Week fourteen.... is that all?! It seems like Tom has been gone for a year, at least! It sounds
like he is still doing fine and eating well, sweating a lot, and probably picking up more and more of the language all of the time. It's funny that so many people use English and that they like our music, or at least the same music we like (I don't know if we can claim Adele.... I think she's British). I am glad that Tom's companion has an interest in learning some English - hopefully that will help them both. There's just not a day that goes by that my heart doesn't miss this boy, but I am happy for him to have this experience and know that he is maturing and growing up - it's just I wish he didn't have to do it so far away!
Heeello!
I hope everyone had a good week despite some of the not so good news. This past
week was pretty exhausting. We did a loooot of walking. We still don´t have a lot of
people to teach and the ones that we have are quite busy.There's one that we can only
teach on weekends, and I think she is struggling the most out of our investigators, so
its difficult to not be able to help her a whole lot. But she is going to church which is
good. We also met with a family that was taught by missionaries 2 years ago but stopped
talking with them because they couldn´t keep commitments very well. They went to church
too and all said they enjoyed it, so hopefully we can get some commitments out of them,
including baptism. But I guess the good part from all the walking we did is that I no
longer look down the 10 mile long road (exaggerating) and say "I have to walk
that?"
But I do think its starting to get hotter here. I was on fire yesterday, ugh so
hot!. And the showers here seem to get colder every day. Its not a big deal at the end of
the day when I´ve been out in the sun all day and I don´t know if I am soaked from the
rain or the sweat, haha... but in the mornings, it wakes me up quick. Yesterday, my
companion and I worked with Elder Shaw and his companion and one other companionship,
outside of the church building they go to, inviting people to church. Elder Shaw is still
doing good but he says that not a lot of people understand what he says when he teaches
and he doesn´t have a lot of time in the morning to study because they have an
investigator they can only teach in the mornings, I think. Hopefully things will get
better for him, quick. I´m glad I don´t have that problem, but sometimes when I teach,
they can´t hear me... speaking up is difficult when I never had to before my mission.
Anyways, it doesn´t happen often and people usually understand me. I´ve even gotten a few
compliments on my Portuguese. Its kinda funny, sometimes little kids come up to me and
ask me to speak English to them, and some times people speak English to me, or try to.
Yesterday I was walking down the street and 3 Brazilians all said "Oi!
Americano!" completely random. And there was one time, we were sitting in an
investigators house and outside we heard a person say, out of the blue, "Eu não
acredito, I don´t believe it" (the same thing in English and Portuguese) and I don´t
think there were any Norte Americanos around. Hah, its funny, the influence that English
has here. The song "someone like you" by Adele is hugely popular here, I hear
it a lot. Anyways, that was my week!
You want to know more about my companion, eh? Okay! my companions really cool, and
funny. He is from Salvador, he has 1 year and 3 months in the mission field. He likes to
joke around a lot, and decided one of our weekly goals should be to be happy (because our
area is kinda difficult and can be discouraging). I try to teach him a little English and
he teaches me Portuguese. Some words that he has a hard time remembering are word, ward,
would, and world. Every time he tries to say world he pronounces it like
"werlud." Its always a good time teaching each other the language. One thing he
said about the area we are in now is that he only has 10 baptisms here and he´s been here
for 5 months, when in other areas he has had 10 baptisms in one month. :( Well I´m glad
im the one suffering here and not someone else. Just kidding! I'm not suffering, don't
worry, but yeah things are kinda difficult.
I will begin writing letters today and I will send the camera card home within the
next 2 weeks, or I will try to. And yeah, the news this week is not great :/ Sorry to
hear about Nate. I hope he heals quickly. That really stinks. Breaking his wrist and
ankle in less than a year. Enjoy those video games, Nate! :) I have some you can borrow,
just ask David if you want :) I´m also sorry to hear about Carries mom :( she was always
very nice. Hopefully things get better for them. And that sucks that your phone was
stolen Davy!... I hope you.. learned... your lesson? Don´t know what else to say about
that... just don´t be down in the dumps because of it. But Congratulations to Brady and
Lori and Niki also and the new members of their families. That's really cool! I like the
names too, good choices :)
Enjoy baseball this season. Its the last one of the high school days, unfortunately.
Good luck in Anaheim, I hope you guys do good! And sorry that Emmy can´t go. Don´t get
too stressed over your 2 jobs. As dad said, all things pass with time. I think that has
helped me quite a bit these past few months, away from you all.
Question Answering Time!
1) I did receive a package, with some towels, vitamins, a card, but I think the most
important and thoughtful part of it was the fruit snacks :) nothing says I love you like
fruit snacks, so thank you very much!
2)I forgot to bring the camera with me today, sorry no pictures this week, maybe next
week though. I will try.
3)Rice and beans are fine, I always eat the rice when its available, I try to eat the
beans every time, but I think its been about every other time. Lunch at the members houses
is good. lots of meet, especially chicken, but its good. Oh! I learned how to make eggs!
They are probably not very good alone but smack them on some bread and it is delicious.
4)Have not been to any restaurants, but I don´t need to. I´ve got plenty to eat at the
house and the members feed me well. Only seen one Mcdonalds but its expensive here so I
won´t eat there.
5)Lots of bakeries with good bread... mmmmm the bread is good here.
6) Journal, yes....
Okay gotta go, I love you and can´t wait to speak to you again. The weeks have been
going by so fast but the days are kinda slow. Anyways love yas and will talk to you again
next week
Tchau Tchau!
No comments:
Post a Comment