Wow! I´m here! And even the keyboard is different!! I am definitely in a foreign country. I really don´t know what to write about first.
I guess I´ll start of with my new area and companion. My first area is Morada
da Serra which translates roughly to residents of the mountains. It´s in the
Northeastern corner of Cuiaba, and we live on the outskirts of the city, in a
neighborhood called tres bahas. Our casa doesn´t really have an address, so any
mail needs to go to the mission office. My new companion is Elder C, from
Oregon. He is a super experienced missionary with only 2 transfers left on his
mission. I´m his fourth and last trainee, so he really knows what he´s doing.
He speaks great Portuguese, and he´s way easier to understand than most Brazileiros, and he´s willing and able to help me with my learning of the
language.
Speaking of the language, it is exactly the way I thought it
would be. I can understand about one word in ten that people say, and I´m only
able to respond with super simple phrases, that probably aren´t even
grammatically correct. But everyone is super pacient with me so far, and I can
only improve!!
To be honest, the weather was the thing I feared the most,
but it isn´t as bad as I had imagined (yet). Cuiaba is apparently somewhat
legendary for how hot it gets. Fortunately for me, even though it´s technically
summer, it´s not the hottest part of the year. That´s because it´s rainy
season!! Which means it rains evey day without fail! But rather than drizzling
all day, it pours for about an hour, and the rest of the day is beautiful!!
Right now it´s only about 80 degrees and sunny. Beleza!
As for minha casa and bugs and whatnot, it´s not as bad as
all the horror stories led me to believe. We only get tarantulas in the house
when it rains really hard for a long period of time, and in our house, there´s
mostly just daddy long legs, with some other smaller spiders, along with a
handfull of decent sized cockroaches. I have a great story about that!
My first night in Brazil, I had just finished unpacking, and
went to take my first Brazilian shower. The shower, by the way, has one
setting- on. So I enjoy a nice cold shower every morning! But I digress. I
hopped in the shower, or rather stepped from the sink to under the showerhead,
and noticed a big ole cockroach right in front of my face on the wall. I really
wanted to freak out! But instead, I named him Frank and carried on a nice
little one-way conversation with him as I scrubbed myself down.
In reality though, our casinha is not bad. We have 5 whole
rooms! A kitchen, a living room, a bathroom, a bedroom, and a spare room we use
to dry clothes and store stuff in! Our bedroom even has air conditioning! Our
kitchen sink has a water filter so we can drink from that, and our water
container outside lasts three whole days before it needs to be refilled!
The hardest things to get used to have probably been the
walking and the food. We walk alot here. It takes about 20-30 minutes to get to
the church, and it´s at least a five minute walk between appointments. The
longest we´ve walked so far is probably for about an hour and a half, but
that´s because we got lost in some obscure neighborhood for a while. As for the
food, I´m already tired of rice and beans. Which is not good, because rice and
beans is a part of every, single, meal. Also, breakfast and dinner don´t really
exist here. My companion only eats one meal a day, and so needless to say, my
stomache has shrunk a bit. However, after a bit of vomiting and diarreah on
Saturday and Sunday, I think I am officially acclimated to the changes is diet
and whatnot.
As for missionary work, that too is a bit different in
Brazil. It is hard to explain, but Brazilians have some sort of innate
willingness to hear us out and to accept Baptism. That being said, it´s
difficult to find those who have sincere desires, and are willing to actually
make changes to their lives. The way we begin teaching is definitaly different
here than in the states. Essentially, we introduce ourselves, explain our
purpose, and then invite them to be baptized. If they want to be baptized, we
teach them, if not we we explain why it is important, teach a quick overview of
the Restoration, and re-invite. If they still aren´t interested, we don´t
bother teaching them more. I havn´t decided wether I like this, or a more
gradual, meaningful approach to baptism yet. I worry that those we teach don´t
have a full appreciation for the sacred, binding covenant that is
baptism.
At the end of the day, I guess my feelings are those of
immense gratitude. I have been blessed so much by the Lord. Save for my brief
moment of sickness, my transition to Brazil has been incredibly blessed. As I
reflect on the past week, I want to say that the transition was easy. But it
wasn´t. It was, in fact, very hard. But looking back, I see how I have been
carried through the trials in the strength and power of God. I remember, how
much my legs and feet hurt after walking for just 15 minutes, and then how,
when I thought I could go no further, the pain dissapeared. I reflect on how,
despite having a pounding headache, and a very...let´s just say restless,
stomach, I was able to work the entire day long, and do all that I needed
to.
I know now, more than ever, how much I rely on the the
Lord´s strength. If I was on my own, I would have collapsed with exhaustion, or
remained in bed to recover. But I am not alone!! Not only do I have an awesome
companion in Elder C, I have one even greater. That is why it is so
incredible to be a missoinary. I have been able to see the hand of God in my
life, and the lives of others more in these few months, than ever before. But,
you don´t have to be a missionary to enjoy these blessings! We all can learn to
rely on the strength of the Lord, and come to recognize his role in our lives
more fully.
I hope this letter has enough info to satisfy everyone! Em
verdade, I´m doing fine, and am enjoying my Brazilian experience fully!
Elder Johnson
PS by mom The pictures were taken as Justus left San Antonio. Goodbye to Elder F and other missionaries in the apartment
Sending pictures takes a while, so we´ll see how much I´m able to write today.
This week has been awesome!
Which isn´t saying much because I don´t think I´ve had a non-awesome week yet.
But we have definetally worked a LOT. This probably doesn´t mean much to any of
you but we taught over 30 lessons. I feel like I´ve adapted to the new area and
new companion really well. We are really working well together. We get a lot
done, and we work hard, walk a lot, and leach at every opportunity. That being said, we had absolutaly no investigators at
church on Sunday, and of our 13 new investigators this week, it looks like only
2 or 3 will progress. Talk about a let down. But, that leads to my thought of
the week...
One morning, I stepped outside and was suprized to find that
despite being bright and sunny, it was raining. I don´t know way, but sunny
rain is just one of those things, like double rainbows, or ring pops, that puts
a grin on my face. Needless to say, I was delighted with the situation. But as
I reflected on the week I saw a deeper meaning in it.
Then again, there are times when the sun is blocked by
clouds, and the world is dark, wet, and miserable. What then you may ask? If
things are just plain awful, am I just supposed to force myself to be
optomistic? No. A happy, cheerful missionary isn´t necessarily a good
missionary. Hard times happen, and in the midst of them, you can feel down. You
can feel tired. You can even feel just plain sad. But, it helps to realize that
the sun still is shining. On the other side of those clouds, it´s bright and
sunny! For me, that represents hope, and more than a little bit of faith.
