Dear family and friends;
Yes it is true... I am IN BRAZIL! I'm in the Sao Paulo MTC! I will be here for 2 weeks to refresh my Portuguese. I have now been to both MTC´s! I can definitely say that the Sao Paulo MTC is wayyyyy nicer! Everyone here is Brazilian so now Americans are in the minority! I remember seeing all the different nationalities at the MTC in Provo, and some of them couldn't understand English, so for devotionals and meetings, they had to have headphones and someone translate. Yeah... I'M the one using the headphones now! Everyone speaks Portuguese and it's forcing me to use it ALL the time! I can't believe in just one week how much more Portuguese I know! I know the gift of tongues is real!
Elder Kessel is my companion again! If you don't remember, he was my companion in the Provo MTC the first time so it's crazy that we have served together 2 times now! We have 2 other roommates in our room one is Spanish (Elder Almeida) that speaks Portuguese and the other is a native Brazillian (Elder Prado)! They both know no English! They are legit! They sit with us for meals all the time and we are always having conversations in Portuguese and I can actually understand them!
One of the different things about the Sao Paulo MTC is we actually go "off campus" here! We go and teach people all around the city! I had 2 opportunities this past week to hop on the bus with four "O Livro de Mormons" and go out around the city and teach people about the Book of Mormon! A lot of people struggle with talking to people and will come back and didn't even give one away. But the 1st day, I placed 5 out of 4 Book of Mormons in 2 hours! The 5th I grabbed from one of the other Elders in my district who couldn't give it away. We were on the bus ride back and I gave it to a person. The second day I ended up giving out 11 Book of Mormons in under 2 hours! How... I started off by placing my 4 very fast and then I gave all my companions away because he struggles with talking to people. Then on the bus ride back, I ended up talking with more people all over the bus and ask other elders for their Book of Mormons because they just stood on the bus waiting to go home. Not to mention, all these conversations were all 100% in Portuguese. Heavenly Father has helped me to be very outgoing. To anyone that knows me... I'm not afraid to go out and do mostly anything! The way I like to say it... "We need to be lovingly BOLD!"
I don't have much time to email here in the MTC. I'm back on the 45 minute max, and I'm not even allowed to send pictures! I have so much more I could talk about but no time.
I love my life! I know my Heavenly Father is with me, helping me be the missionary he wants me to be! I love you all and thanks for all your love and support!
Elder Kessel is my companion again! If you don't remember, he was my companion in the Provo MTC the first time so it's crazy that we have served together 2 times now! We have 2 other roommates in our room one is Spanish (Elder Almeida) that speaks Portuguese and the other is a native Brazillian (Elder Prado)! They both know no English! They are legit! They sit with us for meals all the time and we are always having conversations in Portuguese and I can actually understand them!
One of the different things about the Sao Paulo MTC is we actually go "off campus" here! We go and teach people all around the city! I had 2 opportunities this past week to hop on the bus with four "O Livro de Mormons" and go out around the city and teach people about the Book of Mormon! A lot of people struggle with talking to people and will come back and didn't even give one away. But the 1st day, I placed 5 out of 4 Book of Mormons in 2 hours! The 5th I grabbed from one of the other Elders in my district who couldn't give it away. We were on the bus ride back and I gave it to a person. The second day I ended up giving out 11 Book of Mormons in under 2 hours! How... I started off by placing my 4 very fast and then I gave all my companions away because he struggles with talking to people. Then on the bus ride back, I ended up talking with more people all over the bus and ask other elders for their Book of Mormons because they just stood on the bus waiting to go home. Not to mention, all these conversations were all 100% in Portuguese. Heavenly Father has helped me to be very outgoing. To anyone that knows me... I'm not afraid to go out and do mostly anything! The way I like to say it... "We need to be lovingly BOLD!"
I don't have much time to email here in the MTC. I'm back on the 45 minute max, and I'm not even allowed to send pictures! I have so much more I could talk about but no time.
I love my life! I know my Heavenly Father is with me, helping me be the missionary he wants me to be! I love you all and thanks for all your love and support!
Impressions of Sao Paulo Brazil
- The roads out here are FREAKING crazy and when I say that, this must be one of the craziest if not the craziest places in the world!.
- Most of the cars out here are small. Probably to get through traffic
- Everyone drives bumper to bumper, LITERALLY!
- There's TONS of people on motorcycles mobbing through traffic. They even have a motorcycle area right before the crosswalk! So it's funny, when you're waiting at a red light, all the motorcycles will maneuver through traffic to the front of the cars, and when the light turns green green... you just see a million bikes take off.
- I even saw a driver pull over in the middle of the freeway so that he could stop and take a pee.
- There all the most randoms car companies!?
My address:
Rua Republica da Armenia 765
Agua Fria
60821-760 Fortaleza-CE
Brazil
(Note mail in Brazil is regulated as you might have heard, packages and even letters have a high chance of being opened if you do not cover the letter or package in pictures of Jesus and the Catholic Mary. Shipping takes about a month time sometimes longer.
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