December 9, 2024

(*Mom note: I talked to Noah for almost two hours today. He was in good spirits and seems to be doing very well. He said he bore his testimony in church yesterday (in Portuguese). From what I can tell he gets along great with his companion (even though the comp speaks very little English). Elder Vitti seems like a great guy. Prayers have been answered as we wanted him to have an excellent first companion. Elder Vitti hand sews neckties. He's my kinda guy! It was so nice seeing and talking to Elder Chapman.)

YO YO YO WHATS GUUUUUDDDDD???

CRAZY WEEK, GOING TO TRY AND SQUISH IT DOWN INTO AN EMAIL

Not sure what to say so this will be a super random email. Lol

Over 24hrs travel time to get to Brazil. Insane. It sucked so much. Had a 9hr flight from Atlanta to São Paulo. I wanted to die. I sat next to a Peruvian dude and he told me to be careful in Manaus because I'm white, so thats nice (send help)

We landed and met the missionaries that have been here for a while. They are all pretty chill. We went to the church building and had a bunch of meetings and interviews, and finally we met our trainers. Well sort of. I was supposed to go with these guys that were in an area that was 6 total hours away. 5 hours in a bus 1 on a boat. Well everyone was telling me how awesome my location was and how they didn't have a church so they baptized in the river, how the area hadnt been open for 10 years, and how everyone wished they had that area. "My" trainers were still 6 hours away so I stayed with different elders for the night. The next day they didn't let me sleep in and we went about finding people to teach and went and had lunch at a members house. They made me give the message at the end about a scripture I liked. It sucked because I don't know much Portuguese but I tried my best haha. Later that day I was informed I would no longer be with the far away guys and that I was getting a different area and different trainer. Womp womp I guess. I was super excited for the location especially since so many people said that it was the coolest. Sucks, BUT I'm now with Elder Vitti (veech)

Elder Vitti is goated. He's from São Paulo and speaks hardly any English so thats a little difficult but it'll help me get my Portuguese down. He's a cool guy and we have a good time. I teach him English slang like: "what up my cracker" and "you're a sucker" and he teaches me Portuguese. What a good trade yeah? Hahaha.

Me and Elder Vitti went to bishops house and had fish, rice, beans, salsa and soda. Guys the food here is amazing and so cheap. You can get a two liter of coke zero for like a singular dollar. Love it. Anyway, the Brazilians are very intrigued by my height (I'm literally so average) but bishop wanted to stand back to back and see the difference and was asking how tall I was. It's funny. I also can't understand anyone half the time so it's very hard to stay awake. I try my best to communicate but usually it's embarrassing. At another members house Elder Vitti told me to tell them "estou muito grávido" after we finished eating to let them know I was full. Yeah yeah real funny. Hahaha. We have a fun time.

Our apartment is fairly decent. We have one ac unit but we are only allowed to use it at night. It's like 100 degrees here everyday so that sucks but, I'll get used to it I hope. Anyway we get bugs bad. Cockroaches. Elder Vitti was running around the apartment with a can of raid and a lighter, shooting massive flames at them. It was insane. He was leaving black stains on the tile, so thats no good but it was funny.

Also like everyone here is very poor and the living conditions are not good. I am so very grateful for where I am from and the cleanliness and luxury I have. Be grateful lol

INTERESTING FACTS AND RANDOM STUFF:

1. Mayo on pizza is very common (and very good)

2. The traffic is insane, no one follows rules and I'm surprised I haven't watched someone die.

3. We take ubers all the time (weird and scary)

4. Elder Vitti is very good at piano, and guitar (I'm going to have him teach me)

5. People always ride on the road and see us walking and they say "Oi Elders!!!"

6. Theres a drink called terere (teh-deh-deh). It's like an herbal drink and its so fire and cheap. They are going to get me addicted. It kinda looks like a form of drug hahaha. I'll include a photo.

7. Pizza is super cheap, you can get a large for like 6 dollar and it's delicious.

8. We went to and all you can eat pizza place for Elder Haymores b-day.

Scripture of the week: Moroni 6:4

"And after they had been received unto baptism, and were wrought upon and cleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost, they were numbered among the people of the church of Christ; and their names were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God, to keep them in the right way, to keep them continually watchful unto prayer, relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who was the author and the finisher of their faith."

"Christ, who was the author and the finisher of their faith." Poetic as heck I love it.

Quote of the Week:

“I don't care if he was blind and autistic, he was not the best singer” - Elder Bendall about that AGT winner guy

Guys I love each of you so much. I'm going to try my best to make a weekly email. Going to be hard, because we are so busy. I'll make it work. I hope each of you are doing well. I hope the best for you and I am praying for you. Keep being awesome. Keep trying your best. Keep loving God and your neighbors. You are loved. Pray for me also. This is going to be hard, but I'm excited to help people, and learn a new language.

I'm going to do another email of a song I'm learning on the piano so you can hear the difference when I'm a pro haha.

Also I might do a voice memo next week so I don't have to write so much. It takes forever lol.

PICTURES:

1. Us at a bus station