First Week in Brazil!

Oi Minha Familia! Tudo Bem?

I´m in Brasil!! And wow, this keyboard is really weird. I don´t know how it works yet, so pardon my misspellings. haha AHHH I´M IN BRAZIL!!!! And I´m loving it. Brazil loves me too. You can tell by my 33 mosquito bites and massive sunburn. haha!! Seriously though, this is great. :) It has been the longest week of my entire life, I´m pretty sure. I can´t believe it´s only been a week since I left the states. It seriously feels like it´s been FOREVER. 

I´ll start from the top. Leaving NYC was kind of hard. I only had 3 months there, but I so loved being there. I got a King-like goodbye from my zone as I left to the airport - they all lined up on the street and waved as my car drove off. And I bawled. haha It was also very strange to be in a car again. I got to the airport and had like 5 hours to kill, so I walked around for a while trying to find a payphone. Instead, I found someone with a BYU shirt who let me use his phone to call home!! It was SO fun getting to talk to you!! ahhh I´m so grateful to the kind member who let me use his phone and then bought me some dinner before my flight. People are SO kind to missionaries. I felt so blessed. I felt so blessed again as I opened the package from Jen with all your letters in it and coloring pages! hehe ahhh that made me so happy!! Thank you all so much for doing that for me! I have the best family ever. Seriously, that made me so happy! And it was the perfect plane activity! haha I slept most of the way, thankfully. I was SO tired. I arrived in Sao Paulo and had no idea what I was doing. I realized I had to find my bags and check them to my next flight, but I didn´t know what my next flight was. I kind of freaked out a little, but then I saw someone waving an "LDS TRAVEL SERVICES" sign at me and I almost hugged her. haha She helped me to my next flight and off I went to Porto Alegre! 

In Porto Alegre, I met Sister Wright (Mission President´s wife) and my new companion, Sister Furtado. They´re great. :) We went to work immediately. Transfers are on Tuesday, so there´s not really time to unpack or anything because it´s not P-day... which is a little strange. But... it was okay. Sister Furtado is GREAT. She´s from Portugal, so I don´t understand a single word she says. But apparently it´s portuguese. haha She speaks English really well tho, so at least I´m not completely lost. I live with her and 2 other Brazillians and it has been SO much fun. Seriously, I have laughed more this week than I have my entire mission. Mostly because I´m horrible at Portuguese and I make silly mistakes. Like that one time I told my companion I was "very married" when I meant to say "very tired." bahahah (Consado vs. Casado... I think.) Thank goodness it was just my companion!  Another time I told someone that their lives would be "so much older" if they read the Book of Mormon and prayed about it. hhh... I meant to say "so much better" (Melhor vs. Velhor) haha it´s been an adventure I tell you what. But I have definitely loved it.

My first Brazil Mango!!! SO GOOD

 

 

First try of Chimarrao (Brazilian drink... people love it.
I don´t know how to spell it. But I´ll try again later)

 

My first Brazilian Pao de Queijo

 

Sister Furtado and I are white washing an area right now, which means that we started with nothing. We´re both new to the area so we don´t know where anything is. We started with no investigators... nothing. And we´re serving in the heart of Porto Alegre. I think the Lord is trying to get me to be a city girl. haha THIS city, however, is nothing in size compared to NYC. haha it´s so peaceful here. Kind of. Anyways... I LOVE Porto Alegre! It has been less than a week, but we have 13 new investigators. WHAT? haha I don´t think we had 13 the entire time I was in New York! We have seriously worked SO hard. We go contacting, but we actually talk to péople, and we have to record how many we talk to. This week we talked to 151 people! And by "we" I mean "Sister Furtado." But I´ve mastered "Temos um convite para voce, Bem rapido! Nos somos missionarias... (and so forth)" I don´t know if that´s right in spelling... I just know how to say it. haha anyway, it´s been fun and I´m starting to be comfortable just talking to random people everywhere. After 151, I´m finally starting to feel comfortable. haha We never did that in NYC. Jimmy and Erica (new investigators) came to church with us on Sunday and Jimmy asked to be baptized next week! We´re pretty excited. I´ll let you know how that goes. haha The Portuguese is hard though. I am starting to understand people more, and I get bits and pieces of what they´re saying. I can respond very slowly. I´m just trying to not look too lost while Sister Furtado is teaching. 

Anyway, things are good here. This mission is a lot more strict than New York and ... I´m trying to be okay with it. I have to be okay with it. haha But the work is good. It´s still really weird for me to wrap my head around the fact that this is MY mission and that I´m not waiting for anything anymore. I´m hearing about other areas and my first reaction is "oh, I´ll never serve there." And then I´m like "WAIT. I might serve there! This is my mission!" haha it still hasn´t really hit. 

Survived the Porto Alegre rainstorm!!

And my shiny - sunscreened face to prove I was wearing sun screen. haha

It´s really nice here tho. This definitely isn´t the Brazil Aaron served in! We have a washing machine in our apartment (we didn´t even have that in NYC!) and a heated shower head, so our showers aren´t ice. I´m so grateful for that heated shower head. Cuz it goes out fairly frequently and when we have to take ice showers I kind of want to cry. But thank goodness at least half my showers are warm! The house is fairly nice, there are millions of mosquitoes and especially when it rains. OH - the rain!! Guys. This isn´t rain, this is like... hurricane. I love the rain, but rain as a missionary kind of bites. HOWEVER, for the first time in my life, I love the wind here! It´s SO hot sometimes (though I was still freezing in church. That must be universal!) that when the wind blows, Sister Furtado says "Seester, that wind. She is sent from heaven!" haha I love it. It cools off a lot at night tho so, I still get to sleep with all my blankets. :) Really though, the house is nicer than I thought it would be and living with 4 people is SO MUCH FUN!! Especially when they´re Brazillian/Portuguese. haha I love it.

A family we´re teaching - Jimmy and Erica are the kids :)
They´re helping me learn Portuguese and I love them.

This is a long email... I better send it off cuz I´m just rambling now. We had a lot to do today so we don´t have a ton of time, and next week we get to go to the temple!! So, our Pday will be on Tuesday (Temple is closed monday) and we´ll probably write in the morning before our session. 

This park is called Finland!! I found Finland in Brazil!
It´s a bad picture... but it will have to do. haha

My mission mailing address is:

Sister Andrea King

Caixa Postal 13008

Porto Alegre - RS

CEP: 91010-971

Brasil

I love you all SOOOO much!! I hope everything is going well!! I miss you like crazy. Thanks for being so wonderful!

I love you!

Drea