Into the Amazon

Monday, June 19, 2023; Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil: 'I don't have much time...' -some adult sometime ;) This week my district had an in-person district meeting! We have 8 Elders in our district right now. It was fun to talk and interact with them. We also had Zone Conference this week. The Brasil Manaus Mission President over all of us young missionaries will be changing in 2 weeks. The current Mission President and his wife expressed their gratitude and love for the missionaries, as well as advice they have learned over the last 3 years with this mission. We had a few training things. Then we got a very healthy lunch and had time to socialize and eat with the other missionaries. After that we all went outside and took a photo, as well as a vídeo of us singing a song for this mission. Then we went back into the church building only to find with dismay that we were all going to get the yearly flu shot. But we got popsicles afterwards.  This week also had a lit bit of cool weat...

Monday, June 12, 2023; Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil: Olá todos! The sun is sunny... This week was very interesting for me. I mentioned some last week, but one of the missionaries arrived late, and so his companion spent 5 days with us. The whole week was a little different, much more lively. Some things, like getting ready, took longer.  We had some really good conversations between the three of us. One thing that was a little hard is staying in the same area and getting a new companion who does things differently. During one of our conversations, I realized I need to talk with my companion when I have a problem, because sometimes I like to hold my problems in, but sometimes I can resolve them when I talk about them. One idea process that gets brought up with members here every once in a while, is what things missionaries will take back to their homes with them. For example: -Açaí -Specific fish here in Manaus -Specific brands of guaraná soda -Tereré  -Fruits or fruit juices speci...

Monday, June 5, 2023; Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil: Ooooooolá all of y'all! This week we had a friend in our ward here open up his mission call. He is going to one of the missions in México. They had a little party for him at his house, which is on a Hill. It was funny because his dad had gotten some firecrackers, and every once in a while, he lit one and tossed it out the back door. Then a second later there was a loud bang and everyone in the house that hadn't seen him do it jumped. He stopped when after a extra loud one, a child in the distance started crying from the sound.  This week I had a division where my companion switched with another Elder for a day. It was good to work with another Elder and see his wisdom and get to know him. During the division day, I had a final mentoring session. Final because I had one every week for my first 12 weeks in field and this was my 12th week in Manaus. My area has a bunch of super steep hills, and we walked up another fun one again. My...