You
would not believe what life is like here. Really. I want to explain it
all, but I don't even know where to start. First I'll reply to your
questions.
SO. Does my companion speak English? I really am still not sure how much she speaks. She took classes for like 3 years I think she said. She has had quite a few American companions during her mission so that has helped her a lot too. She randomly says way funny phrases in English to me. Sassy stuff like "Oh my gosh" and "Stop freaking out." It is good though because she knows enough to explain things to me and she is good at using basic words in Portuguese to help me understand what other people say. I definitely don't understand everything people say, but I do understand her really well so I get by. It is so hard to concentrate all the time on listening. I tune out a lot, but my new goal is to not do that because I always end up looking like an airhead when everyone realizes I have no clue what is going on. It is fine though. I have way cool experiences everyday understanding people and being able to communicate. I know that it is the Spirit helping because when I am not teaching a lesson or trying to talk to people about the gospel I am way more lost than when I am sharing my testimony or praying or other things. I also understand people way better when the conversation is about religion and not well at all when people try to talk to me about other stuff. Last night we were out finding new people to teach and I approached two people and I am pretty sure they thought I didn't know any Port. but then after I talked to another person and everything came out perfect, so I just figured that the Lord wanted those people to learn about our message and not the first ones. It was an interesting experience. Oh and my companion is from the Capital of São Paulo. In the mission São Paulo Leste (East). She is teaching me how to speak like a Paulista instead of someone from the Nordeste. She is going to go home speaking with an American accent I think. She imitates really well.
Caicó (K-eye-k-oh) is probably about like Logan or Ogden, I don't know
it very well yet. I feel lost most of the time like I am just following
my comp. around. Our area is Vila do Princípe. It is just part of the
city. There are two other sets of elders here in the city. We have
district meetings in the center of the city at a chapel they have there,
but that is just once a week. In my area we have a church building, but
not a chapel. It is small, but it is a ward. It is really loud during
church because there are like 10 fans in the chapel on full blast and it
is partially open to the outside for air flow so the city noises leak
in. Really different than our chapels, but the same gospel. We sang a
Christmas hymn yesterday which I thought was funny. I liked it though, keeping the spirit of Christmas all year round.
They have all sorts of different roads. In our area only a couple of
main roads are paved and then some are cobblestone and the rest are
dirt. Yeah, I walk in lots of dirt. HOT dirt. Everything is hot here.
Like really, we bake everyday. I use sunscreen twice a day at least and I
am still a little pink around the edges. We don't work from 11:30 until
2:30 because it is so hot outside. Plus everyone is at home having
lunch, or just sitting in the hammocks that they all have in their front
rooms trying not to overheat. I will take a picture of our hammock and
show you. Plus pictures of where we live. I keep forgetting. Well
actually I just am too tired every night. When we get home I am caked in
sweat and dirt and take a shower, write in my journal for like 15
minutes and then fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.
We eat lunch at a members house everyday except P Day. A great
experience everyday. I really like seeing different people's houses and
lives. The food has all been good. My comp. tried to trick me into
thinking I was eating chicken blood yesterday,
but I figured out she was lying before I ate it. I really do like all
the food I eat. Even when it has flies all around it, it still tastes
good. And it especially tastes good on days like yesterday
when we walked an hour in the blazing hot sun to get to a little
neighborhood in the middle of nowhere, then an hour back after eating.
Really I was just impressed because the people who live there walk that
every week to church because the bus doesn't run on Sundays. They have
so much faith, I am pretty sure they will go straight to the celestial
kingdom. A lot of people here struggle with acting on their faith. They
all have it and let us right in as soon as we tell them we have a
message about Jesus Christ, but then when we invite them to church they
don't want to. One lady we are teaching is super fabulous and came with
her 2 sons yesterday.
She is really incredible, I don't understand everything she says, but
the way she looks at us I know that she has a good heart. I don't know
if that makes sense, but just know she radiates a really good spirit and
I like teaching her and she is going to have good things happen in her
life.
Other than lunches with members we hardly eat. I usually have some
crackers and water or juice for breakfast then a snack at some point
during the night. We are going to get food today
for our house so maybe I will start eating more. Really I just like
drinking water all the time though because it is so blazing hot. As soon
as the sun goes down I instantly get happier. I love the sun, but WOW it radiates some heat. Oh and shade is my best friend. I love when we walk down a street that has trees.
Fun thing I learned the other night is how to play that game black
magic. I have wondered my whole life and finally, in Portuguese I
learned. Super great. Oh and another funny story: we contacted this man
on the street who told me he loved America and I asked why and he said
"terrorism" and my comp started freaking out like uhh what do we do are
we about to get attacked... then she asked some more and he said that he
likes that the U.S. protects the rest of the world from terrorists
because he is against terrorism. Super funny experience. I mean of
course I didn't understand what they were talking about in the moment,
but my comp. explained it to me after.
One last cool thing. There are elections here next week and people
campaign by driving around in cars blasting music and catch phrases
about their candidate. AND on friday and sunday night there were parades on the streets right in front of our house
with like a million people dancing and playing music and just walking.
It was way fun to watch from our balcony. We had the perfect view. I
will try to attach some pictures of it.
I am happy to hear everything at home is good! Give Emerson a big hug
for me! He will be a great missionary!! I am sad I won't be there to see
him get set apart. Also, I am excited to get his talk in the mail, but
we get mail basically never here so it will be a while I am sure.
Love you all!
Sister Udy
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