Different, but good (1/27/20)

cho Elder Zoroaster

This week was like my first week--pretty long. But that means it'll get shorter and better. My last week with Elder Zoroaster felt like 2 days or so, but it felt like a good 3 weeks again this week. Anyway, here's this wild week in a nutshell.

Monday: I was in Boa Vista with the zone leaders after Zoroaster left on Sunday night. Pday was a little different in their house; they have 4 elders, and cleaning goes way fast with 4 people. You only have to clean one area, and then by the time you finish everyone else is done too, so that was cool. It was a long day. It felt like my first day again. I got a haircut, and it was kinda another language barrier again. I thought I was pretty good with Portuguese, but I guess not because I got kinda a junk haircut so that's awesome. Then we went to the lan house there, and we had pastels before. I got one with quite literally nothing in it haha. But the lan house was really fancy. It was 5 reais an hour, and that was pretty pricey for us heh. But it was real fancy. Then we went and made contacts and then got home and bought 12 liters of milk. I love milk and got none of it.

Pastel singular,
pasteis plural

Tuesday: today was a real heater. I was sweatin' like crazy and had some thoughts to knock some doors. Found out the missionaries lived next door to this guy and he has had many missionaries in his house and he doesn't want more. Interesting. After a few more hours, and a lunch with pastels with stuff in them, finally, I met my new comp, Elder Lampert. He's Brazilian, he's from Rio Grande do Sul, big river of sun. It's in Porte Alegre North mission, I think. He's 22, He has 1 year and 7 months in his mission, so these are his last 3 transfers. Dunno if they are all 3 here or what, but he's rather shy, kinda quiet, knows a ton about the scriptures, and walks stupid fast. Yeesh. I thought Zoroaster walked fast, but Lampert walks faster, like in the house too. We went and got home, then went to the store. The first thing he put in his basket was 6 things of Brazilian jello. Nice. He loves jello. Heh. He makes jello and bananas and mamao. I found out that's papaya. Interesting. Pretty good. And he is a toothpick. He said he's gained 5 kilos on his mission. I think he was maybe 100 pounds when he came out if that's true, interesting. He's a great guy. I'm starting to love him more. He works abnormally hard, so that's way good.

Another picture of pasteis that I downloaded.

Wednesday: I have learned a bit of my comp's sense of humor. It is as follows: I know one member here. Which member? The member who gave us lunch 10 seconds ago. Nice. He taught me how to say older sibling and younger sibling. We visited a bunch of people we taught in the past, and he introduced himself to them and immediately gave them a scripture to read. He's a worker. He also refuses to spend more than 30-45 minutes at a house, explaining, teaching, helping, what have you. We taught 6 lessons today, and he was frustrated we didn't teach more because we need to teach more for our goal so we don't look bad with the other missionaries in the area. I think he thinks in numbers. He loves math and physics, and before the mission he would watch math and physics things on YouTube. He's crazy smart, I'm thinking.

Thursday: I learned today that my comp doesn't do what I tell him to do. I told him to call and confirm lunch for the next day. He did not. He said the members should just know and it's their responsibility to feed us. Uummmmm yes but like, big no. We gotta remind them because they have a thing called life. Our life is teaching people. We remember lunch because we're hungry. They don't remember because they have the list on their fridge or something. We gotta remind them. We had lunch with the bishop, and he found out I have a sister named Sarah, so he sang a song called Sarah-Balthazar. It's on YouTube and it's in Portuguese, of course, but you should look it up and listen to it for me. Tell me if it's any good. We've had a ton of rain. A. Ton.

mango, with my missionary tan line

Friday: I love having lunch at Irma Christina's house. We're usually there for a while, and it's amazing food and a ton of fun. Her family is amazing. That kinda killed my comp. He doesn't talk much. He said he talks enough, and then started bumping the table and staring at me for me to share a message. They said share a message later heh. So I shared a message after, but he was rather annoyed we were there for more than 45 minutes. He said 1 hour maximum for lunch. I don't eat very fast, and like 30 minutes in bla bla bla whatever. We had even more rain than the day before. I have no idea where it goes, and nobody wants 2 wet young men in their house. Wonder why.

Saturday: I got absolutely pissed at my comp today because he asked a family to baptism and neither of us felt the spirit. They implied that we leave, so we left quick. The rest of the day had a damper on it. Kinda a bummer, but maybe eventually they'll come around. I talked with a few people today. I think the words are just getting a little more familiar for me. I don't understand everything and the weird conjugations, but like that's ok. The rest of the day we didn't really talk to each other. I kinda wonder how he felt. I should ask.

Sunday: we invited 18 people to church and 2 people showed up, and our district leader was rather disappointed in us when he called. He was like, you can do better then went off on like a 10-minute thing neither of us understood because our phone is kinda broken now. Found out my comp dropped it, nice. Our flip phone is dying. My comp loves numbers, and people maybe sometimes are numbers to him. We taught 6 lessons, and I made 32 contacts today because we ABSOLUTELY NEED to meet our goals every day and every week. Why yes, we do, but if you're not here for 2 days, I think you've got a little bit of slack.

last week and first week (1/20/20)

So my companion finished his mission. This week felt kinda weird because I'm so used to school--when one person finished, everyone finished. Like graduation, everybody graduates at the same time. But I'm not going home right now. For some reason, my brain just couldn't figure that out. Kinda stupid. That's ok because I'm still in Jardim California, Uberaba. My new companion is Elder Lampert. He's a Brazilian, and I've been told he only speaks when it is necessary. Nice. 

So the rest of Monday: I didn't say very much about Peropolis, that dinosaur place. It's pretty cool but not a bucket list place. I've told people this: it was my first time and my last time all in one. Haha. But if you just so happen to be in Uberaba for some reason, you should go. It's pretty cool, and the people will let you in when it's closed. There's a sign that says Segunda Fechado, so it means it's closed on Mondays, but the people there were like yeah you can go in, it's ok. So that was cool. The other elders had to buy an Uber because they didn't get to the bus station on time. We spent 12 reais for there and back, and they had to pay 40 reais for the Uber because they didn't want to wait for the next bus. heh. 

Tuesday: we finally had lunch at one member's house, and it was so good--ice cream, meat, beans, rice, pasta, just everything. After, we got them to drive us to the center for district council. If they didn't drive us, we would have needed to eat in 20ish minutes then leave. But they drove us, thankfully, so we had some time to eat. This was the last district council for Elder Zoroaster, and we practiced making contacts using the first 3 lessons (the Restoration, the Plan of Salvation, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ). That was interesting. I've never done that, so it was a lot of ums coming out of my mouth. We taught an awesome guy today. He said he would read the Book of Mormon and the pamphlet and pray about Joseph Smith. Did he do it? I have no idea because he was sick for the rest of the week--more time to read! If he read. I learned lots today, about juice. We got 5 limes for 1 real. Made lime juice, made other juices, found out you should use milk for some juices. And I learned the phrase hipa na chulipa. It's basically the fun way of saying let's go (vamos la). 

Wednesday: the word for kite is pipa, and kites are literally everywhere. Every. Where. You can buy them for 1 real. So like 25 cents in America. We had a whopping 20 reais for lunch today. I bought a kilo of bananas and a few cookie things. Today was kinda difficult. We sat on a bench by a soccer field while some kids were playing soccer, we were getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, and I was like this sucks. Today sucks. Then I saw a Corvette. I didn't think I would ever see a Corvette here, and that really turned my day around. I loved that, and I want a Corvette now (again). The rest of the day was a lot of walking.

Thursday: we had lunch an hour away again. It was way good. It was literally rice and beans and taco meat. It was way good for it being so simple. Planagemento was pretty interesting. I did it by myself because next week my comp won't be here. 

Friday: lunch cancelled on us, and then we had lunch from 1-5 and that was rather interesting. We had panquecas again which is crepes. We went to a bakery and somebody wants to marry me and go to America. Interesting. That's going to be a no for me. haha.

Saturday: we did a baptismal interview, and then he didn't show up for the baptism the next day haha oops. It really rained today; the roads were rivers again. So that was cool, kinda, not really, but yes, because we got to relax for a bit.

Sunday: there's a word in Portuguese that is fubeca. It's like a disobedient missionary. We had lunch for 3 hours and then went to another member's house and watched a movie, then we packed my comp's bags and then we left at 10:00 pm for the bus station. 

Milagres (1/13/20)

This week has been a week of being all over the place--Goiânia, other areas, all over the place.

Monday: we ate at a member's house, had a nice little family night thing, and played some games. That was a lot of fun. There's always a trick to every game, and when an American shows up and kinda understands Portuguese, those tricks are very easy to play. These games and magic are very easy to do. It was really fun though. He said that he was never going to drink Coca Cola again, as he was pouring another glass. He said it was his last, as he was pouring another. The Coca Cola is addicting, and he is a walking joke machine. His favorite for me is "Your companion is more attractive than you, but that's ok because I still love you too" haha.

Tuesday: we walked an hour for lunch and then walked 2.5 hours the other direction for district council. It was a real heater today. I literally wiped water off my arms because I was sweating so much. I'm no match for my companion's long long legs. Today went by pretty quickly. We got home and showered, ironed our shirts, packed a few snacks, and went to the bus station (for Goiânia) at 10:30, and then our bus wasn't there, and somebody from the bus company was like, oh your bus will be here at midnight. Nice. So at 11 another bus came, he told us to get on, we got to Uberlandia, got kicked off by some very angry people, then the company said we needed to buy new tickets, then other people were like no they don't, then I was very confused, then we saw other missionaries, and we're like we'll hang out with you guys. Then at like 2 our actual bus came, so they put us on a different bus--naturally the only thing that makes sense, right? So then we drive all night. The buses for long distance are sooo cold, yeesh. I needed a blanket and everyone else had blankets. Hmmm. My companion's self reliance class started at 9, and we got into Goiânia at like 8:50 so that was awesome. The other elders were waiting for us for about an hour and a half, then we saw an Uber, got in and oh,

It's Wednesday now: we got in the Uber, drove maybe 8 minutes to the church, 55 reais. That was highway robbery. We talked to the other missionaries, and somebody said they had to pay 110 reais for an Uber for the same distance. I dunno what will happen to them because we pay Ubers with the money we get from the mission, so they are quite literally robbing God. I do not want to be them. Heh. Boa sorte. Then I was with an elder who didn't really want to do much, so we walked around rather slowly in downtown Goiânia, then knocked doors near lunch and I tell you what, Goiânia is HOT. WHOA. But that's ok. I drank a ton of water and that helps. Then we had lunch. It was stroganoff. That was so good. After we went to the church again and talked with the other elders there and then got an Uber back to the bus station. I was rather concerned as to how much it was going to be, well, not concerned anymore because it was 9 reais. That's more like it. After, we sprinted to our bus because it was leaving oh, 5 minutes ago. We got on and made the trek back home. Our phone died, and we stopped in the middle of nowhere. It was 5 reais for a salgado, that's how expensive it was. Salgados are at most 1 real in my area. Yeesh. Got home at about midnight-ish and had the same member come pick us up. He gave us little juice boxes and chorrosco flavored chips. It literally tasted like a smoky barbecue. Interesting. At this point I haven't really slept all that week since Monday and then

Thursday: we got up at 8 am today haha. We turned off our phone alarm for the bus and forgot to turn it back on. We were both kinda confused about everything. I learned how to confirm the most important thing for us, lunch, and then I didn't do it because my comp did. We had lunch with the bish again at the same restaurante I had food poisoning at. I had a little bit, a lot bit, of ptsd and didn't feel too good after eating there. We had planajemento and that was rather difficult. I forgot how to speak Portuguese. We visited a ton of people today and everybody was like, nah. We also visited a bunch of inactive members. Most of the addresses were oh I've never heard of that person. Well how long have you lived here? 15 years. Oh wow, um, nice. Wanna hear a message about Jesus and the restored gospel? Hah. I had my first sonho today [cream doughnut]. Hehe. I am in love with those now.

Friday: we had lunch at 11 am today, eeee, that means we're hungry at ohhh 4 pm. It was really good food but like, 11 am. I learned today that there isn't a secret to missionary work. It kinda really set in that I'm getting a new comp whether I want it or not, and he said all you have to do is find, teach, and baptize--that's missionary work. Nice. Everybody today cancelled. Well, we visited and they weren't home or they said the classic they're sleeping, taking a shower, or tomorrow is better. Well, ok. So we decided to go get little bolo no potes. It's cake in a pot. Or cup. They are so good. I've noticed we just kinda go get sugar when we have a kinda bad day or a kinda good day.

Saturday: I experienced the power of the priesthood today. We were walking around after lunch trying to find some nonactive members, then a bunch of people outside a house we are teaching said "holy men, come offer a prayer, Danilo is really sick." We went in the house, and I got kinda scared because he was twitching, crying, yelling out in pain, kinda breathing occasionally, and curled up in a ball. He was very sick. My comp gave him a blessing, and within 10 seconds Danilo relaxed and fell asleep. His wife flipped out and called her mom and she tried waking him up with a nasty smelling liquid, then she was like he's possessed so they rubbed garlic on his hands feet, back and made him drink a garlic water thing which he promptly threw up. Then we left, and they said our prayer didn't do much and we were fake. Nice. It's interesting to see how people forget literally everything we have taught them within 5 seconds. Bummer. We went back that night, and he was walking and talking. He was much better, and I know without a doubt in my mind it was because of the priesthood blessing.

Sunday: we visited Danilo again today. He said he didn't have any pain. Nice. Church was so so so full. We stood in the back, and my companion gave a talk. Second to last Sunday in the mission, and he gave his first talk. It was really good. Lunch was amazing. We had probably 6 different types of meat, and we were there for around 2 hours. Nice. We visited some more people and nothing. We visited another member, got some cake, watched a little movie thing, watched some of the not Mormon messages (I have no idea what they are called now). Then we visited another member who was of course not home. They said they'd give us a chorrosco. Hmmm. Our phone died and yeah.

Monday: we went to Peirópolis. It's like a free dinosaur town thing. Google it because I don't have any time. And this computer has no usb also. Grrr.

yup (1/6/20)

Lets jump right in because I'm not very creative with these email titles.

Wednesday, Christmas, Dec 25: the rest of Christmas was pretty awesome. Pretty different too. I had all these ambitions of buying a ton of stuff. I had my card ready to go too, and I spent 21 reais. So like 5 bucks. That got me 4 pieces of cake, some little things with stuff, and other stuff with doce de leite in the middle--I have no idea how to describe them--and some pão de queijo. We visited somebody we are teaching and gave them some of the pudim I made. He gave us haircuts. That was extremely painful, but my hair looks better than the first haircut I got. We got home and ate the rest of the pudim, watched some fireworks, and went to bed.

Thursday, Dec 26: we had lunch with the bishop today, and that meant we had lunch at a restaurant. The restaurant next to his house gave me food poisoning before, and God was watching out for me: it was closed, haha nice. So we went to the other restaurant next to his house. That one is 2 reais more but way better. We had a thing called polenta, and that was cool. It's pretty good, we taught a few lessons today, then went to another bakery. Word has gotten around that there's an American who wears a white shirt and tie who comes into the bakery. I asked how much for x y z, and the lady was like "Whoa I don't understand him!" I was speaking Portuguese, geez. I repeated it, and she looked at my companion and asked him to translate into Portuguese. My comp goes home in two weeks. If I'm here with somebody else that'll be really interesting. I was speaking Portuguese, and she thought I was speaking English. Awesome.

Friday, Dec 27: the first person we visited after lunch gave us the Book of Mormon back and said she didn't need it anymore. We said she can have it; she said she only needed the Bible. Then she gave us some cake. Then she asked us to share another message with her, and she wanted to read the pamplet after we left. That was really confusing. Most of the other people we visited weren't home today, or were like uh come back tomorrow. Tomorrow is always better for everyone, I guess. What if Jesus comes tomorrow? Huh? Haha, just kidding.

Saturday, Dec 28: we didn't have a baptism today because this lady's mom went into surgery. Dang. Today was long--lots of walking. Almost unnecessary, I feel like. We walked an hour for lunch, then walked an hour back to talk to 2 people, then walked almost to lunch again to teach somebody else. We could have reorganized that one. Oh well. We had a ward thing. It was Confernatcao de Natal with the ward--I have no idea how to spell that. It started at 7 (so that means it actually starts at 7:30), but then something else happens and bla bla bla, and oh Elder it's 8:30 and nobody has started eating food. My comp has very long legs, so everything is ok for him because he walks 600 miles per hour. Then at 8:50, I was basically kicking him so we could leave, then somebody was like oh yeah, the elders, eat right now! So we ate in like 2 minutes and a member drove us home. Amazing how a 20-ish minute walk turns into a 5-minute drive. I kinda wish we had a car. I wish that a lot. But that was a great little ward Christmas party after Christmas.

Sunday, Dec 29; so in America, rap is the inappropriate, bad, non-church worthy music. Here, that music is called funk. Nice. They have rap too, but funk is worse than rap. We had a lot of time today, and I got a little stressed about my comp leaving soon. We visited a bunch of people today, and wow, just like magic, nobody was home. The missionary manual says that Sundays and holidays are the best times for finding new people to teach, or teaching people in general, because everyone is in their house. I'm not 100% sure why they think that. I know they are very smart and they served missions too, but usually the members are here on Sundays but literally nobody else is haha. And holidays, yeesh, we taught 0 lessons, had 0 contacts, have 0 new people to teach. Nice. We visited a member at 7:30 and their daughter came to the door and was like my dad won't let you guys in. She said he said something about us, i dunno, she kinda started to cry then my comp was like sorry bye and basically turned around and ran. Needless to say, we don't really know what to do in that situation. So he kinda did what was best. Little awkward, but that's ok.

Monday, Dec 30: I don't like not having pday on Monday. We did splits, and I was with an elder who has been in the mission for 6 months. He just got transferred here. He told me all about the people we were going to visit--how good they were, how awesome they were, how we were going to visit somebody and they were going to make us food. Literally none of that happened. Then at 8, we were at somebody's house, and we talked about speakers; and at 8:45 I was like hey sorry, we need to go. Nope, he literally asked them if we could have dinner with them. They were like uh sure, we can make you some food. So at 9, I was like we absolutely need to go. He gave in and said read the Book of Mormon, then bore his testimony a few times about the Book of Mormon, and we left. Then he was like we have until 9:30. No, that's not how this works. We have until 9:30 if we teach an actual lesson, not if you bear your testimony about the Book of Mormon. That day was rather interesting. Also another elder in that house has a gnarly rash on his stomach, (I think he shaved his stomach and it got infected hehe). He went to the hospital the next day.

Tuesday, Dec 31: the next day, while he was at the hospital, he had to get his blood drawn, scary, and a shot in his butt. He was very very angry, then he fell asleep during district council. Sorry, for clarification, I wasn't at the hospital with him. But lunch was Marmitex [it looks like this is a restaurant or a take-out place], which is like good enough. Some places have bigger containers that others; this place does not have bigger containers, and the people here see an american (me) and think, oh he won't eat a lot. Why? Some of the others, they were like oh the lid doesn't close so walk carefully. My lid closed perfectly. Nice. Then after district council, we went and bought bus tickets for Goiania for a self-reliance class for my comp because he's going home. He's doing a little program, and he's setting goals about his future. They're literally telling him to set a date and be married before that day. Yeesh. Good thing I've got 2 more years and can put my date another 8 years in advance hehe. I'll get the best of them. No, but I don't really care. It's just kinda weird, kinda funny, that he has to set a goal for that haha. But the bus tickets were 143 reais and our emergency fund is 150 reais. Sooo, we were very careful with the rest of our money. We have no cash right now. But we just bought food so it's ok. Then we got lost after and walked for 3 hours and got home. I was so hungry, and I asked my comp if I could make an egg. He got kinda annoyed and finally let me make 1 egg. After that we rushed outside aannnndddddd, sat on the curb in front of our house. I wanted to punch him in the face. We sat there for close to 20 minutes and then we walked to somebody's house. For holidays, it's kinda bad to knock on doors because if they have company over. It's like you're saying you take higher priority. Also holy rain today. The roads flooded while we walked to district council. One road that we had to cross had water that was up to my mid shins. Nice. After, when we were at somebody's house, they had a little shochoko. Then they gave us their bananas because they didn't like healthy foods. Free bananas. Then we went to bed. There were fireworks from 10 or 11-1 or 2 am. We didn't sleep much.

Benny has been in the mission
field for NINE weeks, and his
shoes are wearing out!

Wednesday, Jan 1: talked with the fam today. Made some more pudim--this one was way better than the first. I learned how fast my companion can talk. He has the ability to speak so fast and so bad other teenagers can't understand him and adults can't understand him. That was interesting to hear that. After I talked with my family we went to a less-active member and they told us about a place that's like 30 minutes away by bus. It's an outdoor dinosaur museum thing. Nice. We're going to go there on the 13th because that's my companion's last pday. Lunch was a little interesting. We were at the bishop's wife's extended family's house, and they don't really like the Church. That's ok, though, because we were like thanks for the food, bye.

Thursday, Jan 2: lunch was looonnnggg, an hour and 10 minutes walking but it was well worth it. I had a gnarly headache today. Every single step jolted my head, so that was kinda stupid. I learned a new phrase at a new bakery with new desserts. Apparently nobody understands quanto dinheiro. Quanto custa is more accepted. This bakery has a bolo gelado, so cake cold. Cold cake, wow that is good. My stomach has been acting up too. Falling down a flight of concrete stairs would have been more comfortable.

Friday, Jan 3: chuva chuva chuva chuva [rain] then wow it was hot haha. We visited a recent convert today, and he gave us some juice. It was mango juice, and we thought he got mangos and blended them up. Then he showed us that it was a powder. We're going to buy that powder. Our store doesn't have it but when we find it, BrazSuk, we're buying it. I made ramen noodles and I was wondering, what happens if you crack an egg in the boiling water? Will the egg cook so you don't have to cook the egg in a different pan? Will it be disgusting and gross? Will it just not do anything? I dunno. My comp said if I did that I would be fancy. I don't think he understood my question haha.

Saturday, Jan 4: we got up at 6, got ready bla bla bla, left at 7 for the center and had interviews with the presidente. We made it with 5 minutes to spare; then we looked around, and we were still missing 4 elders. Oops. I like my mission president. After we went home, we called the lady for lunch and she kinda got mad at us because we couldn't go in the house. Today was probably the worst day for like everything in my body. I had a lot of pain in my stomach, an abnormal amount. My comp and I got me a new bed from the other room. I think it helped a little bit. I think I'm sleeping a little better, but I'm not really 100% sure when I'm using the bathroom all day and night. This part of my mission is not what I expected. So on that note, this'll be in all caps so you see it, THE MISSION CAN ONLY GET BETTER RIGHT? THIS YEAR STARTED OUT KINDA LAME, KINDA SUCKED, BUT IT'S DAY 4. I STILL HAVE 361 MORE DAYS, SO THAT'S PRETTY AWESOME. BAD START, GOOD FINISH? I THINK YES.

Sunday, Jan 5, Fast Sundayyyyy: I learned that it's a new rule given by Presidente that we bear our testimonies. I learned that with like 10 minutes left, so I ran up there and was like hi the Book of Mormon is true, then blanked and forgot how to speak Portuguese, hehehehe. I don't like speaking in front of more thannnnnn 1 person. After, the Book of Mormon Sunday School class was pretty awesome. We read the introduction and the testimonies. Then it rained a ton, then we went to lunch. It rained even more, and the power went out during lunch, so we just talked for a while. Then after lunch we went to somebody else's house. They said, Elders come over on Sunday, and we will make you bread. I was very excited. They were not home. So that was pretty like not awesome. We knocked doors--lots of people are taking showers or sleeping: hey is your mom or dad home? Uhhhh they are taking a shower. Oh we'll come another day. Then we went to a different member's house, way better. Still had some war going on in my stomach, but they made cake and what I thought was coffee. The cake was really good. Then they told me to put butter on the cake, and it was really good. Then they told me to have what I thought was coffee. It wasn't coffee, but it was really good. Then we went to another member's house and had fries and fish stick things. It was really good. We had some rice and salad, and it was really good. Then we ran home with the rest of the rice. It was really good.

These computers are kinda stupid. They, well, not the computers, somebody took out the sub ports on the front and in the back. I need the keyboard and the mouse, and oh there are no other ports. Sorry for no pictures. Maybe eventually I'll get a computer with the ability to send pictures haha.