24th Week Out, 4th week in Juazeiro, Fortaleza

Dear family and friends;

This week I had to give a talk in church for like 10 minutes because the speaker didn’t show up, but what makes it more stressful was that my mission president was in my ward this week and my Portuguese is still not the best! 

I’ve only been here 4 weeks and I had to speak "IN" Portuguese in front of my mission president to my whole ward! But I feel great about the talk I gave and received many compliments.  

SO... we had 2 baptisms!  The first was a man we have been teaching.  We had to prepare him for his baptism so we taught him 3 lessons in 1 day!  His name was very difficult for me to remember!  Joao Tripitinos Dosantos Neto.  I wasn’t going to baptize him.  We had a member lined up to baptize him, but 10 minutes before the baptism he bailed on us.  My companion was like, "You’re going to baptize Joao Neto!"  That one definitely caught me off guard because I had not yet memorized the baptismal ordinance in Portuguese!  I quickly memorized it in the 8 minutes I had before the baptism.  I then had the spiritual experience of baptizing Joao Neto.  The other is Vinicius, who we had a member baptize.  (The baptisms were on separate days.)

This week me and my companion also had the wonderful opportunity of bringing a less active back to church, Antonio, who is 19 years old.  Antonio stopped going to church a little over 8 months ago.  We found him in his home.  At first he had no desire to come back, but in a couple visits, we helped him to feel the spirit that testifies to us that this church is true and I know he felt it.  Antonio came back to church this Sunday for his first time.  As he sat next to me in sacrament he started crying.  He was overwhelmed with that sweet spirit.  I put my arm around him and told him how much Heavenly Father loved him, and that I knew... in that moment, he was feeling the holy ghost.  I told him that he made the right choice in coming back to church.

Brothers and sisters the Holy Ghost is real.  It testifies to us when things are true.  I feel it every day. It’s a feeling that’s hard to describe but you can’t miss it!  I Love this feeling.  It truly does bring me all the joy and peace I have in my life!  I KNOW this church is true because of this feeling.  I love you all and thanks for your love and support!

Impressions of Juazeiro

1. When you don’t have a car or a motorcycle, use a horse! lots of people have horses pulling a trailer that they use for transportation.
2. The streets here have more motorcycles than cars, but they’re not like motorcycles because those are expensive! everyone has a cheap dirt bike motorcycle.
3. Brazilians are huge with their bread! there is Pao ( bakery’s) on like every street! and gosh dang-it it's so cheap and good and tempting!

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.

Joao Tripitinos Dosantos Neto

Vinicius

23rd Week Out, 3rd week in Juazeiro, Fortaleza

Dear family and friends;

This week I did A LOT of walking!  My area is one of the biggest in the whole mission!  We were given directions to one of our lunch appointment this week and it went something like this; "Do you know where Minha Casa Minha Vida is?" (A project here where the government will build a group of homes and people in favellas or ghettos will win a lottery to stay in these homes.  The government provides for only like R$50.00 a month.)  Anyways she was like... "Well it’s your first left then you go down 9 streets and at the end of that road look for a green house."  Lots of people out here don’t have house numbers.  Anyways, we had to walk like 15 miles just to get to this Minha Casa Minha Vida and when we got there we tried to find the house and we couldn’t find it anywhere!  We walked up and down many streets knocking on all the green houses but we couldn’t find her.  We even ran into a green house with a woman with the "same name" but it wasn’t our member.  Also note we don’t have a phone so we couldn’t like call or anything.  We ended up running into the other missionaries who where just as lost as we were.  We went down the streets knocking on every door.  Many people gave us water because we were dripping sweat.  We eventually ran into a member who took us to the house we were looking for.

Transfer calls came this week and me and my companion are staying in our new area.  I’m so excited to see the work here grow as we are trying to be a Stake (we are only a District).  My me and my companion are focusing on looking for men to baptize to receive the priesthood.  Cool fact about a District is that you can’t have a Melchizedek priesthood holder in a District.  So our District President (like a bishop) and High Council don’t even have the Melchizedek priesthood.  Once we become a Stake were going to have like 30 men lined up to receive the Melchizedek priesthood, that is if we can become a Stake.  Once you're a Stake, the stake will never leave, but Districts can dissemble.

This past Sunday my companion and I brought a family to church.  They stayed though all the meetings and loved it.  They are not married but here in Brazil that is something you find quite often.  You will have a family living together where the parents are not married because they couldn’t afford it.  So we have to marry them before we can baptize them.  I hope that things continue with this sweet family. They have a boy and 2 little girls.

Brothers and sisters every day I get to see something new.  Every day I get to see the spirit work through ME.  I can’t explain how great it is, but I love my life the Lord has given me, and for this short time I have to serve the people around me.  I love you all and thanks for all your love and support!

Impressions of Juazeiro

1. Sao Geraldo (a type of drink) is huge here because it’s produced here, and it’s my favorite! And very cheap! Better than Guannana which is also BOMB
2. EVERY singe meal with members I eat beans and rice, they are starting to grow on me!
3. The people here are so much nicer than in the US. EVERYONE says Boa dia,  boa tarde,boa noite, etc. ( have a good day) and will give you a thumbs up with a smile. like I said people will see you in the streets sweating and will ask you "can I get you some water"? when they have nothing.

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.

22nd Week Out, 2nd week in Juazeiro, Fortaleza

 Dear family and friends;

This week made me love Brazil even more!  The food here is amazing!  Man we eat sooooooooo well.  I can honestly say the food here in Brazil is WAY better than in America!  You all are missing out and I’m sorry for your loss!

This week I went on an exchange for 3 days in Elder Donis´s area because my companion Elder Huang had to go to Fortaleza for Visa problems.  Elder Donis is 18 years old, and he’s almost been out on his mission for a year.  He is Hispanic so he didn’t speak any English.  It was a good experience for me to learn Portuguese because my companion does speak English sometimes.  Also, I have 2 other missionaries in my home that speak English, but in elder Donis`s home they are all Hispanic and speak no English.  His area is a lot poorer than my area.  We had lunch in this one members home and they had nothing.   There was holes in their roof; they had basically no furniture; but despite everything they prepared a meal for us in their small kitchen and it wasn’t much.  I felt so terrible because she had 7 children to feed.

When you eat at members homes here in Brazil, they always let you get food first.  They will drink water and let you drink all the juice/soda that they have.  They will let you sit around their table if they have one, and they will sit on the ground.  So at this particular lunch, all the other Elders took a lot of food, and their's was like none... left so I took just a little.  I really never realized how much I had until I came here.  In Brazil, people will make around R$15,000 which is only $5,000 when you convert it to American dollars.  That’s nothing, but people live of it here, somehow.  Also out here in Brazil they really make anything you can think of.  Everyone’s house is usually converted into a shop or a workplace where they create fake jewelry, cheap watches, etc.

This week we had a meeting with our District President about our area becoming a Stake.  We are not a stake right no, just a district.  It's amazing to see the work and how fast it is moving out here and that I get to be a part of it!

I love my life and thank you for all of your love and support!

Impressions of Juazeiro Brazil

1. I use the train out here for transportation sometimes and the windows are ALL cracked because kids throw rocks at it when it goes through town.
2. In Brazil if you live in America your pretty much rich because of the exchange rate.
3. when I walk around the streets of Brazil, little kids come up to me all the time and say Fala Ingles! (speak English)

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.

21st Week Out, 1st week in Juazeiro, Fortaleza

Dear family and friends;

Things have been crazy!  Forgive me for my spelling because I no longer have time or auto spell.  I didn't get the opportunity to have a p-day last week because I left The MTC for Fortaleza the day of my P-day.

Anyways, I'm here now!  I was called to serve in Juazeiro!  For my first area, me and my companion will be opening up a new area!  It was a 400 mile trip to this area!  I was on the bus for 10 hours!  My companions name is Elder Huang.  He is Korean but lives in the U.S. (Chicago).   He does speak English, but only when I completely can't understand something, which happens a lot!

The language is definitely something I'm struggling with but I knew I would.  I know Heavenly Father will help me to learn the language in time, but for now I'm not understanding a lot.

Brazil is definitely a culture change!  We have big meals for lunch with members and then don't eat  dinner.  When I say big, meals I mean big!  We eat with 2 other sets of elders and a set of sister missionaries every day!  That's 8 missionaries, and they always stuff us!  They will always say "comi mais elder!" Its rude to not have seconds out here!  Most of the time they don't have enough seats for everyone so they will let all the missionaries sit around their small table and they will eat on the ground!

It's very poor out here!  Dinner is not a thing.  We can buy a snack but no one eats dinner.  Our house is apparently the nicest in the mission so I guess I lucked out.  We live in the house with 2 other sets of missionaries.  One set is our Zone Leaders and they are American, and the other are Brazilians.

I no longer have warm showers!  Cold showers are rough and I don't think I will ever get used to them! I also don't have a dryer here, so I have to dry my clothes on the line.  Everyone does it here.

I really love it here in Brazil though!  The people are so nice!  The work is moving fast in Brazil and we  have already set nine baptismal dates this week!

Houses out here are amazing.  No one has grass or front yards or back yards.  It's just a bunch of houses connected, and all the houses are no longer than two car lengths, so when you are walking, you will pass by two houses every second!  It's so beautiful because the sidewalks are made of broken tile or random things.  Every house is a different color, shape, size, quality.  It's beautiful and makes walking not a burden.  I must have walked 40 miles these last couple days but I love it!  By the end of the day I'm ready to go to sleep!  I can say that for sure!

I'm working so hard!  My Portuguese is improving so much.  I love my life.  I love all that I have.   This experience is definitely humbling me!

Thank you for all of your love and support!  I wish I had more time but I don't!

Impressions of Juazeiro, Brazil

1. EVERYONE is catholic and I mean everyone
2. Turns out they were teaching me Japanese in the MTC and not Portuguese. (Jk)
3. No more paved roads!  All roads are made of crushed rocks and some type of cement.
4. I walked into the supermarket for the first time and had no clue what I was looking at!

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.

20th Week Out, Day two in Fortaleza, Brazil Mission.

We received no letter from Elder Horton this week.