Ferraria Week 2

This week was a lot better than last week, and worse at the same time. I am beginning to be able to understand people, and I can communicate kind of well. Understanding is harder, and it depends on the person, and what we are talking about. Anyway questions from my mom.

The food here is good, and this week I finally got some cereal which I have been looking forward to. Although they don´t have mini wheats here. Every day except pday we have meals with the members which usually consists of meat, rice and beans, salad, and something else. It is good, but I have to get used to eating tomatoes which they like to eat with salads. Lunch is usually about an hour, and we do that usually after study. The weather here was hot every day, but now it is getting colder. Apparently it normally gets cold around April, so this year is unusual. I like being able to wear sweaters though. Also it doesn´t rain very often, and usually when it does it is light. There has only been one time so far that it has rained really hard. My area is called Ferraria, and is known for its hills. Basically it is full of Frogtown like hills that we have to walk up and down a lot every day. 

Normally we have a district meeting with what is really half of our district on Tuesday, but this week we had a zone meeting. The meeting was great, and it was helpful to be able to talk to people who speak English, and get tips about living here. I have met the zone leaders, but we don´t see them too often. They are in two different companionships, and one is in our district. My companion is the District Leader, and we had a division this week because we needed a baptismal interview. So I got to go to a new area, and see the other part of our district. Our district is called Novo Mundo, which means new world. It was cool to be able to see the differences in the ways that missionaries teach. We see the sisters in our district every so often, usually when we go to the chapel. The sheets have been good for most of my time here, but I am using the blanket that you sent me with now. I am sleeping fine.


The picture last time was of the MTC front room. I wanted to send more, but my time was up. It takes a while to email the president before I start emailing you guys, and I only have an hour and a half.

The one bad part about this week was that I got sick, and I haven´t really fully recovered yet. Sister Cuvelier thinks that it is because of something that I ate. I got a fever, and we had to postpone when we started divisions. I guess the sickness is getting everyone in the family regardless of location. I was sick with a fever for a day after lunch. I was feeling bad before lunch, but we had already said that we could make it and the member didn´t have a phone. We walked for over an hour to get there which really sucked. It would have taken less time, but I was walking slowly. When we got there I didn´t eat anything, and then during our message I threw up. We went back to the apartment, and I slept for 4 hours then called Sis Cuvelier, because I had a fever, and she told me to take Ibuprofen. It has been up and down ever since, but I haven´t felt like I did the first day again. Hopefully I will recover completely today. 

I have learned so much about being a missionary this week. We taught a couple lessons yesterday, and while we were teaching I really felt love for my investigators, and for the first time I felt like I had something to contribute that a different missionary would not have. I am really beginning to love the work and have been really blessed. At the zone conference I received my patriarchal blessing, and after reading it again, my mood began to change. I am feeling much better than last week. Thank you all for being such great people!

-- Elder Pettingill

More pictures from the CTM