Week 60 - More camera woes.

I took my camera back last week but the shop owner wouldn’t do anything for me.  I’m going back with my friend Rogério.  The camera I recently purchased has a system error and freezes when I try to turn it on.  The shop owner said that I need to take it to get a system reboot at another store, but all the members are telling me that this guy should give me my money back or trade for a new camera because of the laws here.  I'm grateful for Rogério's willingness to help me.

Something familiar.

This week, my companion and I went to a home that had hens, a rooster, rabbits, those fancy cats, and a bulldog.  It was fun!

Elder W. Souza and Elder Hammond

My companion and I are staying together for another transfer.  We get along fine.  I’ve also been given more responsibilities and will be serving the missionaries in my area.

Week 59 - Peanut butter and maple extract.

This week we went to a birthday party.  I had a lot of fun! I am going back today to the English class and that will be fun too.

Campinas Brazil Temple

My NEW camera is having problems....  >:(   I’m going to go trade it in today.

I would love to get a package with maple extract. The member’s are asking like crazy to make them pancakes.  I’d like some peanut butter too.  The peanut butter isn’t that important because you can get it here.  It’s just different.

Week 58 - Mother's day

This is Rogério and Manu.  I love this family!  They are always doing things for the missionaries.

Having fun making a selfie on the new camera.

[It was fun talking to Dallen on Mother’s Day.   He talked to our family twice.   Once after his church in a new member’s home, and later at an investigators home.   He split his time so his brother, Brady, could join in the conversation. The investigator’s family is very artistic.  The picture below shows cards the mother makes.  She also makes various birds and pretty things.  It was fun seeing some of the things she made.  – Dallen’s dad]

Beutiful card's our invetigator makes.

The second family we were at has a daughter.  She took us to her English class today.  At one point, I felt like I was in a band.  The girls went crazy because I was an American.  It was fun.

English class.

It was interesting talking to you at home and those around me.   Going between English and Portuguese is like a switch.  If I start talking in English it is fine.  But, when I try to switch super fast – going from English to Portuguese, I get super mixed up.

I think translating is a little easier because I know what language I’m listening and speaking before hand.   It’s the switching back and forth that gets weird.   It can be hard too because some words don’t exist in the other language.   Then I have to think longer to figure out the right words to say.

My companion comes from a great family that is very supportive.  He was happy to talk with them too.  He is very obedient.  He reads the mission rule book often.  He sings hymns when he hears worldly music in the streets.  He works hard to follow the rules of the land.  He wouldn’t consider crossing a street in the middle because the law says to cross at intersections.

Week 57 - Looking forward to Mother's Day!

Today, I played basketball and ping-pong with three investigators. It has been raining here.

The member’s are helping us as we teach.  This week we had a member and his wife teach a family with us.  They also met a couple of investigators as well.  I thought it was really fun and cool and I think it was a good experience for them too.  This member’s family is always so good at helping us out and providing dinner for us on Sundays.  They are just awesome!  We are teaching some really cool families now.

I look forward to our upcoming Skype call on Mother’s Day.  I will probably call after church, which will be around 12:30 pm your time.  We are an hour ahead of you and our church goes from 10:00 to 1:00.  By the time I get to a members home it will be about 1:30 here.  We may be going to the home of the woman I recently baptized!  I’m not sure how much time President Anderson will give us to talk and they may only have one computer so it might be a little later.  Depending on lunch and if my companion goes first, it might not be until 3:00 or 4:00 your time.  Look for me to get on between 12:30 and 4:00.

We had a combined mission conference this past week with the São Paulo North Mission.  Elder L. Whitney Clayton of the First Quorum of the Seventy spoke to us.  He spoke about things we could do to help our investigators get their answers faster.  It was cool and this week we are going to the temple!  We met together in Santana (district of São Paulo).

My companion’s full name is Wemerson Souza.  That is why he is known as Elder W. Souza here. Souza is a very common Brazilian surname.  We use his first initial to distinguish him from the many other Elder Souza’s serving in this mission.  He is doing fine and we are getting in all our studying.

I looked at a ton of different cameras last week to replace my broken Canon that developed a lens error.  The one thing here that is different is they don’t let you try them out.   You can hold them, but they don’t put batteries in them so you can’t take an actual photo to see what it looks like.  You just have to look at the box to see what it will do.  I took a few pictures from a borrowed camera this week but I forgot the memory card so I won’t be uploading.  The dollar rose again so if I find a camera today it will be a little cheaper.  I’m not looking to get anything super fancy.  I only have about $200 Reis.  I may need you to put $100 US dollars into my account, but that should be enough.