Finally Made It To Brazil (Brasil)

Brasil é maravilhosa! It´s ridiculously hot here, not gonna lie. They tell me I´ve arrived just in time for the hottest time of year! Thank goodness I didn~t go straight here from Utah. I would have instantly died of heat stroke. Luckily, everyone knows it~s wicked hot and you can ask pretty much anyone you pass on the street for water and they~ll gladly give it to you. Can~t guarantee the last five passers by didn~t use the same cup, but when you are dying it really doesn~t matter. They say  it gets ´cold´here in the winter. We~ll see about that. 

I live in an apartment with two companionships. My companion is Sister Farias.  The other companionship is Sister Gonzagas and Sister Chadwick. Sister Chadwick is from Utah´/Alaska. She~s not good with heat at all and when she first got here, she was having an allergic reaction to the sun and always had to wear a hat. I wish I could send a picture of everyone, bu t I didn~t understand that we would be emailing now, so I didn~t bring  my camera. I am not very dark yet, but I am almost darker than my Brazilian companion! People dont~guess I~m from the US until I start to speak. My companion gets a lot  of  ^`Can she talk?`´  If  I don~t understand what~s going on in a conversation. That~s my cue to say something.

The people here are great! WE brought some people we are teaching to church, and at the end  they asked if they could bring friends to all the activities and to church on Sunday. WE were like ÔF COURSE! They are so willing to learn and filled with the spirit! We have a lot of people to teach here, but my companion and I are both new to the area, so we have been finding a lot of people. Tomorrow we start teaching more!

Are you ready for the sad tale of two girls in a foreign land?

Disclaimer: This is my account of the story. I do not claim that it~s entirely true. It is the truth as far as my knowledge of Portuguese goes, but I~m sure it is filled with much misunderstanding. Bear with me!

Our bishop lives very far from us, so we went to meet with him this Sunday evening. We were returning from a baptism in a city about an hour away, so we had to meet up with the other sisters. They told us to hop on the car train- I don~t know what it really is- and tell the driver to stop when we see them. So we drive ...and drive...and drive... and finally the driver asks where the heck we are trying to go. There is no one else on the car train and we~re way far from anything. Sister Farias told him where we were supposed to meet with people and he was like shoot sisters we passed that ages ago, and there was no one there. Of course the phone dies when we go to call the sisters, and im  pretty sure the driver told us to get off or pay again. After a lot of discussion and frustrated looks, we started driving again. WE stopped at a sandwich shop where sister Farias plugged in the phone and called the sisters and the bishop. The driver seemed a little less stressed after Sister Farias talked to them and told him where we really wanted to go. He took us as close as he could to the bishops house, so he clearly didn~t tell us to pay or get off before. While we were thanking them, I was bummed we had nothing to give them. While sister  Farias was taking their names and addresses, I gave them each a Starburst (thank You MUMMA!) which was the only relatively cool thing I had on me. I~m pretty sure they had no idea what it was, but I told them it was from the US and they acted  excited.  (They are the driver and vehicle attendant or guy who takes your money). Then we just had to run across the highway...at night...don~t worry. It~s totally ookay in Brazil. People do it all the time. Hahahahah! Crazy right! The buses stop on the side of the highway and there are signs that tell drivers to watch out for people running frantically across the highway . |Its quite interesting. ANyway we found the bishops~house  and the other sisters, but it was then almost time to go home. He fed us cake and ice cream and had his wife drive us home. WHAT A DAY! If I didn~t have sister Farias (She~s from Brasilia) I would die! At least now I will have someone to die with. Haha. Just kidding we~ll figure it out eventually!!!

   Despite all the crazy things that have happened this week, I know the Lord~s hand is in this work and He is guiding us to those who are ready to hear HIs word. 

I hope everyone is safe back at home! 

Love,

Sister Arthur (ah toor)