October 14, 2013

AHH BRASIL IS INSANELY AWESOME! I can´t even tell you everything it´s that great. We had a baptism last Saturday, 6 this Saturday, and 12 more for next month. Things here are so different. When we OYM, if people don´t committ to baptism right there on the street, we don´t teach them. Because we are teaching so may people there isn´t enough time in the week for people who aren´t the elect. But we get at least 1 or 2 solid committments a day.  We get fed lunch and dinner every single day. The ward meal roster is full, with backups, for every day of this month through November. We only spend around 30 minutes at each appointment. In my planner, every single slot has a name in it, even the backups. There isn´t a single blank box. It´s incredible. And my new trainer is absolutely amazing. I´ve been out longer than him, and he´s a convert of two years. I live with 3 other Elders, all of which are natives. So I´m picking the language up quickly, but it´s so stressful not being able to understand or say what you feel. But I´m picking it up quickly. The food here is absolutely incredible. And everything is super cheap. But, we dont get very much money. we get 130 reais, and its 2 reais to the dollar. We live in the middle of the favela. It´s completely insane. Drunk people passed out on the street, trash EVERYWHERE. The whole area smells like crap. But the people are humble as can be, because they have nothing.

I think tht´s just about everything. Oh, I can´t find my wallet. It could´ve been stolen. It had my temple recommend, my drivers license, my missionary credit card, and about 60 reais (equivalent to 30 dollars cash) But, it may turn up in the apartment. I was told not to worry about it. This hardly ever happens, but apparently it isn´t too big of a deal. I´m still freaking out though. My companion was saying ´´Elder, Elder, calm down, it´s all ok. Everything´s going to be fine. Everything will get replaced, you´ll get a new card, it´s all ok´´ but in Portuguese. I was so upset. But I´m good now. The church is still true.

But yes, things are great. I´m loving the people, we´re baptising like crazy, and the members couldn´t be more supportive. But \i´m getting WAY too much attention. After I bore my testimony in meeting sacrament this past sunday, after the meeting, about 7 people walked up to me and told me I resemble Joseph Smith. They said ´´you have to be related to him somehow´´. When I told them I was, but hardly, they all freaked out and wanted a picture with me. It was so wierd. Now, everytime I walk into a room in the church, someone says ´´Oi, mundo! O filho de José esta aqui´´! Super strange. And I had the priveledge(?) to baptise a young man on Saturday. His name is Vitor Smith Sanchez. He aked me to baptize him. It caught me off guard, but I was honored. It was such a spiritual experience. AND YES, I HAVE PICTURES.

Anyway, I don´t know the mission office address off the top of my cabeça, but I´ll send it soon.

Com Amor (e patos)

Elder Smeech (as they call me here)