I've got a lot to write about; its been a crazy two weeks! We will go in order.
I will not be wearing my Garmin, because apparently here in Brasil it is worth $1,000... Plus Recife is one of the most dangerous cities in Brasil, so I will not be using it. Don't worry, though. I am safe. That is just a problem in the big city part of Recife. We are pretty safe here in Jordão.
Last Monday, a member of our MTC group informed us that he was going home. It was really rough because we were all planning on going to Recife together, and it felt really empty not having him with us. We are all pretty close, so it was tough. But the next day, we all arrived in Recife. We were sleeping in a little hotel the first night, and we heard a horse outside of our window. We are in the middle of a city with 6 million people and a horse is right there. It's really crazy.
The next day, we got assigned to our trainers. My trainer is Elder Carrari. He is from Argentina, and he is awesome! He speaks some English, and I have to keep reminding him to speak Portuguese for me. Our area is Jordão. It is just south of Recife, and it has a bunch of little houses and the airport. The mission doesn't use the airport, but there are lots of members here. We had Stake Conference yesterday, and there were probably 300 people. We have been teaching every day, and its a little rough because I understand almost nothing. They talk so fast, and I just pick up a few words at a time. But I'm getting better. Slowly, but I am getting better.
Our apartment is this little thing above the stake patriarch's home. We have him under us and a family of members right next to us. We don't lock our door, because we just twist the vent and can reach in to open it. But don't worry, there is a gate down the stairs from us that locks. There are lots of bugs, and our toilet is pretty sketch, but there are people here living a lot worse than us. We don't have any food in our fridge. We don't really eat breakfast or dinner... I'm not sure why. We have lunch every day with members.
The food is way better here. We still have a lot of rice and beans, but they have more flavor. Their food here can have a little spice, but not a ton. This is the only place in Brasil that has spicy food. I love it. We don'
t really eat bread. Last night we were at a member's home, and her husband works at a bakery, so she gave us bread there and some to take home with us. It was so good. I never thought bread could taste so good, but it was amazing.
We had a service activity, and we literally helped people build a roof. We both got really sunburned, so we are definitely going to be using more sun screen.
I love you all. It's really different here. Its tough at times, but I'm learning so much, and I know that the Lord is helping me through so many things. I can't even begin to describe how I see his hand in my life. One day we had a lesson fall through, so we just stopped at a random house, and this lady named Edna started talking to us about how here son is addicted to drugs, and he was passed out on the bed, and he beats her. We shared the Book of Mormon with her, and she was so accepting. We are stopping by again today to check in on her.
The Lord really helps us when we try to do what is right! Love you all!
Elder Nielson
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