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 EmÃlio 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
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