Semana Santa! (Easter Week) A Pretty Huge Deal Around Here

Hey Hey Hey!

So it's the last Monday of the change and we went on a field trip. We went to this place called "puerta del diablo" it means "the devils gate" It was super chivo...uhh...cool, I meant to write cool. I will send you pictures next week because I'm in an internet cafe and can't right now. But I'm telling you all this to say,  this email will probably be kind of short.

You asked about Easter here, yeah it's a pretty big deal. They celebrate the entire week, representing the last week of Jesus' life. It's a catholic thing but catholic culture is such a HUGE part of the culture here. Every Friday night for the past month people have been doing the "via cruz, It's where they walk around to different stations that display Jesus' life, and between the stations they sing. So they have done this every week for the past month but this past Friday (Good Friday) it was CRAZY! All the roads closed down and people made these huge paintings with colored salt, called afombras, all over the roads. Everyone was doing it, but there where official ones that represent the stations of the "via cruz"/ the palms they laid down when Jesus entered the city on Palm Sunday. It was so cool, we took lots of pictures; I'll send them next week. Then they do this GIANT via cruz over the salt paintings...carrying Jesus in a casket with a statue of Mary behind. It was very interesting. I think that's the big holiday though because Easter was a pretty normal Sunday. 

This past week was pretty good though. We are prepping a few people for baptism. The first is Perla, the woman that showed up at church after 11 years, she told us this week that she can't explain it but she just wishes she was already baptized...makes sense after waiting a decade :) We also have this little old man named Pio, he's adorable and loves learning about the Savior. There's a couple others, but we'll talk more about them as it gets closer. 

Anyway I'm super excited for Diana! Yes, visas are hard to get. After being in the Provo MTC she will enjoy Brazil so much more! Worked for me with Guatemala. Thank you for the pictures! I love them, I print the pictures you send every week. 

I love you all so much! I will hopefully get some pictures out to you next week.

Love, 

Hermana Giossi

P.S. Pop-pop should probably stay away from the senor centor...he's too cool for that! Hermana Perry says he sounds awesome and wants to meet him.

P.S.S. 

I got an email from Em...I think Grandma sent her a card. She says THANK YOU!