Oi Familia,
Another week has gone by in Brazil. Time is so weird, it goes by so fast and so slow at the same time, but I´m mostly enjoying my experiences here so that´s whats important.
I´m still frustrated a lot of times in my inability to speak Portuguese, but when I realize I´ve only been here for three week I realize how fast I am learning. I just need to be patient and do what I can and trust that the Lord will make my meager efforts count for something. There is just so much I want to do and say to these people, and a lot of times I feel kind of handicapped. But the people are nice and loving and understanding. So all is well.
The area I´m in is kind of struggling. We aren´t really working in unision with the ward which makes things tough. It´s a tiny ward, and I hear rumors that they might close it soon and combine it with Ouro Verde soon. Elder Barbosa has also told me that Presdient will probably close the area after this transfer, but nontheless there is still work to be done.
We are working a lot with Fernando right now. We found him last week, and are hoping he´ll be ready for baptism in two weeks. He just has work sundays which is difficult. His girlfriend is a member, so he has some support from the ward. But she has a hard time coming. It´s hard here because a lot of people just don´t see the need to continue going to church. There is so much more after baptism, so I guess we need to do a better job of helping people catch the vision.
We also found a great family this week. Leandro, Thais, Leandro jr, and Lucas. Currently they are reading the Book of Mormon and looking for an answer, but haven´t been to Church yet. He works in Sao Paulo which is a couple hours away, and a lot of weekends is there so it´s tough to get them to Church, but I´m really hoping they find a way because they are an awesome family!
To conlcude this letter just some other cultural tidbits about Brazil. Omnibus, or bus rides, are a roller coaster. They have a pretty big bus system here in Campinas, but the roads are horrible, and the drivers crazy so you have to hold on for dear life. We use the busses quite a bit so that´s been and adventure.
O cachorro quente: The brazilian version of a hot dog. I haven´t figured out what all they put on it, but they load those babies up. You´ll have to google it cause I don´t know how to describe it.
The culture here, especially the mission culture is a lot more relaxed than Indiana, it´s just hard to relax and enjoy myself in Portuguese.
One other thing that is kind of fun, is instead of going to the first two hours of Church, we stand outside the church inviting people to come in. So far we haven´t gotten anyone to come in, but I guess the mission has had success with this in the past. So just sacrament meeting for us.
Well I think that´s it for this week. I´m slowly getting used to things here, and know things will all work out in the end. Hope things are going great in the states!
Love you all :)
Evan
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