Hey family...
So everyone is worried about the transfer it sounds like, so to start off, I didn´t get transferred.... but my companion did. He will be going to São Luis tomorrow. My new companion will be Elder Ferreira da Silva. I got to know him in Parnaíba pretty well. He was in my district there. He is a good guy and will be an upgrade...haha. He is from Curitiba. He too was born into the church and has good family support. (from what I remember from Parnaíba.) The last time I saw him was Christmas time so I might not have everything straight. I will give you a little background on him next week.
This week was pretty good. Better than all the others anyway. We did a good job of working durning the week, and we didn´t stay in our house very much. So that was good. We also had interviews with President Dias and that was really good. I told him everything and he helped me out on what to do. He is a great guy. But because I told him everything, my companion was mad at me from Thursday until Sunday. But last night we had a talk and straightened things out. I guess I don´t need to worry about that anymore anyway because of the transfer.
Also is bigger news, Lene was finally baptized. She has been wanting to be baptized for about a month now, but it never worked out because her husband was always traveling. Then this week we found both of them in their house and Rafael (her husband) said that we should just do the baptism even if he can´t attend. So, we got things ready for the baptism on Saturday and it turns out that Rafael got back that night from traveling and was able to watch her be baptized. It was a good night for that family. Now they can all start preparing for the temple and the blessings it will bring to them.
So, I don´t really know what I can say about Brazil... It is hard to describe the terrain.. Where I am now is considered to be in the mountains, but really it is just hills compared to real mountains. There are just rolling hills of palm trees and thick, thick brush all around.
The weather is the exact same everyday. It the other cities in this mission, it is just HOT. The city that I am in now is a little cooler at night and in the morning. It gets pretty warm in the afternoon though, but there is a constant cool breeze that keeps me from gettin way hot like I would in the other cities I passed through.
Here in the Northeast of Brazil, the people aren´t very educated. Education is growing though. I think I read that public schools are fairly new (started about 100 years ago). But the public schools don´t offer that great of an education. The people that are a little more wealthy pay for their kids to go to private schools where the teachers are more qualified and there they get a better education. The older people didn´t have these opprotunities and so it isn´t very uncommon to find people that don´t know how to read or write. But I don´t want it to sound like everyone is this way... especially in the rest of Brazil. The missionaries from the south part of the country make it sound like the northeast is a completely different country compared to where they live.
The work they do here is normal work.. there are all types of jobs here. I don´t really ever talk to those who are in the medical or more wealthy professions because they usually are working and then go home to their big houses and stay inside. The people that I talk to work more with driving a bus, or working as a mechanic or someother blue-collar job. These people seem to be a LOT more humble and open to what we have to say.
The food is great. It is white rice, beans, and spaghetti noodles for almost every lunch. There is usually a vegatable salad or some lettuce and tomatoes to eat too. The most common type of meat I eat is chicken and cow. (The cow meat is really tough). Sometimes people make us fish too. I ate a lot more fish when I was closer to the ocean.
Other things that are different... transportation is different. People ride bicycles a lot more down here. Also motocycles are pretty popular. Sometimes you will see 4 or 5 people on one motorcylce. The record that I have seen is a family of 6 on one moto haha. There are cars as well, but they are really really basic cars. Nothing fancy. A luxery car down here is a new Toyota. The rich people drive those. The most common car is a Volkswagon Gol. Another way of transportaion is on a cart pulled by a donkey.. haha. I see a lot of people take that option. And to get from city to city, people take a bus... or if the cities are closer (like Tianguá to Sobral) people will take a van-bus type thing. It is smaller and fits about 30ish people maximum.
Well, I got your package. It came with president when he came here. Thank you so much!!! It had everything in there that you said. I am wondering what the pin number for the ATM card is.. I remember you told me it changed, but I don´t remember what you said it is. So, if you could, tell me please.
I love you all!!! Especially you, Mom and Dad! Oh and happy anniversary to Paige and Brent this week!! Congrats! (I am still waiting for an email or anything from you two... haha) I love you!!
Love Isaac
No comments:
Post a Comment