Today (Wednesday) is my p-day, but it might not be always, there
are some complications. Everyone has a different pday, and we thought ours was Friday.
Turns out it's today, so we missed going to the temple this morning. But we'll
still get to go out around the city later. The views here are awesome. The CTM
is a huge building in the middle of a city. The roads are narrow and winding
and steep and everything looks like it's in a Bourne movie. I wish I could send
pictures but we can only take pictures on pday, can't take our cameras out of
the MTC, and can't use the computers here to upload pictures. So sadly, you'll
have to wait until I’m in the field to get any.
I'm in a trio with Elder Sanders and Elder Taylor. We have
so much fun together. We were the only missionaries to come in for our week
(and a Sister, Sister Brown), so there are only 3 people in our district. I'm
currently the senior companion, and Elder Taylor is the district leader. Sister
Brown knew a bit of Portuguese, so she got moved up a week (into a new
district) so she could have a companion.
 |
| With companions ... holding letters from missionties.com |
We're so lucky to be here. 700+ Americans are waiting for
visas in Provo, or in the field. We are really the elect. 9 new Americans came
in today, I just saw them walking in. The president says that’s the most we've
got in a while. Everyone here is so nice. The Brazilians are so friendly and
loud and happy. They always want to talk to us, even though we barely know Portuguese.
It's so weird here to be the minority. There are so many
natives, and only about 15 or so Americans. We learn Portuguese quickly because
it's the only way to talk to our friends, roommates, cafeteria workers, etc.
We taught our first investigator (Thiago, pronounced
(shee-ah-go) on Thursday. He didn't know English so we taught the whole lesson
in Portuguese, even though we'd only been here a day. Sister Brown was with us
that day, which was so very helpful. Since then, we've taught Thiago on
Saturday, Monday and Today. I've felt the gift of tongues so much. When we're
teaching him, I don't have much trouble communicating with the language (even
though my sentences are simple), but outside of our lessons, it's a lot harder.
So far, we've basically taught ourselves Portuguese. We have
two long (4 hour) classes each day along with other things. Generally, our
teachers aren't present for most of that time. Sometimes they don't even show
up. They put their head in now and then and give us a task (like to read
chapter 7 of Preach My Gospel) and leave. Irmao Pajaro, (means bird in Spanish)
sometimes teaches us phrases from a book of phrases to use during lessons.
Other than that, we've gone at it with the dictionaries and other books they've
given us, learning to conjugate verbs and form sentences.
The most common thing we say here is "todo bem?"
or "todo bem." That means "all good?" "all good."
It's the Portuguese way of saying "what's up?". Sometimes I feel like
the only thing I say is todo bem. (pronounced too-doo-baim)
The natives speak crazy fast so understanding them is like
impossible. One of our roommates, Elder Fonseca, lived in the US for most of
his life, so he's really helpful as a translator sometimes. Another roommate,
the one who bunks under me, is named Elder Duarte (doo-arch). He's trying to
learn English, so I’ll help him and he'll help me while we dress in the morning
and night.
It's weird thinking that I'm in a different country. Things
are just different.
For example, every window in every room can open. I'll have
to send pictures some time. The water fountains have two buttons one for cold
water (aqua frio) and one for natural water (it's always warm) (I'm not sure
what it's called). The food here is great. We have chicken all the time and
tons of weird fruits. Also lots and lots of white rice and beans.
We get 4 meals a day which is AWESOME. I've developed a huge
addiction to suco de abicaxi (soo-coo jay ah-bic-ash-ee) which is pineapple
juice. When I'm waiting in the cafeteria to eat, I'll chant suco de abicaxi! eu
gosto, eu gosto. Esta gustoso! Eu amo! Which is basically me saying I love pineapple
juice a ton and want more and more. It makes the Brazilians laugh.
These people here are all so nice and caring. They're
willing to help and do anything. I already love this country. It's beautiful.
And Portuguese sounds so cool.
I've only met one person who is going to the same mission as
me, Elder Lee. He left last week (the only American to leave) along with 50 or
so natives and around 20 Hispanics.
I carry two pieces of paper with me everywhere in my pocket,
along with the rule book (ha-ha) and my planner. One has the rules for verb
conjugation (there are 7 forms!) and one with a large list of verbs. The Brazilians
always laugh when I have to pull it out.
Our typical day is like this-
6:20 wake up and get ready.
7:00 study in the sala de aula (classroom)
8:00 breakfast
8:30 teach investigator or return to classroom
we stay in the classroom (yes, only us three) studying Portuguese
together and planning our next lesson until Almoco (lunch) at 12:30
After lunch, we go back to the classroom until dinner at
4:30
after dinner, we have two more hours in the classroom, 45
minutes of gym, and then Lanche, our 4th meal.
After lanche, we plan for the next day then go to bed by
10:30.
The schedule keeps us so crazy busy, even though we spend
most of our time alone studying. It's cool to see how much God is blessing us.
I've somehow taught myself to communicate in Portuguese in one week. There's no
way you could deny God's hand in that.
On Sunday, everyone is "invited" to sing in the
choir. That means we all gather together (there’s about 100 of us here) in the
meeting room and sing. The first verse is Portuguese, the second is Spanish,
and the last is English. Other than that, everything we sing is in Portuguese.
I'm starting to learn called to serve (Chamar ao Servir, I think).
If you have time, look up the Brazilian national anthem
because 1) it is crazy awesome and 2) I really really want to learn it.
I sewed my shirt up on Thursday night. Thanks so much to my
mom for teaching me how. I also taught my companions to do laundry. I feel
pretty prepared to live alone, which is a wonderful credit to my mother.
I never really thought about the struggle of learning a
language. I always just thought it would happen. It gets so frustrating when
I'm trying as hard as I can to say something and can't.
5 of us are staying in a 6 person room because our
"companionship" is a trio. That's good because it means more space.
The room is 15 by 25 feet (ish) so there's not much room. The view out our
window is AWESOME though. Here in Brazil, there are bunches of ways of saying
awesome. "Muito bem" (moy-too baim) (really excellent),
"Nosas", "Legal", "Da hora" (cool) and my two
favorites "oxi" (oh-she) and "oxima" (oh-she-mah) which
mean awesome.
It feels like a new home here. I love it.
all my love
Elder Jasperson
No comments:
Post a Comment