Querido Familia,
Boy has this past week been interesting in many ways...
So some interesting things I´ve seen lately: On motorcycles, I saw 3 people with a flat screen HD Television in the box driving down the road. People manage to transport stuff like that all the time. Almost every day I´ll see something weird on a motorcycle. Also I´ve seen some people with 3 and a baby on a motorcycle which is a little scary to think about.
Serving with the APs this past week has had its ups and downs... This whole week has had its ups and downs really. So the reason why we have been with the APs this past week is because transfers never happened because the mission was toured by Elder Godoy of the Seventy. He spoke at conference last. I needed someone to translate for me because the conference we had in Teresina was in Português and I am nowhere near fluent. After the conference he interviewed Elder Yorgason because we are the newest missionaries not native to Brasil that have entered the field. I also saw Elder Iverson, one of the Elders in my MTC district on Thursday. He has been here since January.
Serving with the APs though, I never really get to know what we´re doing until it happens. I just hate this feeling of not being able to know anything and also not knowing where I´m going to be going. Still haven´t found out where I am going for my first area. Something tells me that I´ll be staying with the APs for another week too, they won´t let us know about transfers.
I have learned many many times that I need to rely on the Lord to help me. This past week has been very difficult, specifically with the language. I haven´t been able to participate in lessons nearly as much as I would in Texas and that is really annoying to me about myself. I felt like I was improving but then lately I´ve felt like I can´t even understand people that easily. I was told to talk slower because someone couldn´t understand me, but I was thinking the same thing about them. The language here is quite different from how my MTC teachers spoke, and also how Curtis Brown spoke. I´m hoping that I´ll see improvement soon though. Its disconcerting not being able to communicate when what I am supposed to do is talk to people.
This is very hard though, although while typing this email, I have had some Português grammar with English which is a little comforting. I just don´t see how I´ll get improvement anytime soon but I guess that is how everyone felt.
To answer your questions mom, I have not done the actual baptizing. But I participated in the teaching and in the program in other ways. Missionaries here seem to be a little more laidback, as in they don´t number crunch as much and they still work hard. Also we have 6 missionaries living in our apartment with the APs and we don´t really get distracted as much as the missionaries in Texas would, which I find is strange. Thanks for the brief genealogy too! That was cool! I do laundry at the house here, we have a washing machine thing, not exactly a normal washing machine, then we hang up our clothes to dry. The iron gets a lot of use here on white shirts and pants. I eat a lot of beans and rice, and fruit. I have drunk a lot of juice here, and I have eaten a lot of meat as well. We eat a lot of bread here too. There are bakeries everywhere. Padaria´s are what they are called I think. We do our email at Lan Houses. There are a lot of Lan houses here in the city.
I have been trying to get a lot of pictures of Brasil, but I have no way of sending them as of right now but I´ll figure it out though. Its pretty incredible here though.
Animals I´ve seen in Brasil so far, Vultures, Lizards, Horses, Roosters and Chickens, and last night I saw an Owl which was really cool. There are a lot of bugs in Brasil too. Fun fun! Giant spiders at the church in a bush, Elder Wheat showed me those, and he fed one of them an ant.
We ride a lot of buses here which is fun. To get the bus to stop at a place you have to do something similar to Harry Potter which is funny I think.
Everyone here has walls around their houses, or a lot of the houses in the more populated areas of the city anyways. The tops of the walls are lined with spikes, or broken glass, and every street has at least one house with an electric fence. Home Security is your own responsibility here.
This past week I have been asked why I have blue eyes, and then some people in a bakery asked me where I was from because I have blue eyes. The first question was funny. ´´why do you have blue eyes?´´
This week has been a bit hard but I hope next week will feel easier. Mail stuff to the mission home, I don´t even know my address here. I´ll get the mail that you send when I see the Office Elders. Also, if you could mail some things: More pen refills for zebra f-301 pen, or just more of those pens. Can´t get anything like that here in Brasil. Some more American Candy, and pictures of friends. Thanks!
I love you guys, and love hearing from you. Thank you for your uplifting words and prayers. I know that this church is true. This really is the church that Jesus Christ established while he was on the Earth, and through the Prophets he leads the church today. Joseph Smith truly saw God, our Heavenly Father, and Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. I am so grateful to have knowledge of the Plan of Salvation.
I hope you have a good week. Happy Birthday Dad! Love you all,
Love
Elder Phillip Larsen
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