It's been a long time since my last P-day!! I absolutely loooooove it there in the field!! I have an awesome trainer so thanks so much for all the prayers for my trainer as well. We arrived here last Tuesday and had a lot of meetings and training stuff go on with the Bangerters then we got to meet our trainers about 3:00. All us greenies were in the local chappel singing "called to serve" and when we got to the chorus all of our trainers opened up the curtain in the back and came running in. My companion's name is Elder Rangel. He´s 19 and has six moths in the missions and this is his second time training but I'm his first American. He's super cool and patient with me and the language.
We didn't get out to my zone until like 8:00
because of all the bus and logistical junk. I'm serving in the São
Carlos zone in the Aracy area. My area is huge and we've split it with
the other companionship in our house. Aracy is the very outer part of
São Carlos and has cliffs and bluffs on one side and huge rolling open
hills and farm land on the other. It's beautiful. The actual area is just
lots and lots and lots of houses and lojas (little shops) all smacked
together. The average house would easily fit in our main hallway. They're
all skinny and long and everything is attached to the house next door.
As
for language ability and all that mess, going incredibly well!! The
first two days I barely understood anything and wasn't super functional
speaking either. I've got a tiny notebook I keep in my shirt pocket and
write down new words I hear or words in English that I need and
want to find in my dictionary. The third day I took a huge
leap and I can understand almost everything people are saying as long
as their accent is reasonable and I can talk waaay better. It's definitely not easy but hard work pays off. Any spare moment I have I
pull out my notebook and keep reviewing so I can make the words usable. And in the mornings I start off by defining any words I need to and
writing ones I think will be useful then I review a grammar principle
to work on during the day, then I either read my scriptures or other
books in Portugues.
I got a Gospel Principles book in Portugues that is
awesome! it explains important gospel topics in simple language I can
understand and learn new words from while looking for the grammar
principle I'm working on. I read more at night after we get home. I'm
learning the language SO fast out here in the field. I'm
writing and retaining 50 words a day and that's just what I write down.
I'm able to make a contact or door approach from start to finish by
myself and I teach and share in all the lessons.I'm gunna admit that I
could've worked a lot harder while in the CTM. I was learning well and got
comfortable and I was to worried about not studying too much because I
was going crazy being cooped up all day. I talked about how the gift of tongues was real in the CTM but I had no idea. When you are doing
everything you can 24/7 and serving the Lord when you're not studying, that is when you receive the gift of tongues.
We've got a
pretty good teaching pool and there's really only two people I haven't
been involved with from lesson one.
One of our investigators is 11 years old, and she's one of the smartest people
I know. she
asks the most intelligent questions during the lessons and never bats an
eye. She pays all the attention in the world. She reads her scriptures
in between visits and asks questions about it when we come. All the kids
here think its awesome that I'm an American too. I brought my pictures
to show her and she ran around and gathered all the other kids and I sat there with like six kids
while they looked at my pictures and asked questions about the US.
Yesterday she came to church and after we showed her the baptismal
font and I committed her to be baptized. She was so excited she went to
tell all the kids in primary right after.
The food here is amazing and so much better than the
CTM. We get lunch everyday at members' houses and the other two at home. We just work through dinner every day and eat when we get home at 9. The
house is too far away to take a break, plus you can really only teach
after dark because people won't open the door for you if they don't know
you when it's dark. I love cooking my own food everyday too!! I eat a lot
of eggs and a lot of salad. Pretty much all I make is some variation of
egg or salad. It's pretty scrumptious. I got stuff to make tacos today. It's hard to find stuff for that in Brazil. For tortillas I had to buy
mini pizza crusts so it's gunna be more like a chalupa but it'll be great.
Well
everything is going really well and I'm enjoying the heck out of the
field. I had a moment as I was sitting in the favelas teaching after
dark, and I looked around and there's all these houses made of scraps and
stray dogs and trash, there's a whole bunch of random noises going on ,
then I look forward and there's a little girl hugging her Book of Mormon
hanging onto every word my companion said. I just had a super strong
witness from the spirit that that is what I was supposed to be doing.
There is nowhere I would rather be than right here!! I love this work , I
love the People , and I love My Savior!!
Oh and I love you tons too.
-Elder Cam Little
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