Trip to see the President

Hi everyone!

Sorry I didn't email yesterday, the internet in Manacapuru just stopped. There isn't mass internet access in Brazil, the only way to operate here in the north is by LAN houses which charge a dollar an hour for rather slow service.

Anyway, this week began with a trip to Manaus for training and the first interview with President Klein. I went on splits with a local companionship and we did street contacting in central Manaus. I met another missionary that had two months left who had baptized over 500 people and 100 of them in the same 6 week transfer! He let me baptize 4 of his investigators while I was there. My companion was a Tongan named (get this) Elder Tonga. He lived in California and speaks three languages, also he weighed over 300 pounds when he arrived in Brazil, but now he's my size, which isn't too small, but better. President Klein made it very obvious that we are not to use Facebook and if we do we won't use a computer for the rest of the mission.

When we got back we walked past a man who asked us to enter his house. He told us he wanted to be baptized and follow Jesus Christ. I baptized him three days later. That was miraculous.

I witnessed a low-speed collision between two motorcycles right in front of us. We watched a soccer game where the Manaus team Princesa won the Amazonas state championship. It was LOUD. A less active member fixed our washing machine for us for free. I’m the only one with money at the end of the month. We moved to a much fancier apartment today that has air conditioning. We heard a talk about soccer in church yesterday. One super cool thing: they called the new mission leader a week ago and yesterday they called his wife, an RM sister, and a priest that's helped us a lot already as ward missionaries! All the elders wear the same shoes, some ugly boots that all the Brazilian construction workers use. Everyone uses this word that kind of sounds like "portia" the way you would use dang or wow.

Trying to speak with everyone and share the gospel maybe it will get easier, but if not, it's ok. I miss you all!

Elder Willard

Greetings from the Amazon

Greetings from the amazon,

 More of the same this week, there isn't a very regular schedule so it's difficult to keep track of when things happened.

Nonetheless we have been teaching families the restored gospel. Yesterday was very eventful. We arose early and I learned I was to give my testimony in church that morning. That went off without a hitch of course. I tried to tell them all that I cared about them and that I love all the members I've met so far and hope to meet them all. I may have grievously insulted their families because a few were crying when I finished, but I have no idea. We walked in the hot sun for a long time until we came to a home we visited before where I learned we were not eating there but at another house, that steak smelled so good!

We literally blazed a trail through the jungle so we wouldn't have to walk a really long distance around on the road to our lunch appointment. We returned to the same house by way of a VW Voyage which is just a cheaply made CC. My companion and the other two missionaries in the district watched a soccer game on a member's TV while I talked to the two recently baptized kids. We were picked up by our ward mission leader and we went to an executive priesthood meeting I think. I couldn't understand a lot of what was being said and we left early and arrived home 2 and half hours early. The other companionship came back and told us that our district leader had lost his streak of baptizing weekly for six months. It’s all good and p-day is fun.

Hope everyone is enjoying themselves, I'm almost out of time here. Hope to have lots of emails to read next week.

Elder Willard

Arrival in Manaus

I arrived in Manaus on the 7th of May after a thoroughly useless orientation for new missionaries in the CTM where it was entirely in Portuguese and by the end of the day I had a splitting headache and it hurt to try to understand it.

After that very long day we were sent to pack our possessions and get ready to leave. We got up at a ridiculous hour to a chocolate bar and a ride to the airport. Sat next to sister Riding on the plane again and a few of the other missionaries were speaking English just because it would be the last opportunity.

We were picked up at the airport by President Klein, his wife and two companionships with two Americans in the midst. We went to their home and ate lunch before we were given some very direct instruction from the president at a stake center nearby. From there we were sent our different ways. I am currently in a small city called Manacapuru around 80 miles south of Manaus. 

A few missionaries were sent to the jungle by bus and boat and one was sent to most easterly part of Acre, another state in the mission, by biplane. It turns out President Klein does not speak English so that was a fun surprise. It is so hot here all the time and the humidity makes you sweat, but it does not evaporate ever. In our apartment there is no hot water but that is totally okay with me. The weird thing is that the bathroom is still stuffy and humid as if you had a hot tub in there after every shower. I met my companion and the district leader with his companion at the bus stop at 10 or so. My companion is the only one that is not American. Elder Emílio is a native from Fortaleza. He is headed back home at the end of June. Elder Drake is my district leader and another Washingtonian. He is a four-star chef so he does his best with our propane oven most of the time. I have met a lot of really cool members here and a missionary who came back to tour before he went home. I went in half on a hammock with elder drake. It will be his for a month and then I will bring it along with me. 

All of the mission homes have massive load-bearing hooks specifically for hammocks so I will not have to sweat into a mattress every night. Everyone wants me to pick a soccer team. It is either the Sao Paulo futbol club or the corinthians. I received over 200 hundred bug bites in my first week. There are not any laws here in the interior and there are not any police to enforce the non-existent laws so people drive however they want, let off fireworks whenever they want, sell or buy whatever they want, it is Anarchy. Everyone here rides motorcycles, even the people who do not own a motorcycle ride motorcycles. The most people I have seen on the same bike is 5 if you do not count children under the age of 3. There are a lot of Volkswagens in shapes I have not seen before, a lot of minibuses though. 

The first time I saw a Gol I thought they just lost the “f” from the Golf. Most of the cars are very small and then you will randomly see a charter bus wandering through the streets. Every building is built out of these ceramic blocks that kind of look like this when they are on one side 8888 because they are kind of like 8 toilet paper roles strapped together. I helped a member build a house the other day with these brick like structures. The church is under construction and will not be ready for human entrants until June. There is not internet here for popular consumption so people who have it charge 2 reals an hour for it and it is very slow.

All is well here see you all in 2 years or so.

Elder Willard

Temple Visit in Sao Paulo

I'm really happy with my district, everyone gets along, but my companion is tone deaf. What are the odds I would get two tone deaf companions exactly? The language is getting easier and I'm thinking in Portuguese.  The world cup is being hosted by Brazil this year and Manaus is one of the cities where the games will be played, so I will have nothing to do for a solid week but sit in the apartment and read the scriptures.

The most terrifying thing about Brazil is the roads. There are no rules! You just go whichever way you want. You want to walk across the freeway? Go ahead. How about bumping the car in front to speed them up? No problem. You want to park parallel touching the car in front and back, after all, there are no lines. It makes for very interesting travel to the temple. The temple, by the way, is incredible. Most of the time I have to use head phones, but they did an English session for us Americans.  The chandelier in the celestial room is amazing.

There is a missionary song I really like, but it's only in the Portuguese hymnal. It's very spirited and listening to the other missionaries sing it is beautiful.

Hope all is well, tudo bem.

Elder Willard