I don't know if anyone is still following this, but here is the latest.

Sam got transferred to a new area and was made a District Leader.

Excerpt from his e-mail:

Where I am at right now is a beach town called São vicente, and last night, when I got there, there was a huge carnaval festival in front of my house. oh yeah, I learned about carnaval. I won´t tell you the whole history, but the most interesting part is the word. It comes from two words- Carne and Vale. and it basically means to give value to the thing of the flesh. thats the history of the word for ya.

Write him a letter if you want to make him happy!