English? What is this strange language that seems so natural for me to understand?

"Oi familia! Tudo bem? How is everyone doing? How is my little sobrinho/sobrinha? How is life in the states? Its funny to hear you guys talk about how it is getting cooler up there because down here it is getting hotter and hotter. Curitiba's pretty far up in the mountains and the sun is way strong here so I'm starting to fry. Seriously, its easier for me to burn here than it was for me to burn in Arizona. I bought sun screen and I'm using it now so don't worry, my sunburn will go away soon and I don't plan on getting another one. The members got a good laugh out of my face though. I'm toasted but not too bad. We alternate between rainstorms and baking sun. What's really fun is when you get a combination of both- 90% Humidity and pretty hot too... fun... there are times when I feel like I'm swimming not walking. I have decided that I really don't like humidity. It could be worse though, I could have been called to João Pessoa or another mission in the nordeste. There, they have to deal with this year round..."

"...life is going good down here. Seriously, it may seem like I'm complaining but I'm actually doing pretty well. I actually got my letters which made me very happy, and my portuguese is continually improving. We are also teaching a lot more, which is a welcome change... things are changing. We taught 7 first lessons last week which was way more that I've ever taught in one week in my mission. We're also gaining more investigators and helping them progress too. No baptisms yet but to me its more important to help them gain a solid testimony and be solid for the rest of their lives than it is to throw them in the water after 2 weeks. Right now our best investigators still are L and F- they just need more fellowshipping from the ward and to strengthen their testimonies. All in all, the work is going well here right now..."

"...Oh, I don't remember if I mentioned this last week or not but I had MEXICAN FOOD!!!!!!! There's this mexican restaurant here and last week me, Elder Loyola, Elder Brown, and Elder Pettigrew all went. I was in flipping heaven. It was basically a rodizio of fajitas. They had actual guacamole and sour cream and tortilhas..."

"...Work, sun, sweat, spirit... yep... But seriously life here is going good... Eu amo vocês e eu sei que esta evangelho é o evangelho de Jesus Cristo e sei que eu estou onde eu foi chamado. A igreja é verdadeira e eu amo sendo um missionário. Amo vocês!!!!"

Oi!

"Oi família! Tudo bem? Eu estou muito bem agora, nesta semana foi um pouco difícil, mas hoje foi maravilhosa. Oh, wait, I can think and talk in English now. That's different. Well I survived my first português-only week. The first few days were a little rocky, okay maybe a little bit more than rocky, but I'm adapting. Elder Loyola and I are getting along fine, and we're working together better. The first few days I got pretty frustrated. It can get pretty lonely not being able to speak your native language or be able to express yourself in português either... but I'm adapting quickly to portuguese-only life. Its actually really quite surprising how quickly you can learn when you are totally immersed. There's a big noticeable difference between this week and last week. I wouldn't say I'm fluent, but I'm definitely closer than I was last week..."

"During this week, nothing big really happened. Its always a struggle to find investigators or even people to teach. Forget the stereotype about walking down the street stopping and teaching in every house. We walk for miles and miles and do lots of contacts and people will give us their addresses, but when we go to teach them they either: 1) Lied 2) Aren't home 3) The house doesn't exist. We are always trying to find new people to teach, but we're not find much success; Its a bit frustrating. But we're not quitting..."

" Yesterday was a holiday called Dia dos Crianças (Day of the Children) and there was literally nobody at home or on the street... all the Brazilians were amazed when I told them we don't have that holiday back home. I told them that we have Mothers Day and Fathers Day and the rest of the 363 Days are all for the kids. They thought that was funny..." 

"Nothing too exciting happened this week, just lots and lots of walking and trying to find someone to teach. Yep, I'm a missionary. I still keep having those moments where I stop and realize I'm in Brazil, as a missionary, speaking Portuguese, changing peoples lives. We have lots of trials and challenges right now but I wouldn't have it any other way..." 

Carta 5/10/10

"Things are moving and changing here in Curitiba. We had transfers this week and things have been shaken up a bit. I'm still in Pilarzinho but Elder Brown got transfered. My new comp is Elder Loyola, a Brasileiro from São Paulo. I've been with him all of about two hours but I think we'll get along well. This will also probably be the only time this week that I can think in English, the rest of the time I'll be trying to communicate in Português. Should be fun. It was kinda a weird thought when I realized I'm the only American for miles and miles and the only way I can function is to speak Português. I'm starting to notice those times when I phrase an English sentence like I would in Português and I'm starting to forget English words. AHHHHHHHHH!"

"Conferência Geral was way sweet. There were three americans in the district and we all got to watch the sessions together in english, which made life much nicer. We also got to stay out late and watch the priesthood session live with everyone else. I never thought I'd see the day where I felt uncomfortable being out of the house after 9:30. Oh, how missions change people."

"The work here is slowly progressing. We successfully got our important investigators to church to watch conference, so that was a really great thing. We're also continuing to work with L and F... We also have been working with other investigators who are starting to honestly progress and feel the blessings of the Gospel in their lives. I was kinda wanting to get transferred out of here but I feel like there's still things I need to accomplish here in Pilarzinho, so I'm staying here." 

 

What? 4 months already?

• The brazilian elections are next week so everyone is going crazy. They strap these big speakers to VW vans and drive around blasting the person's jingles. Its kinda anoying to be doing a contact on the street and then this van drives by blasting BETO! BETO! BETO! BETO! BETO! BETO! really flipping loud. Sheesh, I thought american elections were annoying.
• There was a training for new missionaries this week (which doesn't make much sense for me seeing as I'm probably leaving my trainer next week but oh well) but it was super awesome and I learned some new things from Presidente Cordon and Os Assistentes. The biggest thing is that because of all the problems with visas with Americans, every mission is short at least 40 missionaries. So to get more missionaries, they lowered the age for brazilian boys to serve. Young men can now serve @ 18 and every Bispo is going to interview everyone from 18-25 and get them going on getting ready for missions. Its kinda crazy, but we really need more people, we keep closing areas every transfer because we lose more missionaries than we gain.
  
• Do dog whistles attract dogs or make them scatter? If they make them run away I would really, really like one. I'm sick of these stupid mutts...
• We had SUBWAY!!!!!!!!!! It was DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!! It had BARBACUE SAUCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• We taught the youth a lesson for mutual and everytime they started getting distracted we would start speaking in English. Shut them up pretty good. The Irmãs were most impressed.
• Thanks for the letters from: Mom, BoB, and Phil, I really enjoyed them.
• BYU football seems like they are having a bad year. Boo. Sucky. Well, it makes things easier for me down here.

Another week gone... How many is that now?

"Life down here in Brasil is the same craziness and wackiness as always. Its spring here, so sometimes it is chilly and dumping rain- but other times it is really flippin hot. The climate never can make up its mind- oh well. I discovered that I really do not like humidity, it makes me sweat a lot- guess I'm going to have to adjust and quickly." 

"Well last Thursday and Friday were the Leadership training meetings in Portão, so I actually got to work in another area other than Pilarzinho. It was actually way cool. We took a bus up waay north of the city and worked up there. It was the Brasil I actually expected: dirt roads and people actually willing to listen to our message. Its kinda difficult to find people to teach here in Pilarzinho so that was a really nice break to just go and teach some lessons."

"This week was kinda difficult. We had 6 baptismal dates fall on Sunday because people don't want to go to church. It gets pretty frustrating but that's just missionary life. Right now the only investigators we have that are really honestly trying to find the truth are a couple called L and F. They're actually reading and praying and feeling the spirit, and its amazing to see the changes the gospel makes in their lives. When we first met them they didn't seem happy at all, but now they are smiling and you can see how much happier they are."