by the way, Bah! is a word of excitement and joy here...it's a fantastic exclamation...up there with Nossa! (wow) and Cheiquezou (pronounced sheekeezow and literally means "very fancy", but really means on the street AWESOME!!!)
então...
this week was absolutely nuts! the best way to describe it was an overload of all 5 senses...as follows:
Touch-
-This week went from 36 degrees to 11 yesterday...fantastic :D
-I have blisters on all of my toes
-We have bedbugs...ouch
-mosquitos have come to drain me of blood
Hear-
-Funk. thats all I need to say. they have trucks here whose entire bed of the truck is a single speaker......and they play the most obnoxious music..FUNK....kind of like Brandon Blake (lil brother) smashing his head on Brittanys synthesizer keyboard and every key is a different noise...coupled with a dozen three year olds with wooden spoons banging on mom's pots and pans. youtube that janx and you'll know what i'm talking about...
-also, we had an interesting experience..we were walking to an investigator's house when a car parked on the side of the road started playing music....pretty common, except the music was just a voice...deep and dark and sinister it said "I am the darkness.....bahahahahahaha...
Taste-
-beans, beans, beans, and yup, you guessed it, beans!!!!!!! yay :D I love beans... well, mom you were right, beans here are very simple...a little garlic, a little onion, usually some random chuncks of leftover meat. (any type works, pork is most common here though), and tons and tons of blackbeans....but they make them different than you do mom, they cook them until they are super super squishy-soft, until you could mash them with a fork and they would be smooth....only blackbeans here though.. so good though....every single meal every day... :)
-I bought a long stick of salami...fantastic decision...super cheap and super full of flavor
-Tererei (I have no idea how to spell it, but thats how it sounds, just say it as fast as possible and thats how it is said)...basically its Matte/Chemarrou with ice and sprite/lemonade/juice sucked through a bomba...same as chemarrou....very very desirable and delicious when it is hot outside
Sight
-well, there have been billboards going up all around town about the new mammogram center that has opened up....and instructions on how to conduct a self-mammogram...that has been a wonderful addition to the city >:/
-the volume of clothing people wear here is inversely proportional to the temperature, not much unlike the USA, but in a more openly fashion... we just have to be careful....very careful.....
-because of the heat earlier this week...the gilla monsters have come out of the forests and have been chilling on the unused roads...they're HUGE!!!! i'll include a picture
Smell-
-Well, we tried to take a shortcut between two of our investigators...they live a stone's throw away from each other, but between their houses is a gorge...where a river runs down through the bottom...smaller than the stream behind our house, and it hadn't rained in over 2 weeks so it was really low...we figured we could save our legs and a ton of time by crossing it rather than going around, over a very large hill, down it, and back up another....yeah, it was and it worked...but the stream was sewage.............yeah, that was absolutely fantastic by the time we made it to our investigator's house....well, we had decided to never do that again.
-we were clapping doors and we ran into a member....she is chair-ridden, and very.....interesting..... but she's a member none the less, so we visited her and her grandmother (pushing 95?) as we were explaining the importance of prayer...her son ran into the kitchen (where we were) and lit up the stove....swooped his head down and lit up the biggest joint I have ever seen in my LIFE....it was well over 4 inches long...we would have just figured that it was a homemade cigarette..the people here grow their own tobbacco and roll their own...but within 2 minutes, he was singing in his bedroom, and the entire house was filled with weed-smoke....she seemed oblivious....we left shortly thereafter
well, after that inspirational note...one that is a bit more spiritual....on a slightly political note
please read Mosiah 29.... but concentrate on verses 16, 21, 22, 23, and 27
we were teaching Irmão Luiz's family last week and ran down the road afterward to visit a member to see if they wanted to do a FHE with him, later that week...well, they did, and they also gave us a reference (LOVE LOVE LOVE references)....we visited them that night...and holy smokes!!!!!! so...she was baptized 12 years ago, but has since then left the church....she lived 18 miles away from it...that's difficult for someone who doesn't have much money for bus tickets or a car...., but they moved to Bento Gonçalves last year....she has a 13 year old son, who is literally the most humble, meek, and willing to learn kid in the entire universe....she also lives with her husband and an 8 year old son....also very kind meek and humble....along with her 2 sisters and 1 brother...all in the basement of a house.....LOVE THIS FAMILY!!!!! they have nothing but love and happiness there....they are the type of home I want to have when I start my own family...there is zero contention and tons of laughter and smiles... they listen intently to the lessons, and she helps because as we talk, she remembers....so, we have visited them twice...and the two sisters and the two sons all want to be baptized....yeah, they're awesome awesome awesome....
anyways, I have to go, my time on the computer is dwindling.... thank you so much for the emails mom, dad, and blake...they were fantastic and made my week...
BY THE WAY... I GOT MAIL!!!!! everybody who sent mail in the months of September or October I got your letters :D thank you so much!!!! I will respond as time allows...sorry, no promises on promptness... and mother, thank you so much for those awesome pictures, they are truly a blessing here in Brazil
I'll finish with a quote from my bishop here....
"three, three-thirty....same thing right?"
in reality...when we say do you have 5 minutes that we can share a message...it means 30...if we say ten, it means 40 (max. lesson length)
its brazil, everybody is always late, and everything goes over, and nobody cares.
much love from the richest city in Brazil.....(true story...)
Elder Eliason
P.S. Christmas wish list?
-Small English Hymn book
-love
letters (w/ pictures)
letters (w/ emoticons)
letters (w/ drawings)
letters (w/ food stains from sitting on the table waiting to be written)
letters.......X infinity :)
Gilla Monster
Giant Moths
Go International!!!!!!!!!!!!! woot woot Futebol Brazil!!!!
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