6 Baptisms last Saturday and 3 more in December

Dearest friends and family,

I've now officially been called Chinese, Brazilian, American, Russian,
English, and Israeli. If you're not black, anything goes. =) Life here is awesome.
Joseph Smith was baptized and confirmed this
weekend (that sentence just makes me happy...) and so was Liria. We
had 6 baptisms in total this past Saturday, but those 2 were mine, so
I know their names. =) The church here is moving forth with a
vengeance. So much for a little stone--it started out as a boulder
here.

Life is incredible, the church is true, and Angola is... impossible to
explain well. Pictures are almost a non-option most of the time (the
people here just don't like pictures in public. At all.). A vida é
uma festa.

Farão's funeral was... odd. Angolans are really into the whole
mourning thing. Black clothes (for weeks), wailing, hugging the
casket for hours, vigils, etc, etc. It's very... different. I
sang--actually, I've been singing a lot. A word of advice: If you
can sing, don't let anyone know. Haha, actually, I love it. I love
to share it with people. It's such a blessing.

By the end of December we should have at least 3 more baptisms. =)
(There are baptisms almost every week, I'm just talking about our
investigators.) People here are very ready to believe.

I love being Elder Eckman. It represents two things to me. A) Elder.
This means that I'm not just cheering for the right team, I'm playing
on it professionally. This represents the Power of the Kingdom and
the Holy Trust that I have. It's daunting but oh so incredible. And
B) Eckman. This represents me, my ancestors, my future generations,
my honor, and my own personal glory that God is helping me build.
While I build His Kingdom, He's helping me with mine. Wow! Que
benção!

Well, I love you guys.

Fiquem bem,

Elder Cody R. Eckman