Oi todo mudo! How you guys doing? I´m doing pretty freakin´ awesome. I can´t even describe how good it is to be here in Brazil. It´s great :)
So some things that I´ve learned about the culture here really quick:
1.) Everyone here walks. I know that I already said that and I was aware of the fact but really it´s true. EVERYONE WALKS. We walk like crazy too but it´s good. That combined with the heat is gonna make me look like a model by the end of my time here, haha.
2.) Everyone here is what they call a gaucho (Ga-oo-show). It´s kind of like southerners in the US. Everyone here is stereotyped as speaking bad Pôrtugues and not being very bright. I´d say it´s pretty true but you can´t be general about something like that, alot of people are still smart and some actually speak the lanuage right. The thing is though this is the Texas of Brazil. Literally. People have more state pride than national pride, they brag about Rio Grande do Sul (the state), heck, they even celebrate the day they rebeled from the rest of the country to try and make their own, which they lost of course (I have on idea why they celebrate it.... guess that´s way every thinks they´re dumb...)
3.) Everyone drinks this nasty-grass-tea (see what I did there) stuff called Chimarrão (Shi-ma-how-oo). It is literally grass and hot water. It´s not just any grass but it is a type of grass that they just call herb. In all honesty it is super nasty but for some reason I find myslef drinking it more and more....
4.) Speaking of the heat you have 2 choices here. You are either soaked in your sweat or you are soaked in rain. Nowhere in between. For real, it rains like crazy here and is hot and humid at all other times.
5.) Don´t ever open a door for yourself at some else´s house. If you are arriving it means you are welcoming yourself in and if you are leaving it means you are never coming back, haha.
That´s just a few things really and there are so many more but I can´t even begin to explain everything.
So my week went a little something like this:
We got up at 4am to fly here to Porto Alegre Norte (PAN) and arrived around 10am in the mission. President Wright and his wife met us at the air port with the AP´s and such and we took our stuff to the mission home for a while. We then had lunch with all the people who were part of the emergancy transfer we caused and my old travel compainion to LA became my companion here in Brazil! Not sure if you all remember me talking about Elder Kinney but we both served in LA, he just got his visa a year before I did, so he´s been here a lot longer. So we had some interviews and such and took off to our area, Sapulcia.
In the past week we´ve been walking and working like crazy. We had a baptism this week and should have one every week until the end of the transfer too. So 4 or 5 people will be baptized in my first area in my first few weeks.... Welcome to Brazil people. It´s different here. There are prepared people EVERYWHERE! Everyday we find at least 3 or 4 people who are looking for the gosple. Just they other week we ´knocked´ by a woman (I say that because people here don´t really knock doors, we stand outside the gate and clap because here knocking a door would be tresspassing) who said she was just praying for God to show her the true church to join and then we ´knocked´ by later that day. Miracles!
Oh, the language by the way. I don´t mean to sound prideful but I was not one of those misisonaries who stepped off the plane and realized that I didn´t speak the language. Pretty much I get most everything people say here and they can understand me pretty well. Most people don´t believe I´ve only been here for a week or so. They can tell I´m not native but they are all shocked I can speak already haha. It´s language study people, that and actually speaking your langauge in the MTC (so you better do it Elder Welch!). It´s really cool though honestly, the Lord has blessed me with the gift of tounges for sure.
Which brings me to my funny story of the week. My companion actually made the language mistake! We were going over the plan of salvation with the kid we were teaching who just got baptized. His name is Rafiel and he is SO prepared. His dad is... no was less active who is now fully active and wanted his son to have the gospel and Rafiel accepted and loved all of it. Anyways, we were teaching the plan of salvation and my companion got some words mixed up. Instead of saying that God had a body of flesh and bones he said God has a body of flesh and bears! Rafiel was really confused at first but got it later on and we all thought it was pretty funny.
Oh, a little heads up. If you send me a letter I might not see it for 2 or 3 weeks. It takes a week to get here to Brazil, the ZL pick it up next time they are at the mission office and then the next time they see us they give it to us. I´m not saying don´t write, but email will be a whole lot easier :).
I really wish I could tell you all more but there is SO much happening. I´ll mark it in my journal for sure and you guys can ask me about it later, haha. I´ll try and do a little each week till it all makes sense. Hope you all have an awesome week and I´ll do another email then.
-Um no exercito de Deus
Elder Teela
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