Into the Amazon

 Monday, September 25, 2023; Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil: We had a few internet problems but anyways...  This week was decently normal. Elder Cruz and I had a ton of lessons that went well.  We also had several really good discussions with local leaders about one of our wards/congregations here. The ward is super big and has a ton of members including many who are inactive. Some just aren't interested. But others live too far to walk and only come, say, one week a month because they don't have transportation or money for it.  Also with our missionary work, it's a lot harder to ask someone to visit our church, since our chapels are for bigger areas. That's versus many other churches here in Brazil that have a church building every couple of streets and are more accessible. Also, for people who don't yet know the difference between many churches, they will always pick a church 2 minutes away, versus one that's 20+ minutes away.  My current companion Elder Cruz loves

Monday, September 18, 2023; Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil: Olá! bom dia to all of you! My Portuguese progresses but it's hard to describe. Still can't say everything but understand most things. Last week I said that every week the Mission here has a zoom call, and a few missionaries are picked to show their *cleaned* houses. Mine was picked and we showed it. So, this week we got to buy two pizzas, photos below. This week we had a baptism of Emanuel. He is only 8 years old but is super smart.  This week we had Zone Conference. It is always good to see other missionaries and receive training along with a big meal. This time though was one of the few times I left my small geographical area, and I used the bus. I haven't used the bus much because it's a headache and takes a ton of time. But it was kind of fun to do something different. The buses are always packed with people, so it was super tight and a little hot. But it worked out. My current companion, Elder Cruz, is almost d

 Monday, September 11, 2023; Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil: Opa tudo bem? Como vocês está? How are all of you??? I spent three days with my old companion and HIS NEW companion. Then my new companion arrived. His name is Elder Cruz. He is from Texas but has family/roots from Mexico. He's 21 and has 21 months (1year9months) on the mission. Last few months for him. He's super easy to talk to and bond with (especially because he's from the U.S. as well!). We do speak way too much English in the house and around. But we also try to speak a decent amount of Portuguese.  Elder Cruz has super good Portuguese. He spoke Spanish before the mission but says he can't remember most of it because he speaks Portuguese so much now.  It was cool during one of our lessons this week to watch him think for a few seconds several times to remember words that I haven't even tried putting in my word bank, but that he just pulled out of thin air. He knows a lot more than I do currently. I guess 1

 Monday, September 4, 2023; Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil: Oi I hope you have all had a good week! This week not too much exciting happened. I also have like, no pictures. This week was super hot, and we walked a ton. My companion and I talked to a ton of people. I took a Portuguese test and got 5.8/10. I don't know if that's good or not, but it is better than my 3 during the CTM (Mission Training Center). The house I live in currently is underneath a mango tree. The tree started dropping mangos, and several times a day there's a loud crash as the mangos fall on top of the metal roof.  This week was transfers. I found out I will be staying in the same area for a while longer. My companion is getting transferred to another part of Manaus. My new companion is an American with more than a year and a half on the mission. My first American companion! The only problem is he was outside of Manaus and won't arrive in Manaus until Wednesday, so Monday until Wednesday my former compan