Where do I email from? Theres a place here that for $2.5 reais we can use computers for one hour. Super cheep. Nice computers. It's great. I get one hour on the computer. This includes the time it takes for me to write President Parrella about the week, and then read the weekly newsletter we get. I have to do those first before opening any emails. It takes me about 20 minutes. This is why I decided to start writing in a book and sending pictures.
My companion is Brazilian. We are very different, but I love the guy. He's a great missionary. He's also district leader, so that's cool. I get my mail faster.
The family that was supposed to be baptized two days ago fell through, as did every other baptism we have. But we have some more scheduled that have serious potential. These people are awesome. It's hard to stay positive sometimes, but we make do. :) One of them is turning 13 on the 24, and I promised to make her a chocolate cake. I DONT KNOW HOW TO MAKE CAKE! Why I promised it, idk. But I will try, and pretend like it is an American luxury that they aren't used to. ;) How hard can it be? Yesterday the bishop told Elder Santos Melo and me that we are the best missionaries to ever come to the ward. This made me feel good, because I don't even speak Portuguese!!! But I try really hard to. :) I say hi to everyone and try and talk with them all. It's great.
One thing I've started doing is anytime I feel frustrated or angry or whatever for any reason, I chanell it all into 50 pushups. I've done a lot of pushups.
haha Language is awesome. I'm getting better and better every day. And I sent a lot of pictures, so that's ok. And emotional state varies, that's for sure. Its super easy to get frustrated because I know exactly what I want to say, I just don't know how to say it. So a lot of my ideas go unsaid. Which is fine. I rarely know what's going on because it usually isn't worth the effort it takes for people to explain to me until I understand. I try and talk to people, and they literally just turn and start talking to someone else while I'm talking. They aren't trying to be rude, I just can't talk as fast as them. That's really frustrating. Little attention is paid to what I say, but I say it anyways because the more I try, the faster I'll be able to actually speak what I want to. So, its fine!
Jake's letter to Marte:
Dad: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I hope it all went good. It sounds like everyone is doing awesome! I love getting the letters in the mail and reading the emails. Thanks for your letter that you wrote on the day I got here. haha It was like you had watched me the whole time and then wrote about it when you described your travel to the mission. The language now is so much better. I don't understand everything, but I can understand enough usually to get what's going on. There are two types of people here I've realized. The ones that talk slower so I can understand everything. I like those people. And then those that talk faster because they think it's funny when I get confused. I like those people less, but they're still children of God. I'm improving every day. The gift of tongues is so real!!
Your letter you talked about a job as a CTE teacher. That would be so cool! I can totally see you doing that, and being an awesome teacher. You mentioned how much money there is in it, about 15 a year. I learned this week that for ALL of Brazil, the average income monthly is about 250 US dollars. Where I'm at, Im pretty sure it's lower. It's amazing to see the difference in ´needs´ of Salem, Utah and the neighborhoods here. Your bedroom is about the size of their whole house. I've eaten in houses where the only thing separating me and my food from the person going to the bathroom is an old towell. But, these people are so nice. And they make such good food!!!
I love ya, Dad. You're an amazing example to me and I realize now more than ever how important all the lessons you taught me in my life are. I can't remember if i've mentioned already, but everyone comments on how hard I can work when we are doing service or something. Thanks for that. I hope your birthday was great! I miss ya, and I'll see ya in a short 96 weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment