HELLO!
Wow, this week has probably been the craziest of my life. (And I´ve
probably said that before, but this tops any times previous)...
As
you know, it was way hard to say goodbye to my companions and
investigators in Nevada, but I know that this is where I am supposed to
be right now.
The flight here was actually not
as bad as I thought. I got to watch Inside Out, so that was cool :) And
I talked to some awesome people! When we (I say we because there was
another Elder with me from the MTC) got to Brazil, it took us forever to
get through customs, and then we got put on a bus to the mission home,
where we met a bunch of people and heard a ton of Portuguese. At this
point, I had been awake for 30+ hours, so I was pretty much a wreck. But
I got to meet my companions (yes, I´m in a trio again!), Sister Bundy
(from Utah, speaks English hallelujah, super sweet and fun and happy,
awesome) and Sister Nunes (Brazilian, speaks a mile a minute, hard for
us to communicate, but also super sweet and kind and gives me tons of
hugs and support). I love them. We are serving in Cidade Lider, which is
right in the city and super dangerous (yay!). I´m still trying to get
used to the city part. Elko was so small and calm and here is like the
center of Times Square everywhere, but much more dirty and everyone
speaks a language I don´t understand.
Brazil is
so much more different than I could´ve ever prepared myself for. But I
have been trying to just take it all in as a crazy adventure and laugh
about things that scare me and that has been helping a lot. Not being
able to understand anyone is very hard for me, especially during
lessons, but I know that my Portuguese has already improved a lot even
just in the past week. I taught parts of a lesson today and understood a
few things that Sister Nunes said. The houses are much different here
and the sidewalks are very very dirty and steep. If you want an idea of
what my area looks like, maybe watch that World Cup introduction video
with the boy playing football in the streets on the way to the World Cup
(it´s an animation)...that~s what it looks like. There are so many
hills!!! I´ve never walked up and down so many hills in my life haha
it´s good because I´ll be forced to stay in shape :)
The
food here is not too bad. We have rice and beans with every meal, so
that is good for me. We eat a huge lunch with a member and then don~t
eat dinner. That has been hard for my body to get used to and I have
been pretty sick. But I´m sure I will get used to it eventually.
The weather here is very very humid but not too hot quite yet. When it rains it pours.
The
people here are super super loving. That is good in a lot of ways. The
members are so welcoming of me and understanding of my obvious lack of
all necessary skills haha The people are very touchy and hug and kiss A
LOT. They are very open about what they think of you, which has taken
some getting used to :) My looks are super rare here and apparently very
desirable. They oogle over my eyes and love my "blonde" hair and pale
skin. The men in the streets are very....open about their feelings. They
cat call alot and stare at me a ton. It´s a little unnerving, but it
does boost my confidence haha Oh, and apparently I look like Jennifer
Aniston? Haha one of the Brazilian Elders told me that on the first
day.
I got to watch conference in English!!!
What a blessing :) And Elder Bush, my brother from the MTC is in my
district!! That has been so nice! I loved conference soooooo much!!
Wasnt it amazing??´We are so blessed to have a modern day prophet!!
Okay,
hopefully I gave an okay overview of everything haha let me know if
y'all have any questions. I love you all so much and I know that Heavenly
Father helps us when we hit rock bottom and don´t think we can do any
more. Anything is possible through faith in Jesus Christ <3
All my love,
Sister Doyle
