July 24, 2013

Well well! Where to start?

I'll start with talking about how being in the MTC is like being stuck in Groundhog Day. It's the same thing, over and over every day. Sometimes my companions and I go crazy because we've been sitting alone in our classroom for so long. But, there's hope for our tiny (3 person) district. Today, there are supposed to be 3 new Elders and a new Sister coming in from Provo to join our district. That'll be great! But because of this, our companionship trio will probably be broken up. We'll see how that goes.

We got two new investigators this week: Carla and Angelo. Yesterday, we committed Angelo to be baptized. Our lessons have been going really well. On Monday when we were teaching Angelo, it suddenly dawned on me that we were teaching in Portuguese. We weren't struggling for words, there weren't awkward long pauses as we tried to figure out what to say, we were TEACHING IN PORTUGUE! So yeah, that was a cool moment.

But with every up there's a down, because our next lesson with Angelo was really rough for me. I couldn't remember what we were planning on teaching, my Portuguese was choppy, and I could barely understand anything that Angelo said. That was hard. I felt really down after the lesson, and I was really discouraged, so one of my companions told me to pray. That really helped. As I humbly prayed and asked for comfort, I could feel the love of God and I calmed down.

My whole life I've always wanted to have a cool name that people struggled to pronounce. Well now I've got it. I can't fathom why, but here in Brazil, the people struggle with saying Jasperson. They can't say it right, can't write it, and can't read it. It's rather funny. A group of Elders that we play Basquete (basketball) with during Actividade Physica calls me Elder Jefferson.

I've met a few elders from my mission area, Porto Alegre, and all of them have told me two things: 1- it's cold, and 2- they eat a lot of meat there. I'm excited for the meat part, because right now we are eating one or two servings of different meats at every meal. So I'd like to see what Brazilians mean when they say "a lot of meat."

For those of you that know the song "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes," I learned it in Portuguese:

Cabaça ombro joelha e pé

joelha e pé

joelha e pé

cabaça ombro joelha e pé

olhos ouvidos boca e nariz.

Pronunciation: (Cab-ace-ah) (ohm-bro) (joel-ya) (e) (pay).... (ole-yoes) (owe-vi-doughs) (bock-ah) (e) (nah-reez)

That was a fun moment in class.

My favorite part of our day is at the end of the day when we are getting ready for bed. We have a big window in our room and I open it up and look out over the city and think "Wow, I'm in a foreign place!" My least favorite part of the day is walking up the stairs. We probably traverse 50 flights per day.

Here are some fun facts about where I'm living:

São Paulo has over 10 million residents. Like the city. One huge city.

Inside the blue circle on the Brazilian flag, there is a star for every state. The star for Rio de Sul, the state of Porto Alegre, is the biggest one on the bottom right.

Power outlets in Brazil have circular ends, not little lines. (The pegs on plugs are two circles).

The only bugs that come into the CTM are cock roaches and these little grey flies. This is because the air pollution of São Paulo kills all other bugs.

They spray the floors every morning with pesticide, so the cockroaches (sorry, I don't know how to spell that) die and get swept up.

I'm loving life here in Brazil. I've developed an addiction to pineapple juice, with passion fruit as a close second. I really like beans and rice, and I can iron a shirt in less than 3 minutes. I sleep like a rock most every night.

Last night a big cold front came in and so it's actually fairly cold. They say it's snowing just south of us, which makes me worry about how cold Porto Alegre is going to be! (It's much more south).

That's my story for the week! Write me letters and email me! I look forward to any communication with anyone. (After all, I'm stuck with my companions as the only people to talk to for most of the day). But Elder Taylor and Elder Sanders are both really great so it never gets boring.

Eu sei que o evangelho de Jesus Cristo pode abencoar a viva do todas pessoas. Eu sei que Deus é nosso amorosso Pai Celestial. Eu amo ele. Eu sou gratos por todas minhas abencoas e por minha familia e meus amigos. Esta semana, eu orei saber novamente se O Livro de Mormon é verdadeiro. Deus responda á minha oracão. Eu sei que esse livro é. Eu sei que se vocês lêem O Livro de Mormon, vocês pode saber tambem. Deus me ajude e o Espirito Santos me guia todas dias. Eu esto aprendando Português muito rapido. Por esta coisas eu sou grato. Em o name de Jesus Cristo, amêm.

LOVE, ELDER JASPERSON