Hello from Vera Cruz!! Ha ha I see that you guys already heard that I'm
here, I expected the same because I've already met soo many members that
knew Jamie and were super excited!! Crazy huh? What are the chances
of out of all the areas in all of the missions
in the world my first area would be a the same place my sister served?
Probably the same as being in the same district in the MTC as your
sister :P Ha ha but its amazing here! My companion actually is Brazilian mom :) His name is Elder Nagilati and he
is soooo cool! He has been out for about a year and is so good at
meeting new people and teaching so we are already teaching tons of
lessons. He also can speak English very well so he helps me out a ton.
Its been quite a shock for me, because it feels like
everybody is speaking their own language, not Portuguese. Ha ha I had a
lot more confidence in my Portuguese while I was in the CTM, probably
because everybody was learning so the conversations would be reeeeeeal
slow and we would only use our limited vocabulary,
but I can already tell that I'm getting better at understanding and I'm
not always COMPLETELY lost. Just mostly ha ha. One thing that I've
noticed is that I have to really try and pay attention to what the
people are saying or my mind just kinda turns off.
Its surprisingly difficult and I usually feel exhausted after each day
so I'm just looking forward to when Im able to understand the people
without having to think so hard.
So Vera Cruz is a brand new area, but its already starting to grow
quickly. There are 2 companionships in this city which is rare for
these parts. The other companionship lives in the same apartment as us
and they are Elder Stevens who has been out for
about a year, and Elder Escobar who is on a short time 6-week mission.
Are apartment is really nice and new, but its mostly empty because we
are one of the first ones here. Its actually next door to Jo´s house
Jamie maybe you know what it looks like. When
we visited their house Kaiuane showed me a card that you made for her
:)
Ha ha, so when I arrived here it was sooo hot! The people around here
have been saying it has been one of the warmest winters ever here. But
on Sunday I got to feel the coooold of Rio Grande do Sul that everyone
told me about. Proselyting that day in the
pouring rain and the harsh winds was a lot different that anything I
experienced in the CTM, but I might as well get used to the cold now
because next year Ill be here during the worst part of the winter. Ha ha
and like Elder Naligati said, we received a lot
of `wife points` Not surprisingly I am really enjoying the food here.
Every time we have lunch its with members, and they sure now how to
cook. I've yet to have real churrasco but I think we might have some
tonight!
The branch here is really cool with so many nice people. Like I
said a ton of the members were friends with Jamie so sometimes I feel
like a celebrity with everyone coming up and talking to me about her. I
wish that I would be able to understand better
because I think some of the people are like telling me stories about a
experience or something but I usually can just pick up "blah, blah, blah, blah, blah... Sister
Gee ..., blah, blah, blah, blah, blah" ha ha. The
other people that aren't members are super nice too, and most of the
time when we knock on a door they let us come in and have a lesson. I
imagine that this is quite different than other places in the world so I'm
grateful for this opportunity.
But I spent a lot of my time trying to get my camera to work so Im all
out of time. Thanks for all of the e-mails I love you all!!
Monday, August 27, 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Last P-Day in São Paulo; Teaching in the city
Hey there, family! How is everybody doing?
It's been another awesome week here in São Paulo. The most exciting news for me was last week when I heard that Sister Young had received her visa so Sister Gee was coming back to our district! I was super excited and wanted to write to all of you about my excitement, but she made me wait so she could break the news. :-) But ya, it has been awesome to have her back after quite a few weeks, and to be able to learn with her. All of our district got to see firsthand on Sunday how much her Portuguese had improved during the time she had been in the other district as she gave a talk in Portuguese in Sacrament meeting. She did an amazing job! In fact, everyone in our branch couldn't stop talking about how good her talk was. Don't worry about Melissa, she'll probably be fluent by the time she is in Londrina. :-)
This morning we got to go to the Campinas temple! It was really cool! The temple was really pretty and looked huge compared to the temple in São Paulo. I'm so glad that I got the opportunity to go there on my last P-Day here. The only downside is that we are still driving back right now. (That's why my handwriting is so bad :-) We probably won't arrive at the CTM until about 1:30, which is 45 minutes later than usual. I wouldn't mind that, but we are also ending P-Day an hour and a half early today because of an early devotional that we need to be there by 3:45. We are just going to have to go as fast as we can to accomplish all of the stuff that we need to do for our last P-Day. I hear that the speaker is awesome, so it will all be good
Yesterday we got to go proselyting in the city! It was so great. When we first started I was soooo nervous. My companion is not learning the language quite as fast as some of the other missionaries in our district. It almost felt as if I was the senior companion, except I don't speak very well either. For the first 45 minutes or so, we were having a lot of trouble communicating. I was so scared so I would jumble all of my words and I could tell that people were having a hard time understanding me. They would quickly dismiss us saying that they didn't have time. It wasn't until we met a nice man named Gustavo and had a good conversation with him, after that my confidence skyrocketed. In the next 2 hours we handed out all of our Book of Mormons, gave a brief description about it, bore our testimonies about it. We only had 4 Book of Mormons in the first place, but I felt like everyone that we gave a book to was interested in our message. The last book we handed out we literally taked to theis lady for 20 minutes about everything from the Book of Mormon, to our missions, family, Porto Alegre and learning Portuguese. I was amazed at how much better I was doing conversing at the end of the day compared to the beginning of the day. It was an awesome experience and I am so excited for next week when we get to do it again. It should be better than this time, because the majority of the people here in Casa Verde have already talked to the missionaries since it is so close to the CTM.
Thanks for all the emails this week. It is great to be able to hear from all of you. Next time you hear from me I'll be somewhere in Rio Grande do Sul! Wahoo! Wish me luck. :-) I love you all and hope you have a blast. Ate mais!
Love,
Elder Gee
It's been another awesome week here in São Paulo. The most exciting news for me was last week when I heard that Sister Young had received her visa so Sister Gee was coming back to our district! I was super excited and wanted to write to all of you about my excitement, but she made me wait so she could break the news. :-) But ya, it has been awesome to have her back after quite a few weeks, and to be able to learn with her. All of our district got to see firsthand on Sunday how much her Portuguese had improved during the time she had been in the other district as she gave a talk in Portuguese in Sacrament meeting. She did an amazing job! In fact, everyone in our branch couldn't stop talking about how good her talk was. Don't worry about Melissa, she'll probably be fluent by the time she is in Londrina. :-)
This morning we got to go to the Campinas temple! It was really cool! The temple was really pretty and looked huge compared to the temple in São Paulo. I'm so glad that I got the opportunity to go there on my last P-Day here. The only downside is that we are still driving back right now. (That's why my handwriting is so bad :-) We probably won't arrive at the CTM until about 1:30, which is 45 minutes later than usual. I wouldn't mind that, but we are also ending P-Day an hour and a half early today because of an early devotional that we need to be there by 3:45. We are just going to have to go as fast as we can to accomplish all of the stuff that we need to do for our last P-Day. I hear that the speaker is awesome, so it will all be good
Yesterday we got to go proselyting in the city! It was so great. When we first started I was soooo nervous. My companion is not learning the language quite as fast as some of the other missionaries in our district. It almost felt as if I was the senior companion, except I don't speak very well either. For the first 45 minutes or so, we were having a lot of trouble communicating. I was so scared so I would jumble all of my words and I could tell that people were having a hard time understanding me. They would quickly dismiss us saying that they didn't have time. It wasn't until we met a nice man named Gustavo and had a good conversation with him, after that my confidence skyrocketed. In the next 2 hours we handed out all of our Book of Mormons, gave a brief description about it, bore our testimonies about it. We only had 4 Book of Mormons in the first place, but I felt like everyone that we gave a book to was interested in our message. The last book we handed out we literally taked to theis lady for 20 minutes about everything from the Book of Mormon, to our missions, family, Porto Alegre and learning Portuguese. I was amazed at how much better I was doing conversing at the end of the day compared to the beginning of the day. It was an awesome experience and I am so excited for next week when we get to do it again. It should be better than this time, because the majority of the people here in Casa Verde have already talked to the missionaries since it is so close to the CTM.
Thanks for all the emails this week. It is great to be able to hear from all of you. Next time you hear from me I'll be somewhere in Rio Grande do Sul! Wahoo! Wish me luck. :-) I love you all and hope you have a blast. Ate mais!
Love,
Elder Gee
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
New roommates; Brazilian accents; Two weeks to go!
Hey Mom and Dad!
This week has been a pretty good one. I got some new roommates, Brazilian again. :-) Their names are Elder Menegaillo and Elder Santos. They are both really cool and talk to us a ton. They don't speak much English so it's been a good experience trying to communicate with them in Portuguese. It is so crazy how my roommates have turned out. The first group had two very good English speakers. The next group didn't speak English as well, and then these guys speak English the least. I've been forced to use Portuguese more and more as time has gone by. I am able to say that I have progressively learned.
Something cool that I heard today is that the São Paulo Temple is going to be closed next week. Instead of São Paulo we will be driving to the Campinas Temple next week! I'm really excited to be able to have a new experience on my last P-Day. I just hope that it's true and not just a "CTM rumor." :-)
I feel like my Portuguese is starting to pick up, so that's pretty exciting. I can usually understand most everything if it is written. The hardest thing is trying to understand the Brazilians from the 'Norteste.' These missionaries have very strong accents and I sometimes even have trouble understaning their basic sentences. Haha, it's a good thing that I am going to Rio Grande do Sul. They seem to have an easier accent to understand.
I only have two more weeks and I am so excited! I think that once I am immersed in Portuguese I will learn even faster. I'm working my harders to learn all I can to teach effectively and with the Spirit. It's pretty hard, but I've learned that if you try your best not to stress out and keep a good attitude it is easier to learn. I know God will help me. I'm thankful for your prayers in my behalf. I love you guys so much! Take care!
Love,
Elder Gee
P.S. Here is a picture of our district on P-Day...
This week has been a pretty good one. I got some new roommates, Brazilian again. :-) Their names are Elder Menegaillo and Elder Santos. They are both really cool and talk to us a ton. They don't speak much English so it's been a good experience trying to communicate with them in Portuguese. It is so crazy how my roommates have turned out. The first group had two very good English speakers. The next group didn't speak English as well, and then these guys speak English the least. I've been forced to use Portuguese more and more as time has gone by. I am able to say that I have progressively learned.
Something cool that I heard today is that the São Paulo Temple is going to be closed next week. Instead of São Paulo we will be driving to the Campinas Temple next week! I'm really excited to be able to have a new experience on my last P-Day. I just hope that it's true and not just a "CTM rumor." :-)
I feel like my Portuguese is starting to pick up, so that's pretty exciting. I can usually understand most everything if it is written. The hardest thing is trying to understand the Brazilians from the 'Norteste.' These missionaries have very strong accents and I sometimes even have trouble understaning their basic sentences. Haha, it's a good thing that I am going to Rio Grande do Sul. They seem to have an easier accent to understand.
I only have two more weeks and I am so excited! I think that once I am immersed in Portuguese I will learn even faster. I'm working my harders to learn all I can to teach effectively and with the Spirit. It's pretty hard, but I've learned that if you try your best not to stress out and keep a good attitude it is easier to learn. I know God will help me. I'm thankful for your prayers in my behalf. I love you guys so much! Take care!
Love,
Elder Gee
P.S. Here is a picture of our district on P-Day...
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