Week Thirty Two - New Companion and MIA

Tom and Elder Inacio at church.

Scary spider!

Poor frog!

Elder Inacio, Gabi and Tommy!

Good Morning!

           I hope everyone had a good week, in spite of the unfortunate news. My neighbor told me about the shooting, which is really sad. :( My week was good, and very interesting. I hope I can remember it all. Friday night, we had a play. The only actors were Elder Inácio and me. Some people said that all the blood of my body rushed to my forhead, haha. We filmed what we could with my camera but someone else filmed all of it and I think he will give a CD that I can send home, even though its all in Portuguese except for one word. But it went really well, we had lots of laughs, but it didn´t start until almost around 8:30, when it was planned for 7. Every single activity in this area starts late, which is kind of ridiculous. But anyways, the activity didn´t end until about 9:45 or maybe almost 10, and we had to take some people home because we were obligated by their parents, so we didn´t get back    home until almost 11 o´clock, holy moly we are rule breakers here! Our district leader tried to call us, the zone leaders tried, and the president even called a few times. When we finally get close to home, we see our zone leaders walking down our street from the direction of the church. I was thinking they also had an activity at the church, until one of them gets his phone, calls someone, and says "we found them." In that moment I knew we were in trouble, haha. And this paragraph is long enough, I will start a new one.

           Anyways, Samara told me I have a talent for acting but that I deserve better and I´m just like "... uh-huh, thanks, sure..." haha, oh so weird. We invited Gabriela to come, and she really wanted to, but she didn´t have anyone to go with. She tried calling us to see if we could take her but we can´t take our cellphone with us. So yeah, I felt pretty guilty friday night, about worrying the president and letting Gabí down. For the first time in a while  it took more than an hour to get to sleep.

          On Thursday, we were told that our area is changing zones and would probably be the area of zone leaders, so we have been telling this to everyone for 2 days, thinking that both of us would be transferred. Some people were upset, Gabí cried a teeny-tiny bit, and  Saturday night, we learn that only Elder Inacio is leaving, and I will stay. I also learned that my new companion is Elder Rocha, and I hear that he is super quiet, but this last transfer he trained so he might be super talkative now. I´m not sure what´s going to be more awkward, me doing all the talking or a new companion that doesn´t know anyone does it all. It´d probably be better if I do most of the talking, because I need to learn how to talk...I`m horrible at it, hehe. But my companion can talk for hours. I don´t think I´ve ever seen anyone who makes friendships as well as he does. It´s going to be difficult without him. I think I´m going to have to start acting like him and become the new Elder Inácio...

          So with the news that my companion is leaving, we pretty much didn´t work last night, just visited some people and had some photo shoots, I don´t think I´m very camera shy any more. So yeah, that was all the stuff that matter this week. The rest is just teaching with the attached recent converts. Haha, my companion received a letter from one of them, and she basically just spoke about his future girlfriend/wife and all that jazz. Muito engreçado!

         In response to your e-mail, thanks for the new shoes that I will buy about 6 months from now, and hopefully no sooner. Thanks for the pictures, even though I look weird, haha, maybe I won´t grow my hair out again. It makes me very upset to hear about the shooting, and a little nervous to leave the house when I return, or to let anyone at home leave the house... Enjoy the Olympics! It is cool that time is passing fast, sort of. My companion only has 8 more months in the mission and he thinks he´ll stay in his next area until he finishes. I told him I think its cool he can see his last area/areas, and he said not really because his mission is ending already and its passing too fast. He had 6 months in the area I´m in now, and he says it went by suuuper fast, which makes me wonder if I have time to learn and grow as much as I would like, before the mission ends. Vamos ver :l
Q&A

When you get wet from the rain, how do you dry your clothes off? I don´t, I just suffer

Have you been cooking anything in your apartment? only noodles in the microwave. We don´t have a stove or anything.

Did you like those things I sent you to flavor your water?  If you do like them, I can send you more. I did but don´t worry about sending more of anything, because I am well supplied right now. I also buy water flavors at the store every week, so I don´t need any from home.

Any packages this past week? infelizmente, não.

How is the language coming?  I notice your e-mails have more and more Portuguese in them.  Is English getting harder? I think i´m progressing still, more or less.

Anyways, Eyes gots 2´s goze nows, I love you all, have a great week, stay safe and healthy. Tchau!

 Love Elder Inácio! (the new one)

Week Thirty One - Time Flies and Acting in a Play!

Tom's entire mission group at reunion  and goodbye for President and Sister Campos

Pretty bird near the river. 

Good Morning! Your 7 a.m. wake up call is here! Wait, you should all be awake, já, né?

               This past week was pretty good here. Still have lots of rain, which is putting everyone´s mind in a bottle, because they say its summer here and it never rains in July like it is now. Todo mundo is baffled... Tuesday, we had our first interviews with our new president. He´s cool, and very tranquilo. The interview of one missionary lasted a whole hour. I go in, listen to my president speak a few minutes, he asks me if I have any questions, I say "não tenho" (I don´t have) and its over in less than 10 minutes. Weird... We had a companion exchange on Wednesday. I went to Paracuri, which is a bit north of my area and close to the beach. I ran for the first time since I left the MTC, and that was exhausting. My legs were so sore during the next 2 days, I thought I was becoming bow-legged or my legs were going to break. But during the exchange, our district leader came to our area. They visited our recent convert, Samara, and told her I was transferred, and she actually cried... HOLY SMOKES! I don´t think I can stay here... luckily if I do stay one more transfer, she is travelling all of next month which covers pretty much the whole of next transfer. 

                 We had lunch at a guys house, he asked me what music I like, I told him about Rise Against, the mostest awesomets bandest ofest the-est worldest... and he searched a music video of theirs on you-tube... it was so awesome to hear Rise Against again... I´m not sure what I miss more, Rise Against or the family.... haha jk, Rise Against of course. :) no I´m kidding of course it´s the family that I miss more, but only by a little. 

                We watched a video with an investigator, her name´s the Restoration, the video is called Gabriela... haha no I mixed those up. Anyways, she liked the video and when we asked her to pray, to end the lesson, she actually cried during the prayer. That was cool to see. She was going to go to church this past week but she woke up Sunday with pain in her back, so she couldn´t go. Da´gommit! Anyways, we walked through lots of rain to visit her last night, and she´s doing better. So, yeah, that was my week, and now, the last week of the transfer begins. These 6 weeks are going by so fast! They are probably the fastest 6 weeks of my life.    And only 3 more transfers until Christmas!!!111!

              On Friday, my companion and I have to act in a play. That´s going to be awkward but I decided I will just do it and get it over with. Say "break a leg" and maybe I won´t end up having to do it. Moving on to your e-mail, glad to hear Utah isn´t burning up now. What was it like to be in the inferno, Utah? But you´re good now right? good... Silly missionaries, I´m sure if they were serving in Brazil, they´d never want to return to Cafe Rio. Cafe Rio is a Brazilian restaurant, right? Eh, who cares, I´M IN BRAZIL! Hey, what´s the point of having basketball in the Olympics if the united states are going to destroy everyone? I don´t think there is another country in the world that takes basketball as seriously as U.S.A., is there? Anyways, since when did David sign a contract for 99 million dollars? Is he getting that for pulling weeds?!?! Man, I´m jealous now. Hey David, want to trade places? You can serve here in Brazil while I get 99 million dollars for pulling weeds... which team is D-Will playing for now? I hope he starts winning championships. Hey David, go sky diving. Go sky diving David, just do it. just do it. JUST Do it...... Enjoy your trip to San Diego, Mom, while David goes sky diving. I´m sure you´ll both have fun. And thanks for more pictures! Hey, send the one by e-mail, of me with the long hair, my rise against hoody, at grandma´s house. I think that´s the longest it was recorded by picture. Anyways, this e-mail is getting long I will answer your questions.

Q&A

1)Has your Visa come yet?  I am kind of worried about that.  It was just in a letter envelope and I mailed it quite a while ago.  I have checked your account, though and no weird charges.  Just let me know if it gets there. it did come, thank you very much.

2)Did you get your washing machine fixed?  Didn't know you had one, but that would be great if you could get it fixed! not yet, hopefully sometime this week. My clothes are all dirty because I ran out of soap.

3)Do you use that Dry Sack that we sent with you to keep stuff dry and if so, does it work pretty well?  Sounds like you are always getting wet! I have the intention of using it but I keep forgetting about it. But thanks for reminding me, I will get it ready today.

4)Are you writing in your journal every day?  You won't be sorry if you do, even though I am sure it's hard sometimes. I am and its quite easy. I realized a few weeks ago that almost every day I start with "today was good." Haha funny demais!

5)Can you listen to music, at all?  I have heard that some mission presidents let missionaries listen to good, wholesome music. We can. my companion has some music that he got while here in the mission. He has a lot of music by Josh Grobin, which is cool. He´s a really good singer. He has a song called Don´t Give Up which I think someone at home will like. I want to buy a pen drive and get it from him but its 25 reais. Ah, btw, I was able to exchange my dollars to reais, so I now have about 300 reais, and you don´t need to worry about it any more.

6)Have you met your new mission president, yet?  Do you like him and does he speak any English? I did meet him, he does not speak english but I think his São Paulo-an accent is a bit easier to understand than the Paráens.

Pictures: #1 almost all the missionaries of the mission including president and sister Campos. 2 pictures of pretty birds, and me in front of a boat.

Anyways, I have to go now. My hour is up. I love you all, have a great week, and forget about me!!!! Tchau!

Love Elder Williams

Week Thirty - July 4th and Lightning!

Tommy!

Tommy and a cool boat.

A boat in a cage....

Tall tower in a park in Belem. 

Bom Dia, Bom Dia, Bom Dia!

                   Tudo Bem!? I´m doing pretty good. Some pretty interesting stuffs happened this past week. We had anther baptism. Her name is Maria. She was taught by the missionaries a year ago and on the day of the baptism she traveled. A few months later, she was taught again, and on the day of the baptism she traveled... again. And 2 weeks ago, she decided to come to church, we met her and taught her and she decided to be baptized this past week. Awesome! There was a lot of rain and lightning this past week. Almost every night you could look in any direction and see lightning light up the sky. And some nights the lightning was right over our head, like last night. I had a cough all week, which didn´t bother too much. Someone gave me some medicine her to try to kill the cough, didn´t work. Woah that medicine was awful. It tasted like... a really old spooky graveyard where the undead are ready to pop out of their graves... or something. Yeah, it tasted like that. I hope I never have to take that again. Oh, we also met a man while we waited for the rain to pass that claimed he was a prophet. From what I understood, which isn´t much, it was an interesting discussion. But it´s doubtful that he is a prophet. Very, very doubtful. My foot has been hurting a little bit this past week. I think I´m walking weird because of the blister. Hopefully this day of preparation and rest that I have now will make it better, if not I, I might have to amputate.... 

               Anyways, that was my week. And that 13 year old girl is a snake because she is pretty much attached to us... some awkward moments with her this past week. I told her I like the Lord of the Rings, she said she´ll buy it for me, even though I can´t watch anything until Dezembro dois mil treze, and I think we already have it at home... And she gave me a note, which was nice of her but still awkward. Also, my companion likes to joke around with everyone. Sometimes he plugs noses. He plugged the nose of our recent convert and now she tries doing it to him. She practically jumped on his back to plug his nose, holy moly that was awkward, and she does other things that my companion just shouldn´t allow. I might have to talk to him about it, if it continues... 

             So yeah, your e-mail: I´m glad to hear that you are still jantando (dinnering, basically) with the missionaries. They sound cool. I have a question, in Utah, do the missionaries serve in the ward or just in the stake? Here we serve in the wards, but I don´t remember seeing the missionaries much in our ward. HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!! btw. My first companion in the field, Elder Reis, said that the 4th of july is the day of rebellion and apostasy, because in the book of Alma, in the book of Mormon, it says something like "on the 4th day of the 7th month... yada yada yada... I ended my rebellious ways... or something like that." I can´t remember exactly but pretty funny, I´ll have to find it. Toby, I hope you get better, you will always be in my prayers. Eu te amo, toby!!!! Glad to hear Em´s job is legal (not legal as in she has a legal job and before she had an illegal job, but legal in Portuguese is slang for cool, ya drug dealer...). And I regret asking you to talk to me about the movies I´m missing. That was a huuuuuge mistake. Da´gommit. (Elder Fox´s lil´saying). It´s awesome to hear that Lebron got his wring, that complainer, I hope he doesnt get another one any time soon. Also, whats the name of the Oklahoma B-Ball team? The penguins? the yankees? I cannot remember... Also, what´s the rock of ages about? I don´t remember hearing about that movie. Don´t worry about sending shoes, there are some here that I can buy. Otimo e-mail btw.

             Pictures: Me in front of a cool boat. Woah, caged boat! don´t touch, David! Can you not read? it says "não toca!" sheeesh. Woah look at that tower! Can we go up there mom? can we, can we, can we, can we!? Oh look, its me! I can´t remember if I already sent the last photo, but wha´eva, I do wha´ I want!

            Questions for this week:

Did you get any packages or letters?  Did your Visa come? I did not receive a package or letter this past week, but I did receive and e-mail from my otimo primo, Clay that I need to thank him for, Thanks Clay!

What's the story about the snake? I already explained, don´t make me do it again, please! Please no! NOOOOO!

Did you get the package with the pants that I sent and if so, do they fit OK? I did, they fit fine, muito obrigado!

How are your shirts looking - need new ones anytime soon? they´re good, but a little yellow. Today we should get our machine fixed, so they should be cleaner than ever this next week.

What do you get to eat when you go to a restaurant with Klayton? meat... good meat... mmmm can´t wait for the next meal with klayton!

Do you think you could get transferred soon? I could. dia 24 is the next transfer. I´m kind of hoping I do, I´m kind of hoping I don´t. not sure which I want more yet.

Okay, gots to go. Tchau, loves yas com tudo de meu coracão! And I will talk to you again next week. Have a great one!

Love Elder Williams

P.s. hey, psssst, over here... send more pics, like when I had super long awesome hair. Oh I miss you, long hair, so so much... /triste

Week Twenty Nine - Tall Missionary Tales and Teaching!

Hello Family!

         Hope everyone´s doing good. I´m great thanks for asking. This past week was pretty good. I had lunch with the rich guy again, Klayton. That was a gooood lunch, and hilarious too. He talked about his mission in Provo and all the stuff he did. He said he went to an NSYNC concert, he went to jazz games, he hiked, jet skied, went mountain biking, and a bunch of other stuff, all of which, I´m quite sure, are against the rules of our white missionary guidebook, the book we receive that pretty much only says "YOU CAN´T!" He also said for the new missionaries they have initiation, and for one of the newbies he had to mountain bike down a hill. He got about half way down and ended up biffing it and rolling down the mountain. Klayton said he basically mangled his arm but still stayed in the mission. Klayton also said he was friends with the BYU football coach and he got rides to the games with a bunch of the cheerleaders. I don´t want to make assumptions but I think he´s lying and just trying to be funny. But, yeah, that was a funny lunch. After lunch, Klayton asked me to dedicate his house in English. That was awkward, because half of it was in English and half was still in Portuguese. Anyways, lunch with Klayton was awesome.

      We had a baptism this week. A 13 year old girl named Samara asked me to baptize her, so i´m like "cool." Again, I don´t want to make assumptions, but I think she´s a snake... anyways, BATISMO! Also, on Tuesday, I gave the district training for the first time, which is when you teach a section of Preach My Gospel to the missionaries in your district. That was a little awkward. I think last week I confused training new missionaries with district training. But either way, I didn´t want to do either of them until I´ve been out for at least a year. So that´s the highlight of my week. Oh! my companion has a small commercial for cheese on his pen drive. It´s so funny, but I don´t know the name of it. On youtube, search "strong cheese mouse trap commercial", or something like that.

      Anyways, moving on. It sounds like you all had a good week, except for the fires and the stress from work. I hope things get better/easier or you confront all your problems and beat them to the ground. I saw the pictures of Toby on David´s head, that´s sooo funny. And thanks for the other pictures. I´ll be sure to share those with todo mundo.

       Things here are definitely getting easier. Teaching is easier, understanding is still difficult, walking is a little easier, too. This past week we had a lot of rain, and one day we had to walk through a bunch of mud and puddles of water. My good walking shoes ended up getting soaked so I used my nicer shoes for 2 days, and they already started to fall apart and I god a blister on my foot.:/ But, tudo bem! It ain´t ruining my day.

      Pictures: only 2 for now, there seems to be a problem with loading more than that. I think the pictures are of that cool little place in my first area. I think I will send more after I send this e-mail.

      Q&A
1)Did you get your Visa card, yet?  I did not, but I´m not having any problems with money right now so all is good.

2)Has your new mission president started yet?  If so, have you met him and do you like him? President and Sister Campos returned home Friday, President and Sister Scisci started Friday, and I will meet them tomorrow. Thanks for reminding me.

3)Has the weather changed down there yet or is it still the same everyday? It´s still the same right now.

4)Do you have any idea when you might be transferred next? The next transfer is dia 24 of this month, but I have no idea of I will be transferred.

5)Are you getting to know the city pretty well - is Belem a lot bigger than Salt Lake or the Salt Lake Valley? I know my area pretty well, but Belém seems pretty big. I think its a bit bigger than salt lake.

6)Any more service projects lately? no, luckily:)

Okay, my questions: how are the basketball championships going? Who looks like will win? What films am I missing? I want to know so I can feel more tranke... Also, can you send me my facebook e-mail address? its no longer against the rules to use facebook.... okay i´m kidding it is but some people want to add me to their facebookies.... Also, can you send me my patriarcle (sp?) blessing? Muito Obrigado!

      I love you and miss you all. Have a good week and I will end with my testimony. I know that the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only true church on earth. I know that Jesus Christ is my savior, and I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I also know that I was called by a prophet of God to do the work of the Lord. Again, I love you all and will talk to yas again next week. Tchau!

 Love Elder Williams

The city of Belem.

Tommy by the river - he looks good!

Boat on the Amazon River.