Ferraria Week 4

We didn't get an explanation of this photo. Maybe it's a mannequin pose? I am guessing it is the new missionaries that came to the mission with Elder Pettingill. The Mission President looks like he could be one of the missionaries! Can you find him?
He is on the second row, farthest right. 

First off I will start with questions.

-I don´t know why the week felt so long last week, different days feel different lengths. 

-We don´t get to go to the Priesthood session because it is from 9-11, and we have to be back by 10. 

-Conference was good, but it was hard to understand a lot because It was in portugues. I was able to understand enough to take notes. I remember that I liked the talk by Elder Ballard about the Holy Ghost, and the talk by Elder Cook.

-I got one letter, and I have been told that they have a bunch for me. 

-It feels about 70 here. although with the sun and walking it gets hotter, and some days it is colder than 70. 

-My apartment has gas stove/oven, bathroom with a shower, sink, and toilet. We have hot water in the shower because in Brazil they have shower heads that heat the water. We don´t have a lot of things to use to make food, but we have a blender, and a griddle/toaster thing. 

-We will have fast Sunday this week. It is a little sad, because in Brazil they fast from lunch to lunch so I will be fasting half of my birthday (Apr 8), and I will have divisions the day before. 

-So as it turns out my body likes the food here. I have not had any problems except when I eat a lot of snack food that I buy for myself. 

-One note I would like to make is that since there are a lot of dogs here I have a new appreciation for Mozzie´s size. Most of the dogs here are small and/or skinny. There are a few that aren´t but those are rare.

On to my week:

Monday: We played war (a knock-off of Risk, I don´t really like it) with some recent converts, M and J. They are part of a family that was baptized in the last transfer. Then we taught E who is also a recent convert who was baptized in the last transfer.

Tuesday: We had a zone/district meeting. We met as a zone then split into districts. It was a little funny because at least one of the zone leaders was not there. I had a division (splits) with one of the missionaries that arrived with me. It was a good experience, and helped me learn about leading, and not just following my companion. It was with Elder Pr. I got to see Pres. e Sister Cuvelier because the zone leader went to the temple with them. (I don´t know the exact situation, but he got called about a day before telling him that he was going to go to the temple). That was cool. The zone leader is also my ``Great-grandfather`` I don´t know about other places, but here you trainer is your father, so he is the trainer of the trainer of my trainer. 

Wednesday: Had a new missionary meeting so I saw Pres e Sis Cuvelier again. We got taught about not lowering your standards, and also not following your companion, because you have the same calling, and authority as him. Went to an area called Santa Angla and had three good lessons. One with J, the investigator who is planned to be baptized on my birthday. I forgot to tell you about this, but we had a baptism that was technically in our area, but the sisters found her, and taught her, so I don´t count that as my first baptism (it was my first Saturday here). Anyway J is my first baptism, and it will be on my birthday! So I will have a least one birthday present from here. We also taught a family that wants to be baptized, but the parents aren´t officially married so we are working on that. We also taught a first lesson with a family, and invited them to be baptized. The Father was hesitant, but the others were not. Those were good lessons.

Thursday: made some contacts for on my birthday, and taught the NTM-person who lives with a member- who owns the bakery next to our apartment. 

Friday: I don´t remember much about this day

Saturday:

Conference. We had lunch with members at 11 then went to the chapel for conference. In between the sessions we went to a bakery and got a snack. Then went back to the Chapel for conference again. We taught E again, and did some studying after returning to our apartment.

Sunday: Lunch with a member where I got to see some videos about EFY in Brazil which was cool. We had conference again, and J came. I am very glad that we got to hear from President Thomas S Monson, and I actually got to understand all of what he said because of subtitles. We taught J in between the sessions which was good. Then listened to the last session of General Conference. I learned that when an apostle can speak a language, they record it in the language beforehand then play it while the apostle speaks. I also learned that Elder D Todd Christofferson is the only apostle that can speak Portuguese. So that is cool.

I love hearing from you all, and it is cool that Jeffrey, and Anna are learning Portuguese. So I learned in the CTM that where you go determines when you report to the CTM or MTC. I just thought that was interesting. Elder R Santos thinks that he will be transferred this transfer, so we will see if I will have two trainers. So pudding here is not the same as pudding in the U.S. Here it is a cake like thing with some caramel liquid poured on it. Also they have a word here for some one who is doing iniquity. Fubeca. Fu for fumo which means smoking, be for beber which means drinking, and ca fro castidade which is chastity. I thought that was cool too.

Thank you all for your support, and I am doing well.

-- Elder Pettingill