Into the Amazon

 Monday, May 29, 2023-Memorial Day; Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil: Olá!! This week was very slow and not too much happened. My first day with my new companion, Elder Araujo, I had the happy problem of finding my towel absolutely covered in fire ants. It was made worse because I wasn't wearing glasses and tried to pick up my towel several times until I was bitten to realize it.  I realized that the place we hang our clothes after washing them now has tons of fire ants crossing, so that's a lot of fun ;) We had a lot of lessons this week that fell through, or people who didn't respond.  We were able to have a district meeting in person and that was good. This week we had rain the first part of the week, which was good to cool things off. Sadly, the second part of the week was super-hot, and my sweating continued as we walked a bunch.  Fun fact-In Brazil there are two main types of soccer/futebol. One is the kind on grass or turf or sometimes sand fields. The other is on fie...

Monday, May 22, 2023; Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil: This week was not normal transfers week. But more on that... The most interesting thing that happened to me this week was Thursday night. We were using our phone to send some texts, when one of the Mission Assistants to the President (APs, young missionaries who are leaders) called us. My companion talked to him first and said something about interviews separately. I started getting a little worried. Had we done something wrong? I started thinking about the past week, not sure what the problem was. When my companion finally finished talking, he gave me the phone. I tentatively started talking with the AP. My worries quickly ceased as he just said that my companion was getting transferred to another area. He didn't say which day but we found out it would be today (Monday). Normally we have transfers for all the missionaries in my mission every 6 weeks, but this was weird because we are only 4 weeks in, still have two more weeks. I don...

 Monday, May 15, 2023; Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil: Hey all! Happy late Mother's day! I had divisions or splits this week. Basically, I traded areas and companions with another set of missionaries for one full day. It was interesting to see another area, another missionary house/apartment and also gain more experience and see how another missionary works. I had a little problem with allergies, just seasonal allergies this week. That wasn't the funnest because it happened on one of the days when we walked a ton. But I am feeling better now. This week I saw my first parrot, along with several lizards the size of a normal pringles can, and some buzzards. All of them were too small or too far away to get good photos :( This week was pretty hot (normal :(   ). I walked more than I have in past weeks. It got to the point that I could watch sweat dripping off my face and splattering on the ground. We had a zoom district meeting with some other missionaries, and it was fun to intera...

 Monday, May 8, 2023; Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil: Hey all, This week for me was pretty good.  We had a Zone Conference, and while I changed which zone I am in from my last transfer, my current still met with the other Zone I served. This being my second Zone Conference, I understood a lot more of the Portuguese. There was some awesome training for us missionaries, followed by an awesome lunch. Then we had a Q and A session with our mission president about missionary rules and standards which was decent.  We had District meeting too which gave opportunities to practice things we learned in zone conference, as well as talk with other missionaries in areas around my area. I talked with my companion and found out he likes a lot of the same music I like. People love English music here. Portuguese too but I don't know much Portuguese music so it's harder to talk about :) This week one of my ward/congregations here had a special party for all the members birthday in the first 1/4 ...

 Tuesday, May 2, 2023; Manuas, Amazonas, Brazil: Hey y'all, A week with my new area and new companion.  My first area was pretty small, flat and covered one ward.  My new area covers two wards, is pretty big, and is not flat. Because it is so big some days, we have the option of walking 30 minutes in the hot Sun or taking an Uber (expensive :( ) Some days, we have to take an uber to get where we need to be. I think the funnest part of this area is that some of the roads are super steep. They are difficult to walk up. But then we see cars zoom up the Hills. Sometimes the cars can't get all the way up, and normally they have to stop and change gears or whatever. Stick shift is weird. My new area is still in Manaus but I guess is close to the edge of the city, and there is lot more greenery, trees plants etc. My new companion is very different from my last one. My first comp here had 2 years in the mission and was very charismatic and decided about what he wanted to do. My c...