First 2 Pday emails from Brazil and lot of pictures!!

Weekly Email - May 19, 2014

Missionary Training Center in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Rio!!!!! View from the Mission Home! Gorgeous!!

Man what a week!!! First I love it here in Brazil. It's is awesome. My companion is Elder Veiga, he has been out 8 months. He is a native but speaks a little English. He is awesome and very patient and helpful teaching me the language. The language is getting better everyday. We go contacting a lot here where we just talk to people and invite them to church or teach them about the Book of Mormon. My first day here I couldn't even introduce myself without looking like a dumbo, haha. The language here in Rio is wayyyy different than in Sao Paulo. The second day with a lot of practice I could introduce myself but Elder Veiga had to so the message part about the Book of Mormon or whatever. Then on the third day he said alright it's your turn to do it by yourself. I was so freaking nervous but he helped me out with the words and I got it down and we ended up getting 60 contacts that day. We always go contacting at this exit of a mall that is constantly pouring out with people. So we target the families and we will do it on our own so we can cover more ground at once. It was fast growth from the first day were everyone one looked at me like I was an alien. I even convinced someone I was from Belo Hortizonte the other day, haha. The people here use a ton of slang that doesn't have the same meaning as it would literally translated so it's going to take a while to learn all of that. Just like redneck English that I speak, haha. I taught Elder Veiga 'ya'll' and 'howdy' the other day. He really wants to learn English so when we study we read Preach My Gospel and Book of Mormon together, he will read in English and I will read in Portuguese. It's a great way to learn. Oh the buses, they are crazy. They have three different kinds. A small van that goes to the outskirts of town, a school bus size one, and a huge mega size of 3 school buses one. All of them are packed to the rim, always, haha. They are like clown cars. They are dang expensive too. They are R$3 for one trip. Our area is massive so we ride the bus a ton. The other day I had a scatterbrained moment with the bus. Since it is so packed Elder Veiga and I normally can't stand by each other so when the stop comes he will yell at me get off because the area is new to me. Well at one stop I heard him yell, I thought I heard ``time to get off`` but he said ``time to get off at the next one``. So I wormed my way through the people and got off at the stop we were at and I didn't see Elder Veiga. Then the bus takes off again WITH Elder Veiga still on it. I was like "minha nossa" (my gosh) how am I going to find him. So I start running the direction the bus took off, hoping that he realizes I got off. About a quarter mile later, at the next stop, I see him running towards me. Thank goodness, haha. That was crazy. Welcome to Brazil moment for me, haha. (not so funny to his Ma!!) Anyways the people here are so humble. Their food is dang amazing too, haha, so good. Different for sure but really good. The ward we cover is awesome. They are smaller, 150 members or so but they really made me feel welcome at church. Oh, guess who had to give a talk on Sunday? haha I did. The bishop wanted me to give a quick 5 min talk and introduce myself to the ward. It went pretty well. There are so many churches here, it's crazy.  I really like Pres Lima. The day I flew in to Rio we spent most of the day with him. He actually is about to be released in June to be in the Quorum of the 70. Man its hard to type English! It's weird, takes me a second longer to remember how to spell. My brain is on overload, haha. We have some baptisms this Saturday hopefully. A father and his two kids. He is so humble. There is a huge divide here between the rich and the poor. Some people are super comfortable and others make R$10 a day, or 5 bucks. No matter what they have they give you their best. They are such a happy people too. Always laughing and joking about something. Oh, something neat the Rio temple is being built in our area!! They have just barely started construction but it's underway. It's right near the beach off the highway. The name of the suburb we cover is called Camorim, so maybe you can google pictures of it. I love it here that's for sure. Oh, Elder Veiga is from Campo Grande Brazil. Love you guys, I think that's everything. Love ya!!!

 eu sei que jesus cristo live. eu sei qui pai celestia ee litermente nosso pai. ele nos ama muito. o poder de Deus e real. e sento ele cada dia.

com amor, vamos la!!

Elder Montanha

 He says it's a drink his companion likes from the area of Brazil that he's from but it's not popular in Rio.
Not sure about the straw?? 

Elder Mountain and his first companion in Rio!!!

CTM fiesta!!

Nate with an Elder from a neighboring ward here in GA, small world!!

  

His district in the CTM in Sao Paulo.

Some Elders from Peru that Nate became great friends with while in the Missionary Training Center.

Weekly Email - May 26, 2014

Week two in Brazil!!! Man it has been crazy but a lot of fun. This week was great. Elder Veiga has been a great teacher. I have seen my Portuguese improve a lot this week. It's small steps at a time but it's cool to see what I can do that I couldn't when I got here. We had a good week teaching. We had most of our lessons in the homes of our investigators which is a big push here. It's really easy to have lessons on the street but the problem is you probably will never find them again so it's important to meet in their homes. People are constantly protesting for one reason or another. One day this week the police went on protest (WHAT???? that cannot happen!!) so there were no police available so we had to stay in after dark. We found a few families to teach this week. One, N--- and J----- we are really excited about. We had a really good lesson with them and they called us later in the week to tell us they have been reading the Book of Mormon and like it. Another lesson that really sticks out in my mind is the one we had with F-------. She is an older woman who owns a business where she makes dresses. Rae would love to look around her house. When we were there a little girl Rae´s age was getting a dress for her bday. Anyways it was the first lesson with her. Elder Veiga had met her before but she was always busy. It was an awesome lesson. Very powerful! Elder Veiga is a great teacher. He always tells me ´Alegria Elder!! Alegria!!!(joy)` whenever we teach or contact. We gotta show in the first few seconds, "dang, something has made that person happy, I wonder what it is." I have learned a lot from him. We did quite a bit of reactivating work as well. There are three inactives that live right on the same street as us so we see them often. One of them, R--, is one of the funniest guys ever. He is a huge person, in the literal sense (350 pounds maybe) and has an even bigger heart. He is super nice and tells his jokes slow enough so the gringo can understand. Also it's been interesting, no everyone but some of the natives are surprised that I can speak Portuguese. I guess they are used to the Americano tourists. They say, "Voce fala?" (you speak?) haha, luckily they like talking with the American. We had a bit of a roach problem this week in our kitchen, haha, but with some spray and using flip flops as the weapon of choice I think we eliminated all of them. I am surprised by the amount of English speakers in our ward. There are 4 or 5 Americans who live here who all teach English or have English schools. One of them is from Scotland and another is from South Carolina and they are good friends and they always are bickering who is teaching the correct form of English. The work is so different here than Arizona, it's almost overwhelming, there are so many people. In my last area I think I almost met every single person. Here there is probably 100,000 living in our ward, if not more. So many people to teach. So much to do always. I love it here. The language is coming slowly but surely. I love the people of Brazil. I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve here. Love ya!!!! Happy bday Ali!!!!

Com amor (with love)

Elder Mountain

View out Rio apartment. Living in the city for sure!

Rio apartment - bedroom.