Into the Amazon

 Monday, May 27, 2024; Porte Velho, Rondonia, Brazil: This week was super busy.  The first half of the week included lots of people not being home, not responding to our texts and calls, a lot of walking, and lots of lessons being canceled last second.  One day we arranged to meet with one of the members here in the ward to talk about ways to help the ward. While we were talking, somehow, we got around to talking about the physical [monetary] currency of Brazil, and he showed us a large collection of current and past Brazilian currencies, coins and bills. Pretty cool. Expensive hobby though. We visited the farthest neighborhood in our area (in the city), just an hour and a half walk to get there.  This week some days it was super-hot, and other days pretty cold... As I said, the start of my week was full of disappointment. But as always, the Lord blesses our efforts. The second half of the week was better. Each day we had more and more to do, more lessons and we met ...

 Monday, May 20, 2024; Porte Velho, Rondonia, Brazil: This week was super busy. That's a good thing and a bad thing . Lots to do and it kept us busy.  Some of the days this week were super packed with lessons and visits. Because of distance and poor planning on our part (though gotta talk to those who are interested) we played a game of "can we beat the time Google maps says it takes to walk from one place to another." Sometimes we won, other times, we lost Also, the people in this city decided to play some jokes on us and make sure that those interested in talking to us live as far apart from each other as possible We had a member throw a joint birthday party for a friend combined with a welcome party for my companion and me. We got to meet a lot of people which was super awesome! One of the biggest symbols of my current city (Porto Velho) as well as the state (Rondonia), is a tourist attraction, which also appears in artwork, on the flag, and in cultural things. They ar...

 Monday, May 13, 2024; Porte Velho, Rondônia, Brazil: This week was super busy, so I probably won't remember everything. We had transfers, and the logistics made transfers last super long for some of us.  I spent a day packing my suitcases and cleaning the house.  I got to go on an adventure with the Mission's Executive Secretaries. Because my mission [Brazil Manaus] will be splitting in a little over a month [adding the Brazil Manaus South Mission], we now have two executive secretaries and two financial secretaries instead of just one of each.   To travel via plane, I needed my passport or another document. The other document hasn't arrived yet, but I have a temporary copy printed on paper. The only problem is that it had expired. Normally, for safety reasons, the Mission Leaders don't let us keep our passports with us, so that they aren't stolen. But I might need it to travel. Anyways, we went to the Federal Police Station to see if I could get a new temporar...

Monday, May 6, 2024; Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil: Olaaaaa a todos, tudo tranquilo com todos vocês? This week was long, but [we] didn't have too much happening. A lot of contacting people, making lessons, and those falling through, people not responding... Had some cool things happen though. Someone here we have been teaching visited Fortaleza, Brazil, another state in Brazil. While traveling she went to Church there, awesome to see her desire to obey God's commandments! The APs called us up Sunday night with the news. My companion will stay here in this Ward, but I will be going to Porto Velho, the capital city of one of my mission's smaller satellite states. Should be a lot of fun :) We had the chance to go to MUSA again, a big park on the edge of Manaus.  It rained most days this week and stayed pretty hot even with the rain. Some days when we arrived home and I have so much water on my face, I have to decide if it's rain or sweat.  I started packing my suitcases for th...