Week #24
I don't know what anybody is saying. I don't know what they want me to say. I don't really know what I'm eating, but I like it. It goes with the rice.
That's basically this week. Lots of travel with people I cannot understand, teaching lessons, attending a baptism my first weekend, typing on a Portuguese keyboard. Such fun.
My companion's name is Elder Medeiros. He's Brazilian, has two transfers left and has had a baptism 13 times in the last 13 weeks. That's more than the monthly average for the whole Fort Collins mission. Talk about a white field already to harvest.
I'm happy to be here, but I really don't have all that much to say. Maybe when I actually know what's happening I'll have some stories to tell. For now, I've already used thirty minutes and look how much I've written. Portuguese keyboard.
The members here are amazing. The chapel is small, the ward is smaller, the baptisms are frequent and their food is amazing. I actually only eat one meal each day. Incredibly, I'm not hungry enough to eat another one.
Everybody here drinks four things: Guarana, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, and water. There are a few other things like disgusting warm boxed milk and a drink that I can never remember the name of. Whatever it is, it tastes like hot alfalfa water. Somehow I like it.
Our housing is... different. It's old, falling apart, has three real rooms and kind of half walls that make two more. All the floors here are tile or cement and the walls are usually some sort of brick. To control the temperature, we open the windows and doors to whatever extent we need them and sit somewhere in the breeze.
The weather is a lot like summer in Vermont. It's about the same temperature and humidity and you always feel dirty. (I forgot to mention that a couple days ago the city had no water. We had no shower, no toilet, nothing to drink and almost had to move the baptism to another city.) I'm told it's going to get ridiculously hot and then ridiculously cold. I'm not really excited about the hot part, but hey, Christmas is Christmas even without snow. (Christmas here is called Natal.)
I just asked Elder Medeiros what our address is. Luckily he speaks English pretty well. Here it is.
Elder Dickson
Brazil Porto Alegre North Mission
Caixa Postal 13008
Porto Alegre-RS
CEP 91010-971
Brazil
I'm not really sure about how that works outside Brazil, but that's all he knew.
Mother, you should know that I am well taken care of. It turns out that Americans are told to bring much more than anybody else. Everybody else has one suit case and I have three. I'm not sure I'll even use most of the stuff they told us to bring. Hopefully, I'll be able to wear out lots of stuff so I have space to spare in the future.
Wow, I swear time goes faster here. Bye for now.
Elder Dickson
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| Elder Cabral and Elder Frazao |
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| Elder Medeiros and Elder Dickson |
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