This week has been awesome. The biggest thing that happened was that I had exchanges. Because my comp is district leader I got to spend a day and a half with one of the zone leaders and his two roommates. Elder Almeida (the ZL) is very cool, but what made the entire experience just a bit cooky was that he is the person in the zone who speaks the least English, and I debatably speak the least Portuguese, which lead to an interesting dynamic of slow talking, finger-pointing, and Google translating. But we got it down eventually and gave some really great lessons.
Elder Almeida's roommates are also dope. Elder Fonseca is a Brazilian Elder who is almost fluent in English and is always laughing or making a joke. Elder Jones is a war torn veteran of the mission field, but still has lots of enthusiasm. Living in a group of four is very different, and if I'm being honest, I prefer it. We also ate out of the apartment a lot, so I got to try lots of new foods like Brazilian Pizza, Acai, pastel (attached below), and dessert Torta.
We also had a training on Friday for all the new missionaries. I actually don't remember what it was about because it was all review of things we had already been told. Plus some spiritually uplifting things...but that barely counts.
We don't have a whole lot of lessons or baptisms because we are laying the groundwork in the area. However, we have one or two interested people who we are teaching, including Odinei. We have a picture with him attached below.
Today was Pday and normally that means all the missionaries in São Carlos get together to hang out. We played a lot of Uno, Mafia, and basketball. I have also attached a photo of this below. (This week I have actually taken photos of the things I have done)
I feel inordinately blessed this week, and feel like I am hitting my side as a missionary. My Portuguese is improving, and I'm am actually starting to understand what is occurring around me. I also feel the Lord bless me as I teach so I can speak passably and be understood perfectly.
This upcoming week has a whole bunch of other exciting things coming up, so rather writing about my life, I'm going to go live it now.
Peace!
Elder Whiting
