Have any of yall heard of pitanga? It's kind of like a tiny Brazilian cherry, and it's not bad.
I am in Brasil now, lets gooo! It only took about 34 hours of traveling, and about 3 hours of sleep, to get here. Tuesday we left the MTC about 4 AM and, after a flight to Atlanta, getting to São Paulo Brasil Wednesday about 5 AM, having our flight cancelled, waiting in the airport for 7 hours, then finally arriving in Brasil Wednesday about 5 or so in the afternoon. Tá bom. I'm glad to have just arrived safely.
Man, where to start. Our mission President, Presidente Santos, picked us 8 missionaries up at the airport and we all met at a church building close to the airport. We had some food, which was amazing, and then met our companions. Typically for the first two transfers, a transfer being 6 weeks in an area, we're being trained. So our companion(s) for the first two transfers are our trainers.
My comp is an Elder named Elder Miner. When we first met he said he was from Rio Grande do Sol, Brasil. Tá bom, I was ready to just have a Brasilian comp and just speak português. And we did just that for about three days until Saturday morning, I think. He was playing his ukulele, and asked if I knew the words to Rip Tide. Not off the top of my head so he said that was fine. And then he started singing in perfect English. I just thought maybe he knew English all along until he turned to me and said, in perfect English, "Elder, I'm not from Brasil. I'm from Bountiful, Utah." So now if I have any questions I can ask him, but we still do only speak Portuguese in the streets.
Speaking of the streets, that's where we spend a lot of our time. Pause. We walk, a lot. And we have to make "contacts" where we talk to people in and ask if they want to hear a message about Jesus Christ and either teach them there or get their info for a lesson later. I've made a few with just me talking and it hasn't gone too bad at all, I just don't always know what they're saying.
Another thing we do a lot of is teaching people. We teach them about the Gospel and the restored church and the Book of Mormon, and so forth. Currently we have about 8-12 solid "pesquisadoras" or investigator that we're teaching regularly. We have three sisters who hopefully are going to get baptized this coming Sunday, and the others we'll just see. This one family, we met the mom on the street, always has just such great questions and they just love the Lord Jesus Christ and just want to follow in His footsteps. It's been a challenge not being able to understand everything that's going on or being able to respond, but I'm continually getting better.
As far as Brasil goes, I have loved it here. It's hot, humid, and very sunny, but the why of my mission makes it more than bareable. The food here is sooo good, and very reasonably priced, as long as you know where to go. (I just trust my comp). The people I've met here are so open to talking, sometimes even in the middle of the street, and not very many shy away from talking about Jesus. There are a lot of stray dogs here, and I've seen a few random horses just walking the streets, but it's just how it goes here, nothing out of the ordinary.
As far as living, it's my companion and I with two other elders, that are in our area, in our apartment. (It's easy to make the apartment dirty, but cleaning is also easy). It's also a multi-generational household out here. Elder Miner, my comp, trained Elder Theodosis, who is training Elder Mckeon, who got here the same time as me. And then also Elder Theodosis is only in his second transfer, so it's crazy that he's training. (He's just an absolute goat). So no fubecas (bad, lazy, or disobedient missionaries) here.
All in all, it has been a pretty great first week. I'm understanding a lot more of the language, the culture, and being a missionary. The nature here is gorgeous, and so is the language to be honest. I love this gospel and having this opportunity to serve God and His Son has been amazing. I know that this gospel, this restored church, is true. I know that God still calls prophets and that we have one today. I love this work, and I love yall. Until next time.
-Elder Hyatt
