Dallin's Michigan Mission Blog: Week 40

Okay, big news is that I´m back in São Domingos full-time with my new companion. I´m training again, so odds are I´ll be here 2 more transfers. That means I´ll be here until about August 15th; that´s about 9 1/2 months in this area. Anyway, my companion is Elder Arichichu (ar-ee-chee-CHOO). He´s from Uruguay, and he speaks Spanish. Since Spanish and Português are pretty similar, he speaks fairly well already, but on the other hand, being so similar gets him a little confused with some words and the pronunciation, so it´s kind of hard to understand him too. He is also one of the goofiest people I know. He fits the archetype for ``goofy-foreign-exchange-kid´´ in any movie or show. He likes to sing, and some of his favorite stuff to sing is Black Eyed Peas, which is hilarious since he doesn´t really speak any English. He talks lots of Spanish in his sleep, wakes up yelling most mornings, makes the funniest faces when he puts rubbing alcohol on his blister, wheezes through his nose as he breathes, and sings really loud in the shower. He´s also probably the most humble companion I have had too, so that is a huge blessing. I don´t like arrogant Elders. Especially when they have few reasons to be so self confident... anyway, these next two transfers should be pretty fun.

This week was pretty lame for us once we got started back to the work in this area. We tried contacting lots of old investigators and we had to drop several, so we´re doing lots and lots of finding again. We knocked on doors for about 1 1/2 hours last night and got only 1 person who actaully said we could come back. Usually we get about 8 or 9 after that long, and then we drop about 6 pretty quick because they were just ``polite.´´ We also have about 7 solid investigators who are progressing and reading the scriptures, but still haven´t come to church for the last 5 weeks, so I´m getting a little frustrated with them. I´m making a contract for one to sign promising to come to church.

I`m going to be a little excited to leave this area. First off, I´ll get to see a different part of São Paulo. Second, I´m getting a little frustrated here. I´ve been here about 7 months, and only 2 people have actually followed through with our appointments and invitations. The same routine with little success for the last 7 months is getting to me slowly. I have waves of ``saudades´´ (this word doesn´t really exist in English) every week or so where I get up and don´t really feel like working. I´m still working, but it doesn´t make it any easier.

That´s basically it for this week. The only other mildly interesting thing I can think of is last night we got stopped on the street by a drunk old lady who walked and talked with us for about 20 minutes about something. Then she got tired walking up a hill, so she shook our hands for about 5 minutes while she continued to talk, then gave us really big hugs, and finally set us free. Oh ya, also, Elder Davis is training already too, and my trainer Elder Santiago is now an assistant to President Martins. So, with the mission jargon, my dad is an assistant, I´m the oldest of his 2 sons, and I myself have 3 sons as well as a grandson. wooooo...

I´m glad to hear Rylee is so interested in Star Wars. I don´t know if I hid away my lightsabers, but she can have my blue one if she wants. I suppose she could be my Padawan when I get back.

I also got a nasty cold on Friday, but I ate lots of fruits and drank lots of water. Então, passou. Something that I´ve really started getting into is this banana snack Van invented.

You WILL need:

2 bananas
Rolled oats
1 cup of plain yogurt
Brown sugar or honey
Cinnamon

Chop up a couple bananas in a bowl.

Throw on a bunch of oats.
Sprinkle cinnamon in there.
Pour on the yogurt.
Put some brown suger on that.
Eat it cold. S´healthy.

Okay, that´s it. I´ll get some pictures sent too. There´s some good stuff.

That´s Elder Arichichu. He´s giving the camera a very slight thumbs up.

Here´s a shot of the bathroom door as Elder Arichichu sings.

Flashback back to when I was in the trio still. This store is awesome.

Starfruit wasn´t so good the first time, but the second time I had like 4.

Here´s some gym in Pirituba. I remember the muscle section of anatomy. That guy has muscles that don´t exist. I don´t want any mutations, so I´m not going to work out at that gym.

Here´s what a bus looks like.

This is what graffiti on the bus looks like.

A lady gave us a bunch of vegetables, so I tried to make lasagna from eggplant, green peppers, onions, tomato sauce, cheese, and eggs. We ate it, but I won´t make it again.