Time is going by pretty quickly here. The days are short and the pdays are even shorter.
This last week I finally saw the first real rain here in Brazil. It was fairly strong but it only lasted 30 minutes. I think the north gets much more aggressive rain than down here. The skies are almost always super clear with no clouds.
I know i am getting better with Portuguese because I know I can talk to people if they talk very simply. I know more how to talk about gospel related stuff though just because we use it all day every day. It is defiantly interesting to see how the learning curve has changed from the MTC to here. I love it at lunch with less actives how they try talking to me and i do not understand them. They then assume i know no Portuguese and then start talking about how i can´t speak Portuguese and they find it funny. However they understand the lessons and the messages i give so it usually shocks them that they could understand me. I find it amusing. I wonder how it feels to foreigners in The United States.
One thing i have gotten better at is talking to people on the streets. I was advised in the CTM to focus our efforts on Men and families or Men with families. This is what i do. It is very difficult because men are less receptive but it hopefully will work out.
(Story Time) The first time i was really able to contact someone on the street well - I saw a man waiting for the bus and we went to talk to him. I ask him about is belief in god and afterwords i brought up our belief in the Restoration. He thought we didn´t use the bible so i taught him that we use the bible and the book of Mormon and that the book of Mormon was another testament of Christ. Well i was very excited to be able to have a real conversation and then the bus came and picked him up. However in my haste i did not get his name or number. This taught me very quickly that at bus stations to get those things almost first. But is was a good learning experience for me.
We had a ward activity this week and it was very interesting. Unlike any ward activity i have ever seen. First of all it was for investigators but the activity itself was hastily planned and gave us no time to try to invite people. In the end we had 2 investigators. After watching a short clip about Jesus Christ purpose we went into the cultural hall and the members sang songs and ate ice cream. It was strange because most of the songs were English Beatles songs. Not my idea of a spiritual activity to help the investigators but everyone there seemed to enjoy it a lot. (The Ice cream here is pretty good but it is fluffy. You have to eat a lot to be satisfied)
I have been enjoying reading from the book of Mormon quite a bit here. I can get the general drift of what the book of Mormon is saying in Portuguese but it is still pretty difficult. I love reading the English but i have to also read the Portuguese book of Mormon otherwise i will not get any language training.
Trying to work hard and learn and follow the rules better. The thing we do here most of the time it seems is cleaning and cooking. So much to do. However i love personal study. During the day i always think of things that old prophets have done or things about what god has done for us and how we can better live. Thinking is something we have a lot to do here. Thinking when cleaning, thinking when walking because it takes a lot of energy to speak(very hilly around here and hot). Pondering things about Christ defiantly makes our work seem more and more important. Even though i still probably have to idea how important the work we are doing here is.
Keep up the good work at home.
I know mom already does things like this but keep on helping the missionaries with references and also go out with them. We can always use more references and we can always use help teaching.
Sorry for the lack of information and stuff. Running late today. Lots of things to do. P days are crazy.
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