Week Twelve - Carnival

My handsome son in front of the Sao Paulo Temple

 Once again, I waited and waited for Tom's e-mail, got impatient and went to his in-box 

and there it was as a draft!  He had pictures attached, though, and he still sounds good!

It was so exciting to see pictures of him and to see a smile on his face!  I sure miss this 

boy but I know he is growing like crazy and it makes us so happy for him!   

I will send some pictures to you really quick and try to talk about the mission after. 
The computers are really slow here and take a long time for pictures to load, so I will 
talk a little bout the mission while the pictures load. There's a some flowers you can 
paint if you want Emmy!

      Sorry about last week! I was literally saying goodbye and about to send the e-mail 
home when I ran out of time and was kicked off the computer. Ugh, that ticked me off... I 
thought it would ruin my day but, it was still okay, and I am glad you were able to read 
it and that you enjoyed it. Don´t worry about looking at my emails ma! if you don´t get 
one its probably because this happened again and I give you permission to look.
      So, its hot here. I am usually sweating before we even leave the house. And it 
rains a lot. I don´t think there has been a day where it didn´t rain at least a little 
yet. But when it rains it feels nice, it cools me off a bit, unless its raining really 
hard, then we find a place to stay out of the rain. Things are kind of difficult, here. 
The members of the church are supposed to help us find new investigators and that is what 
my companion is trying to rely on but most people say they don´t have a reference for us. 
My companion says that the area of Belem we are in, Arsenal, is kind of difficult because 
its a bit bigger than other areas, and even one member of the ward here says that the 
other members aren´t very helpful. We are praying for help so hopefully things will get 
better. This past week we did a lot of walking. I think at the beginning of every month 
we have some zone meetings for training at the church every morning for a couple days, 
and the church is like a 20 minute walk away, or 10 minutes if your companion walks as 
fast as he can. Fortunately  he only did it once so it was okay. Lots and lots of 
walking...
    The language is coming along okay. I definitely understand more now than when I first 
arrived. I´m not sure if I already said this in my last email, but there are somethings 
people say that I can understand without even having to think about it but others its 
just like..... -.-...... wut? and then they say "He understands nothing," in 
Portuguese of course, and just laugh at me. So its a little embarrassing but it doesn't 
bother me much. Anyways, we have a few people that are showing interest in the church. 
Some people have come up to us and talked to us a bit but most of the time when they do, 
they are a little crazy. After someone talks to us I ask my companion what they said and 
he says "I don´t know, he´s crazy," which has happened a couple of times, so 
its kinda funny.
    Carnival was... I think last week. I don´t think its a huge deal here. There were 
about 100 people walking through the street following a truck with music just blasting, 
and tons of people just set up giant stereos outside their home and have it blasting as 
loud as possible, too. And then there are some cars that just drive around all day with 
speakers set up on top of their car with more music blasting, and a lot of the music they 
play here is Portuguese covers of English pop songs so its kinda annoying, but not that 
carnival is over, there aren't a lot of people blasting their music anymore. But I saw 
one huge truck with HULK SOM (sound) painted on it and the incredible hulk also. Man, 
that was loud. During carnival we didn´t have to stay in the house all day but we did end 
it an hour earlier. My companion says there's lots of thieves during carnival that want 
money to go to where the party is and buy beer.
     Sorry to hear about Dad, I hope you get better soon and I will be praying for you! 
But I am glad you and Em are finding things to do and having fun. Haha, toby is so funny, 
I love hearing about what he´s doing... But I´m glad I don't have to be there to clean up 
the mess he made. And I am glad to hear about Clay and Cooper and Brady, congratulations 
to them! Muito legão (very cool, pronounced lay-gow, like cow but with a g)
    I will now answer your questions really quick.
1) pizza, I just buy some flat bread, some tomato sauce, and some pre sliced cheese. My 
companion did show me how to start the stove (I was nervous!) and I made some chicken. 
I´m going to try to make some scrambled eggs next! Wish me luck!
2) Walking is difficult but getting easier, don´t worry about it!
3) I live with one other companionship, cool guys, and every Tuesday we have a zone 
meeting at the church where we talk about the week and learn a little bit. cool stuff!
4) local super market, lots of stuff to buy, don´t worry about it!
5) shoes are good! don´t worry about it!

Anyways, I love you all and can´t wait to talk to you again. Wish me luck this week and I 
will be praying for yall. Bye!

Elder Williams