It has only been a couple days but what a crazy few days it has been!! Let me first start out by saying if you get sick easily you probably want to stop reading right now.
So with you having been warned there is a saying here that to be a real missionary you have to poop your pants, get robbed or beat up. Well I’m a real missionary now and i didn’t get beat up or robbed.... yep I pooped my pants. Lets go to the start though.
Saturday night I was out teaching with Elder Barlow who returned home (with honor) today. He bought me some chicken from a street vender I asked, are you sure this is fine? He responded oh yeah I've been eating it for six months!! So I ate it what I didn’t put together is 6 months ago is still 18 months after he had been in Brazil not 4 days... his body had adjusted mine had not. Well thanks to my dumb mistake I have had the worst diarrhea (don’t know how to spell that sorry if its wrong but you get the idea...) of my life!! Well on to the next part yesterday was transfers which mean ... drum roll please... i have my new area and Trainer!!! We will talk about that later. Well my area is 8 hours away from the transfer station so we had to wait at the bus station all day and then we took the 10:30 bus to me area ohhhh the bus station saw that we were missionaries and charges 40 reais to put our bags on the bus soooo gay ha-ha no one else had to pay! Dumb. Well the whole way here I had stomached pains and you know the bad stuff well we finally get to my new apt (which makes my old apt look like a kings palace) and well I don’t make it to the actual bathroom but whatever it happens you know so I go the bathroom and there is nooooo toilet paper. Now my comp doesn’t speak any English I speak very little Portuguese this could be hard but toilet paper is a very easy word explain across all languages you just point at the toilet and your bottom you know? They understand. Well as it turns out THEY DONT HAVE ANY!!!! So today I got to walk the store ten minutes away with pants and underwear that was less than ideal. That was an experience.... ha-ha let me tell you what!! This is going to be an amazing two years that is all I’m saying.
Back to my new trainer and area!!! this is the sweet part! I'm in Petrolia in another state not actually Bahia it is the hottest place in the mission (a desert) it was 110 yesterday. But its one of the highest baptizing areas. Missionaries love coming here because it is flat and you lose a lot of weight here. Ha-ha missionaries are saying ill drop 25 lbs my first transfer. My trainer is elder mach ado from Rio!! Woot! Woot! Just the coolest guy he was the only trainer to run in the room and hug is new comp with a huge smile on his face just amazing. So humble and nice I'm excited to work with him and to learn from him. President said he had a smile on my face. OH funny story about my area when Sister Toledo heard where I was going the first words out of her mouth were OHHH NOOOO not very encouraging for a new missionary if you know what i mean. Ha-ha but its all good.
Well the food is good but I think I might have actually caught some sort of worm which isn’t as exciting as it sounds when you’re sitting in America in an air-conditioned room with a nice bathroom... but when you’re in Brazil and you think you have one you want it to die fast. Moral of the story don’t wish for things they actually come. (Remember how I said I wanted a worm?) Oh and I said I wanted to serve in Petro joking annndddd i got it.
Well I'm going to walk a loooootttttt here, which will be good. But not a lot has happened besides these fun stories. Oh my p-day is Tuesday so that is when i will be emailing from now on unless its transfers and then i might have to email on Wednesday, like today. But it has definitely set in that I am in a different country and I'm so happy to be here. I have no idea what anyone says to me but I'm trying hard and loving it. I'm so grateful that the Lord saw fit to call me here and that I was actually able to make it here!
Oh my apt is crazy ha-ha I’ll explain that real quickly!!! So the shower... outside. Bathroom light doesn’t work, toilet seat is broken, and so it comes off after every use. Smaller then my closet at home. Beds... outside in front yard. Um... yeah lots of friends aka bugs all over the place. It is crazy I'm really excited for the next two years i know i am going to have tons of fun stories!!
Stay tuned for next weeks email i hope all is well know that i love you and i really couldn’t be happier here! There is nothing better then serving the Lord!
Love,
Elder Mender
1 comment:
Dear Elder Mender,
Oh WOW you are off to the start of something amazing, eh? my husband and i had a motto through med. training "All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare." A more excellent way indeed! I can tell by your attitude you'll thrive! P.S. my brother served in Brazil - he loved it with all his heart, smells - ugh!- and all by the end. i know you will too.
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