02 January 2012

olà!

Well I have been here a week and I already gave a full on talk in church. President Swenson was surprised because I actually taught doctrine and not just gave a testimony. I just did a basic talk about the Good Samaritan. Whoopee lol. But he said everyone was impressed with me. It has been a crazy week! I got blisters on the bottom of my heels, sunburn on my neck, and bug bites all over. The bugs love me at night. It’s no fun at all. But oh well.
We have had a lot of fun contacting people here. They make fun of me because I walk up to someone and say really chipper and loud HOLA! After a while they told me I was saying it wrong... oh well. They listened to this very strange blued eyed non Brazilian that was way excited about something. So it works! Our investigators are awesome! We have one baptism this Saturday. Cicero. He talks a lot! So it’s hard to get a couple words in. but he is very excited to be baptized. We also have a sweet old man that is a devote catholic. When we told him that his baptism in the Catholic Church wasn’t valid, the look on his face just broke my heart! But after falling in love with my companion, he wants to get baptized! How cool is that? We also have a family that the mother is a less active with 3 kids that we are teaching. The youngest, Amy wants to get baptized. The other two boys are a little harder. But I convinced Georgic to come to church to see me give a talk. That was way awesome. They speak English too. So it’s nice when I teach a part, they help me when I am stuck on a word or phrase.

So I am somewhat getting the language down. Not really. I can understand some people, others are way hard. I have found that I like talking to old people and little children. They don’t talk fast so I can understand them. At least if they have teeth. Oh and I can understand my companion! Elder Weber and Adriano (a recent convert) have taken to telling me words wrong and then laughing as I get a confused look on my face. But I know when to trust them and when not to... I have Sister Conde to take care of me too.

I can’t believe it’s a new year! For the celebration, Brazilians like to let off tons of fireworks, have loud music, and drink tons. So we had to be in our apartment at 9. And we couldn’t see any fogos from out the windows. That was sad. So it was kind of a boring New Year’s celebration. We did kind of jam to the neighbor’s loud music. That was fun lol.

Well, it’s just another week as a missionary. I am glad that you got to learn all about Meegans mission.  I wish I could hear about it, but I will have to wait a while. Then we can swap stories.

Ok, well I love you tons! Be good, stay happy, and stay awesome! TE AMO!

Love, Lindsay