1st Baptism!

01/13/14 

We did have the baptism on Saturday and yes, I performed the ordinance and thankfully didn´t have to do it twice.  For some reason Brazilians have really long names.  Maria do ????? ???????? de ?????? (edited for privacy) and then the rest of the ordinance in Portuguese.

Not a whole lot else happened this week.  We went on a lot of exchanges with other missionaries.  A missionary from Ecuador, a Brazilian and an American.   It´s nice to hear different Portuguese every once in a while.  A member from church said I´m picking up too much of Elder Castilla Columbian accent!

I gave a talk in Portuguese on Sunday about how the members could help with missionary work.  He wanted me to speak for 5 minutes and I honestly have no idea how long it actually was, it felt like 30 seconds.  I know I made a few mistakes but everyone said good job.  We also ate at the Bishop´s house.  We both love rugby and he has a picture and a jersey with the 2003 All Blacks because his company is one of their sponsors.  Still eating quite a bit and I think I might end up putting on weight.  Another Elder who is finishing up put on about 30lbs, even with all the walking.

Elder Castilla taught a lesson in Spanish last night. I just kinda sat there having no idea what was going on.  A member from Columbia lives with non-members from Columbia so we used the oppurtunity to share a little about the Gospel with them.  They are all trying to learn Portuguese so I was able to contribute a little but not a whole lot.

Sao Paulo Temple

HAPPY NEW YEAR! and a Trip to the Temple!

So the reason I didn´t email yesterday was because (and i found this out on Sunday) when we go to the Temple, they change P-day to Tuesday.

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a good time.  We had the wonderful chance to encounter some happy drunks on the street who wouldn´t stop kissing our heads and hugging us.  Really weird.... But we did get to sleep in till 8am!!!  The days are moving faster.  We have more people to teach and the language is slowly coming along.  You eventually become accustomed to different accents and such.  We´re still getting fed and my weight has stayed about the same.  Elder Castilla has put on 2kg in this area so far.  Elder Castilla said the members like me because I eat all their food...idk if that´s good or bad.

I also had my haircut last week.  That was scary.  I quickly flipped through the dictionary and said ´´guarda numero quatro´´ and pointed to the sides of my head and then made the snip snip action on top.  Thankfully he understood me!

We have a baptism scheduled for this Saturday.  Maria, sister to Jadson (our last baptism).  I think i´m performing the baptism but I´m not 100% sure.  I keep getting lost in the language.  All the words kind of blend together.

The weather has been continually hot but I´ve gotten used to being sweaty all day. It was 37 C on Friday but people are saying fall should be coming soon, and rain.

Weather, Food and Cold Showers!

12/30/13

It´s nice to speak in English haha!  It was nice to talk to everyone on Christmas and definitely gave me a boost!

Anyway, I´m adapting more to the mission life.  Once you get into the groove and understand everyday you are going to be walking and walking you kind of come to terms with what you´ll be doing for the next 2 years. My companion and I get along really well and if our spirits get down, they aren´t down for long.  When we were walking in the rain on Christmas and our shoes were filled with water (and I mean filled) we just sang a bunch of Hymns.  It´s funny how you can still have high spirits even during those times.  Although the really hot days (32C) I could do without.   I´m starting to turn a different shade of pink...sunscreen everyday!  It´s a  love-hate relationship throughout the day because you love the clouds because it´s cooler and blocks the sun but you hate the chance of rain and carrying the weight of a rain jacket.  I´ve pretty much come to terms that Im going to get wet.

The food has still been good.  I´ve been able to go to the store and actually buy good food and I love our little panini press in our kitchen for sandwiches.  We also went to Subway today. The girl making my sandwich kept laughing at me because my Portuguese pronunciation was so bad.  I´d point at the spinach and say ´´verde´´ which means green.  We also ate at a member's house yesterday and instead of rice and beans they had chicken primavera and MASHED POTATOES!  A nice change from the usual food here. The potatoes were a little different but they were nice to see.

All the American missionaires went to the police station to become ´´legal´´. It was so nice to speak English.

Elder Taylor gave me some tips for living here in Brazil:  1.)  If you send packages, declare the amount around $30 or I will have to pay a lot of money to receive it, 2.)  In 1.5 years he has not gotten sick yet, 3.)  Apparently Brazilian Stroganoff is really good, and 4.)  The time does fly by.

I remember Dad asked about our Ward size, last week was 70 and this week was 62. It feels really small. Apparently the Mormon world runs on the universal Mormon standard time because everyone is late.  We have Priesthood first (weird) and I think we had about 7 people when we started.

Be grateful for warm showers.  We have been losing power every so often and cold showers in the morning really wake you up!

Preparing For The Day

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Today was a great day as we were able to SKYPE with Elder Bean for about 40 minutes.  He was kindly given access to the internet at the home of Irma Inez.  It was great to see and hear from our missionary and to hear first hand of some of his experiences, challenges, observations and feelings after his first week in Brazil.  He looked and sounded good (well he did look a little water-logged due wot walking in the rain!) and we also said hello to his companion, Elder Castilla.

As there was no time to get a Christmas present to Brazil, Adam acted as proxy and opened Elder Bean's gift....more ammo for shooting when he returns and a massive tool kit from Sears (which may help with repairing the go-cart he left behind!).

All in all a great blessing to have all the family (including grandparents) gathered around the computer to express our love and support to our missionary.    

The Apartment