First E-mail from the field

so I´m out in the boonies. at least it feels like it compared to São paulo centers like Casa Verde or Paulista. It still is city as far as the eye can see in all directions, but in a different way. Mostly there are just houses and lots of trees. Like the jungle type of trees. They are really thin trunk wise and at the same time very green. Since my last email there are a few funny things that happened so I´ll tell you guys those things because I have a WHOLE HOUR. so basically the last week at the MTC went as follows: do nothing important and just laugh a lot. My instructors decided we knew enough so we just partied. I guess first of all when 4th of July came around i pressed the organizer for music to only have patriotic american hymns. For some reason that made a lot of people pretty mad at me. So that made me just keep pushing for it and then laughing when people get mad. So of course I won the battle minds and wills between missionaries and we sang america the beautiful, the star spangled banner, etc.

The next thing that happened is my favorite instructor irmão Carboni came back from having kidney stone surgery. Apparently kidney stones aren´t super uncommon down here, and they blame it on genetics, but it´s their diet. They eat A LOT of salt. I have to drink sooo much sometimes because of it. Especially today. But anyways, Irmão Carboni came back and the next thing that happened was he proceded to tell us of the fun times at the hospital. Arguably the funniest story i´ve heard since i left, but that is probably just because he is a Brasilian who kept saying words that shouldn´t be said to missionaries on accident.

Next we went to The Presidents house. Imagine entering Jurassic Park, fences and all, and then having a rediculous series of 25 story buildings that look like giant museums. That is where they live. I felt uncomfortable there because of the rediculous amount of money being spent, but it´s just because in Brasil money spent and relative safety go hand in hand. I´m glad no one worries about us, because our house is awesome

So then next we went to my transfer meeting. It was a humbling experience because the American missionaries couldn´t really remember english and some had accents. My first goal: forget english in 1 year. My trainer is Elder Bush. He´s a cool kid from Utah. Knows Rian Murray because he played rugby as a freshman the year before I went to college, so small world.

Anyways then we went to my area. THE FUN PART BEGINS. We had an investigator and a member come pick us up and drove back in a little suzuki swift TYPE car but who knows what it was. I kept an eye on the speedo on the highway and it was between 140km/h and 40km/h the whole time so that wasn´t too bad. Then we went over a speedbump and i felt the street through the floor boards. I LOVE THIS PLACE. so we went and taught just a little bit that night. That was a new experience. This one young couple we visited lived in a single room. Imagine my room the way it is, but with another smaller closet and that closet is the bathroom. Just with a little sliding wall thing. Super humble people. But happy too. I was suprised by the level of interest that the members we were working with had. They all were quick to help bear their testimonies or teach what they knew or whatever. Good or bad it is definitely help.

As far as portuguese is going, I can understand kind of. I can talk a little. Like i´m never totally in the dark because i understand at least every 4th word, especially verbs, but I very rarely if ever understand it all. But I´m doing well and it´s fun to try and learn more and help people who I can tell have the potential to suck the marrow out of life if they just knew how. They could have so much enjoyment if they could just understand what I knew, despite their less than american living standards. They are already much happier than most people you meet on the street in america to begin with. People will just welcome us into their little homes, give us a hug, give us their best food, make sure that we know we are loved. They are all so nice. seeing them struggling to know the truth like i got to last night breaks my heart because what else do they even have? That young couple had one room. One bed, one dresser, one little family. But he was smiling. His life is far from perfect but he kept his dog from biting my leg and gave us his only seats and then listened as he sat on his bed. I just can´t believe the openness that these people have. The member that was with us just looked at him and told him that he would be happier if he would just investigate the church with his wife because they aren´t just investigating a church, they are finding the truth. I wish people could understand that. I´m not just from some church. I have something that can change your whole reason for being and giving you an infinite source of happiness. My companion related it to like if the guys wife made a delecious cake. How can he know unless he tries some of the cake if it is good or not.

But whatever I wanna go try to do some contacts.

I love you all and I hope that you guys are doing good. It´s warm here. I´ll explain more about things next week. Monday will be my P-Day from now on.

see ya