First week in Orlando

I arrived and was immediately paired with a Brazilian who speaks English with no accent and he speaks fluent Spanish. While I was in the airport I heard a British kid say "Oh mommy, Florida is MUCH better than England." And it seems like everybody thinks that way. There are so many people here; I met some Danish kids the other day. And every person I’ve met so far is bilingual.

As far as the local talent goes, we have almost exclusively elders from Utah and Idaho here. We have 6 older missionary couples that work in the office. The mission plan is to knock on doors and offer "Peace 'n' Blessings" which works sometimes. We are restricted to teaching Portuguese-speaking people only so there are still a lot of Brazilians around. They are the most receptive people.

 I was told by a Brazilian family that I still talk like a native so that was encouraging. It seems that the Portuguese part of this mission might be dissolved soon because there's not even a branch to support them and they just go to the Spanish ward because it's really close.

 We've taught a few people that have potential and we have a baptism for sure within the week. Everybody follows the rules all the time here, but we at least have a car.

 Having a good time here and no problems.

Elder Willard

First letter from Orlando

Alright I just got here and it's nice and warm. I’m at the mission office right now. No problems with the flight though I still haven't eaten anything since yesterday, because I slept through snack time on the plane. My companion and the Elder responsible for the cars in the mission came to get me at the airport. It looks like I’ll be driving around a lot and the weather here is very nice right now.

I’ll write you on Monday, but for now everything is good.

Elder Willard