I'm in Brazil!

Oh my goodness. que isso. que. flippen. isso . First, the flight here... All I have to say about that is 3 days with five hours of sleep and one meal. Its fine. I never saw Roy. I have seen one spider so far, and it was on my arm!!!!!!! ahhhhhhh. We were in the house of a less active family and I saw it crawling on my arm, and flipped. They all laughed so hard, like everyone does anytime I do anything. It was a small one though. We eat lunch at members houses every day, and I haven’t gone a meal without rice and beans, and I love it!!!! 

ahhh its so good!!! 

So the language… hardest thing I have ever done. My trainer, Elder Santos Melo, only speaks a little English. I live with one American, who leaves in two months. I can’t believe what is going on here. So, some cool stuff, I personally have committed 3 people to baptism and they agreed. I don’t know if they will follow through, but I get so excited when I think about it. It’s amazing to see how well these people have been prepared. I’ve contacted people on the street and stuff, which is fun. 

Yesterday was no doubt the hardest day of my life. It hurts to think about. One example of suckage from yesterday was we were in a lesson, and Elder Santos Melo was talking about temples, I thought, and then he turned to me like it was my turn to talk. I hadn’t been able to follow the conversation at all. I tried to talk, and struggled so bad. But I though if I just started talking the spirit would guide. So I started talking about temples and my testimony of them, and Elder Santos Melo stopped me and said no, about eternity. WHAT? I don’t know any Portuguese about eternity! I tried though, and I was kind of looking at the Book of Mormon in my hand while I struggled to talk. Then I could hear something, so I looked up, and the kids were all laughing super hard and trying to hide it, and even worse, adults were looking at me and from their faces I could tell they had no idea what I was saying. I tried again to explain, and the kids started laughing harder and the adults got more confused, so I stopped mid sentence and turned to Santos Melo and said ´you´ and then sat in silence for the rest of the lesson. That was the first time that that had happened though. Usually people love talking to me. Everybody here is a gaucho, and so they use NO correct grammar, they use thee, thou, and thine which is weird, and they talk so fast you wouldn’t believe it was possible. And it doesn’t just sound fast because I don’t understand. Imagine brad doing one of his auctions, and then times how fast he talks by 2. It’s insane. They cut off half the words sometimes to talk faster, so it’s impossible to understand. So I usually just sit and listen as hard as I can and try and understand. When people are just talking, I’m completely lost. But when we are talking about the gospel I understand and can talk fine. It seems like when I start to talk, everyone goes quiet and pays attention because they know that if I’m going to take the effort to talk it is worth listening to. Whenever I’m feeling down I just try and teach them how to say horse or squirrel. hahah its so funny to listen to!! 

And then they try and teach me difficult words. 

 Yesterday was really the only bad day though. The rest have been hard yes, but I’ve loved them. I love these people. What people say about them giving a lot of food is true! I’ll be eating, and I wont even finish what I have yet and they’ll dish me more. I’ve been called Elder Pequeno (little), Elder Americano, and Peter Parker. Everyone says I look like Spiderman. It’s cool. 

 Everyone thinks as soon as they hear I am American that I am rich, which compared to them I guess we are. I haven’t seen a single house in our area that we couldn’t fit in our big garage twice. No heaters. No ac. Bricks and cement (I haven’t been barefoot on the floor in a week). Our house here is a really nice one compared to theirs. They all look the exact same. I cant even explain how humble and simple it is. They chisel paths in the bricks for wires and pipes then cement them in. nothing ever gets thrown away. And dogs EVERYWHERE. I mean everywhere. It’s crazy. :)

 I got your letter from June first, and your package from 12 days ago. You need to send stuff to this address. 

Caixa Postal 339 

Centro - Santa Maria - RS

97010-010

Otherwise it goes to the mission home, and I wont get it except for mission conferences, which aren’t often. 

 I’m glad to hear everything is going well at home. :) All is well here too.  I don’t know what it is, but I feel amazing. I’m going to send a more detailed letter in the mail because it obviously doesn’t take too long. It will be a good one. 

 I hope I can send pictures. My companion is using it right now, and I only have 10 minutes left. I don’t have near enough time to read and reply to everyone!! I left 13 emails unread and unanswered.  Sorry!

 Love, Elder McKee

 Jake's bed isn't by the wall.

 Jake's clean desk

 Elder Santos Melo and Jake