Into the Amazon

 Monday, January 29, 20 Olá a todos! Como vocês estão?  This week was ok. My companion wasn't feeling the best at the beginning of the week, but we were able to get some work done. Some of our lessons fell through, but it was cool to see other lessons and visits we hadn't planned on working out in that time.  We visited a family of members that have some animals chilling in their front yard. It isn't too uncommon to find people with chickens or sometimes pigs or other animals in their yards or houses. Dogs and cats roam wild.  But this member family had a goose, two chickens, and 5 turtles in their yard. They require a lot of attention at times :) Speaking of animals, one of the members has a monkey. And I guess he likes the taste of my companion's hair because he was trying to eat it! Just a cool tiny monkey with Waaaay too much energy. Today I hit 1 year on the mission.  It is cool to see how much better my Portuguese is, as well as tons of other skills, relat...

 Monday, January 22, 2024; Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil: This week's email is a little short :) This week I had divisão or in English, split, with Elder França for 2 days. It was really cool to get to know him and see his skills. He is a Brazilian from São Paulo, and his English actually isn't too bad. This week we had some really awesome lessons.  -We had some tec problems today, so my comp had to use my phone some of the time -I walked a ton this week (more than normal) -It poured super hard one of the days, such that drips of water were flying more than 5 feet through our window. With a ton of wind.  -My companion got sick -I guess there is some flu going on round here, maybe mosquito borne? -We had lunch with a deaf member of one of the wards here. She had a daughter interpret to talk to us. Let's just say I am not near fluent at the basics of sign language, let alone in Portuguese!! This week I thought a lot about our habits. Also, the media we put into ourselves. When w...

 Monday, January 15, 2024; Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil: This week was interesting. Monday night, my new companion Elder D. Fernandes arrived. My old companion, Elder Schmidt wasn't leaving till the next day. We made American pancakes to 'celebrate'. And because Elder Schmidt is leaving, and he wanted to use up some of the supplies he couldn't take with him.  The next day we three spent the morning together, and then Elder Schmidt left to take his bus and my new comp finished unpacking. Elder D. Fernandes. He has a D because there is another missionary with the last name. He has 1 year and 3 months on the mission, is Brazilian, and is around the same height as me (6ft~).  The church has an awesome system that helps us missionaries track [on our phones] who is being taught, is interested, etc. But this transfer, because my old area was combined with another ward, there were a few glitches that took some time to work out. But it's all good now. We had some lessons and con...

 Tuesday, January 9, 2024; Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil: This past week has been pretty good. First week of 2024! (Had to resist the urge to type 2023) We were able to make a lot of lessons and appointments, and while some fell through, most were awesome.  I forgot to mention it, but recently a member family had us eat a fish, that grows two small rocks in its head. The fish tasted ok, but the rocks were pretty cool. We walked a bunch. It's so funny that here is like the land of trees and rainforest, yet everywhere is city, pavement, trucks, cars and busses.  There are some small canals going through the city. They are often very trashed, full of everything from plastic bottles to old furniture. But this week we saw some city workers cleaning the water out, so that was cool. They have a LONG job to go. But a little is better than nothing.  Today are transfers, I will be getting a new companion and staying in the same area, though actually getting a second ward [congregat...