For everyone,

One week till Rio and I couldn't be more excited! Its the 4th of July tomorrow so a big shout out to Caleb Masters! Sorry if I forget 98% of everyone's birthday but I do remember that one haha. Well its been a good week and i've seen a noticeable difference with the language. I'm reading in the scriptures only in Portuguese now. Still not understanding everything, but I'm getting there. I've also been working out every gym day and my diet has improved an incredible amount. I do really miss the late night runs to Bdubs and Steak and Shake after chapter with the brothers though. We walked around our area a little bit yesterday for about 3 hours. It was like 70 and everywhere is super hilly. It was a good time though. I'm excited to get to Rio and stop sitting in a classroom all day. I'll get my new adress next week so I'll put that in my next email and have my Mom put in on Fbook. Hopefully I can figure out how to send all of my pictures home soon too so I have proof I'm in Brazil. I'm still really confused by most of the food but I'm definitely not near as picky as I was a couple years ago. I'm sure my Mother will be happy to hear that. I'm not cooking my own meals yet but I guarantee I'll be able to do rice and beans when I get home. We have it every single day. Well I miss you guys and hope to hear from you soon!

Elder Jared Knotts

Elder Knotts also included this note to me that I HAVE to share: 

Several years ago when I was like 4 or 5, I remember laying on your bed in the old house and reading the Friend with you. We got to a story about Helaman's stripling warriors and I told you I wanted to be one for Halloween. You were super excited to make me a really awesome costume! There is a picture of it in one of the photo albums. I'm standing by the front door and the outfit is brown and green, I think, and I have a sword and shield. You might remember that. If you can find it, I would appreciate it if you could scan it and make it my new profile picture on Fbook. I started out young and now I'm finally one of the Lord's stripling missionaries.