Week 30 - I'm going to the temple!!!

Wednesday I’m going to the temple!!!  Since I’m in the interior I will be going to the Campinas temple! 

Elder Farias and I have amazing lessons with our investigators but we haven’t gotten any to church.  I am by far having more spiritual experiences with Elder Farias then with any other companion I have had. We are spiritually in sync.  We are always having the same thoughts and during lessons say exactly what the other wanted to say.

My week was pretty good.  The bugs are getting better.  

Finding a house has still been a no go.  In this area everyone requires two people to sign a contract so that if one doesn’t pay the other will.  But the church doesn’t work that way.   We have found a ton of perfect houses but because of the two signatures rule we cant rent them.  A member is taking us house shopping later this afternoon.

I’m ready to find a new house.  There is one elder I live with that is just driving me insane.  I just have to walk away at times so I don’t get angry.

I have bad luck with beds here.  My bed broke for the second time in the mission.  I think ALL the beds in Brazil are twin sized.  My feet hang off the edge on all of them.

Elder Farias and I are doing a ton of service for the members and investigators this week.  I like giving service.  One plus to serving is I don’t have to walk around in church clothes.

Week 29 - Trials and tribulations

It has been hard. I feel like my mission trials are really starting.  Trying to battle the bugs and the weather is getting to me. I had thoughts about coming home this past week but my week ended good and the weather cooled a little.  I am pushing forward.

I get eaten alive here. I wake up just about every night because there are so many mosquitos around.  I end up breathing them in during my sleep.

I slept at another missionary’s house last preparation day.  They have a hammock outside.  It was crazy hot so I went to sleep in the hammock.  It was way comfortable and there was a little breeze but I was getting eaten alive by the mosquitos.  I went back to the mattress in the middle of the night.  Later, I felt something on my arm and I thought it was a mosquito.  When I swatted it, it was something huge.   I got up and opened my blanket and I had cockroaches all over me!  I didn’t sleep the rest of the night.  It really bothered me.

My legs and arms look just like chicken pox.  In our house we play a game where we see who can kill the most mosquitos at night.  Last night I killed twelve.

We have one fan in our house and because my bed is in the middle of the room I am lucky.  I have the fan blowing on me all night but mosquitos still bite me.

I haven’t seen bug spray at all.   Someone told us that you can buy a thing to stick on the wall to keep the bugs out but I haven’t seen it anywhere.  I asked around about where to buy mosquito nets but no one knows of a store here.

In turns out my companion didn’t have dengue fever.   He is just fine now.

We received a lot of references from the members this week, which has been a blessing.  We see progress with our investigator’s testimonies but getting them to church is still a battle.

Week 28 - Dengue fever and my trial

The missionary work here is starting to happen! We have eight new investigators this week and one of the people who previously dropped us returned so we have several people to teach!  There is much work to do in this branch.

My companion has been sick for the past four days. We think he has dengue fever.  The other night we went to the hospital at 2:00 in the morning.  He is in some pain but it’s not as serious as it sounds.  Sister Andrews, the mission president’s wife, told him to stay in after 5:00.   We still go out and work because he refuses to sit around.  He just wants to work.

IT’S FREAKING HOT HERE.  I’m dying.  I literally am sweating 24/7.  The inside of our house is like 88 degrees and the outside is 95.  There is absolutely no breeze or anything.  We have a fan in our house but it does nothing.  The air in our house is so hot.  The fan just blows hot air over you.  I don’t know what I’m going to do about this heat.  I don’t think I’m getting use to it.  I feel like I’m breathing with a blanket over my face.   I feel so claustrophobic.  This is way difficult for me and has become a big trial.

We found some potential houses in our area.  We just need to get the mission president or one of the secretaries to come look and approve one.  They haven’t had time to do that with my companion being sick.

I had an interview with our new mission president this week that was great!   He gave me direction.   He isn’t worried about numbers at all.   He just wants me to always have the Spirit with me and to work hard.

I get feed well here!  I ate chicken hearts the other day.   They were terrible.   They just tasted like blood to me.  I have had churrasco six times!  Churrasco is barbeque Brazilian style.  They use salt to season the meat.   They use all kinds of parts from cows and chickens.   They also use sausages.

Week 27 - A great and terrible week

This week has been both great and terrible.   Conference was great!   It was really nice to hear Portuguese live from one of the speakers.  It was more difficult to understand the translated messages.  Please post Elder Bednar’s message to my Facebook page.   I really liked it.

Elder Bednar - Come and See

It has been a terrible week for our investigators.  Satan is working overtime.   We have zero people in our teaching pool.

My companion and I are searching for an apartment.  I’ve already talked to the zone leaders, but one the reasons we want to get a new house so badly is because we don’t want to live in the rat infested place we have now.  I haven’t sent pictures of our current house because it is so trashed.  I’ve been trying to clean and reduce the problem, but we literally have rats and bugs throughout.

I have an interview with the mission president this week.  I look forward to that!