Into the Amazon

 Monday, March 25, 2024; Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil: This week was packed full of stuff but also flew by quickly.  We had a ward activity where we (my companion and I) led a bunch of small party games. We had the Baptism for Gustavo. It was cool to see that after the baptism he was playing and being more interactive with the other kids. His mom has been working on making her work schedule better for going to church, so that will help him even more. This week one of the members taught us how to make pudim? Honestly idk how to spell it. But I now know how to make it (without burning it)! We had our weekly district meeting and finally took a photo. Just about every day my companion and I walk past a mall. The mall has a maybe a 7-level parking deck. Many times, passing there at night we heard a sound from one of the top levels. My comp always said he thought it was a go-kart, but that just didn't seem logical. But finally, one day we got up there, and low and behold... Go-karts! We...

 Monday, March 18, 2024; Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil: This week was pretty good, I said most of the exciting stuff last week on the late p-day.  But this week we resolved some bank problems, taught some good lessons, met a bunch of people. We met this super awesome family of Venezuelans. We are also getting ready for the baptism of a boy named Gustavo. Today we had a Zone p-day. We have one of two institute [church education] buildings near us, so we were able to hang out there. The institute building has a kitchen as well as Pool, Foosball, ping-pong, and air-hockey tables. A court for sports and more. Also, we ate hotdogs for lunch. This week I thought a lot about the Holy Spirit. When we visited the [Manaus] temple and afterwards, I was thinking about the Spirit I always feel there, the peace and happiness. And I remembered another friend I have serving a mission in another part of Brazil. In one of his letters, he mentioned how I could have the same Spirit and same feelings o...

 Wednesday, March 13, 2024; Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil: Olá pessoal!! Espero que tudo é bem com vocês.  This week p-day was moved to Wednesday so that us missionaries could go to the temple.  Honestly the past week or so was mostly the normal, work, sweat, it's hot... occasional.  We had interviews with our mission President, President França. I always love talking to him. Usually, we have interviews [with the Mission President] every three transfers, around every 4 months. We were able to go to the temple, [which is here in Manaus and] was super awesome. More pictures in the future. We had the Baptism for Jeysy! She is honestly so awesome. Even before being baptized, she was coming to every activity, doing self-reliance classes, helping clean the chapel, and more.  She had some questions and also desires to learn more and was super receptive to us and our message. I know she has already learned and progressed so much, and yet so little. But there is a lot to lear...

 Monday, March 4, 2024; Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil: Olá one and all, como vocês estão? This week was pretty good, had some awesome moments. My comp and I got lost in the Amazon Forest... but wait.  Firstly, we had some really awesome lessons. One of our friends will be getting baptized this weekend, Jeysy. She is learning and progressing a lot, and really trying to make her life better.  This week when I went to get some money out of the bank, the ATM charged me but stole my money. Now I need to go deal with the bank: long lines and wait times. Now to getting lost in the forest. My current house is close to a big forest park. [Samaúma] It is in the city, but honestly it isn't used too much. One day my companion wanted to go through the park as a short cut to the other side. There were trails crossing the park at several points. He had done it before, so I agreed. As we got going, we came to a few other trails, and in the end, we got lost on the wrong trail. We did reach the...