Monday, May 19, 2014

Week 7 - In Brazil

The plane ride was really nice! I got to eat some McDonald's which was delicious!  On the flight to Atlanta I sat by an older couple from South Carolina and just talked to them.  They were so nice and ended up being really interested in the church.  They are super big readers and so I was able to give them a Book of Mormon.  They really wanted to read and find out more.  It was way exciting!!

It was storming really bad in Atlanta so the made us stay on the plane.  I ended up missing my flight to São Paulo.  They rescheduled me on a plane to São Paulo two hours latter.  On the plane I met a lady who was Brazilian and has a lot of Mormon friends!  I don't know how interested she was but I talked to her!  Because I missed my flight from the weather I got to sit in first class which was way nice!  I got to watch the sun rise as I was flying over Brazil which was beautiful!



During the storm at the airport in Georgia it was raining like crazy and I guess they left every ones suitcase outside.  I arrived here and EVERYTHING in my suitcases was completely soaked.  A lot of my clothes are ruined...  I was able to save most of my ties thankfully!

When flying over Brazil I was blown away by how big the city is!  ITS FREAKIN HUGE!!!  Going through the airport wasn't bad but finding my chauffeur was.   In the MTC I felt like I could understand my teachers really well!  Here I don't understand ANYTHING anyone says...  It's way hard.




They dropped me off at the mission home and I got to meet my companions!   Elder Petterson and Elder Faustino.  Guess which one is the Brazilian?   Elder Petterson has only been out for two months but he speaks so well!  He told me that he couldn't understand when people talked at all until he became one of my trainers.  They are both really cool and good missionaries.  I like them a lot! Our mission home is really tiny.  

 Our house is small and gross.  Our shower is heated by the shower head so there are electrical wires everywhere around the shower -- talk about safety.  The buildings don't have air conditioning, not even the church building.  It's getting to be winter here and the Brazilians think its way cold but its really hot.  They think 80 degrees is cold!  I'M GOING TO DIE IN THE SUMMER BECAUSE I'M DYING NOW.   I've never been so sweaty in my life!!!  My clothes are semi wet to begin with and then we go work.  They get even wetter from me sweating so much!  I feel so gross.  I'm wet 24/7.  There are no dryers here...  Oh how I want a dryer!!!  If I don't lose a lot weight, I'm in trouble.  We walk a ton -- probably about 15 miles a day!  I'ts a 30min walk to everywhere we go.




My area I am serving in is called Monumento.  It's in the heart of the city of São Paulo!!!  There are so many skateboarders and longerboards.  I LOVE IT!!! It makes me miss my boards so much! There are people here that have long boards that are six ft long! They are literally surfboards with wheels!  Its cool to watch them ride them!  The streets are really really dirty and trash is everywhere. I don't know how to describe it.  It's a beautiful place but gross at the same time.  I love the graffiti though Some are way cool!  


ONE CRAZY THING HAPPENED YESTERDAY WHICH USUALLY ISN'T SEEN IN BRAZIL.  IT HAILED!  HAIL THE SIZE OF GOLF BALLS WHEN IT WAS 70 DEGREES OUTSIDE.



THE DRINKS HERE ARE AMAZING!!!  THE JUICE IS LIKE HEAVEN!!!  There is this fruit called goiaba!!!  BEST THING EVER!!!  The soda is so good too!!!  They have Fantas that are only in Brazil!  

The members here are the must humble and nicest poeple I have ever met!  The people we teach are golden.  One read the entire book of Mormon in a week!  We teach a lot of Hatians!  Portuguese is hard enough for me right now and we are teaching six people in Creol.  One of them committed to being baptized which is cool!! A lot of the houses are smaller then my bathroom at home... I don't know how people live in them and then on the other hand other homes are huge!!!  I'm scared to take a lot of pictures because its kind of sketchy, but I have some.  Even with everything as miserable and hard as it is I'm really enjoying myself.  A lot of the time I just think to myself about what the Savior and pioneers went through and compare it to my situation.  My struggles are nothing!