Hey family
I guess I will just answer questions from your last emails and that will cover just about everything. So here are the answers...
I have only stayed in the house one day on the mission when I myself have been sick. I had a fever and diarrea (I have never known how to spell that word). I only had to stay home for one day though, and I was able to leave for a ward activity the same night so that was good. I have been blessed with really good health. I randomly get a runny nose every once in a while, but thats about it.
Our investigators are doing great! We worked way good this week and found some good people. Ebert was baptized yesterday after church and that was really good. He was way close to not being baptized but me and my companion went there and just gave him a way spiritual pep talk haha. After that he was way excited to be baptized. He is 14 and really wants to make the right choice. He reminded me a lot of Joseph Smith´s story.
Another guy who is awesome is called Denis. So the first time we met him he was an alcoholic. He knew it was wrong but just couldn´t figure out how to stop. We taught him like 2 times and he wasn´t showing much progress. Then we went back another time and he told us his wife (they aren´t legally married yet) and his son left to live with her family because her family didn´t see any future in Denis and they don´t like him very much. And he also got fired from his job because of his drinking problem. When we showed up he was very sad and very lonely. We talked a lot about the Atonement and baptism and how he can repent, and be baptized to start his life over. To be born again. He loved that idea! haha. So we explained to him that we are going to help him and invite him to do things that will help him come closer to Christ. So we are teaching him and he is just a completly different guy in just a week and a half. He completly stopped drinking, stopped smoking, and whenever he feels the desire, he says a prayer or reads the Book of Mormon or a little pamphlet we gave him. He went out everyday and found little odd jobs selling fruit and doing little construction projects and he is looking for a better job to support his wife and kid. He is doing great. I really like this guy. He has the goal to be baptized on Sept. 3rd.
People hide from us because here the people are just way to nice to say no. It is a culture thing. We never get rejected and if we ask to talk to people they always invite us to sit down or enter their house. Not always, but 80% of the time. No one says a flat out ´no´ though. You just have to learn their excuses to know what ´no´ is. In this mission we can set a baptismial date in the first 5 minutes of a lesson. You can say something like, Hey, we have a message about Christ. Christ was perfect and was baptized. Do you want to follow his is example by being baptized too? And they always say yes. Then we can say can we help you prepare for baptism on [enter date here] and they will say yes. This usually doesn´t work because they don´t have a testimony of anything really, but it is possible. That is why people will run away or hide because they don´t want to say no.
Yes we walked Chagas to church. Yesterday he showed up by himself. He will be baptized on the 20th. (this coming Saturday)
Sometimes we knock on doors. Or clap at the gate.... haha. Just if we don´t have much to do and we are walking sometimes we just randomly stop at a house if it looks like there is a whole family there. Or if we feel like we should stop.
My shoes are doin good. One pair has holes on the bottom but that will only be a problem when it rains again. They are great shoes. Both pairs are Doc Martins and I love them. I would recommend them. Most Americans use Eccos. My shoe advice would be to get shoes with a thick sole and comfortable in the inside. A thick sole on the bottom is good when it rains because sometimes you can´t dodge the puddles and so water won´t get in your shoes. And if I needed to, I would not be able to buy good shoes here in Tianguá. I would have to wait until I got transferred to Teresina or São Luis. Those are bigger citys with shopping centers.
Zone conference is every 3 months. District meetings are every Tuesday morning. I rarely go to Teresina. The only times I have gone there are when Elder Mazzagardi came here around Christmas time, and when Elder Goodoy was here in Febuary I think. We only go there for big meetings. For Zone Conference President and the assistents travel to all the zones. And for interviews President comes to us. In smaller missions it would maybe be easier to go to President, but we have to travel by bus everywhere and it is expensive for everyone in the mission to travel to Teresina for everything.
President Dias and his wife have completed 2 years of their mission. They have one more year. He started in June 2009 when this mission was created. I will probably leave Teresina the same time he does. I could have a new mission president for a week or two.
That is all the answers to your questions I think...
I am glad Miranda got home safely. That is good. Everything sounds good back home. Is Brian´s new wife a member?
I hope your week is great! I love you all!!
Love Isaac
Monday, August 15, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
More Pictures from Tiangua
Wesio, Me and Elder Ferreira de Silva
Lene and her family, me and my companion Elder Andrade
Visoca do Ceara (the edge of the city)
Me and my berrante (cow horn to call other cows) and a sweet hat that we bought today
Me playing a flute made of bamboo. I bought the flute but didn't have money for the hat.
8.8.11
Good Morning!
So... This week was ok. It started out really great. We had some great goals for this week and we started out real good. But on Wednesday my companion got sick and couldn´t breath very well and his whole body was just hurting. He says its cause he was used to the heat in his other area and then got here in ´cold´ Tianguá and caught bug. Wednesday night we went to the hospital and the doctor told him that he needs to rest his lungs and gave him a ton of medicine. So we only worked half a day on Wednesday, then he had to stay home on Thursday and Friday. Saturday he was just sick of staying home so we worked way hard on Saturday to make up for the lost time. I came home that night just exausted haha. It was good.
Our investigators right now aren´t too elect. I think most of them aren´t taking things very seriously. There is Ebert who was supposed to be baptized on Saturday who hid from us all week. (We were able to go to his house everyday by doing companion splits for an hour) But he was either sleeping or left his house. We finally talked to him on Saturday and he said that he isn´t feeling prepared to be baptized and so we helped him out to know what he needs to do to be prepared and set his date for baptism this coming week, but he needed to go to church one more time. So yesterday we called the member, Paulo, who gave us his name to help us out by bringing Ebert to church. Ebert and Anderson (a friend of Ebert and Paulos little brother) were at Paulo´s house, but when it was time for church I guess they ran away. I think they are thinkin that this is a game. So we are going to have to let them know that if they don´t really want this, then we aren´t going to waste our time. It makes me a little mad when stuff like this happens. But, I have learned to be patient.
Then there is Chagas. He is a really shy guy. He is 19 years old and he is from a city close by, but is living with his cousins for a while here in Tianguá. His cousins are members and he is interested and so we started to teach him last week. Its hard to teach him cause he doesn´t ask questions or talk at all and it is hard to know if he is understanding. But we invited him to church and his cousins said they would bring him. Then yesterday we showed up and talked to his cousin and she said that Chagas was embarrassed and didn´t want to come anymore. So we called him and he said that he didn´t want to come and that he would next week. We told him that we are going to go to his house to pick him up and walk with him, and he said OK. haha. So we walked there and back to the church and showed up an hour late, but at least he was there.
I think this week we are going to focus most of our time on finding new people to teach...
Today I played soccer with my district here. We played in a small room in the chruch that is big enough for just 2 on 2. It was me and Elder Sessions (from colorado) against my comp and Elder Cunha, both Brazilian. We won 7-4.. haha. I was happy that 2 americans beat 2 brazilians.
Dad, I haven´t ever thought of the race percentages here. Race isn´t a big thing down here cause everyone is a mix haha. There are white people (not very many) to blacks (also not very many). and with every skin tone inbetween. Race isn´t a very big deal here like in other parts of the world. I would imagine that in other parts of Brazil, like in the bigger cities, I could give percentages. But here everyone is a different shade... haha
Also, your hand looks nasty! haha. Did you go to a doctor? or is there nothing you can do except wait? haha that is crazy!
It sounds like your week is going to be fun. I bet you guys are happy to have Leslie with you for a bit. I can´t believe Bailey is so close to having her baby... And to have Leslie already 2 years old when I get home... its gonna be weird. Maybe Miranda can have one too before I get hoome if she gets married here in the next 2 months. haha.
Well, I hope you guys have a great week! I love you very much!
Love Isaac
So... This week was ok. It started out really great. We had some great goals for this week and we started out real good. But on Wednesday my companion got sick and couldn´t breath very well and his whole body was just hurting. He says its cause he was used to the heat in his other area and then got here in ´cold´ Tianguá and caught bug. Wednesday night we went to the hospital and the doctor told him that he needs to rest his lungs and gave him a ton of medicine. So we only worked half a day on Wednesday, then he had to stay home on Thursday and Friday. Saturday he was just sick of staying home so we worked way hard on Saturday to make up for the lost time. I came home that night just exausted haha. It was good.
Our investigators right now aren´t too elect. I think most of them aren´t taking things very seriously. There is Ebert who was supposed to be baptized on Saturday who hid from us all week. (We were able to go to his house everyday by doing companion splits for an hour) But he was either sleeping or left his house. We finally talked to him on Saturday and he said that he isn´t feeling prepared to be baptized and so we helped him out to know what he needs to do to be prepared and set his date for baptism this coming week, but he needed to go to church one more time. So yesterday we called the member, Paulo, who gave us his name to help us out by bringing Ebert to church. Ebert and Anderson (a friend of Ebert and Paulos little brother) were at Paulo´s house, but when it was time for church I guess they ran away. I think they are thinkin that this is a game. So we are going to have to let them know that if they don´t really want this, then we aren´t going to waste our time. It makes me a little mad when stuff like this happens. But, I have learned to be patient.
Then there is Chagas. He is a really shy guy. He is 19 years old and he is from a city close by, but is living with his cousins for a while here in Tianguá. His cousins are members and he is interested and so we started to teach him last week. Its hard to teach him cause he doesn´t ask questions or talk at all and it is hard to know if he is understanding. But we invited him to church and his cousins said they would bring him. Then yesterday we showed up and talked to his cousin and she said that Chagas was embarrassed and didn´t want to come anymore. So we called him and he said that he didn´t want to come and that he would next week. We told him that we are going to go to his house to pick him up and walk with him, and he said OK. haha. So we walked there and back to the church and showed up an hour late, but at least he was there.
I think this week we are going to focus most of our time on finding new people to teach...
Today I played soccer with my district here. We played in a small room in the chruch that is big enough for just 2 on 2. It was me and Elder Sessions (from colorado) against my comp and Elder Cunha, both Brazilian. We won 7-4.. haha. I was happy that 2 americans beat 2 brazilians.
Dad, I haven´t ever thought of the race percentages here. Race isn´t a big thing down here cause everyone is a mix haha. There are white people (not very many) to blacks (also not very many). and with every skin tone inbetween. Race isn´t a very big deal here like in other parts of the world. I would imagine that in other parts of Brazil, like in the bigger cities, I could give percentages. But here everyone is a different shade... haha
Also, your hand looks nasty! haha. Did you go to a doctor? or is there nothing you can do except wait? haha that is crazy!
It sounds like your week is going to be fun. I bet you guys are happy to have Leslie with you for a bit. I can´t believe Bailey is so close to having her baby... And to have Leslie already 2 years old when I get home... its gonna be weird. Maybe Miranda can have one too before I get hoome if she gets married here in the next 2 months. haha.
Well, I hope you guys have a great week! I love you very much!
Love Isaac
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
8.1.11 Good Week with New Companion
Hey fam!
This was a good week! My companion and I get along really well and things are looking really good here. I am excited.
So the first part of the week was crazy. On Monday night we had to go to the bus station at 1 o´clock so Elder Sena and Elder Andrade could get their bus to São Luis. It turns out that the bus didn´t show up until 2:30 and we didn´t get back to our house until 3ish. But, it was way good to see those two off... haha. So we got a little sleep and then on Tuesday Elder Cunha´s companion showed up at 2 in the afternoon. His name is Elder Sessions from Longmont, Colorado. He is a good guy. I still don´t know him too well, but I will. But then that night my companion was supposed to show up at 1 a.m.. So we went to the bus station to wait but he never showed up. We waited until 230ish in the morning, and then called the Zone Leaders. They told us that he missed his bus and that he would show up at 5:30 in the morning! They apologized that they forgot to call us and tell us this little piece of info, but i was still a little mad.. haha. We got my companion in the morning and ever since it has been way good here.
We work really good. We didn´t amazing numbers or anything, but we are basically opening this area. We are trying to find new people to teach and it is going well so far.
Wésio was baptized on Saturday. He was here in Tianguá for the week so we were able to teach him. He is from Brasilia and drives truck. His fiancé is a member and introduced him to the church a while ago. The sister missionaries taught him a little while they were here a while ago, and he goes to church here when he passes by becaues of his job. So we taught him everyday of the week everything that he needed to know. It helped a ton that he was already living the Gospel standards. He was truly prepared to be baptized. He and his fiancé will be married in December and then in a year from now they can go and be sealed together forever in the temple.
Not much else happened this week. Just finding people to teach and working hard.
Stake Conference is coming up here. It will be the last weekend in August. I think there will be a change in the Stake because Elder Goodoy of the Seventy is coming for the conference. i also think this ward is going to get a new bishop. Last week the entire stake presidency was here with all of the stake high council and they interviewed all the men in the ward. There has been a little apostacy goin on here... haha so I think there will be a change.
It is getting pretty hot here again. The rainy season is officially over. It hasn´t rained for about a month now. The people are saying it is just going to get hotter until December, then the rainy season starts again. i have been getting a little sunburned lately too. At least it cools down here at night and in the morning. but during the afternoon, it is getting hotter and hotter everyday.
i dont have much else to say... Thanks for the emails! I hope Dad´s foot starts to feel better! Why didn´t the first surergy work? The race you are preparing for sounds crazy..but fun.
Mom, my shoes are doing good. One pair has a hole in the bottom, but they still work good. And the other pair doesn´t have any problems. The insoles you sent fixed all the problems. i don´t need more for now.
I am doin great and I don´t need anything. I love you all very much and I hope your week goes great!
Love isaac
This was a good week! My companion and I get along really well and things are looking really good here. I am excited.
So the first part of the week was crazy. On Monday night we had to go to the bus station at 1 o´clock so Elder Sena and Elder Andrade could get their bus to São Luis. It turns out that the bus didn´t show up until 2:30 and we didn´t get back to our house until 3ish. But, it was way good to see those two off... haha. So we got a little sleep and then on Tuesday Elder Cunha´s companion showed up at 2 in the afternoon. His name is Elder Sessions from Longmont, Colorado. He is a good guy. I still don´t know him too well, but I will. But then that night my companion was supposed to show up at 1 a.m.. So we went to the bus station to wait but he never showed up. We waited until 230ish in the morning, and then called the Zone Leaders. They told us that he missed his bus and that he would show up at 5:30 in the morning! They apologized that they forgot to call us and tell us this little piece of info, but i was still a little mad.. haha. We got my companion in the morning and ever since it has been way good here.
We work really good. We didn´t amazing numbers or anything, but we are basically opening this area. We are trying to find new people to teach and it is going well so far.
Wésio was baptized on Saturday. He was here in Tianguá for the week so we were able to teach him. He is from Brasilia and drives truck. His fiancé is a member and introduced him to the church a while ago. The sister missionaries taught him a little while they were here a while ago, and he goes to church here when he passes by becaues of his job. So we taught him everyday of the week everything that he needed to know. It helped a ton that he was already living the Gospel standards. He was truly prepared to be baptized. He and his fiancé will be married in December and then in a year from now they can go and be sealed together forever in the temple.
Not much else happened this week. Just finding people to teach and working hard.
Stake Conference is coming up here. It will be the last weekend in August. I think there will be a change in the Stake because Elder Goodoy of the Seventy is coming for the conference. i also think this ward is going to get a new bishop. Last week the entire stake presidency was here with all of the stake high council and they interviewed all the men in the ward. There has been a little apostacy goin on here... haha so I think there will be a change.
It is getting pretty hot here again. The rainy season is officially over. It hasn´t rained for about a month now. The people are saying it is just going to get hotter until December, then the rainy season starts again. i have been getting a little sunburned lately too. At least it cools down here at night and in the morning. but during the afternoon, it is getting hotter and hotter everyday.
i dont have much else to say... Thanks for the emails! I hope Dad´s foot starts to feel better! Why didn´t the first surergy work? The race you are preparing for sounds crazy..but fun.
Mom, my shoes are doing good. One pair has a hole in the bottom, but they still work good. And the other pair doesn´t have any problems. The insoles you sent fixed all the problems. i don´t need more for now.
I am doin great and I don´t need anything. I love you all very much and I hope your week goes great!
Love isaac
Monday, July 25, 2011
7.25.11 email chat
So today when I got Isaac's email I thought that I would send his pin number for his new bank card in hopes that he was still on the computer. Lo and behold he was still on and we were able to email back and forth for a few minutes. Here is some of the info that we exchanged.
Mom:I sent him is pin number, but I'm not going to post it on the blog:)
Isaac: thanks! I will write it down! it looks like we are on at the same time! I love ya!
Mom:I was hoping that we would be on at the same time... I love you more!
Isaac: Do you have any questions that I forgot to answer in my email??
Mom: You answered them all. Did you get the picture of Bailey? She is a cute pregnant girl.
Is this legal for you to email back and forth?
Isaac: Yes I got the picture of Bailey.. it is weird to see her pregnant. When is the baby due? i know in sept, but what day? And I think it is legall.... haha. The rules say you can email family members.. it doesn´t say how many times haha. (and elder smoot does it I know, so i think it is ok ;) )
Mom:Bailey is due the 30th of September. she is miserable in the philly heat and humidity. She vows never to be big pregnant again in the summer. At least as long as they are on the east coast. When will your new comp arrive? What happened to the other missionaries in your house. Did the crazy on get transferred?
Isaac: haha, poor bailey... I hope everything goes good for her though in these next two months. I will pray for her to not be so miserable. The crazy elder did get transferred!! i forgot to tell you that. He too will be going to são luis. An american will take his spot. it will be good to have an american in the house. My new comp will get here tomorrow sometime. i don´t remember what time so i will have to call the zone leaders again. but i am excited for the next transfer! I think it will be great!
Mom:I have loved emailing with you but I have to get my chores done and take a shower. I love you and I want you to be happy and healthy! Have a good rest of the day.
Isaac: I love you too! have a great week!
I could have gone on emailing him for a long time, but I knew he was coming close to his alloted time on the computer and I didn't want to tempt him to be disobedient. It sure was fun to know we were on the computer at the same time.
Mom:I sent him is pin number, but I'm not going to post it on the blog:)
Isaac: thanks! I will write it down! it looks like we are on at the same time! I love ya!
Mom:I was hoping that we would be on at the same time... I love you more!
Isaac: Do you have any questions that I forgot to answer in my email??
Mom: You answered them all. Did you get the picture of Bailey? She is a cute pregnant girl.
Is this legal for you to email back and forth?
Isaac: Yes I got the picture of Bailey.. it is weird to see her pregnant. When is the baby due? i know in sept, but what day? And I think it is legall.... haha. The rules say you can email family members.. it doesn´t say how many times haha. (and elder smoot does it I know, so i think it is ok ;) )
Mom:Bailey is due the 30th of September. she is miserable in the philly heat and humidity. She vows never to be big pregnant again in the summer. At least as long as they are on the east coast. When will your new comp arrive? What happened to the other missionaries in your house. Did the crazy on get transferred?
Isaac: haha, poor bailey... I hope everything goes good for her though in these next two months. I will pray for her to not be so miserable. The crazy elder did get transferred!! i forgot to tell you that. He too will be going to são luis. An american will take his spot. it will be good to have an american in the house. My new comp will get here tomorrow sometime. i don´t remember what time so i will have to call the zone leaders again. but i am excited for the next transfer! I think it will be great!
Mom:I have loved emailing with you but I have to get my chores done and take a shower. I love you and I want you to be happy and healthy! Have a good rest of the day.
Isaac: I love you too! have a great week!
I could have gone on emailing him for a long time, but I knew he was coming close to his alloted time on the computer and I didn't want to tempt him to be disobedient. It sure was fun to know we were on the computer at the same time.
7.25.11 transfers
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
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
Monday, July 18, 2011
7.18.11
Querido Família,
This week was a little bit better. We worked a little bit more and I think things might pick up... who knows haha. There is only one more week of this transfer so we will see.
President called us on Thursday night to talk to my companion and the district leader. He told them to do an exchange. He told them to leave at 10 in the morning and to not go home until 9 at night and to give a report in their emails about what happened. I think that was a smart move. They at least worked in my area for the whole day. They didn´t find anyone new to teach because apparently all the contacts they did were with weird people haha. But I thought that was a good idea from President.
Then on Sunday, members brought 5 people to church. 2 girls didnt want anything to do with us and always turned their backs when we tried to talk or introduce other members to them. But another guy brought his friend with him. His name is Ebert. He is 14 years old. He liked church and after church and lunch, we went to his house to teach him about the restoration. It was a good lesson. It was good to teach again... haha. But it was good. He didn´t seem too interested in the first part of the lesson, but when I started to talk about Joseph Smith, he perked right up. It is always cool to teach the Restoration of the Gospel because EVERY time the Spirit just rushes in when we talk about Joseph Smith and the first vison. I think Ebert liked the story of Joseph because they have the same age and he could relate with the same questions and doubts. But anyway, we gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he will read and pray about it. He is a really good kid.
Yeah, so we do P-day a little differently here. Usually we wake up and play soccer at 8ish and then go back home and take showers and sit around. I clean my room and organize things around the house. Then we will usually go eat something for lunch and make something in the house and then take naps or do whatever in the house. My companion likes to use the internet more toward 4-5 oclock. I am fine with that. Today we didn´t play soccer, and we felt like using the internet earlier today.
Mom, my companion is from São Paulo. He has 1 year and 5 months more or less on the mission.
It sounds like your summer is going great. I was glad to see that picture of the sunset there. I was thinking that the sunsets here are just as pretty as the ones in Idaho, but I am wrong. I will try to send a picture of a sunset from Tiangua.
Mom, I think the package should get to me this week. President is doing a loop around the mission interviewing all the missionaries and he is coming here on Friday. So I should get it then if he doesnt forget to bring mail.
What are Paige and Brent up to lately? I havent heard anything from them for a long time. I guess they are still alive because I saw Brent in the picture you sent haha.
I love you all very very much! You are the best family. Thanks for the support and prayers!
Love Isaac
This week was a little bit better. We worked a little bit more and I think things might pick up... who knows haha. There is only one more week of this transfer so we will see.
President called us on Thursday night to talk to my companion and the district leader. He told them to do an exchange. He told them to leave at 10 in the morning and to not go home until 9 at night and to give a report in their emails about what happened. I think that was a smart move. They at least worked in my area for the whole day. They didn´t find anyone new to teach because apparently all the contacts they did were with weird people haha. But I thought that was a good idea from President.
Then on Sunday, members brought 5 people to church. 2 girls didnt want anything to do with us and always turned their backs when we tried to talk or introduce other members to them. But another guy brought his friend with him. His name is Ebert. He is 14 years old. He liked church and after church and lunch, we went to his house to teach him about the restoration. It was a good lesson. It was good to teach again... haha. But it was good. He didn´t seem too interested in the first part of the lesson, but when I started to talk about Joseph Smith, he perked right up. It is always cool to teach the Restoration of the Gospel because EVERY time the Spirit just rushes in when we talk about Joseph Smith and the first vison. I think Ebert liked the story of Joseph because they have the same age and he could relate with the same questions and doubts. But anyway, we gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he will read and pray about it. He is a really good kid.
Yeah, so we do P-day a little differently here. Usually we wake up and play soccer at 8ish and then go back home and take showers and sit around. I clean my room and organize things around the house. Then we will usually go eat something for lunch and make something in the house and then take naps or do whatever in the house. My companion likes to use the internet more toward 4-5 oclock. I am fine with that. Today we didn´t play soccer, and we felt like using the internet earlier today.
Mom, my companion is from São Paulo. He has 1 year and 5 months more or less on the mission.
It sounds like your summer is going great. I was glad to see that picture of the sunset there. I was thinking that the sunsets here are just as pretty as the ones in Idaho, but I am wrong. I will try to send a picture of a sunset from Tiangua.
Mom, I think the package should get to me this week. President is doing a loop around the mission interviewing all the missionaries and he is coming here on Friday. So I should get it then if he doesnt forget to bring mail.
What are Paige and Brent up to lately? I havent heard anything from them for a long time. I guess they are still alive because I saw Brent in the picture you sent haha.
I love you all very very much! You are the best family. Thanks for the support and prayers!
Love Isaac
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