Monday, October 21, 2013

Sevilha, Brazil Week 3

Oi! Well another great week has come and gone here in Genibaú. We have been teaching and contacting new people like CRAZY! I am absolutely exhausted at the end of each and every day but it´s so great! Going to bed every night exhausted is a great feeling, and when that alarm clock goes off every morning at 6:30AM it´s time for another great day! I have been doing personal exercise in the morning a little differently. After I do my sit-ups/push-ups, etc I have started lifting this big heavy piece of concrete that used to be part of our roof, One great thing is that it is already really bright by 6:30AM so it´s a good way to start the day.

This week I went on a split. That´s where we switch companions for 24 hours. I went with Elder Pedrosa to serve in Conjunto Ceará. He is from Rio and is awesome! We had a lot of fun together and it was a great learning experience because I had to speak Portuguese the entire time since he doesn´t know English. It was a lot of work but it was great! Although I must say I am glad I have an American for my first companion here to kind of help me ease into Portuguese. My Portuguese gets better every day and of course there are times where I get frustrated because I can´t understand everything people say or they can´t understand me but I know that it´s all part of the experience and I am loving the challenge.

Also this week we took the hour bus ride into Aldeota which is a super nice part of Fortaleza. That´s where the mission office is. We had interviews and training. It was awesome! I love President and Sister Souza! Something I didn´t realize is that they end their mission in 9 months, so we will get a new Mission President then. Anyways, they are great and it was awesome to be there. The mission office is in a really tall building and it has a sweet view out the windows. It´s crazy how different it is there compared to my area. The buses are crazy here. It´s like a roller coaster, but it was fun.

We also started teaching this awesome family this week. The first lesson we had with them there were 4 people and then then next lesson they invited more family so there were 9 people and then on Saturday night we had an awesome lesson with them and there were 12 people! We were all crammed in their small little kitchen. Elder Christiansen and I were sitting on chairs while we taught and 2 of them were sitting on chairs too but everyone else was either sitting on the floor or standing. It was a really awesome experience! 3 of them came to church with us yesterday and we will continue to teach them. They are great!

We also started teaching an 11 year-old boy named Mateus who really wants to be baptized and his parents gave permission so that will be awesome! He´s great, and he´s already talking about serving a mission. That was the best!

We have continued to visit Tiago and Katia everyday and we had a great lesson with them last night.

It has been extremely hot here and of course I wear sunscreen every day. Something I found out this week is that even the locals here wear sunscreen. We are so close to the equator and the sun just beats down all day every day. Also, at night before I go to bed I put on bug repellent because there are a lot of mosquitoes here. It´s all good though, it´s crazy how used to everything I already am. It´s just the way it is. Also, walking on the streets kids love to come up and talk to us and try to speak to us in English, because they teach English here in school. It´s fun and they always ask us how to say their name in English. It´s funny because often times it´s not that different. They are so great and love to talk with us.

Overall it was a great week and it continues to be an awesome experience. Later today we are going to the chapel to play basketball with some of the young men in the ward. The members here are great and we love spending time with them and going and teaching with them as well. The basketball court at the church is outside so it´s gonna be super hot. Well that´s all for this week. Thank you all for the love and support. I hope all is going well for everyone back home.

Until next week.

Love,
Elder Helvey

 A picture of my area (Genibau, Fortaleza) from a 4 story apartment building

 Me and Victor. He is the son of Tiago (who was baptized my first week) and Katia, 
who we are still teaching and working towards baptism. 
We are over at their house almost everyday. 
They are great and have 3 little kids full of energy!

 I snapped this bad boy this morning while I was hanging up my white shirts to dry after washing them. Clothes dry pretty dang quick here!

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