Sao Paulo, Brasil
Hey everyone!
Its been a great week! The language is
coming along and I've had some minor experiences with the gift of tongues. We'd
be teaching lessons and my comp usually carries the lessons because his Portuguese
is better than mine, but then at certain times he will turn to me to say
something, and I'll just bust out 1 or 2 fluent good clean Portuguese sentences.
But the language is really hard.
We pray a lot here and strive to have the
spirit with us at all times. It's much easier to have the spirit with you here
than at home, but you still have to have tons and tons of faith, and you
have to pour your heart out to the Lord sincerely in every prayer.
I still
absolutely love my comps! They are great! I've had some really rough times here
this week. Just sad about the people I miss, but when I pray for help I always
receive it and I am comforted, always. You have to have the spirit with you all
the time to be able to learn. A goal of mine I've had while I've been here, and
one I will continue to have, is to never waste time (especially falling
asleep) during study time and things like that. No matter how
tired I am, I fight to STAY awake and pray for focus and energy to
continue.
A cool experience I forgot to share from my first week was my encounter and friendship with a Brasilian
named Joao Pedro Rodriguez Alvez, or Elder Alvez for short (haha). The first
day we met each other he introduced himself in English. He said he lives
in Canada but his mom is Brasilian and he visits Brasil often. He has light brown skin, not white. He said he liked me because I am muscular and for some
reason took a special interest in me. He was my good friend the whole rest of
his stay at the CMT. I found out he used to be a bodybuilder and he showed me
pics and stuff and he was actually pretty big. He can back-flip, speak
fluent Portuguese, English and Arabic. He is also AMAZING on the piano! We
nicknamed him the international Chuck Norris haha. What makes this story more
interesting was that on the second day I had met him, he asked me to give him a
priesthood blessing to help him because he was sick. This was my first time
performing a priesthood blessing on someone, and out of everyone in the whole
CTM, he asked me to be the one to do it, totally crazy! It was such a great
experience for me, so spiritual, I will never forget it.
For
the past 2 days my whole district has been sick, including me. I have had a
terribly sore throat,congestion, fatigue, all that bad stuff. None of us feel
good at all. Brasil is a crazy place! No one follows the
rules when they drive or anything. Last P-day we went out exploring and it was
wild. Crazy stuff going on. Very dirty and sketchy. Everyone looks like they
want to rob you. We saw drug deals and stuff going on.
I also met an elder named Elder Marchant. He is a visa
waiter who served 10 months in Oklahoma before just getting his visa and coming
here. He is the only person in the whole CTM who I have met who is going to my
same mission! Also very cool, I found out that his aunt is Sister Tingey! He's
only here for 2 weeks though, maybe he'll be my senior comp in the field or
something haha.
Overall its been a great week. I'm very motivated and excited to
be here, but especially to get into the field! We all want out of here haha! Only 4
more weeks!
I love you all and please continue to send me letters as much as
you can. They really get me through the week. We all look forward to getting
them and everyone is SOOOO happy when we get one. They really help me get
through the week and I cherish them immensely.
My
shoulder is still hurt, it's slowly, very slowly getting better, but it's still
sorta bad. My weight has stayed between 201-204lbs here so that is good.
Maybe I've lost a little, but not too much.The workouts are alright, volleyball
is sorta fun. This is a very different lifestyle.There are some very, very hard
times, but there are also some very glorious, loving, unforgettable moments as
well. Elder Kagi, who I have mentioned before, (the British one), I have been
able to open up to him even more. I am able to talk about my problems to him and
he helps me feel better. He is a loyal, good friend who is a very good listener,
I'm very blessed for my friendships here.
I love you all and I can't wait to hear
more from all of you. Once again, I don't have much time, send me more letters!
Elder Hunt
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