#14

So yeah.. Now that we talked on the phone, I don't know what else to say this week...

I did forget one other 'cool' thing that Brasilians do around here: They like to make small mountains of dirt, sand, rocks, or rubble. These occasionally occupy the sidewalks. . . yeah weird I know. 

So, if you want to be a Brasilian, you simply need to be able to fly kites through telephone wires, play dominoes like you are having a fist fight, and have a big pile of blah outside your house.

Did I mention that I apparently live in a very diverse (wealth-wise) area? There are four types of houses I’ve seen/heard of. 1. Dirt for the sidewalk 2. Concrete for the sidewalk 3. Tile for the sidewalk 4. Electric fences on top of the gates. Apparently number 4 is very common in rich fancy-pants areas. I've seen one here. Anyway, my point: You can walk down the sidewalk and step on all three types of sidewalk. In fact, I was joking about it with Elder George, and he pointed out that we very literally just walked on dirt, tile, then concrete. . . Some houses look almost American on the inside, and I've seen a couple houses literally made of scraps of wood. Thin wood. It's just a perfect mixture. Weird.

Other than that I don't have much to say... Our 'Natal' was rather uneventful, which is okay with me. I've just determined that I'm going to skip two Christmases and have two Natals instead. This way it isn't nearly as depressing as the other missionaries say, for me it was just another day, but with a really good lunch. Hope all of everyone had a good Christmas, and happy New Year to you all as well. 

Now maybe I'll remember something else later... but no guarantees, so...

Tchau,

Elder Funnell

Natal means Christmas. Very simple. 'Feliz Natal'. It means Santa and Christmas trees and lights (for those that can afford them) BUT, it isn't the same. It's hot. You should not put sunscreen on on Christmas. It's also just generally different. But it means the same thing. For me, Natal is just something disguised as Christmas that is taking its place for a little while.

I don't think there are any areas in our mission that are too bad. We have a much bigger than average, but about average quality house. And yeah, tchau is bye. Dunno what it looks like in Italian, but I thought it was spelled WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY weird when I first saw it here.

Haha, they don't have to, but they should I think. AND, I think that is a good idea. It’s great thing to do. But a suggestion: If you highlight, don't highlight words, it defeats the purpose of reading to some extent. Instead, highlight at least one or more of your favorite verses in the chapter. It can be tough in a chapter of just 6 verses, but it's possible. I found that this way I'm forced to understand what I read, and I can find the nuggets of gold in the sea of words.
AND, I find it fun to look at a chapter and try to pick out my favorite verse. I just started doing this, and I'm in second Nephi. Just started Isaiah yuckiness, so good luck me.

Currently I'm highlighting 1. Prophesies 2. Scriptures I use often or could use often for lessons, 3. Good stuff. So main ideas, doctrinal type stuff, and 4. Scripture mastery.

On top of that I'm also going through each chapter and writing down the general sequence of events and important thoughts from the chapter, then adding my favorite verse from the chapter in the margin. Way more than necessary, but I'm liking it.

I don't remember which I blurted, but I like several:

The blessings of baptism and Holy Ghost: Mni8.24-26

Strength to do all things: Alma 26.12
Faith as an experiment: Alma 32.26-27

and reward for faith: Alma 32.40

Testimony of Alma: Alma 5.45-47

Note for future missionaries/cool members that actually know the scriptures (unlike me): Memorizing the content of a scripture is fine, but it doesn't matter too much considering you can just look it up if you know the reference. :) (I enjoyed reading this as he hated memorizing scripture references!J)

The others do frequently, but not anything that we catch on camera. Just imagine living with five 20ish year old guys that have been out working all day every day... yeah, more or less like that. This morning Elder George was singing Portuguese hymns in rap/heavy metal style (depending on the song) with E. Almeida on the drum (soccer ball)

Do you see your old companion ever?

I see him whenever we have something as a whole mission, so the Christmas party for instance. We sat down with the remnants of our old district and talked for about four hours. Was really cool. Probably the coolest group of people to be able to talk to short of family, considering we were a family for nine weeks.

Talk to you next week then I think. It may not be at the normal time, but I think it will happen eventually.

Have a good week yourself :)

Tchau, boa semana, feliz ano novo

In case you can’t tell, I caught him online and you are getting parts of our conversation, sorry if it doesn’t make complete sense, but there are some things that wouldn’t make sense anyways, so hopefully this will work.

#13

So.... would love to go to the temple... But yeah, won't happen for quite some time now. Disadvantage of being in Brasilia. They do want to make one here though, so maybe they will announce one at some point while I'm here. That would be neat.

8th grade huh? Neat. And good luck to all of you HAHAHA I'M NOT THERE. But yeah really, have fun with that.

This last week was sorta depressing. We did get that family to go to church that one time, but they recently decided to be depressed and won't talk to us anymore. We are really hoping things will be better next week so we don't have to cut them, that would be extremely not cool. We have that other investigator that wouldn't pray, and we got a member to come with us to teach him... But as of yet... No prayer. GRkçsaihfpz. Bleh

You would think that people would come running to the church because of what we offer and the painfully clear evidence that we have in the Book of Mormon. All you have to do is actually want the truth, read, and pray. So painfully simple, yet no one does it. I guess I didn't do it for a long time either, but that’d hardly an excuse now is it? It’s kinda like that story with Moses and the serpent. "Look at the serpent to not die from this painful poison", " eh, I'd rather not, that's too hard".

Anyway, complaining aside, I really do love these people. That's the reason that I'm complaining. They are great people that I hope can achieve eternal life, but only in their own time I suppose.

We also had an exchange with the Zone leaders on Friday. If anything, I now appreciate Paranoa that much more, because it is hard to find people in (I think it was this city...) Laza Norte. They all live in giant apartment complexes, making door contacts impossible. Granted, I liked the relative luxury of the city, but it's simpler and more fun here in Paranoa.

On another note, it turns out that most areas in the mission are within half and hour of Brasilia. In the CTM we figured there would be a big chance of being in the middle of nowhere, but I guess it still isn't very populated. Sounds lonely though. There is one area that is over and hour from the rest of their district, and about 12 hours out of Brasilia. Being there would be cool for a little while, but I bet it's super lonely.

We went to the Christmas devotional last night. Yeah... I liked the music... But I wanted to hear the first presidency. For one thing, it's not the same when it isn't their own voices. For another, I still can't understand talks like that in Portuguese... That was a disappointing hour.

BUT, I know the language will come. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't supposed to learn Portuguese. According to most people I speak much better than they did in their second transfer, never mind their first. Although I don't like comparing myself to others, that kind of comparison is nice now and then when you can't understand anything. Just time and work and time and practice and time. Yeah.

Let's see, food I like... Rice and beans are nice because they are the 'safe food'. You will (almost) always have them and they will (very nearly) always be good. They are pretty good and their meats too, and some of the fruit is really good and some of it is... strong. And not great. I can't remember the names to any of the fruits that are really good, but one of the common juices we have is passion fruit... and that's amazing.

They also make this stuff called sobremesa. Which makes no sense. The word sobre means about or on, and the word mesa is table... But yeah it's a pudding-like jello-ish stuff. Usually it is also passion fruit, and way to strong to be tasty, but I had one that was some Amazonian fruit, and that was really good, and yesterday we had apple, which was positively amazing. We get ice cream now and then too, those are good. I think we are making milkshakes tonight :)

Oh, we didn't go to the office this week, so we didn't get any of our packages or anything, so I don’t even know if I have it. But yeah, I'll tell you whenever I do get it.

OH! Important! If by chance you find yourself in Brasil and you are eating lunch with members. DO NOT PUT THE unlabeled-bottle-full-of-weird-stuff ON YOUR FOOD IF YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR TASTE BUDS! Yeah... they like it kinda hot. Hot to the extent that Elder George was dying and I simply could not taste the food anymore. Yet Elder Alves like a ton of it on his food... Is that just because he hates the food we eat? Just kidding of course, I doubt that's the case. But, maybe :P

Anyway, I feel like I've typed forever, and I don't know what else to say, so talk to you more in a sec and...

Tchau,

Elder Funnell

#12

I always send mail on Mondays, I also read open mail on Mondays, but I receive mail on Tuesdays or Wednesdays... Inconvenient, but oh well. Anyway, have not yet received that box, although I could get it tomorrow, who knows? I would love to send something to Maryn, but I rather distinctly remember saying that I would only reply to letters people sent :P I'll try to get one out next week anyways, I did break the rule already for Blake. As for a Brazilian Christmas? Haven't experienced one yet... So I have no idea. Except for hot and sometimes wet, I've noticed that much. I'll send something next week if I can find anything... but I really don't know. The ONLY thing I’ve seen here are soccer jerseys, so if they want some Brazilian soccer team jerseys I could get some of those (when I know their sizes). Other than that I really don't know what else there is or where to find it. I'll keep looking.

As for Christmas phone calls... I really don’t know either. I just got the weekly email from the president and it says something or another about them, but I'm going to have to spend some more time to actually know what it’s saying. . . It's not exactly something I hear in Portuguese often. I do remember that you can have like 40 min on Skype, that's really the only part I understood. Problem is: I have no idea how. Never had to use it before. I'll see what I can translate out of that email n a sec.

In other news, I'm glad that my letters were helpful, I sacrificed watching a movie to write them :P You might warn Marques that I'll be asking him what he is reading about, which parts are his favorites, and if he is learning anything new. Reading is great, but it’s easy (including for me) to not really see the significance of what’s being said unless you are really looking for it. I think I told Blake in his letter that I really wish I had read the scriptures more, earlier, so yeah. Oh, and please say thank you to the Stapleys for me. I was excited to have a letter from someone that wasn't family (although I love your emails and letters, it's nice to have some from other people too). If I have time, I’ll write them a short something for next week as well, but thank them for me just in case please :)

I've determined that writing is a pain. That whole online school thing has me used to typing. I like it better. I also can only write on P days, so bleh... roughly six hours to eat, read, write, and sleep.

Let's see... Transfers are every six weeks, with the next one being on the second. We are teaching some cool people, mostly just two groups currently though. I think three households that we were teaching in either moved or are moving... grr. We have the references for other missionaries, and I'm sure that will be fine, but I WANNA KEEP EM. Oh well, happens.

One guy that we met in our first week is still chugging along on the path to understanding, but we couldn't meet with him last week. He is catholic, has read a little bit of the bible, (is a really cool guy), and seems honestly interesting in learning more. This is the hold-up: He believes that the bible is 100 percent perfect and that he doesn't see what's so special about the Book of Mormon. We have been concentrating on prayer for revelation (cause he is used to memorized prayers) and he committed to start reading the Book of Mormon last time (FINALLY!!!). We meet with him tonight; we will see how that goes.

We also have a family that we met a week ago on Friday. The mom is super super super faithful and loves hearing about the gospel, and she is accepting everything pretty quick. She went to church that same Sunday (with the other five of her family), that was neat. They also want to be baptized, sweet. The only trouble we have run into so far is that their daughter really likes to give hugs. . . That was annoying to explain.

All in all, everything is just fine. We are having a horrid time finding members to go with us, and I'm sick of Sunday meetings that I can't understand, but everything else is going smoothly. I think that when I get back home, I'm going to make sure the missionaries don't need any help, cause hunting for members that can go even on one visit is a massive pain.

Oh, and this is funny: I'm tanning slightly. haha

And I believe that’s about it for this week, be sure to give my congrats to whoever it is that swam, and make those sibling of mine write :)

Eu lhes amo,

Elder Funnell

I actually caught him online, so these are pieced together from our conversation this morning…

Send a pic of a road river and is your umbrella different than ours? I hear they are sturdier due to how intense the rain is.

The tiny one I brought is WAAAY too wimpy for that rain, but I replaced it before that rain happened, so I just carry the small one around f I don’t think it's going to rain. But the umbrella I have is just kinda average looking; the primary difference is that it doesn't fold, so that part is stronger. Pretty sure even this one won't last too long though. I think Veras said he went through at least 7 umbrellas. And taking pictures is harder that it would seem. I don't know the rules for camera usage really, I’ve only seen them used at baptisms and the birthday party we had in our house. And besides, we aren't allowed to carry backpacks when proselyting, so I have nowhere to put a camera. Will try if I can

We only had one day like that anyway though, a good six+ inches of water in the street flowing like a small river. I stayed dry (relatively) by carefully stepping, but Elder George got soaked shoes. By the way, those walking-dress shoes are super neat. I don’t like the other pairs in comparison now.

How much longer are you online this morning, anything else fun going on?

I'm here until Elder George is done, so no idea when. BUT... sounds like we are meeting with both of our major investigators tonight (assuming it all goes according to plan). I think we are watching the testaments with the family, so I’ll probably get a good hour-long nap in. There is s a 0% chance of understanding a movie in Portuguese. Luckily I just watched it in English recently, and I watched it with subtitles in the CTM. But yeah, not much going that I know of.

…and an explanation for the mission meeting pictures with Pres. Godoy.

Haha. Pictures from mission conference. They had us looking into the sun after being in a dim conference for three hours, and I was rather grumpy at that point. BUT, I’m there. haha

Mission conference with Elder Godoy

Can you find our Elder?  :)

#11

Well that stinks... Sorry to hear that and send my best wishes to Brook and Rachael and Josh :(
About Portuguese... Yeah remember the whole math-science vs. art-language thing? I am certainly not the best with languages. However, I haven't had too bad of a time really. I can generally get my point across and understand what’s going on in lessons. I just can't always understand what some e of the faster-speaking Brazilians are saying, and I understand very little if it isn't gospel related. Like I said though, I'm getting there, no worries really.
So like I said, we opened an area, and as we learned from the district leader last Wednesday (district meeting).  "Basically, opening an area completely sucks. You have nothing to do but knock on doors and generally feel lost. After the first couple weeks it becomes awesome though, because you will have loads of great investigators to teach." Elder George was glad to hear this because he did feel lost the whole first week or so, which is funny because I didn't particularly care. I figured it was new and different, just learning how to do stuff. This week we got a lot more lessons in, and we brought a family of six to church yesterday. Considering we met them on Friday, I think that's pretty cool.
We have some other people that we are teaching that are great, and they are actively inviting us back and participating in lessons, they just couldn't commit to church so fast. When I got here I figured that my companion would already be used to the area and have lessons for me to join in on, but we have had to find our own. It's all good either way, we are learning how to do stuff together, and I’m cool with that.
The days are kinda wired. We have some stupid hot days, some somewhat cold days (yes I realize that sounds weird, but really cold enough in the morning for a sweatshirt), and some stupid wet days. The past week every day has been all three... You will be melting one second and wading through six inches of water as you are being drowned by a torrential downpour the next. Very interesting. There was only one day of six inch water stuff though, that was two or three days ago. Seriously POURED for hours and the streets became rivers. Very much literally. We were stranded on islands of "less wet" fairly frequently, but I managed to stay mostly dry. I like it all the same.
I am not in need of anything that I can think of, except the nap that is awaiting me today. And Elder George and I get along great, not much to explain there, just how it is. Like I think I said before, it would take a very 'interesting' person for me to not get along with. He is very goofy and fun, but also likes to follow the rules to the best of his ability, which is pretty perfect for me actually.
I did get the box with the camera (yay!) thanks you for all the... everything. Didn't get to look through it in depth yet because of the information I learned last week... Turns out you get your mail every week at district meeting, which is fine and dandy, but you can't open it until P day. LAME. I got it on Wednesday, but only opened it this morning... Grr... Annoying. Anway, I plan on examining everything when we have our open-time, thanks much. I'll keep my eyes open for the other one and the letter also. Oh, and I just sent a letter your way, let's see how long it takes eh? (One is for Marques and the other for Blake)
Well, I think that's all for my random spewing of words today, hopefully I didn’t forget too much.

Tchau,
Elder Funnell