Brasil finalmente

Holy cow I don´t know where to start. Probably the beginning I suppose. Also this keyboard is in Português. Irritante.

Anyway, I´ll start from the plane TO São Paulo. I was the only Elder on the flight. I had no idea what was going on half the time. With some praying and a few things I learned in the MTC, I was able to make it through customs and stuff smoothly. A little Asian lady picked me up and we drove for about 45 minutes through the city to the Mission Office. Thank goodness she spoke some Engish to help me understand everything. At the Mission office I was greeted by a bunch of the other Elders. Some of which spoke English; awesome. From there, I met the other new Elders. All were from the CTM in São Paulo; 2 were American. We all went from there to the Mission Presidnet´s home. It´s insane. You have to take an elevator to get to their floor. They have an entire floor. The food was excellent. I can eat these kind of rice and beans any day... which I do. It´s not too wierd at all. I like it. A lot actually. Always rice, beans, a meat, a salad, and then desert. Only for lunch though. Dinner is nothing. Sometimes literally nothing. Anyway, after dinner we all came back and hooked up with another companionship (our mom´s as they called them) and went out to do some missionary work. I was exhausted, and one asked if I wanted to stay back and sleep because of my time difference. I couldn´t start my mission like that, so I went out with Elder da Silva and Elder Treichart. We went straight to the Favella. It´s worse in real life than in Call Of Duty. They can´t add all the little details that make it look so bad. We met a family that had just been baptized and the daughter had fallen down and scratched her face really bad, so they offered to give her a blessing. Then they offered to have me annoint. I didn´t know the words in Português, but that wasn´t the hardest part. Her name was the hardest part. I can´t even recall what it was. After that, we visited a lady and her mom. We... they taught about something, I think it was the power of the Book of Mormon and the importance of a Prophet. I couldn´t understand a thing. Then they asked me to bear my testimony. Afterward, they committed the lady to baptism. Then we visited a member family. That was nice to be in a home with the Spirite present. We came back and had pizza. It´s not really pizza. They just think it is. It has white sauce instead, and too much ham that tastes like it was from the Family Grocer Deli. We slept at the mission home that night.

The next morning was transfers. I met my ``dad´´ or companion, and ran into Elder Paxman. That was really nice to see a familiar, English-speaking face. My companion is Elder Santiago. He´s just another 20-year-old guy like me, but from Brasil. His English is lacking, so we speak back and forth; him in English, and me in Português. It´s good for the both of us.

Anyway, I had to pack everything I thought I might need in on suitcase, and leave the other 2 at the office, because we take a bus to our apartments. We rode for 30 minutes, and when we arrived, I´ll be honest, I was disappointed. It´s tiny, dirty, and smells bad. I´ve got pictures.

The usual day is wake up, eat, shower, study, study, study, go get a lunch with our neighboring Elders or at a member´s home, then hit our... I don´t know the word in English... in Português it´s compromisos. That goes from about 12 pm to 8:30 pm. We walk A LOT through the city, so we usually get to meet about 6 of our investigators, if they´re home. We just show up because not everyone has a phone to call and set up an appointment... ! appointment. That´s the word.

This city is huge. I haven´t seen a horizon NOT made of buildings since I arrived. We live on a hill, so I should be able to see out. Apparently this city triples or almost even quadruples the population of the state of Washington. It really doesn´t end. It´s a nasty place too. Many of the streets smell like urine or worse. None of the buildings or streets seem to be taken care of. There are homeless people all over. I don´t know if mom knew how it really is here if she would have been more or less willing to let me come. Each building has a fence with spikes, barbed wire, razor wire, or shards of glass on top. Even the Church building. I constantly feel like I´m not in a safe part of town. I just trust in the Lord and His work. It´s good though. I like to be about the Lord´s work. I´m definitely glad to be here, it´s just VERY different from what I´m used to. I love seeing the member families out here in terrible conditions and seeing them still be strong. It really is incredible to see how the church is in a different place like this. It´s not different when it comes to the church. Sacrament meeting and everything else is the same, just in Português. The Bishop had me stand, and told all of the Ward to have patience with me. He´s a pretty funny guy. He speaks some English too. He alos pronounced my name Elder Candyland. Straight up. Now the ward thinks I´m Elder Candyland, and for those that speak Enlish, they think my name literally translates to ``Terra de Dolces´´ or Candy Land.

There´s this one member family with a daughter about Kortney´s age. Her name is Gabriella. She´s hilarious. It´s funny to see kids speaking another language. Especially since I speak at their level. Because of this we get along. She likes to tell me I´m Bonito.

Also, my mailing address is just the mission house address. I won´t ever get mail straight to my appartment. And I´ll only be able to pick it up about every transfer. I won´t be able to send letters this week. Next week. This week was crazy. We ran around the city center with a group of other Elders in our District. I got to talk with Elder Paxman a lot. He gave me some good tips, like to try the dessert pizza. That stuff is pretty dang good. It´s like a thin crust with marshmallow carmalized on tope; or chocolate. Best dessert here so far. Most others are just too fruity or soggy.

Anyway, I´ll try and add pictures now. Have a good week. I´ll email again next Monday.