Arapiraca, Alagoas, Brazil December 16
well lets start off with the fact that i dont know portuguese! hahaha
but everything is going good! brazil is awesome! and i love the field!
the mtc ended on monday for me and got to the field on tuesday. on monday i had a 10 orientation, all in portueges.. soooo.. i only understood like 30 percent! hahah but what i did understand was good, but it was a little too long.. at times it was real dificult to stay awake! haha
my new companion is elder soares! he is way awesome! he works way hard and is way funny. he is a brazilian and doesnt speak a word of english which makes it a little difficult to talk sometimes but he is really patient and a great trainer, i have already learned a lot from him! my city im in is called arapiraca! its about 3 hours from maceio! the weather here is hot, hot and hot! my companion says that it never rains here either! so looks like im going to become as red as a lobster while im here! haha also we have running water every other week! haha and this week was the other week, so we had no water! i had to shower out of a barrel! haha it was legit! it is such a cool experience! i taught my first lesson my second day out here! and that was exciting! haha it was a struggle! but in total we taught 4 lessons this week! the final one was awesome! we taught this guy named jose! he was legit, he only had one foot and was super cool! we taught him about christ and the book of mormon and i shared with him heleman 5:12 about how we need to build on the rock of christ, and i think he really felt the spirit strongly becuase while we were reading it he started crying! it was a cool experience! the city in general is pretty poor but its crazy because even though they have almost nothing, they are the happiest and most accepting people ive ever met! its cool!
random things about the city! they have a different accent here and talk super fast so that is always fun when i am trying to understand what is going on! haha also coca-cola here is amazing! haha it taste so much better here than it does in the states! we walk probably 5 or 6 miles a day so by the end of each day im ready to sleep! its a good feeling every night, you go to bed knowing you did some good in the world and that you worked hard! another thing, horses, goats, dogs, and cats just roam around the streets here! its crazy! haha i havent quite gotten used to that yet! haha
we also eat lunch with members like every day which is nice, we dont really have to worry about meals to much here, becuase the members try to stuff us here! haha
my first sunday was stake confernece here! and it was a struggle to stay awake! i could barely understand anything and there was air conditioning! haha im pretty sure my head was bobbing for at least half the time!
another random thing. they have corn flavored ice cream here.. and suprisingly it isnt completely nasty
andria:HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! i hope it was awesome! i love and miss you!!! hope it was awesome! i sent you a letter, but i have no idea when it was get to you! haha
last thing, they already have an elder johnson in my mission, and my president doesnt like having repeats, so my new name is Elder Ryan! or to the brazilians, elder hyan! haha its an adventure!
well that is it from me! hope you are all doing great! i love and miss you all! thanks for your letters they are great!!
Elder Ryan
