about the church here... as far as in justinopolis the church is very very new. we pretty much are starting the work here. which is really cool but also frustrating. i think i told you about the van we have every week to take to church with the investigators... our chapel is in venda nova which is a really pretty chapel and right across the street from a soccer club and field... imagine that in brazil! anyway, every thing is tile... the walls and the floor through the whole thing. it's very new. its really pretty! i'll try to get a picture this week for you to imagine it. the members here are all very nice... we don't get much help from the members of the ward in venda nova cause it's a good half hour away but the members in justinopolis are very very nice to help us! we have one member who goes with us every single day to work and for the whole time! he lives off pensions from the gov. so he has plenty of time but he is so nice to have. there are about 60 members in justinpolis and most, if not all, have been baptized in the last 6 months. very very new area so it didn't surprise me that blake didn't know it well. we wear our suits to church here... talk about blazing blazing hot! but we do it because the lord wants it that way and he provides a way for us to accomplish it! 1 ne 3:7...

my portuguese is coming along... i can fully understand people for the most part i just still struggle with responding but it will come! i've already made quite a few friends here... wanderson, who i baptized, and his sister ana paula, who was baptized last week are good friends and that whole favela just loves us! we teach them english sometimes so every time we leave they all hold up a peace sign and say peace! it's awesome! the little kids here are my peronal favorite! every time we walk by they shake our hands and talk to us and ask for american gum now! =) thanks mom! they love it! and they all ask about my camelback - why i have a tube into my backpack. it's funny to see their faces with such a simple design of a backpack and how amazed they get! i love it! and the camelback was genious in itself for the mish! perfect for the work!

so, cool stories for the week... one in particular. her name is eliane. she is about 35 and her whole family has been baptized but her because she is so addicted to coffee. well, she told us that she would give us her final answer on wednesday night and well... we weren't expecting much and thought about not even going because she had given us about 25 final answers already... anyway we get there and we leave a short spiritual message and then ask the question of the moment... how's the coffee situation and she told us almost in tears... my family is more important than anything and i want to be baptized. i will stop drinking coffee. she did! she quit cold turkey just like that! it's so amazing to see the change in her family. they instantly, the next day, were so much happier...incredibly happier. it was so awesome to see the change the gospel has in their family.

wanderson was awesome too... he didn't struggle tho, he just held on to the little testimony he had and let it grow and he is so strong for a 13 year old. i couldn't have done that at 13. now we are working on getting his parents married so they can complete the family. we are close... pretty much just waiting on papers to go through. those are the two biggest issues people have here is the coffee and also the not being married but living together and having a family for sometimes 30 years. it's kinda hard to tell them to change but i found a scripture during study that gave me awesome courage... moroni 8:16... with perfect love we have no need to fear the smallest things! love really does solve everything!

anyway, it's been an awesome and fast week! this weekend is conference and yes i do get to watch and yes i will watch it live and even better... i will be watching it in english! how sweet is that! another scripture for you to ponder this weekend during conference. Jacob 4:6.... grow from the words of a prophet. i took conference for granted so much. very few people in this world will take the opportunity this weekend to listen to the words of a true living prophet! the closest man to god on this earth! it is such a blessing and so taken for granted so i'll be excited to hear what you guys think of it! and dad, definitely wear that orange tie so i can see it! that would be awesome!

anyway...im sure that there was so much more i wanted to say but next week i will be sure to bring my outline! i've made a new quote for you all tho.... especially you cassi - i think you like these quotes... the only way to find out what is truly possible is to do the impossible!... anything is possible! we continue to push ourselves as a companionship here and we use our family and friends as motivation. i continue to work hard because i know when heavenly father see's us working for his cause then the things we pray for and the things we hope for will be more likely to happen! so i will continue to work hard so that when i get back my friends will be that much sweeter and awesome and my family will be even more amazing (hard to imagine) than you are now! you guys are so amazing! i love you all so incredibly much! you are all in my prayers and i think of you often! mothers day is coming up!! =) stay strong everyone and just continue to try a little bit harder to be a little bit better every day! i love you all so much! have an awesome week! we are more than a tenth of the way done!!

First Week in the Field!! - Justinopolis, Brazil

hey everybody!! first off, i love you all so much! i hope you all know that!

anyway... what a crazy crazy week!! i'm so happy that the mission is living up to everything i ever thought it would be. i love the area. it's funny because when i think back to how i thought my mission would look like and be, it was exactly like this. as far as the area goes, it is very awesome! there are some crazy crazy hills and some awesome jungle like mountains! it's gorgeous... if this computer will let me i brought my camera cord and i will try to attach some pics to another email.

anyway, an awesome first week! the food here is actually very good. we really only eat one meal a day and it's only because when we have lunch with members, we eat enough for all three meals. i don't ever find myself hungry! this week i had feijoada... i wouldn't recommend making this one mom. it's pretty much just beans and rice but then the meat is just everything from a pig you wouldn't normally eat. it's pretty much straight fat and bones. on my particular plate i had a nose and an ear staring me in the face! crazy! not my favorite but yes i did eat it all! brazilians do have some interesting food. yesterday we had some brazilian kind of pudding cake thing that was weird. main ingredient... barely mushed up corn. yum yum! hahaha! it was alright but again not my favorite! the best thing i had this week that i can't believe i have missed out on for 19 years is certain flavors of ice cream. i feel bad for telling you what you are missing out on but someday you will have it! i had lime, açai, and maracuja (passion fruit) ice cream and it was heavenly especially after walking up and down hills all day in the heat! the weather is awesome though - i love it. i'm already getting a good good tan and because of the humidity my face is so baby smooth! it's awesome!

this week we got a weird phone call saying we needed to get out of our apartment because i guess the previous elders hadn't paid rent and so the owner wanted us out so we are still living there but finding another apartment, which will be less work time which kinda stinks!

i love the work here. a typical day is like this... as all missionaries do, we wake up at 630 and work out for a half hour. i usually do some sit-ups and push-ups and pull-ups on my bed underneath the other bunk bed for a bar. we get ready and then we have study time from 800 to 1000. 800 to 900 is personal study and 900 to 1000 is comp study where we practice teaching to whoever we can find. for example this week we taught hannah montana. my comp got a card that sings that is huge and her face is on the cover so we baptized hannah montana this week! =) that was fun! haha. after that we get to work. we go visit the families we marked with and on the way we contact people on the street - oh and yes all of this is in another language! =) anyway we usually teach about 15 lessons a day to investigators and members alike. we have lunch in there at about 1200 and teach a lesson there. the system and rules here for the mission are an investigator has to go to church twice and receive all the lessons and keep all the commitments from those lessons before baptism. this sunday we had two baptisms and we have 2 marked for this sunday as well - all they have left to do is receive interviews. it's amazing seeing the change in peoples lives. we have one couple right now who is not married but have lived together for 15or 20 years and so in order to get baptized they have to get married first. talk about commitment to a belief! they are doing it though. they are scheduled to baptize on april 11! awesome! we have about 10 people as of now marked for conference weekend as well! the work here is whatever you make out of it. if you commit yourself to it then heavenly father will bless you with success! we work very hard! we walk about 15 miles a day, teach 15 lessons and somehow find time to sleep! =) we are back to our apartment by 2100 and plan until 2130 and then we have time to write in our journal and shower and get ready for tomorrow! it's a crazy busy schedule but honestly it goes by very fast! i love it here!

sunday we have a bus that takes people to church because the nearest chapel is 20 miles away as of right now and this bus has 18 seats... this sunday we fit 32 people in there just to go to church! the people here sacrifice so much for what they believe in! they teach me so much! i love them! i have learned so much! so much!

we teach in favelas often. favelas are the ghetto i guess in english but ghettos have nothing on favelas. a house in a favela consists of a dirt floor with all the brazilian animals you can imagine and they typically have two rooms... both about the size of cassi's closet. one for a kitchen and one with as big a bed as possible so all ten people in the family can sleep! it is so crazy and so so so so sad! but i have learned more in those houses than in an entire mtc stay!! i have learned so so much! the people there are so receptive to the gospel. they love the missionaries. they feed us every time we walk in the door. they give us water and whatever crackers they have and you can't say no even though you know they need it so badly! i have gotten to see the change this gospel can make in peoples lives and i know better now, than i think i ever have, the power and truthfulness this gospel carries! i am so so privileged to teach people what can truly make them eternally happy! they have nothing and everything all at once! it's amazing the courage of such people! in one little corner of the favela we frequently teach at, there are about 20 houses or so and about 15 of them are now members and we call it the celestial kingdom of the favela! its amazing the happiness that resides there all because of their faith in christ! what a lesson to learn that after we show our faith in him and his church and his gospel we are so abundantly blessed. maybe not with houses or cars or toys because those aren't important... they are blessed with strong families and happiness! what else could be better then a happy family!

anyway i love you all so much!! you are the best family in the world and i have the best support team ever! i love you all with all my heart! stay strong and i look forward to next wednesday!! =)

Elder Excell's First Area: Justinopolis, Brazil

hey everybody!!!! how are you all? it is always good to be able to sit down and read your thoughts for me and always way good to be able to sit down and write some for you!!

anyway what a crazy week!! i am now in my first area called justinopolis which is pretty close to the belo horizonte city area from what i can tell. i haven't been here long, only about a couple hours actually... enough time to unpack in the new apartment and meet my new comp. - elder palmer from nevada. so i don't have much to say about the land here yet but i can tell you what i saw as i was flying here. there are a lot of hills and i expected those hills to be just covered in houses but i was surprised - there is a lot of open hills with just grass, and lots of it. the temperature is nice. it poured yesterday while i was with the president, but so far, nothing yet today. there is still a lot of city. definitely not as big as sau paulo but still every bit as big as i imagined. there will be plenty of people to teach for sure!

speaking of my mission president! i love him! when the four of us landed at the bh airport, we didn't see him and got kinda nervous but after we got our luggage and walked out we saw him and his wife and two of the assistants. what an awesome sight! i had such an instant feeling of love for all of them - especially the president and sister parrella. after meeting with them we took an hour bus ride into the city and had lunch at a churrosco in town which was amazing! best food in the last 9 weeks! =) after lunch president said he knew who the four trainers for us would be but had to have an interview to know who would go with which one. my interview was awesome! i felt so comfortable around him and i can't wait to get to know him more. after the interview, we had some training with the assistants and the secretaries. stuff such as money here. i get 100 reals every 15 days. so about 150 bucks a month or so. we just had a lot of logistical stuff to go through which i am sure i won't remember but that's why i have a trainer. after all our training, president's kids came into the mission office which was way cool. i love their family. very similar to ours which is nice - i need that right now! i had a good time talking to his oldest son who is 16 and named david. he was really easy to talk to and so loving and on the plus side he knew english! =) when we were through at the office we went to our motel that the four of us had for the night which was cool. elder grant (from my sao pauolo district) and i shared a room and had a good talk but we went to bed pretty early because we knew we would have a big day today! this morning we woke up and took all our bags down about 15 new york city blocks to the bus station... my workout for the day! and we met up with new comps and that's where we got on a bus to come here. so that's my play by play for the last couple days. its been interesting.

here at my first area i won't have very much access to sending and receiving physical snail mail which will be tough because i really have been using that to help get me through, so that will be a challenge for sure! i'm not quite sure yet on an address for our place. as for now just send it to the mission office and no matter what, i will get it in six weeks or whenever i can. just do that until i can get more of a clear way to send and receive stuff. i guess we have a guy here who goes out with us everyday teaching and he is kinda the messenger man if we need stuff like that done so i can talk to him tomorrow to see what's up. so for anyone who is sending letters thank you so much for the thought but if i don't reply quickly then i apologize. every six weeks will be kinda like christmas for you and for me. i will keep writing you all every week but it might not get sent for a while. at least until i know a better and faster way to send it. so mom just let everyone know the mission office address and i will look forward to lots of letters! =) if you don't get letters from me for the next little while, then you can always read my emails because i will always have them but know that i am thinking about all of you and still writing - its just delayed... at least in this area.

my apartment is exactly what i expected it to be actually. our kitchen is outside... weird! and we will do laundry by hand! =) that will be interesting! but i am up for the adventure.

all in all, this week has been really weird. it's the end of one phase and on to the next and although the transition may be tough, i know heavenly fathers hand is in all things. if i am faithful to his rules for me and willing to show faith in him and be humble he will bless me. brazil is amazing! i can't wait to get out and start teaching and really learning and mastering the language! i am so excited! i know heavenly father will bless us all according to our works and desires! i love you all so much! next week i will write more i'm sure. i will have lots to say! just stay strong and know i am always thinking about all of you! the lord gives us weaknesses so we can become stronger through them and through him. remember that! he loves us very much and wants the best for us even when it may not be easy for him to watch our trials! i love you all. i will look forward to hearing from you all again next week! =)

Last Week in the MTC!!!

wow! that's a weird thought for a subject!!! that's so crazy!! 8 weeks today i have been out and this is my last p day in any mtc for a very very very long time!!

i don't know where to start... if i ever thought life in provo was fast paced i wasn't even expecting this! first amazing story...i got sent out in the world in a different country with a different language for the first time this week expected to proselyte! it was AMAZING!!! if you guys want to look it up, which i am sure dad will, we went to the MASP aka museo de arte de sau paulo. first impression of our location was really really weird! statues of naked women everywhere!!! kinda weird to be preaching the gospel around that. it was super super funny! me and my companion elder oakey did very well together! he is from springville utah and is a good guy! we were given 6 books of mormon to place around. first person we talked to was one of the best... we had such a great talk with him... in portuguese... and we gave our first book away. i don't remember his name to be honest but after we left him when we walked past him an hour later he was still there reading the book of mormon - still! he was almost done with first nephi. he stopped us and was just in tears and so so so so ready to hear the gospel. we got his address and sent the local missionaries to him! i hope it works out for him so bad! that's the first time that i felt attached to brazil but i will talk about that later... he has my name and my address in america so we will see if i ever get anyting from him. anyway we handed out all 6 of our books and all of them felt like they were more than just a book. another lady we talked to started to cry when we bore testimony of how her sorrows and doubts can be relieved through this gospel. another man we talked to asked if the missionaries could come back tomorrow and teach his family. it was real! i was proselyting!! i was doing real real missionary work and i was so so confident and happy! i have enough portuguese to talk with people about what's most important in life and that's all that matters! it was amazing! i can't wait to go back in a week to the people that i will actually get to keep in touch with!

i am getting so so so attached to brazil! the brazilian missionaries are some of the best friends that i have had in my life! there are two in particular i will tell you about. the first elder castiglioni. he is from sau paulo and will be serving from sau paulo interloagos mission. he and i stayed up many nights talking in portuguese about life and everything. i have never felt so cared for by a stranger before. he left this week to go into the field and for the first time in the mission, i cried. i cried because one of my best friends was leaving! he got our address in america and he said he is going to write a letter to you mom and dad because he has something to tell you... he wouldn't tell me what but i guess look for it!

the second person... elder silva santos is the other missionary i love! he has come from a very very very bad background! very sad! his parents disowned him when he joined the church three years ago. he speaks only the english i taught him and he has slept at friends houses or on the street for the last three years. talk about rough!! but yet the desire of his heart was to serve a mission for what was really important to him. his testimony is amazing but the lessons he taught me were far greater then any lesson i have learned here. i saw him walking down the hall and he had his only pair of shoes on and they were trashed... when i say trashed i mean trashed!! he had no soul on the back and very little in the front... they were hammered. non usable in the usa. but to him they were his mission shoes. he didn't care if he was comfortable... he knew the lord would protect him. i couldn't believe it... how is it that i have three pairs of nice shoes and i could look at him with his torn up shoes... i couldn't do it! it tore at me...and in that moment he taught me the faith and the action i needed to have in order to have heavenly father bless me. he also left this week. the night before he left i gave him a pair of my black shoes. he was so appreciative. he taught me a lesson without using words. one i will never forget.

that night the whole mtc after dinner was talking to each other in the courtyard and taking pictures with everyone leaving. amazing feeling being with brazilians and feeling the love i have for them and they have for us. we all started singing armies of helaman... my favorite song! but we sang it in the only way brazilians know how...in a mosh pit! =) i love this people so much! i have loved them for 7 months... ever since i got my call i was in love but now i get to show that love. i can't even describe to you how hard it will be for me to leave here in two years. i will have my roots uncontrollably planted in so many places! i love this people and this land! i feel like i have known them since before i was born... because i have! i know up in heaven before we came to earth i got my call to the amazing family i belong to now but i also know some brazilian came to me and said "elder excell... i'm getting sent to a non member family, to someone who doesn't know the gospel and they won't. i need you to come find me and help me." and i loved that person so much... now i get to show it! this is my time! this is my mission!

before i end i want to tell you all i love you so much!! dad you have been the best example to me! i am rick excells son and there is no better title. mom i love you so much! you have taught me so many things that i needed here. so many personality traits i have come from you. cassi... you're the best sister ever!! you are my best friend and i love you so much! i can't wait to hug you all but especially you and mom when i come home! ty... you give me hope buddy! if you don't do anything else in your life than prepare for and go on a mission then you will be a hero in my eyes! you already are! i love you all so much!! next week i get to go tell people how their family can be together forever! and i get to tell them of my family that i was so blessed to be a part of and that i will be a part of forever! i couldn't do anything to jeopardize our eternal family! i love you all so much! stay strong and know that you are where you should be!

Week 7 and First Days in Brazil!

Hi family! it was so nice to hear from you all this week while i was in dallas! it was so good just to hear your voices again and feel of your love!

so i guess that's where i can start off. on the plane to brazil, which was an 11 hour flight from dallas, i was able to sit in between two other elders so i didn't have much of that missionary experience on the plane that everyone talks about! (by the way if my spelling is crazy, i am sorry. i am using a portuguese computer and a portuguese keyboard. its a little different to get used to. haha.) anyway on the flight i tried to sleep as much as possible but that only resulted in about 4 hours so needless to say i am still pretty tired.

when we landed, it was insane! first moments in brazil - i was immediately hit with humidity and according to the brazilians...coldweather...which in idaho means 60 degrees. it was paradise! after we made it through customs which was kinda crazy and really putting my portuguese to the test, we managed to find our driver out of about 200 other drivers. she looked about 14 but she swore she was twenty. after we all got relief from the banheiro, we were on our way. it was also crazy. the streets here are so crazy! most of the time we were on what in idaho we would call a 3 lane street but in brazil that results in being 7 lanes with motorcylces as well as the city with the most cars in the world. insane!! we almost died about 3 times but i think thats just what we think. we were probably really safe in brazils eyes. driving was also such an awesome time because we got to see the city. we got to see what this whole deal is going to be like.

let me first say, i love it!!! absolutely love it!! the people here are so so so nice. now being also realistic it is a very poor place. even the wealthy people here would be considered poverty in america. its very sad to be honest that such good people live in such bad conditions. i feel for them so badly.

it was about an hour drive to the ctm from the airport which wasn't bad at all. i really enjoyed the drive and seeing everything in a different country and in a different language! i loved it. in the ctm, i guess no one told them we were coming until about an hour before we landed so no one was really prepared for us at all. but we had a good orientation (again) and then we got to go out in the city for about an hour. we were led by a guy from the ctm just kind of showing us around but it was so awesome to be out among the people. being around the culture and to see what its really like here. its alot like mexico if you remember with a ton of little shops and street merchants everywhere! the poeple are so nice to missionaries too. after our walk, we had free time the rest of the night which meant we had time to sleep. so i went to sleep early after unpacking and had an awesome sleep last night. i slept without any blankets and the windows open to the city.

my new companions name is elder oakey. he is a cool guy. i saw him a couple times in provo but we both got put together here for the short two weeks we will be here. he is from centerville utah.

today has been p day. my morning started at what would be 2 am your time but 6 here. we were able to go to the sau paulo temple which was awesome! the spirit is the same in every language. i loved the temple. after the temple we got back at about 11 here and we have the rest of the day to go out in the city and shop and eat and do really anything, mission appropriate of course. we wear our missionary uniform out in the city. before this email i went with my new district to a churascuria. very similair to tucanos but 80 times better. it was so delicious. especially because the ctm food is not that good. you know how i dont like rice and beans all that much so its been difficult but i do love it here and i am learning to love the food. the barbeque place was so good. i had guarana from a real glass bottle bottled in brazil and there was a soccer game on with poeple screaming. it was crazy but yet so cool just to be around the people that i have naturally loved for 6 months now!

right now i am in mr. cheneys cookies. its right across the street from the ctm and really kinda funny. a lady from missionties picked me out and said she knew my name because someone wrote to me! =) thanks mom! since its my first time i got free internet and a free cookie which was really good.

all in all not much has happened since my last email. its all gone by so fast but has been so amazing! it seems like at the same time that everything has happened. by the time i write next week i will have proselyted in the streets here and of course it will be in portuguese. i will be one week away from the real thing and i can't wait!!! anyway once again it was so nice to talk to all of you! i can't wait until mothers day when i can call again! i love you all so much!! stay strong this week! dad, good luck in boise. oh, by the way mom, you asked for "stay strong" in portuguese.... fica forte. (fika forch) and as always i love you all! eu amo voces!! until next week! =)

Safely in Sao Paulo

Dear Parents,

We are happy to send the good news that your missionary has arrived safely at the Brazil MTC. What a great joy and privilege it is to greet each missionary as they come through the front door of the MTC for the first time.

They now have companions and are settled into their rooms. They are assigned to a district with capable and caring instructors for language and lesson study. The branch presidents and their wives, who are usually a senior missionary couple or mature Brazilian couple, will soon give them a second greeting. These couples are rewarded in their callings through the love they always develop as they embrace and watch over the missionaries.

The MTC has a full time live-in physician to care for their health needs. He is assisted by his able wife. We are also happy to report that the Cafeteria food is abundant and very good.

Your missionary will be able to e-mail home on Preparation Day after a morning at the Temple. This will be either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on individual assignments.

We are also parents of children who have served as missionaries. And we have been missionaries who have left family. Please know that we are mindful of you and know of your love for your missionary.

Your very important young person is about to make an eternal difference in the lives of others. We hope you will be encouraged and comforted by this quote by President Lorenzo Snow: “There is no mortal man that is so much interested in the success of an elder [sister] when he is preaching the gospel as the Lord that sent him to preach to the people who are the Lord’s children.”

Please accept our love,

President and Sister Clark

In Brazil, at last...

"Hi Mom! It finally came - I got my visa! I'm going to Brazil!" We received the call on Friday night and his excitement was apparent. He informed us in the short five minutes that he had to talk that he would be leaving on Monday morning and would arrive in Sao Paulo on Tuesday morning and that he would be able to call home during a four hour layover in Dallas. It was great to hear his voice and I couldn't wait to be able to talk to him a little more and find out how he's really doing.

I started making a list of all the things I wanted to talk to him about and as we spoke, it didn't take long to hear in his voice that he really is doing great. He sounds wonderful! One of the main things that he expressed to me was his gratitude for the time that he's had to really figure out what is important in life and his desires to make those things his priority. He is anxious and excited and ready to take on this new adventure before him!!

His flight landed at 9:07 am, which is 5:07 am here. I imagine he is exhausted but he's made it safely to Brazil! He will spend 2 more weeks in the CTM (Center for Training Missionaries) in Sao Paulo and will then head to Belo Horizonte for his first assignment. Stay strong, Elder Excell!!