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Well I hope everyone had a good Christmas! In my book you all did solely for the fact that you had a lot of snow (SUCK IT AL GORE!). Christmas Day here was scorching hot...it didn't feel like Christmas at all. The only thing that made it feel like Christmas was the fact that I got to talk to my family which was sweet. It was weird because it felt so normal to talk to them. Anyway, I was thankful for the opportunity to talk to them and hear their voices again.
So this week was pretty crazy. On Christmas Eve L. Sousa and I received a call saying we were going to be emergency transferred over to the area next to us: Chora Menino (haha, it means "Cry Boy". The names of the areas here are ridiculous). Elder Bigelow and Elder Rariclay were in that area but E. Rariclay was going to end his mission January 7th but left 2 weeks early because he wanted to spend Christmas with his family, thus Elder Bigelow, who was in my district in the CTM so he has the same amount of time as me, didn't have a companion. So as of now Elders L. Sousa and Bigelow are my companions. We are rockin' a trio, woot! In some ways it is cool to be in a trio. I have the chance to talk some English with Elder Bigelow when we are in the house so I can actually tell stories from back home and listen to his in English...so much easier. It is more fun out on the street with three of us too, just cause we have more people and Sousa and I have someone different to talk to now.
Some things are really weird though, like teaching. Those of you who have served missions will probably understand. On your mission you will give each lesson hundreds of times and almost every time you give a lesson you are with just one person. But now that I am with two everything is messed up. It's hard to know when to switch from person to person, how much each person should say, who makes each of the commitments, etc.
The transfer has also been bad because our new house sucks. It doesn't have a normal washing machine like our other house had (you have to just put water in it, dump some soap in, then it turns the clothes. But that is it. Afterwards you have to rinse the clothes again in the sink and get all the soap out then hang them up to dry. Unfortunately it is really hard to get ALL of the soap out so you end up having really stiff clothes after they dry). The house really stinks too...not sure of what yet but all I know is that it smells bad. Probably mildew or a dead person or something like that. Oh and it also has an infestation problem. Whenever we come home we find atleast 2 more alive, but sometimes dead, cockroaches on our floor with hundreds more (I am sure) within the walls. Their stronghold is under the wall next to the shower so it is normal to find them in the shower before you take a shower. Them buggers are fast too and rarely can you step on them before they run under the wall too. Oh, and there is either a cat or a HUGE rat that lives in the ceiling of our bedroom. Unfortunately I think it is a huge rat. This morning we watched it run across the ceiling because the ceiling was bending wherever it was. I was definitely lucky to have the other house. It's funny because when I arrived here I thought the house was terrible! But now I see it is one of the nicest houses in our area. Oh well, only 1 more week in this house.
Teaching has been really difficult this week. Like REALLY difficult. It was reported on the news that 1 million inhabitants of São Paulo traveled for Christmas this year, and I swear everyone reference and investigator we have our part of that number. Nobody is ever home. We walk all day in the sun and never do anything because nobody is home. Yesterday we didn't teach a single lesson! The first day that has ever happened. It doesn't help that Chora Menino is not a very strong area at all. I don't know why they shut our area and sent us here. They should have shut Chora Menino and sent Bigelow to our area because our area was 5 times as strong as theirs. Sousa calls their investigators with baptism dates "fantasy dates" because that's all they are, fantasies.
I did have 1 really funny lesson this week. We were teaching these 2 girls that just love to talk to us but don't really like to hear about the gospel, but we try our best. Anyway, their friend came over and she took a liking to me...and began talking to me while my comps were talking to the other two. She began asking me a bunch of questions about things that are allowed in the church and things that aren't and throughout the whole conversation she kept leaning in more and more towards me...while I began pressing my back more and more into the back of my chair. She looked at me and said "Can you Mormons...Can you Mormons kiss on the mouth?" At this point Sousa said he began listening and he said she almost fell off her chair towards me because she was leaning in so far. Right when she asked that Sousa slammed his hands on the table and stood up and said "It's time to go!" I jumped at of my chair and said "Yes it is!" and whispered thank you to L. Sousa. Then we left haha.
Well that's about it. This week was really fun out on the street and in our house because there are three of us and it's just fun to tell stories and hang out and order pizza and stuff, but teaching-wise the week was pretty much a disaster. It should get better next Monday when everyone returns home from the holidays but in the meantime...just a lot of walking.
Love you all and I hope you all had a good Christmas and have a happy new year too. We aren't allowed out of our houses past 7:00pm unless we have a ride from a member (which we do. we are going over to a member's house tonight with Martinatto and Chaves to have a bbq. We can stay out till midnight too, sweet!). Tomorrow we won't work too much either due to all the drunks that I am sure will be passed out/trying to hurt us on the street. Oh well, that's how it is during this time of the season. See ya!
-Elder Brent Parsons
And a couple of pictures of the 'Big Dog' in our old area...
I've got to run quickly today - and since I'll talk with the Fam tomorrow, this will be a short blog entry. I had an 'emergency' transfer today - so I'll be off moving my stuff to the area/apartment next to where L Sousa and I have been working. We'll only be there for two weeks. There should be a new transfer in the works for me on Jan 7th.Here are some pics to share:
OK, I look kind of weird in the one with the bunch of us, but there you go. I really do look weird in that pic for some reason. Oh yeah, and the Elder with his head on my shoulder is one of the funniest people I have ever met in my life. He is Brazilian and he used to be a stripper...like for real. He is hilarious and sometimes treats us to one of the man-thong routines he used to give the old ladies at the club he worked at...priceless.
The other one is the fruit of a night of boredom with L. Sousa. Yeah, caught myself in the air with the self-timer on the camera...woot!
Ok, well I unfortunately don't have my journal with me and those of you that know me know how unbelievably horrible my memory is so I will probably leave something out that would have been life changing for you all and for that I ask for your forgiveness.
This week was a good week teaching wise. We started working in the favela (slum) this week a lot more and it has paid off. We marked 4 strong baptisms and will probably add 3 or 4 tonight and 2 more tomorrow. Not all of these are in the favela though, actually the four we marked this week weren't in the favela. Three were this family that we just found through a reference that were way cool (one wasn't a member of the family we taught but she said she wants us to teach her family too so we will probably mark their baptisms this week too) and the other date is our strongest of all because she approached US and told us that she wants to be baptized.
It was awesome. She came up to us after church and just asked us. She had been visiting with her member-daughter and I guess she really loved it and so she came up to us and said "I want to be baptized. And I want it to be by the end of the year." So we marked her baptism for the 28th of this month and have taught her two lessons so far...both of which were some of the best lessons I have had yet.
The only problem she has right now is with smoking...she was smoking 40 cigarettes a day and is already down to 4 a day. She also said last night that she read the Book of Mormon parts we marked and received an answer to her prayer but that she didn't want to share the experience with us right then because she was planning on sharing it in the next fast-and-testimony meeting in church, the Sunday after her baptism. She really is the perfect investigator. Oh and we will also baptize her 9 year-old niece but that will be a baptism of the ward because her Mom is a member. Freakin' sweet.
Sousa's knee still isn't the best...along with his work ethic. Working on that one.
I had a division yesterday with a missionary from another area. His name is Elder D. Gonçalves and he has the same amount of time on the mission as I do and we were in my area. So you know what that meant? I was the Senior Companion for a day! Yeah, didn't really mean anything because I told him that he needed to take the lead during the lessons due to my less-than-fluent Portuguese. He ended up just talking the whole time while I didn't say anything...which wasn't really what I had in mind but I guess it worked. It was kind of cool because it was my area and he didn't know anything about it so I got to decide everything that we did that day! We ended up going to see the new movie "Australia" with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. LOVED IT! OK just kidding, we checked out some references and taught that perfect investigator, actually a very good day.
Oh yeah! I also got to teach a lesson in English yesterday! That was sweet. We checked out this reference and this old guy came to the door and looked at us both and said "Do you guys speak English?". Gonçalves didn't understand but I obviously did and said "...yes". He then told me in English that he is an English Professor. His English was nearly flawless. Anyway, long story short he had been to Utah before and seen the Tabernacle and loved it. He called the Temple and wanted a CD of the Tabernacle Choir but they didn't have any. But they told him that he could receive a free DVD and so he said OK...and that's why we were there. So we went in and he asked me to give the message in English...so I did. It was so weird to teach in English. Like...unbelievably weird I can't even explain it. Everything just sounded so weird. But it was awesome because I could say EVERYTHING I wanted to! What a glorious feeling that was. Things that I had forgot about like voice inflection and pauses really make a lesson...I will need to work on doing that right in Portuguese in the future.
Still rocking out pizza every other night or so...it's actually delicious...I eat a whole one by myself sometimes...
Oh I forgot to tell you guys I shaved my head last week. Before Ryan poops his pants it actually wasn't THAT short (a number "3") and I actually think it looks kind of good. Different, but not bad. Definitely tons easier for me to deal with and there are many benefits that I didn't expect like rain just bouncing off and not matting my hair to my head.
Anyway, I am going to go try to attach some photos right now and hopefully it works this time. The week was good and I am extremely excited to talk to my family next week...woot! Merry Christmas chumps!
-Elder Brent Parsons
Here's the stuff that I think is.
This is a really LONG story and lots of things happened that I don't have time to write, but this is the gist of what happened. So last P-day after I slept for a large period of time, Sousa and I went out to some appointments and to check out some references. It was about 8:00 and we had just got done with checking out a reference that was unfortunately not home when we turned back to the street, preparing ourselves to figure out something else to do.
We were about to start walking when this 24 or so year old stopped, looked at us both and said "You are Brazilian (pointing to Sousa) and...you are American (pointing at me)." We both said yes then he slowly walked up to me. He stopped close to me and said "so I have a question for you, American", (at that point I knew this was not going to be good) "what do you think about your country making the Amazon International Territory?" I was extremely surprised at the question, first of all why he was asking me, and second that I actually understood! That was cool. Big words.
Anyway, so I said to him "uh...I don't know a lot about the subject so I don't really have an opinion". So he began to ask a lot of questions and talk a lot about how the USA is stupid for doing that. He kept asking me over and over the same question and I just said that I didn't care about that right now because I am a missionary and that's my only focus right now (probably not exactly true...but it was good to say that to him).
Anyway, so after a while he started getting a little hostile. He said "you know that all Americans are the worst people in the world right?" I said "OK look, it's fine if you hate our government and our president, you can say all that to me, but when you start talking about MY people like that, a people that YOU don't even know" (he had told me that I was the first American he had ever talked to) "that's when you need to stop."
Well, he obviously didn't and he started talking about the Amazon...and Africa and how Americans are horrible because they have money and Africa doesn't. It was useless gibberish that I didn't want to hear, nor did I have time for. So I said "look, I am a missionary and I don't really care about that stuff right now. So you can have your opinion, that's totally fine but I don't really want to talk about this right now with you." Then he said "you Americans are all the same. You all are the worst people in the whole world."
At that Sousa jumped in (he hadn't said a word the whole time and was just watching us two talk) and said "look, just leave. We both don't want to hear anything that you want to say so just leave. You don't know what you are talking about." He didn't leave then I said "you really think Americans are the worst people in the world while you also say this is the first time you have ever talked to one in your life?!" So he said "Yep, they are all worse then trash!" At that Sousa jumped in and grabbed both my arms to make sure I didn't punch the guy (I wasn't going to, but I definitely was really mad and had stepped forward a couple paces toward the guy. It was really funny because when I stepped forward the guy got really scared haha).
I yelled at the guy that he didn't know anything then he told us to "never come back to his area because the people here don't have sympathy for people like you (me)!" We have been back there almost every night since haha. Anyway, I am sure a lot of that didn't make sense but it was actually pretty tense, even Sousa said he was extremely offended at the words the guy was saying and he isn't even American.
Oh this week I saw the coolest dog of my entire life at a member's house, a dog Ryan would kill several children for. Not even kidding, biggest dog I have ever seen in my life by far. I will attach photos.
So Sousa is having a rough time with his knee. It had been hurting a lot but it was OK until the other day (actually was one of the funnier things I have ever seen) he stepped on a piece of cardboard in the street while writing something in his planner and completely slipped and fell on his back, pen and planner flying and all. It was hilarious. But after that his knee hasn't been quite the same. I will explain the consequences of this in what I like to call a "typical missionary paragraph" where I will use too many exclamation points, strange words, and capitalize words unnecessarily:I CAN'T believe it!! Sousa's knee is hurting SO bad! I really feel unbelievably bad for him, I just wish I could help him with the pain!! It's REALLY hard for him to stay focused on the work, which is so HARD sometimes!! He sometimes just doesn't even want to move so we often don't work very hard throughout the day!?! I don't know what to do!!! I don't have the language skills (YET, I hope!! haha!) to be the leader of our companionship so I NEED him to want to work or we won't be able to get much done!!! Sometimes I feel like I am just dragging him around the city haha! (Just like Joseph did with Mary on the donkey through Bethlehem!! Haha! The imagery!) So yeah, not sure what to do about the situation but hopefully some wisemen and shepards show up to help us out, right?!!! SORRY, I couldn't help myself but to throw that little biblical comparison in there!!! Hahaha!!!! I LOVE MY COMPANION!!
Anyway, hopefully you could read through the lines on that paragraph about the situation I have here...not sure what to do about it. Suggestions?
We have ordered pizza three times since last p-day. I don't think I will be losing much more this transfer...even though the pizza is slightly horrible, it's easy, pretty cheap, and after a while it actually starts tasting good despite the horribly thin crust.
Yesterday we met this lady in one of the two favelas (slums) in our area and she was baptized 20 years ago. We got to talking to her and asked her to come back to church. She started crying and said she knew God had put us there that day for a reason then asked us to pray for her, so we did right then and there. Was a really cool experience.
I forgot to say that we haven't had a refrigerator in our house for the past 2 weeks...and it looks like we aren't going to have one for another two. It is ridiculous. Martinatto was trying to scrape some of the ice out from the freezer with a knife and slipped and cut a cord and smoke started fuming out and it was just a big mess. So that is kind of ridiculous and frustrating.
Anyway, no more time. I'll attach a photo of the freakin' sweet dog, my desk (not sure why, just took a photo of it this morning and thought you might want to see), and my name tag. Hooray! Love you guys, thanks for all the emails again. I am still kind of living from p-day to p-day right now and it's great to receive all of your emails each week and hear about what's going on. Later!
-Elder Brent Parsons
Good to hear that Thanksgiving went well for everyone. I hope it went well for ALL of my readers, which I am sure the number is skyrocketing by the week. I might just blog the rest of my life and charge a subscription fee. Just kidding, I think I only know of 9 people who actually read this...oh well...I like to think that I am writing to the world right now.
This week went pretty well. We did have something really bad happen though. We had an investigator named Claudia with a baptism date and everything. We thought she was really progressing but we went there on Thursday and something bad had happened. The pastor (spelling?) of her church is also her boss...because she works for him. Anyway, so I guess he heard about us teaching her and he obviously couldn't lose a precious member/source of income of his church so he rescheduled her to work every Sunday at 9 am. We have church every Sunday at 9 am. It was so ridiculous. So she said that she could never come to church with us and said that we should probably just stop teaching her. She tried to give us back the Book of Mormon we gave her and everything. We obviously told her to keep it then just left...probably to never see her again due to the stupid pastor and his greediness. Ridiculous.
We had our every 6-week interviews with our President on Friday. Along with that we talk to his wife about our health and other things. It is kind of cool because she weighs us every transfer to make sure we aren't gaining or losing too much. I am not sure what is too much but I know I lost 12 pounds since I got in the field and she didn't say anything about it so I guess I am still healthy. I am working towards losing another 58 pounds this month so I can keep pace with what Ryan did. I'll keep you posted.
Sousa was sick the other night so we didn't work. I wrote a letter and then had nothing else to do so I got out my sweet chess set that I bought and decided to play a game...against myself. The funny thing is is that black won in a surprise check-mate that I didn't even see coming. It was epic.
On Monday I went with Elder Martinatto to the hospital because he messed up his knee. Turns out he needs surgery tomorrow and will be out for 3 weeks! He has to just sit at the mission office the whole time, sucks. Anyway, the hospital we went to was pretty much the nicest place I have ever seen. It's called Albert Einstein Hospital or something like that in São Paulo. Look it up. They tell me it is in the nicest hospital in all of South America and I believe it. It was really sweet. Martinatto said he slept there for 3 days one time because his companion messed up his knee just like he did and he said it was one of the better experiences of his life. Anyway, thought it was cool so you might want to see it.
So after the hospital we went back to the mission office where he had to do some physical therapy. I was bored and got to talking to a certain Elder Alkmim. He is Brazilian and his family lives in this mission and he often sees them on the street. How weird is that? Anyway, he's a little bit weird, but he happened to know every single one of the members of my district in the CTM that I have been dying to hear about so he told me all he knew about each one of them which was really sweet. He ranked them on how good their Portuguese is and told me about their companions and stuff. It was awesome. I have only seen 2 of the 7 in the past 2 months so it was really good to hear about all of them. Sounds like all of them are doing pretty well...more or less. I miss all those guys.
So yesterday was awesome. Mostly due to us teaching the homosexual guy. And yes, I found out, his "crush" on me is for real I think. Really good story actually. So we went there and he let us in but he was practicing his singing and playing the piano with this other girl so he told us just to watch for a little bit until they finished. I thought it was going to be torment. So we sat down and they started playing and singing and to be completely honest they were freaking amazing. He is one of the better piano players I have ever seen and his voice is even better. She could make a living off singing. It was incredible. So they played and sang for about 20 min and then she left and we began to talk. He happened to sit down right next to me...touching my knee with his. He showed me this book that he was reading that was helping him learn German...then all of the sudden he looked up at me, then looked at my hair and slowly moved his hand to my hair and grabbed a piece of something I guess I had in my hair and slowly pulled it away. Most awkward moment of my life.
So anyway he finally moved and went and sat at the piano and started playing again. He said "come here Elder Parsons" so I went of there and he preceded to sing to me several popular American songs. After the third song I slowly moved back to my spot on the couch where L. Sousa was trying to stifle his laughter without Moisés (gay guy) knowing. Anyway, long story short Moisés is actually pretty cool and extremely smart. He wants to learn English so bad so I used that as bribery to get him to come to church this week. I said I would give him one English class if he comes to church this week and he reluctantly agreed. So that was sweet. I don't know what is going to happen with him being gay and all...but at least he will come to church. (Oh yeah, we have a brazi elder in our district that is fluent in English that offered him lessons...he denied them and said "I want Parsons to teach me"). Really funny.
Well other than that it was just pretty normal this week. Lunches with the members were excellent and our other teaching appointments went fine. I know this was pretty short but I don't have much else to say. Keep me posted on the happity-haps of life in the US. Politics, sports, whatever. Love you guys, thanks for your love and support.
-Elder Brent Parsons
I know I know it's Thursday, not my normal P-day. And yes I also know you probably had a terrible night's sleep last night mom because you didn't hear from me all day yesterday, but don't worry I am fine. The internet went down in pretty much all of Casa Verde yesterday so we didn't have the chance to use it so we are taking some time today to do so.
I will be perfectly honest...I forgot it was Thanksgiving today. The only reason I remembered is because I read a letter from Grandpa and Grandma (thank you for the game recap by the way...that subject deserves its own paragraph though) and they mentioned that Thanksgiving would be today. So it finally dawned on me and I looked up to talk to someone about it but then realized that I was sitting around 7 or 8 Brazilians...who literally have never heard of Thanksgiving before in their lives. So I said a silent "hooray." to myself and continued on reading.
So the BYU-Utah game. Unbelievable. Games in which your team has tons of turnovers are the worst to watch. One moment you think to yourself that you actually might get back in the game, but then another pass gets tipped and picked off for another 6 points. Terrible. Oh well...what bowl will BYU play in? Will Utah get a BSC game? They should.
Sounds like Twilight was a pick hit? I don't care. I get slightly angry even thinking about it.
To be honest this wasn't a way exciting week to talk about. I mean it wasn't bad for me but it was pretty much just normal stuff for me. Just a bunch of teaching and the ever-ending quest to find the ultimate easy-to-make food product at night (I have settled on penne pasta with butter, salt, an italian...rub (don't know what to call it), oregeno, and 2 fried eggs on top). Can I put a parenthetical phrase inside of a parenthetical phrase??
I did learn this week that Brazilians don't have much of a sense of personal belongings. Especially the Brazilians I live with (well mostly Elders Chaves and Martinatto, Sousa is fine). It's like they think that if something is in the house they live in then it must obviously belong to them. So annoying. Food is probably the worst. I buy some food for myself and when I return that night, extremely famished and ready to feast, all the food is gone with only satisfied Brazilian stomachs as an evidence of the food's existence. Sometimes I get really mad and talk in a louder voice than my 6-inch whisper to them. It's funny because they don't see anything wrong with it and get mad right back at me and say that I am "tight-fisted" which is an expression meaning I am cheap. Sometimes they ask me if they can use my food, sometimes I say no and that I need it and they get really mad and tell me I am cheap and then storm off. I just sit there extremely confused because we receive the SAME amount of money each week. It's not like I am some rich kid on my throne tossing pennies among the starving orphans below! They get the same amount of money as I do so why should I have to give them food? Rather annoying sometimes. I think they think because I am American it obviously means I am rich which entitles me to give them stuff.
Oh so a rather funny experience. We have been working with this lady Nilzete for about 3 weeks now and we finally got her to come to church on Sunday with us. Before we went we let her know that our church was probably going to be a little different than any church she had ever visited before...but I don't think any investigator can ever be prepared for the Primary Program in Sacrament Meeting. Yep, the Primary Program happened to be this last Sunday...and I am not sure why but it was even more out of control then the ones I have seen before. I turned to L. Sousa in the middle of it and said "you know what, if this is my first time visiting this church I would think 'what kind of sick people are these?! What are they making these children do and why?!' I would almost definitely not want to come back." But to our surprise she actually really enjoyed it (probably because our bishop didn't stand up and "bless" his tie then start cutting it up into pieces and selling each piece for 10$ like the bishop does at her church...ridiculous). I think she will be coming back this week again. We taught her the Word of Wisdom 2 days ago and it was a missionaries dream when she said "no I don't drink coffee! I hate the taste." No other problems either.
So yesterday marked the end of my first transfer. I wasn't actually transferred from my area and for that I am actually gratefull. Mostly because I don't want to pack my suitcase, I am dreading that day. It will be horrible to do it again. But also because I want to do more work in this area and I am used to having L. Sousa as a companion...don't want to leave the kid from Rio and his laid back attitude that comes along with that. Actually no one from our district got transferred (8 Elders), pretty crazy. The only bad thing about not being transferred is that I didn't have the chance to see any of my friends from my district in the CTM. I really do miss all those guys. They were literally some of the funniest people I have ever met and after spending two months in that hell-hole with them...creates a bond only to be out-done by that of a mother and a child. Oh and it also sucks because we couldn't get any of our letters or packages but we have our 6-week interviews tomorrow so I am sure I will be able to pick it up then (I have not got that package yet mom but I am sure it is there now and I will grab it tomorrow). "Stop with the parenthesis!" Sorry Karrissa. Glad you could correct me, heaven knows that's the only way that you'll ever get to use your major. WOOOAAHHH! He went there.
So we taught that family that I talked about in my last letter 2 more times this week (Paulo and Priscilla). The lesson following the really good experience I told about last week was actually pretty dull unfortunately. I don't know why but I guess he just chose to ignore and forget everything he felt. So annoying. Anyway we taught him again last Tuesday and it was a good lesson except Paulo is still refusing to get married. Priscilla is all for it but Paulo keeps saying he is not ready. You have 2 kids and have been with the same woman for 7 years, I think you are ready! It was funny though because we asked if he would be baptized and he said "you guys are going to need a pretty strong bath in order to baptize me" I laughed for a while after he said that.
Oh yeah! I am not sure what to do about this situation. So I was on a division a couple weeks ago with our DL Elder Rariclay. We found and taught this guy named Moisés. He was really knowledgeable about the scriptures and was interested in our message so that was cool. But there was something just a little bit strange about him. So set another appointment and left. Later Rariclay was on another division with my comp L. Sousa and they went and taught him again. Apparently during the lesson he asked "So what does your church believe about Homosexuality?" There it was! The thing that was "off" about him! And that's not the worst part. He also asked them during the lesson "Where is Elder Parsons? Why didn't he come to teach me today? Does he have a cell phone number that I could call and talk to him?" They said he had an unhealthy interest in me. So I dont know. We have an appointment with him this coming Monday and I don't know what to do! He needs the gospel but I also need to keep my gay-virgin lips! Just kidding...kind of. We will go teach him and I am sure it will be fine but I am not kidding about the attraction...I thought he was just staring intently at me the first time I met him because he was interested in my strange accent...we wrote "Has homosexual tendencies!" on his paper in the area book haha.
Well I am sad that I am missing Thanksgiving today (now that I know it is Thanksgiving). It was always way fun to have the whole family over, eat, then try to sneak away to another room so I could watch football without being disrupted. Oh those were the days. This Thanksgiving I get to spend checking out references from the internet and delivering DVDs to people that will most likely regret their decision to call the number and receive the DVD when they find out that we want to give them a message along with the DVD! Hooray! Hooray for bribery! "If you want this DVD you're going to have to listen to a message...ha!" I will get the Thanksgiving package you sent me tomorrow mom, so it will all be good. It really is fine though, the very thought of stuffing makes me want to throw up something...hey, that looks like stuffing!
Better end it there. I was really anxious and slightly angry yesterday because I wasn't able to use the internet all day because I love to hear from you all and I actually enjoy writing these emails too. Again, please tell me if there are things that I am not writing about that you would like me to...and if you think I should be writing more spiritual experiences then...$%^&* you! Those are my experiences! Just kidding. But really, it's sometimes kind of awkward writing those experiences through email, not that I wont but I might not write tons because of that...and they are personal. Anyway, love you all, hope you all have a fat-filled Thanksgiving. I'll lose a belt loop out here while you guys gain one there. Have fun! Love you!
-Elder Brent Parsons
Thanks for the emails this week everyone, helps me a lot here when I know what's going on with you guys. So yeah, I really appreciate you all taking the time out of your lives to write me!
So I hear Jake's Farewell and JT's homecoming went really well? That's good news. I was just surprised to hear that Jake actually ended up speaking and not hiding in the women's bathroom until sacrament ended.
I am glad to hear BYU pulled it out in the 3rd quarter to beat AFA. I want a in depth break-down of the game against Utah this Sat!
So this week was a red-letter week for me in several ways:- I ate my first meal at a member's house that didn't have rice and beans (it was tacos and they were delicious).
- I saw my first mugging! I was so excited and I literally thought of this exact moment I am writing you guys while watching it. I was like "sweet I get to tell everyone I saw some helpless dude get mugged!" We were about to cross a street Sunday night when L. Sousa stuck his arm out in front of me and told me to stop. So I looked up across the street and there was 2 guys beating up on this one guy (wasn't really brutal at all actually they were just kind of shoving him) until the guy reached in his pocket and gave them some money out of his wallet and his cell phone too. I really did want to help but it happened so fast and the 2 took off running before I even realized what happened. L. Sousa said that he wouldn't have let me because we didn't know if they had a weapon or not. Anyway, so we went over and consoled the frightened 25-year-oldish Bolivian (you can always tell if they are Bolivians because they all look the same) then just left because there was nothing else to do. I felt bad for him though because his eyes were really as wide as dinner plates and I wouldn't have been surprised if I had smelt urine.
- I had my first Zone Conference last Thursday. We had 3 zones there (about 70 missionaries) and it was different than I expected. First off it was about 6 hours long...sitting in a chapel the whole time. Second, it was very logistically based. We talked a lot about money, health, and rules. And third, apparently every zone conference all the "old" missionaries that will leave before the next zone conference and all the "new" missionaries, like me, have to get up and bear their testimony in either Portuguese or English depending on which is your first language (if your first is English then you bear it in Portuguese and vice versa). So anyway, we all got up and some Brazilian Elder got up and bore his in English then my two friends from the CTM Elder Fabian and Elder Bigelow got up and bore theirs. So I was the only "new" Elder left that had to bear his testimony before the "old" missionaries went. So I got up and said (in Portuguese of course) "Well I guess I will be the first old missionary to bear their testimony..." which I thought was really funny because I speak such horrible Portuguese. Anyway, everyone that knew me laughed but those who didn't know me didn't really get the joke so it didn't really get the resounding laughter that I thought the joke warranted. Anyway, I hadn't really thought past the initial joke so I stumbled through my Portuguese testimony and sat down. L. Sousa loved the joke so at least I got him on my side and no one else matters but your companion right?
- First time I hit anyone in the face on my mission. There is this kid in our ward that is 16 years-old and he loves to hit me for no reason other than I am white, can't speak Portuguese, and bigger than most people he has ever seen in real life. Anyway, so I never do anything when hits me because I am a missionary and it doesn't really hurt because he is weak. So we were at Stake Conference this Sunday and I was resting my arm on the back of my chair and he was sitting behind me. He went to hit me but before he did Elder Martinatto said "don't do it because he might actually hit you back one of these times." The kid chose not to believe him and punched my arm and right as his hand hit my arm I back-handed him in the face. I unfortunately did it a lot harder than I probably should have and his eye got a little swollen, but it really was hilarious and I couldn't stop laughing for a while. OK, not really a story worth telling but I thought it was really funny.
OK, enough with the "firsts" thing now and I'll actually tell a "missionary"-type story. It was actually a really awesome experience that I probably won't forget. It is kind of long so this is the short version. We had taught this family (Paulo, Priscilla, and their son) two times and the lessons were OK, not that great though. So we didn't go back for about two weeks until Monday night when we decided to try teaching them again. So we decided to teach them about the Priesthood and how we have a Prophet on the earth today. So we started teaching him and in the beginning of the lesson he (Paulo) had a lot of questions and a lot of doubts about what we were teaching. We tried to share scriptures for every doubt he had but it wasn't quite convincing him. So in the beginning of the lesson it was really loud and we went back and forth talking a lot.
But near the end of the lesson I am not sure why it happened but all of the sudden everything changed. L. Sousa was talking about our prophet Thomas S. Monson we have today when all of the sudden it just got a lot quieter. L. Sousa dropped his voice and talked nearly at a whisper and started to bear his testimony about the priesthood. The spirit literally filled the entire room. Paulo stopped talking and his eyes were glued to L. Sousa. Sousa finished his testimony then looked over at me, bidding me to bear mine as well. Paulo slowly turned his head to look at me. I looked at him and started to bear my testimony about a lot of things that I don't quite remember. The amazing thing was that I knew I was saying some stuff wrong, and usually when that happens the investigator will look away because they don't understand, but Paulo didn't look away once. His eyes were moist and we both stared at each other while I told him that I know the church is true and that is the only reason that I was sitting in front of him on that day, the only reason I am here in Brazil.
So I finished talking after a couple minutes or so and then looked back to L. Sousa. Sousa said "Paulo, will you come to church with us this Sunday?" He had refused the previous two visits but this time he looked at us for a while, unable to speak, then he slowly turned his head to his wife and all he could say was "Yeah, can we?" It was really hilarious actually. She said that they could and so we will be teaching them again this Friday and taking them to church on Sunday. It was the best lesson I have had so far in Brazil, and hopefully not the last.
Oh yeah and on a different note did I mention that my ward is the ward that nearly all the instructors from the CTM attend? You would think this would be a good thing like I originally did but it has turned out to be horrible. Nearly all the instructors are "super missionaries" and would rather be serving missions their whole life then accept that they actually should be beginning theirs.
Anyway, so because of this they try to re-live their missions through us, and since they are instructors at the CTM they obviously know SO much more than we do so they always go behind our backs to the Ward-Mission Leader (who is actually one of my instructors from the CTM, Irmão Nasciamento), the Bishop, and other missionaries and complain about all the things they think we are doing wrong. It really is so annoying. We went to the adult-session of Stake Conference on Saturday and were severely chastised for that because it was "precious time we could have been working." Chill out! It's Stake Conference! It tells us in the missionary handbook we should be attending it! So annoying.
Well I guess I will end there. If this somehow gets to you guys before Jake leaves tell him that he will love a mission and to just have fun. I see missionaries out here that are way too serious all the time and they are no fun to be around. When L. Sousa and I are working, we work. But you don't have to be a stiff to have a strong testimony and the ability to teach effectively. I say this because Jake just needs to lighten up a bit you know? He is just way to serious about everything, especially the gospel :). Anyway, I will send him emails through Ryan or someone while he is in the CTM. Love you all, hopefully your lives continue to deliver you all boundless blessings...later!
-Elder Brent Parsons
So last week was pretty crazy. I can never remember what happened when I come to email you guys so I always have to bring my journal along to remember my experiences; I have like 10 pages from this week.
Before I tell you about my stuff...so JT is home huh??? WRITE me JT! I wanna hear from you bro. How is it being home? What was your last month like in the mission?
All hail Obama eh? Stupid. I have given up even trying to explain my stance with him to people here. First off I can't truly express myself and my views in Portuguese, and second whenever I say that I wouldn't have voted for Obama had I voted everyone gets really mad at me and starts speaking really fast then I just look like an idiot because I don't understand then their trust in me fails then they won't accept our message...just not worth it. I just politely nod and say "He may or may not be a good thing for my country, but who knows?" Usually satisfies them.
So first off, the funny story of the week. And I am not sure if I can explain it fully right now but it really was so hilarious. L. Sousa and I had a reference we needed to check out. So we "clapped" at her door like 5 times but no one answered. We unfortunately had nothing else to do right then so as we were deciding what to do some guy in his 50's walked up to us holding a bible and, what I later learned, was a book of hymns. He said to us "Hi, do you guys want to come study the gospel with me in my apartment?" It was perfect. A glorious contact. We thought he was a God-send. So of course we said yes and he lived just around the corner. His apartment was small and he had 3 filthy dogs that gave us a very "warm" welcome when we entered by nipping out our heels and nearly nibbling my manhood away. His walls were covered in dog pictures, calenders of dogs, and whatever else dog-related you can think of. Anyway so we sat down at the table and he said "I love your prophet Alma." We thought, wow this is great he knows about our church and wants to know more. So we asked if we could open with a prayer and he insisted that he would say it. So we said OK and he began his prayer.
Oh what a prayer. He blessed Obama probably 7 times and the USA as well. Then he blessed us, and who knows what else. The funniest part though was that we were all closing our eyes for the prayer right? Apparently he likes to end his prayer without signaling he did so. So what we thought was just a brief pause in his prayer was actually him ending his prayer, opening his eyes, grabbing his hymn book, and he began to sing. So our eyes were still closed when all of the sudden he started singing this crazy weird hymn that I couldn't understand. So we were startled to say the least. We both opened our eyes all of the sudden when we heard the singing and looked at each other completely bewildered.
Now his voice was not worthy of participating in the Primary Christmas Program. It was terrible. So he is just singing away and we have no idea what to do. I was trying so hard not to laugh, and apparently L. Sousa was doing the same but all of the sudden he couldn't hold it in any longer and just burst out laughing. Of course I followed and we sat there laughing, trying to stifle it as much as possible but it was so funny. I have no idea how he didn't hear us, probably because he was so concentrated on the...beautiful hymn...he was singing (he was also rocking back and forth while singing).
So I pretended to be interested in a passage of the BoM to get myself to stop laughing. So he finally ended his song and preceded to tell us some story about how he served in the military and how "the movies made in California are all true" then he told us he belonged to the Congregation of Brazil, a church here.
L. Sousa told me later that they are all just crazy, and this man was definitely proof of that. He said he was baptized in his church, but not only did he receive a remission of his sins, but he also said that he was baptized with the gift of tongues as well. Apparently he could speak fluent Italian after he was baptized, not knowing a word in Italian before hand. I was sorely tempted to pretend like I knew Italian and pretend to talk to him, but I pushed away the temptation. So L. Sousa politely explained that baptism has to be done with the proper authority and that the gift of tongues isn't given at baptism but it is real. He very graciously used me as an example of the gift of tongues, a gift I am very sure I do not have. Anyway, long story...long he invited us to his church and we invited him to ours, then we parted ways. L. Sousa and I turned the corner and laughed for literally about 5 minutes. It was so hilarious. Sorry that was just a big long ramble but I hope it made sense.
So that was Thursday evening, then afterward we headed to the church where Beto and Gilmara (baptismal candidates) had their baptismal interviews and passed! Sweet, and they asked both L. Sousa and I to baptize them (I would baptize Gilmara and he would baptize Beto). So on Saturday we had the baptism. The baptism was at 4:00 so Sousa and I got there about 2:30 to get the font filled and set up the chairs and everything. Everything was going to plan until 4:00 showed up and we were sitting alone in the room...waiting for somebody, anybody to show up. 4:15 came and went...nobody there. I was starting to get really anxious but L. Sousa "calmed me down" by telling me that when you say 4:00 in Brazil it really means 4:30. OK look, this is a baptism! It's not some frat party that you are throwing that you say to show up at 8:00 and people start trickling in around 8:45 or so. You aren't "fashionably late" to a baptism! In the USA we would have people there half an hour early, a center piece set up on the front a day before hand, and a person playing the organ 15 min before the service started. Anyway, long story short we ended up starting the baptism at 5:20. Yeah I was nervous the entire time waiting for everyone to show up.
So I suited up in my very figure-flattering white "moo moo" and prepared myself to baptize Gilmara. I thought I had the prayer down but I kept going over it just to make sure. We had a a prayer, a talk, sang a couple hymns, then it was time to do it. L. Sousa went first and it went fine. Then it was my turn. I led Gilmara down into the rather small and cold font. I showed her how to hold on to my arm then was all ready to go. I was about to say the prayer when I forgot that I didn't know her full-name. So I asked her and she told me it was "Gilmara Silva Dos Santos". Yeah not that long but I guess the name took all the memory space in my brain because I started the prayer and said "Gilmara Silva Dos Santos tendo..." then I forgot it. So I started again "Gilmara Silva Dos Santos tendo..." paused "sejo comissionado por Jesus Christo, eu te batizo em nome do Pai, e do Filho, e do Espírito Santo. Amen." Then I "dunked" that little Brazilian. I thought I had nailed it but then I remembered that the second word wasn't "sejo" but it was "sido". Anyway, long story short it was fine that I said it like that and the baptism went well. I was mad at myself the entire day for getting that word wrong though. But, it was an awesome experience and I won't ever forget it. Gilmara told me on Monday that she won't ever either so that was pretty cool. I love their family and I am glad they decided to be baptized.
I have lots more to say but I don't have time. I will send some pictures of the baptism (just one really of Sousa and I with the family outside the church) and a couple more from this Stake Activity we had this week where each ward put on a few dance/song numbers. It was actually pretty cool and funny. Each ward was assigned a different Disney movie to have as a theme. It was really funny to hear the ones who were assigned "High School Musical 2" chant "Wildcats" in their terrible accents. For the most part they were all terrible at dancing but Brazilians don't get embarrassed so they just danced like crazy so it was hilarious. Anyway, couple photos of Sousa, Martinatto (other Brazi I live with, comp to the ZL), and I at that.
Anyway, got to go love you all. Thanks for the emails this week everyone! They were great.
-Elder Brent Parsons
Our 'Clothes Keeper'!
Elders Parsons, Sousa, Martinatto
Me and L. Sousa
Beto and Gilmara and L. Sousa
Oi!
So I would first like to say that Kenton's quote to my Mom after Obama won was hilarious. "Enjoy your last night in a 'sovern' nation!" I am not sure if he knew quite what he said but it is funny nonetheless. Obama huh? EVERY Brazilian loves him. If I, a large white American LDS missionary, said something against him it might just add enough to my already hostile characteristics to put me over the edge; they would probably kill me.
Anyway, I am having a tough time thinking of things to write this week. Which reminds me that the emails this week were getting a little skimpy...are we getting a little lazy on the home-front people?! I am getting laughed at and sweating kilos out here can't I get a little love?! Just "drop me a line" or whatever you guys want to call it when you're bored or something.
So JT gets home next week doesn't he? That's crazy. And Jake leaves the week after? Comes up faster than you think huh Jake? Getting excited for that big farewell talk? Told anyone about it yet? And you get to go through the MTC...woot! It's a blast...I mean...it's so fun and doesn't get repetitive and make you want to hurt people in your district...good luck! Write me before you leave. How's lax going? Have you took any road trips yet? I wanna know about all the games and stuff...when does BYU play the two D1 teams?
This week was eventful...but uneventful at the same time. We teach lessons, walk, eat lunch at a member's house everyday, and contact. That's pretty much it during our waking hours. We found a couple new promising investigators this week and Beto and Gilmara will have their baptismal interviews tomorrow and will be baptized Saturday. They still haven't chosen who will actually perform the baptism. I'll let you know all about how it goes next week.
Oh yeah, can I get an update on the Jazz too? New players or anything that is going on with them? Oh and if Ben sends any emails/letters can I get those too somehow?
So we contacted this old lady out on the street this week and L. Sousa gave her a contact card and told her if she called she would receive a free DVD about Jesus Christ, then she responded and what I heard was "Oh sorry I don't have a DVD player..." and that was all. So I reached in my pocket and found another card with the Book of Mormon on it so she could get a Book of Mormon instead. I said "Oh that's fine you can call this number and receive this free book instead." She looked at me really funny then accepted the card and we left. As we turned the corner L. Sousa said "you didn't understand her did you?" I said "Yeah she said she didn't have a DVD player so I thought it would be better if she got a copy of the BoM instead." He said "Yeah she said that but right after she said that she also told us that she couldn't read." So she said "Sorry I don't have a DVD player and I can't read anyway." Then I pulled a card out of my pocket saying she could receive a free book if she called the number...how gracious of me. Sousa got a good laugh out of that one...
Oh and the best news of the week!! We got a dresser!!! And we both have desks now!!! I woke up Saturday morning and L. Sousa was saying something about a (if translated directly) a "keep-clothes". I could not understand it forever but finally I figured it out and realized that we were getting a dresser that morning. It was awesome. I literally had a smile on my face the entire time I was unpacking that blasted suitcase for the first time. I found stuff in there that I had totally forgot about; it was like Christmas. What a glorious glorious day it was. I'll attach some photos of our new desks and the "keep-clothes".
I have been debating with myself for two days about whether to share this or not considering how bad my last "bad news" went over with everyone but I will try it one more time. 2 days ago (Monday) I became extremely sick. Probably due to the 2 hamburgers and hot dog I ate at a member's house the previous night. They say most American Missionaries will get sick from the meat here at least once during the mission so I got mine out of the way in the beginning eh? I woke up and showered and while showering I realized how bad my stomach was hurting. So I went back and laid down in bed and only got up 5 times the rest of the day. 4 times to pump some liquid out of my raw-bottom and once for a blessing from my companion. I called Sister Cooley (Mission President's wife), told her I had a fever of 100.7, so she told me some medicine to take so I took that throughout the night and it all worked out. I woke up yesterday still feeling the effects a little bit but I got up and went to lunch but had to come back for a little bit in the afternoon to lie down. But we ended up playing soccer last night with some members and I felt fine so it's all good now. Got that one out of the way eh?
I am not sure what else to say...skimpy emails this week!
Oh yeah sounds like it was an intense game between BYU and CSU this week, miss watching those games and eatin' them weiners ma' mama fries up.
Love you all. Still miss ya. Write me.
-Elder Brent Parsons
Oi!Woah! I had no idea telling everyone that I had 1 bad day would cause so much havoc on the home-front. It makes me feel good to know how much I am loved, but I think I came off the wrong way. Yeah the first day sucked but it really did get better; and this week was really good too.
SO much happened this week. Only have time for a bit though. Like I said it was a good week. So there is this new chapel (did I tell you this?) that opened in the Center of São Paulo and in Brazil they do these Open Houses for each new chapel that is opened which pretty much means wasting the time of the missionaries in the surrounding area. So on Thursday we went there to do some contacts in front of the church and tried to get people to come in and see the chapel and go through this little tour that we actually ended up conducting in the end. The chapel is way nice though and I love being there it just takes an hour on a hot, crowded bus to get there. Anyway, so my companion and I were doing contacts in the street when this crazy dude that was probably 55 or 60 came up to us and started talking to us. I don't think he could swallow correctly because his saliva just gathered at the corners of his mouth. My journal entry:
"...this one crazy guy came up to us and I didn't understand much but I got some, and also later learned, that he had had 23 brain surgeries, saw and conversed with God and is really angry the he has not been able to do it again, and that he had had a really bad day because he ran out of Viagra. Oh and I thought he was going to hit me with his cain in the balls the whole time we were talking to him so I was covering them with my hands the whole time. Needless to say we were both 'contacted out' after that intriguing conversation (about 15 min), so we went inside and guided people around the church."
Yeah it was hilarious. L. Sousa and I laughed forever about it.
So I think I am losing weight. L. Sousa, Martinatto, and Chaves (the 3 Brazis I live with. Chaves is the ZL. Only Martinatto really speaks English and it's not much) say that I look like I have lost at least 5 kilos (11 pounds). I may have gained it all back in the past 3 days because I have eaten tons though. I had moved up 2 belt holes but now I am back to just 1 up. I'll update you all on the happenings of my body in later emails as well.
Oh L. Sousa and I had been walking for like 3 hours and not really found anyone to teach so we took a little break and sat in this "park" and watched some little hooligans play some soccer. When all of the sudden this homeless lady with a bunch of cardboard and newspaper walks up to a spot about 20 feet to our left (in the park still) and sets it down and then precedes to light it on fire. Then she walked across the street to a location that was undisclosed to us and brings another armful of paper products and added it to the fire. She continued to do this until she had a full-blown bonfire going. It was massive. She poked at it a little with a stick and then after about 3 minutes she just left and didn't return. Now it was like 93 degrees outside at the time so obviously it was not for warmth. We still do not understand but we walked by that spot yesterday and there is this massive black spot among the green grass and the wall next to it is black too. So confusing.
On Saturday we grabbed a juice at this tiny little café. Oh, side note, EVERYONE drinks juice with pretty much every meal here. Juice and guaraná (that drink that you were telling me about Dad, yeah it is delicious). Very rarely is water ordered at a restaurant. And there is only bottled water because it's not to safe to drink it from the tap, funny though because that's all I drink back at the house here. Oh well. Anyway, so we were leaving the café when this older guy came up to us, smoking and very very close to being drunk, and started talking to us. I was with 3 people who spoke Portuguese well so I just let them talk when all of the sudden he turned to me and said (and I actually understood) "You are the most handsome of the 4 of the missionaries there. So I said thank you and then we shook hands and he held on to my one hand with his two for like 35 seconds while looking in my eyes. It was extremely scary, yet oddly flattering.
I am always tired. I never remember my head hitting the pillow at night and I swear I had just closed my eyes when my alarm goes off. That part of the mission sucks. SO much walking and no time to rest your body. Oh well, it will be that way for another 22 months so I better get used to it.
The language is extremely difficult and I was laughed at yet again yesterday, but I can see that is starting to come so that makes me happy. It is coming very very slowly though but the American missionaries tell me to give it 2 more months and I will be fine. E. Martinatto said this morning after I had talked to him for a min that it was getting tons better. Hooray for the dumb American!
Today was P-day so we went to the Chapel with our zone and played soccer in the court that most every chapel in São Paulo has. Pretty much just a basketball court outside but it works good for soccer. I swear every Brazi is born being able to play soccer. I wasn't that bad but I definitely was not as pretty at playing as they are. It's crazy. Anyway that was fun then we just got done eating at a nice "Tucano´s" style restaurant which was delicious.
Thank you everyone for the emails and I am sorry my last letter came off so bad. I really do love it here and I am getting used to everything. The house is actually pretty nice and I usually can get the idea of what people are saying to me. I am grateful for all of you prayers and I miss all of you. Love you, talk to you next week. Oh, and letters are very much appreciated. Depending on when we have Zone Conf., Interviews, or Transfers it can take anywhere from 1 1/2 - 5 weeks for a letter to get to me so if I don't answer back quickly pleas be patient. See ya suckers!
-Elder Brent Parsons
Hello!
So this letter probably won't be as long as some of my others because I want to send you all some pictures of my house and companion and stuff and it takes forever to download the pictures so I want to leave time to do that. I will try to write fast.
Before I start I want you to know, everyone but especially mother, that I am fine right now and that I am beginning to love the work...my first few days were pretty rough though. But don't get your panties all in a bunch over my first few paragraphs.So after I emailed you last Wednesday we went to find the house we were going to stay at...but the funny thing was that we didn't have one. We were with another companionship, arrived at their house and they were like "OK well this is our house so as of right now you don't have one so you will be staying at the ZL's house until you guys find another." What? So we headed over to the ZL's house which I thought would be able to accommodate another companionship...but not really. It just had a bunk-bed in the what I thought was the "entry-way" but turned out to be our room.
So we just put our stuff on the floor and I would have unpacked but I had no dresser or closet or anything. Anyway, so then I decided to change into some comfortable clothes, so I opened up my suitcase to get some clothes out and found a bunch of red-goo stuff everywhere. In my hurry to pack I didn't strategically place my Axe body wash (of course it was red) and it somehow broke open and got everywhere! I almost added a few tears to the red mess right then and there.
Well, long story short it got on a bunch of my garments and a couple of my shirts along with some other stuff by fortunately I was able to get it all cleaned and my shirts and garments are fine. But at that time I didn't know that so I stuck my clothes in the washer and climbed up into my bed and wished my Mommy was there to clean up the mess instead of me :). Just kidding, but not really. My companion and I didn't really talk the entire day and I had never wanted to come home so bad. Yeah, one of the worst days of my life.
But remember! It got better! I can't really do a day by day thing but my companion and I actually opened up a new area called Limão that is right next to Casa Verde. So this week we got a bunch of contacts from the ZL and his companion and began teaching and contacting in the area.
Teaching is unbelievably hard for me because I now realize that I learned pretty much nothing in the CTM about the language. My companion is extremely patient with me though which is pretty sweet and the people usually are too. They pretty much just think I am a joke of some sort and laugh at me when I teach or talk to them. Two nights ago we were teaching this family about prayer and I explained a scripture then started bearing my testimony about prayer and a member that was there with us literally just burst out laughing during my testimony. Then of course everyone else started laughing and I sat there trying to cover up my soft-sobs underneath a smile. I feel kind of bad whenever I talk because I pretty much kill any spirit that happened to be there, but my companion pretty much makes me.
When it is just me and my companion together it is pretty cool because we both teach each other; I teach him English and he teaches me Portuguese. But when it is all 4 of us (my companion, ZL, and his companion) they all seem to have an attitude of "polite neglect" towards me. They all speak Portuguese together and after about 4 minutes of me trying to translate (which is literally physically exhausting) I zone off and think of something else...a life of English and a dresser to put my clothes in...
The ward here is awesome. They have a list of the entire ward and which days they have to feed us. So everyday my companion and I have a lunch scheduled with a member family, and usually it is delicious. Rice and beans of course, which I really like, then some meat and juice of some sort. Them Brazis love their juice. I have had a few questionable meals where I thought that I would be feeding the food to the toilet later that night, but I have not got sick yet. They cautioned us in the CTM to never drink water from the tap which for one is pretty much impossible with lunch everyday being at a member's house where of course they used the tap water to make their juice and food, and two it has not made me sick at all yet so I am not going to worry about it.
Oh so the mission rules are that I can only email my Mother, Father, Brother, and Sister. For now I will obey but that might change later. I can receive emails from anyone though so please keep writing and I hope my parents put the right address up on the blog to where any letters should be sent? Please do. Anyway, I'll be writing more hand-written letters and sending them off in the coming weeks.
OK I need to go download the pics, I hope they work. Sorry this letter has been pretty boring, hopefully the pics are interesting. I really miss you all so much you have no idea...it's a lot harder than I thought it would be. But I know that I am here doing the Lord's work and I have seen it bless family's lives already.
Oh yeah we have baptism dates for a family for November 15th, pretty sweet. They had been taught a little bit by another companionship and were passed off to us. Only the parents are old enough to get baptized, so we will baptize those two. Anyway, I love you all.
-Elder Brent Parsons
Hello,
Ok, so I have no idea what to write right now. I am so confused...I will try to remember what I need to tell you but I will probably forget some stuff.
I will write about my new companion and area and stuff but first I will leave off on my last email. Last week was pretty much useless until Sunday when I started packing. Packing without a mommy is no fun. But I started and was doing pretty good with it until Monday when my Mission President (President Cooley), his wife, and the 2 APs of the mission came to the CTM and while the APs talked to the group of 15 of us (8 Americans, 7 Brazilians) that are going to serve in São Paulo North, our Mission President interviewed all of us. My Mission President is so awesome. He is a farmer from Arizona and is way cool. He is pretty laid back and is really easy to talk to. I will let you know more about him when I find out more. Anyway, so the APs were talking to us and told us that we can only take 1 suitcase out to our mission...some news that I would have liked to know before I packed TWO suitcases worth of stuff down here. So all of us were going pretty crazy trying to decide things we could leave in the other bag that we don't take to our area that wouldn't totally screw us over for the next 6 weeks or so. It was pretty hectic, but I think I got everything that I needed but we will see.
So then Monday night we said goodbye to the 3 Elders in our district that are not going to São Paulo North with us and went to sleep. We woke up Tuesday morning and packed all our stuff into a van and then left at 8:30 am to go to our mission office that is about 40 minutes away by car (by the way I am omitting many details due to lack of time and patience). So we arrived there, eyes wide and urine running freely, and went inside and met the 2 APs again and the office missionaries. They were actually really cool and I kind of envy their job. Then they gave us a presentation on the rules of the mission, financial stuff, and a bunch of other stuff, then we went to lunch at this amazing "Tucanos" style restaraunt but it was like 5 times better, and then we just kind of hung out until 5 pm. But then at 5 pm each AP and office missionary and some other elders in the area took each one of us as his companion and went out proselyting.
My companion was one of the APs named Elder Pando. Elder Pando has been out somewhere between 1 year and 3 months and 1 year and 10 months; he is a very vague man. So we said a prayer (which he of course made me say in Portuguese) then headed out the door. We walked right past the São Paulo Temple and then...several more miles (contacting many of the people who were obviously trying to avoid us along the way) until he finally said "so are you ready to go into the Favela?" Now in the U.S. a Favela would probably be called a Slum, but there aren't slums in the U.S. like there are here. We were literally walking past what I thought were two connected building, but then he took a sharp right turn into a small opening that was used as an entrance to this Favela. It really was straight out of a movie. We walked in and it was just this really long, dark corridor that had a small stream of feces accompanying it along side so we wouldn't get lonely and the high open air overhead. There were half-dressed and naked children running around too (they call us 'believers'). Then we walked down and stopped at this door and knocked. After waiting5 or so min we were let in and taught this 14 year old boy about how important it was for him to read the Book of Mormon. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that it was boiling-lava hot outside and this entire time, especially after walking the several miles of mountainous terrain, I was dripping. It probably looked pretty ridiculous to this 14 year old kid to watch this plus-size American bear his testimony about the Book of Mormon in broken Portuguese while having a constant sweat-drip from his nose. Oh well, I am sure I will be sweating off a few hundred pounds in the next few weeks and there wont be anything left to sweat.
So after that we went to the church (yet again...several miles away) and taught the 3 old people and English lesson for an hour, which was actually pretty cool. Then we went to this lady's house (had to dodge the dog feces on her stairs) and talked to her for a minute while we drank the juice she made us. Right before we left the CTM they gave us this huge lecture on how to stay healthy in the field. One of the things was to NEVER drink the tap-water. Yeah that rule went out the window last night because that juice was definitely not made from delicious mineral water.
After that we went back home and ate pizza then went to bed in the "hotel"...which is just a storage area in the back of the Mission Office that they threw a few cots in. Then woke up this morning and went to the chapel where everyone in the entire mission were, awaiting the announcement of their new companions and areas.
So my new companion is Elder L. Sousa (There are so many people with the last names Sousa, Silva, De Silva, and Nascimento that they have to add their first initial to distinguish). I literally have been with him for about 2 and half hours. He is from Rio De Janeiro and has been on his mission for 1 year and 3 months. He speaks only a tiny bit of English so it forces me to call upon every word I ever learned in the CTM. He seems really cool though and has to be a very good soccer player because he played one of the most well-know teams here in brazil, the Flamingos from Rio. Crazy. I'll tell you more about him next week.
Oh yeah so some crazy news. My area is Casa Verde (Green House) and it is the same area of the CTM! I am literally 200 yards from the CTM right now (not in Cheney's but at this other place). It is so weird. I have seen a bunch of the elders I knew walking around because it is there P-day too.
Ok, I only have an hour so I have to go. Packages and letters go straight to the mission office and then we can pick them up when we go there for interviews, zone conferences, and the like. It sucks but that is how it is. You can address letters as normal but if you send a package put the return address name as "Elder Parsons" and the name that you are sending it to as "President Jeffry Cooley" so that he can sign for it. I really have to go hope that made sense but I need to go. Love you all, pray for me, I'll write more next week.
Mission Office Address: (CHECK THIS TO MAKE SURE IT IS RIGHT)
Rua Dr. Rui Batista Pereira 165
Caxingui
05571-080 São Paulo - SP
-Elder Brent Parsons
