Week 1 in Sao Paulo

So I´m in Brasil at an Internet Cafe and I am finding out their keyboards are different. We get 1.5 hours for email.

I know you are all wondering about Christmas in 2 days. We do have Skype for 40 minutes at a members home. We are going to try to call around 7pm our time. I think that is 4pm your time. It is almost 5pm here.

So we arrived at the airport and waited for all the other missionaries to arrive which took about 2 hours.  They had missionaries going to all different parts of Brasil.  The missionaries kept asking us how long we have been out in the field.  I say ´´about 12 hours´´ whereas they have been at their re-assignments for months. They couldn´t believe we were fresh out of the MTC.  We got our bags and then went to eat lunch with our Mission President. We felt like we were at the kids table during Christmas. No one really talked to us 'cause we couldn´t talk back.  We then went to the Chapel to receive our assigned companions.  Elder Castilla is from Colombia.  He speaks fluent Portuguese and Spanish and quite a bit of English.  He has been out for about 13 weeks.  He just finished being trained and is now training me.  We went straight to our apartment that first night and went out and taught some people.  I don´t remember talking much.   Irma Ines (member) pretended she was Catholic and tried to give me a hard time; thankfully I figured it our pretty quick.  She is awesome cause she gives us lots of food!

The food here is great!  Definitely my favorite part of the day.  They pretty much just have one big meal during lunch.  Beans and rice! And usually some chicken or beef and some dessert.  I have to learn that when I am offered seconds to say ´´a little more´´.  If I don't they give me more than I had the first time.  I eat all I can 'cause I don´t know when my next meal will be.  I sometimes I feel like I´m going to burst. Chocotonni is also really popular here during Christmas time.  I think we have 8 of them in our apartment.  I also need to teach my companion how to cook. It seems like in every missionary's apartment, it´s pop, plain bread and chocotonni.  This is part of the reason I love eating at members' homes.

The mission field is definitely different than the MTC.  Instead of sitting all day, you're walking all day, and walking and walking and walking.  The first day was very difficult.  Lack of sleep, walk all day, hungry, thirsty and cannot understand anyone.  You can go on Google Streetview and see what my life is like.  I´ve never been to San Francisco but that´s what the walking feels like.  Lots of steep hills.  I also wear my suit a lot more than I thought I would.  We wear it for all meetings, but we had a lot this week because of Christmas.  Now that I´m here I have a lot of stuff I don´t need. We don´t really need P-day clothes at all so once I know how to mail stuff in Portuguese I might try to send some stuff home so I don´t have to haul it around for 2 years.

We had our first baptism on Saturday too.  Elder Castilla already had everything lined up when I got here.  I gave a short spiritual thought and Elder Castilla performed the baptism.

Went to church yesterday.  The members were very patient with my Portuguese.  It is getting better and I can understand quite a bit when they talk slowly.  The churches here are huge.  Ours has the classrooms on the first floor and the chapel on the 2nd floor.

Apparently our Mission has a facebook page:

São Paulo Oeste

As for culture shock, it is a little different here.  Lots of cars, LOTS of motorcycles.  The sidewalks and roads could use some maintainance.  The houses here are very humble.  We taught in one where the house was just made up of wooden planks and blankets along with the smell of sewage.  Btw, those of you worried about me in the favelas, we rarely teach there.  The people that live there will listen to our message but they never commit to things.  The streets are not very clean and you do get an erie feeling when you walk past a burning pile of garbage at night.  Oh and LOTS of graffiti.  Also, on Sunday nights, they have a party called ´´Inferno´´ which translates to ´´hell´´ so everyone makes as much noise as they can with their stereos and motorcycles.

Sao Paulo: The City of Concrete

There were apartment buildings as far as the eye could see.

The Trip To Sao Paulo: Dec. 16-17th

Elder Bean departed the MTC on schedule the morning of December 16, 2013.  We were blessed to receive a phone call from him while at the Atlanta airport.  His Dad then set up a conference call with family members throughout the US to way good-bye and to wish him the best.  It was a bit crazy with so many people on the phone but it was great to hear from him.

He arrived in Sao Paulo on schedule and more importantly, safe and sound.

MTC - Week 5

So as you know, I had a GREAT birthday! Definitely excited to get to Brazil.

On Sunday's all missionaries are required to write a talk in their mission language (3-5 minutes).

It's completely random who gets called and guess who got called last Sunday...this Elder!  Everyone said I did well even though I was reading a script, but they did say they could understand most of what I said.  We also watched the Christmas Devotional Broadcast on Sunday. An Elder shared an experience about his first testimony in Korea. He bore his testimony and apparently said "I know that through the Hippopotamus, we are able to return to the Duck." I don't know how similar those words are to Jesus Christ and God in Korean, but at least his Ward got a kick out of it. Hopefully my first Sunday goes a little better!

Elder Quentin L. Cook came on Tuesday and talked about the blessing we will receive from our Mission President and the people we teach.  Our 3rd Apostle!  Something I learned was that when they select missionaries for their areas, they take into account if they feel the Mission President there will be a blessing for you and the people also.

I hosted an Elder from Germany going to France. (Hosting is where we stand on the curb and welcome the missionaries and show them around).  He was a pretty cool guy but there was a slight language barrier. I also ran into another Elder from Brazil, thankfully he spoke English well so we were able to have a good conversation, with help. He said Sao Paulo gets cold in the winter, he said 10 degrees Celsius which makes me wonder what they think cold is.  And apparently half the missionaries there are Americans so maybe I won't get trained by a native.

The other missionaries received their re-assignments:  My companion is going to Oklahoma City.  We also have Elders and Sisters going to Twin Falls, Independence, MO, Sacramento CA, Fresno CA, Milwaukee WI, Las Vegas West and Ft. Lauderdale, FL.  Almost everyone is going somewhere different.  Apparently after 12 weeks you are able to train incoming Elders, so I could be training the Elders in my district when they arrive.

We had in-field orientation yesterday. about 9.5 hours of class. Sitting and teaching. It was a long day. They kept you interacted which was good but it still felt really long, especially when you are counting down the seconds till dinner. They focused a lot on how members and the missionaries work together and also goal setting.

Provo Temple

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!"

I GOT MY VISA!!! BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!

I am flying on Delta.

I leave the MTC at 6am on Dec 16.

I leave from SLC at 11:14am.

Arrive in Atlanta at 4:50pm.

Leave Atlanta at 7:38pm.

Arrive in Sao Paulo at 8:15am on Dec 17.

First flight is #1912

Second flight is #105

Tchau! Obrigado por seus oracaos!

"SNOW ELDER"