Into the Amazon

 Monday, September 23, 2024; Floresta Ward, Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil: Eai gente, tudo bem? This week was pretty normal. Hot, smoky. My companion kept talking everyday this week about the actual temperature and what it felt like. Let's just say 37°c was the cooler side... This week one of the days we ate some fresh pineapple... so much sweeter here than in the states. Fruit is so much more a part of the diet here, and there's a lot more variety. One day a member gave us a dessert -kind of like a mix of pudding and ice-cream. It had a layer of maracujá, a layer lemon, and chocolate. It was super tasty!    There was a boy that came to church last week, so we passed by his house to teach him. He was playing soccer in the street so we started walking with him there. But that lesson ended quickly when his neighbor came outside and started smoking. It really ruined the mood.  Terere (grassdrink ) is so much better with juice then just with water. This week really struck me ...

 Monday, September 16, 2024; Floresta Ward, Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil: This week was another fast week... I feel like my weeks are picking up speed!  This week the climate has been both good and bad. It was still very smoky at the start of the week. Then it rained some. It stayed clear for a few days, then got smoky again. Sounds like the smoke has gone down to southern Brazil too... guys stop burning down the Amazon!  This week I started talking with a guy studying to be a vet about cows. How the type of cows we have here in Acre, Brazil is mostly different in origin than the USA cows.  Also, I think I saw turkeys? Or some kind of parent to them.  One day as we were walking by the store, I saw a less common mode of travel "parked" in the parked lot. Look at my picture of it below!  I watched 'The Fighting Preacher' (Bispo Lutador) again this p-day. It features the story of Willard Bean and his family on their mission to Palmyra, New York. Such a good film....

 Monday, September 9, 2024; Floresta, Rio Bronco, Acre, Brazil: Eai meus amigos, mais uma semana daqui, da Floresta Amazonas! Eu estou muito bem, sendo muito abençoado! Another week, honestly not too unusual. This week my comp Elder Nascimento and I worked a bunch, lots of lessons fell through, a little depressing from that aspect. But that led to other lessons and meeting new people. Lots of tiny cool experiences and miracles. But here's some of the things from my week! It was also another week full of smoke, fumes. Apparently burning up fields and land isn't good for the air quality. Who would've guessed?  One day it rained super hard. That helped wipe away the fumes and smoke... for the rest of that day. The next day it returned in full force.   Saturday night was fun because it was the Brazilian Independence day. Being a holiday, weekend night, even if everyone wasn't partying, the air quality got super bad. So we went and helped some ward members clean the chapel....

 Monday, September 2, 2024; Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil: Olá meus amigos! Tudo bem com vocês? Semana de Fumaça! Mais uma! Onde está a chuva? Hey everyone! How are y'all doing? This week was another good but fast week. It got extra smoky during most of the week. But that's not the worst part. The smoke is super bad. And then getting to see several people burning random stuff, as if the smoke in the area isn't already too much...  Rain has been lingering just out of sight; creeping in but never actually falling. Rain usually means that it will get somewhat cold... but none recently. The sunsets, however, have been pretty great. And all day everyday it has been looking like it's raining or misty in the distance but no. Just smoke.  I had a divisão this week and got to stay with Elder Morgan. His goal is to be a fireman, so he has been practicing his skills dealing with... the smoky air.  This week I walked on a road by the church and found that in the same view I can see b...