Yeah, this week was hard. The beginning of the week was the worst. It all revolves around the language. It has been a particular struggle. Almost the entire ward thinks I can´t understand a thing, which is super fun. But therein lies my problem. I had been studying portuguese so that I could have conversations with the elders and other people. On thursday I only studied vocab for the lessons and both the lessons and the conversations went better. Though, it is still hard. I can´t really understand anyone. I know that I was called here to speak Portuguese but that doesn´t mean that makes it any easier. I realize that I have only been here for a very short time but when you can´t understand anyone and you hardly have an idea about what is going on, the days pass by very slowly and it honestly feels like I´ve been here forever. And with that, able to understand people.
Besides the difficulties, Brazil is a beautiful place. Everything is just gorgeous. I have seen some of the most stunning landscapes and had some of the best food I´ve ever had. Today we went to a waterfall up in Bertioga with some other missionaries. It was sooooooo awesome. We took a bus, a boat, and a train just to get to the trail. From there we hiked through the jungle to a waterfall!
Yesterday, I went on a split with Elder Lopes and the Bishop´s wife to visit one of her friends. Before we could give her the message, she burst in to tears and told us that she had been praying about what she should do to better follow Christ. She had gone to church that morning and felt nothing. But she came back and prayed some more and she said that she just needed to wait. Then we came to her door with a message about Christ. We got a return appointment and everything so it is super exciting! Also, Elder Oliveira and I might have a baptism soon! We are so close to baptizing a mom and her daughter but the mom needs to marry her ´´husband´´ first. Marriage licenses are super expensive here but they are willing to sacrifice it to be baptized! The husband is a less active member so the ward is really excited to have a new family!
You don´t have to worry about me eating well. The members here set us up! You´d think that after two straight weeks of beans and rice that I would be sick of it but I love it! We had a Brazilian BBQ on saturday with the Bishop´s family and it was heavenly! Nutella is super cheap here (3 american dollars) and cereal is super expensive (about 8 american dollars). Needless to say, my morning diet has changed a lot.
I´ll try to send some pictures here soon. The computers are just really slow.
This week:
1. our bus got hit by the same car twice in 10 seconds. Almost led to a fight between the drivers
2. I´ve seen more doggy love than I care to ever see ever again
3. I got watery cement thrown on me from a roof of a house. It was an accident but cement nonetheless.
4. Brazilians can´t catch to save their lives but are all beast at ping-pong
5. I am refered to as Gringo, Branco (white in portuguese), Americano, or just plain Elder
6. Conversations got so much easier to understand once I figured out that the word ´´cara´´ (pronounced cada) is the portuguese word for dude
7. The bishop´s wife knows how to pick locks of gates and unlock cars with a hanger. She saw my face and said ´´Está Brasil´´ (it´s brazil).
8. You might live in a favela but you have satellite TV and subwoofers and speakers in your car that fill up the whole trunk. And you blast it all night.
9. only in Brazil do all the men wear speedoes and all the women are 300lbs and in bikinis.
10. our neighbor opened the door to his apartment in the nude. No one knocked on it, he just thought he needed to open the door. I did not need him to open the door.
Love yall and enjoy the snow!
Elder Johnson
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