I Finally got sick

For two months I’ve been wandering around in the amazon jungle without any kind of problems. I guess I was kind of asking for it. Just some extreme stomach pain sometimes in the bathroom.

More strange things here:

-There's something in the water that makes twins really common. There are three sets of twins in our 90 person ward.

-People say sabe to mean "you know?" but it just sounds like Jack Sparrow’s, "Savvy?"

-The energy grid here is very fragile and everything will shut down for a few minutes every other day or so.

-Everyone wants to speak English.

-An Xbox 360 costs over $600.

So there's a lot of rioting in the major cities of Brazil right now. It was lit off by a large hike in the bus fare but now everyone is saying it's about corruption. They are principally upset about the fact that all this new revenue is being spent on stadiums for the world cup next year. They are hosting the fifa confederations cup right now, world cup next year, and the Olympics in 2016. They will be broke well before that I think, especially if the citizens continue to destroy public property. There was even a little riot in our town with 300 people or so, no damage though.

Everyone is coming to church and getting baptized. We have plans to visit a faraway land that is still in our zone where no missionary has gone before because everyone gets stabbed if they stay out past 6.

It’s getting better all the time and I am even enjoying the sun sometimes.

Hope all is well,

Elder Willard

Slimming down in the heat

Not much to report for this week, pretty slow.

It turns out I can speak the Portuguese I know pretty easily, but if I try to talk to anyone my tiny vocabulary is very apparent. It's getting better all the time but everyone is saying that summer is about to arrive which only means that we don't have rain with the heat.

I have been washing my clothes by hand for over a month now and I think it's better.

I’ve lost about 30 pounds since I left home so that makes walking easier.

Our landlord really likes missionaries because they don't cause problems and he took us to his other house for a visit today. It’s right on the coast of the River Solimões, but some 400 feet above sea level. Incredible view and we ate some enormous fish.

I gave a talk in church about temples and it was surprisingly easy to put everything together. I think it went over very well.

I ran into Sister Riding at a meeting with a 100 or so other missionaries and she seemed to be quite delighted. It was great to see her again; she was the only American sister there of 12 and we exchanged some broken Portuguese before saying goodbye.

Everyone talks about the missionaries that leave early, but that just doesn't work for me. No matter how hot or difficult it's been that has never occurred to me as an option. I’m here to work and that's what I’ll be doing for the next two years.

Nothing to complain about,

Elder Willard

Marriages and Baptisms

It seems like a pretty fast week, just going from p-day to p-day. I can't hardly remember what I do every day.

We had an awesome time for just a few minutes at a youth dance held at the church (I’m pretty sure I’m still able to go to those because I’m 18) after a meeting with a couple who wants to be married.

I had an opportunity to "fazer contatos" (make contact?). We met two very nice ladies who were chilling in front of their house and they listened to us for 20 minutes or so and asked a lot of good questions. I didn't have any trouble understanding what they were saying; I was so excited about that. I explained very simply about the Book of Mormon and they accepted one.

We had a marriage Saturday for a family that was being taught by my companion for nearly 6 months. It was a very classy affair and the cake was mind-blowing. The three baptisms that took place afterward were done in the glow of the emergency LED flashlight that the bishop had. Electricity is a very delicate thing here. It was still very cool.

We had four confirmations yesterday and we walked for 30 minutes in direct sunlight to get to our next appointment. I was sure I would die.

The members here continue to astound; everything is moving along well.

Hoping everyone is well and good at home or abroad.

Elder Willard