I am in Brazil! Finalmente! And it is soooooo different from what I expected. I have no computer time, so I´m just going to lay it out. This language thing is like the hardest thing I´ve ever done. I don´t understand a single word, like ever. Imagine asking a person ten times to repeat what they´ve said slower and slower and you still can´t understand it. That´s what I do all day everyday. There are a lot of things that are really different and really hard about Belem, and not going to lie, I had a couple MTC experiences the first couple days here, waking up and hoping this had just been a nightmare. But despite the lack of material things and the over abundance of nature in my life, sitting in my companions hammock last night, writing in my journal, I realized I´m totally happy. Yes, it´s hard, but Heavenly Father has been helping me so much through all of this. I can´t communicate with the Braziliams, but for some reason, they love me. I have an amazing companion, Sister Pereira, who has so much patience with me and is so loving and kind. She doesn´t even need me as a companion. She is so hard core teaching, that people call her Sister Docio (the word for priesthood in portuguese is sacerdocio). Our water got turned on last night just as I was about to wet my pants. I didn´t like the bugs in my bed, so my companion is letting me use her hammock. After trying to sleep in a hammock last night, though, I´m now grateful for my bed. We don´t have any food in our house, but the members love feeding us bola (cake) and juice all the time. And the juice here is SOOO good! There are so many fruits here that don´t exist in the states, and even the fruits I´ve never liked, like pineapple, are amazing! Best of all, Sister Kemer, one of my bst friends from the MTC is in my district! I get to see her like twice a week! And one of my Zone Leaders is American. We eat lunch with them at members´houses everyday, and he helps translate into simpler Portuguese when I don´t understand- which is all the time. In our ward counsel meeting yesterday, I was zoning out after 2 hours of listening to gibberish when I recognized 1 Nephi 3:7. I don´t know what was said about it, but it just reminded me that I can do this. Heavenly Father didn´t send me here to fail. I will learn the language, I will help the people, and He´s already helped me to ´´aclimate´´. I´m not alone in this, and I can do it. Tender mercy. On a side note, during out 3.5 hour ward counsel meeting yesterday, while everybody was ´´counseling´´ about some recent convert, I looked over and the relief society president and stake presdient´s wife were taking ´´selfies´´ to put online. So funny.
Favorite quote of the week by my friend from Portugal: ´´ the people here are so poor. And they´re happy! I don´t understand why you would be happy if you were this poor. I would not be happy.´´ He´s hilariously blunt.Sister Barkdull
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