March 26, 2012

Hi everybody,

So an American comp is awesome!!! Not that I don't love Brasileiros, but it's just really different with an American. We understand each other a lot better. Not just as far as language goes but just life in general. Elder Perrell (spelled it wrong last time but it's pronounce pearl) is from Bellingham and his mom lives in Olympia. Crazy right? We speak English all the time. We both speak Portugues well enough that we don't have to practice all the time. But during study and lessons and stuff it's always Portugues and we still have Brazilian roommates so we speak Portugues when they are around.

Yeah we watch conference on the same day. Except priesthood session is at six in the morning. ..yay.... We always get the Liahona and never get the New Era. The New Era doesn't exist in Portugues because we have the Liahona.

I got the package with the Strength for the Youth. It was really cool. I love having other things to read. Also the cover is a lot nicer.

You should really appreciate having a computer and printer in your house. It is something that hardly no one has here. And the internet is incredibly expensive and slow.

Just tell Candon to work hard but to make sure and enjoy it too. It really is a ton of work and a ton of fun. Not always at the same time though.

Well this week as far as work was different with Elder Perrell.  We are trying to re-establish our teaching group. Which means a lot of contacts and knocking doors.

Nothing to amazing this week. Until next week.

Elder Cameron Bruce

Yup. Fall. Still really hot fall. I haven't noticed any difference. Still roasting down here. And the worst part - I don't tan past a certain point. So it's not like I'm coming back really dark. Oh well.

I heard about the Hunger Games movie from my Elders Quorum President. He is a young married guy that speaks English and wants to study at BYU. One of those people that I'll always be friends with. At least I hope we stay in contact.

Are you going to give mom a new calling soon? Or does she get a break? You could give her a real cushy calling.

Does that mean my prediction, I think it was Kentucky over Ohio, can actually happen? Of course the year where I don't fill out a bracket I finally call it right. I guess that goes to show that it's a big piece of luck to get it all right.

I've always wanted Tiger to come back. Hope he plays well in the Masters. I kind of just want to be able to say that I saw the best ever play. I don't think I can say that for any other sport. At least until this point. Maybe Barry Bonds, but his name will always be tainted. Oh well.

Peyton to the Broncos eh? Is he healthy? Or is he still going to miss time? And the Saints are cheaters? They can't do that, their name is the Saints. Oh well. I guess they are paying for it.

Something good happened for the Seahawks?!? My new companion is a Seahawks fan. He was happy when I told him.

Basketball kind of brings the same feeling as Tiger. I want Lebron to be the best ever, just so I can watch him play. But whatever. I've always liked Kevin Love, he seems like a good guy, as far as I can remember.

Oh and in other news, my companion's mom, Lynlee Lusk, lives in Olympia. I think she is in the Olympia stake. But I thought it was pretty crazy that she was so close.

Have fun at work.

Elder Cameron Bruce

March 19, 2012

Answer to Mom

The weeks pass really fast. It's hard to believe that another transfer has come and gone. I'll be staying here in Eldorado, but my companion, Elder Larusso, is going to Guarujá, and an American will be coming to be my companion, Elder Pearl. I'm excited to have an American companion. I feel just fine with my Portugues. Elder Pearl has more time than me on the Mission. I was kind of hoping to train to really test myself. But that'll have to wait a little bit. This transfer is going to be a little different. It's only 5 weeks. Every year there is one transfer of 5 weeks because the Americans can't literally stay two years because of visas. Which means I will serve a mission of 23 months and 21 days. Or something like that.

Calvin is a cutie. I show pictures of my family to pretty much every one. It's fun to talk about family and then explain things about the United States for them.

No no, I don't need a new memory card. That one of 16 GB should last for quite a while. It's a big one. That holds like 1000 pictures or something like that. It should at least be a few months.

 

It is cooling off quite a bit here. People think it's so cold, but for me it still seems like summer weather. I was thinking the other day that a year ago for me it was spring right now, then I passed through summer into Fall, then I went to spring again, and through summer again and now its fall again. I DIDN'T HAVE WINTER THIS LAST YEAR!! How weird? The same thing will happen when I go home, but I'll have two winters instead. Weird right? I still have that umbrella, buuut it's kind of small. So I bought another one that is a lot bigger. It rains REALLY hard here and the little guy just wasn't holding up.

For breakfast I usually have a type of crackers they have here or cereal. Fruit Loops are expensive because they are American. I eat the rip off frosted flakes because they are the cheapest. That's kind of my thought process with everything now. What is the cheapest?

I haven't really seen any weird animals. I saw a giant spider once but we were walking in an area far from our house that was a little more wilderness-y. There are about a million dogs that live in the streets here. You get the weirdest combinations here. There is one we pass all the time that has the body size and shape of a daushaund (wienner dog) but he looks like a lab. It's the weirdest thing. I'll try and take a picture for you. The only dog that causes problems is the one that lives in our building. He is always snapping at our heals and barking at us. He is super annoying. He is a miniture pinscher. SUPER ANNOYING. But other than Lupe, his name, we don't have any problems with dogs.

Zone conferences are every 3 months. But the ZL's have a meeting with president every month where they can grab packages, and also at transfers they have packages. So maybe there is a chance that I'll get it tomorrow.

Well you can read a little about the work with the email to Dad. I'm doing great, really starting to get in the grove of mission life a lot more. The greenness has pretty much worn off completely.

Te amo

Elder Cameron Bruce

Answer to Dad

Did BYU win!?!?!?

I liked the "play by play" updates on the Kansas game.

I'm doing great. Our only baptism that we had that was really firm for March fell through. But an investigator we were working with and had kind of lost hope because she doesn't seem to really understand our message, she talked with the bishop on Sunday and then after church told us that she knows that this is the true church where she needs to be. WOOO HOOOO. She is going to be baptized here in a week.

To be honest working with members is the hardest thing to do. We really only have one or two people we can count on. But the best thing is really family nights. We have been using them a lot more recently. And that really helped with this woman that wants to be baptized now.

Well I had better read and reply to mom now.

Elder Cameron Bruce

March 12, 2012

I like my apartment except for one thing. For the other companionship to get to their room or the front door they have to pass through our room. It really hurts our focus sometimes. But as far as quality of the house, it's great. Nothing to complain about. Oh except my bed is broken, but I ordered a new one through the secretary and it should be here any day now. I'm waiting excitedly for that. My companion and I are getting along ok. We work fine together, and when we are walking around we talk, but when we are in the house, I think we find one another a little annoying. No big problems though.

The ward just kind of asks everything of us. No one to give a talk, ask a missionary, need to find a new apartment, ask the missionaries to search, need this, ask the missionaries. We are always ready to serve but at the same time we still need to be working on actually missionary work. I think things are like this because 80 percent or more of the members are converts, they see the missionaries as the perfect examples. Its a little burdensome sometimes. Also all the wards are significantly smaller here, so that means less priesthood holders to help with things. It's good because we do have a close realtionship with a lot of the members and that means they are always willing to help us too.

I think that every companionship in the mission only cares for one ward or branch. As far as I know that's how it is.

I don't really live or work in Sao Paulo, I'm in the ghetto suburb of the ghetto suburb of Sao Paulo, ghetto not as in dangerous or anything like that, just really poor. The town I work in, Eldorado, has nothing of importance in it. Just one big market and a few other little stores. Prince Henry wouldn't take time to even look at Eldorado on a map.

We get something like a calendar every week. I'll send you what I get.

Yay Mitt Romney, even here some people know who he is. Only members really maybe a few other people. But no one really understands what is going on with him.

I got the package with the SD card, thank you. I'm already trying to fill it up for you.

There are only a few restaraunts here. And they aren't nearly as nice as the ones in Santos. But we eat at one almost every week. The members pre pay for us to eat there. I usually have, the fried chicken filet with french fries and of course beans and rice. But as far as my favorite Brazilian food.... I don't know. Depends sometimes stroganoff is really good. Churrascaria is always good too. Depends on the cook really.

I think we get to watch conference live. I really don't know how it works here. Guess I'll find out soon. I know they have sessions in the Stake Center. But when.... not sure.

Yes we can go on the church website, but I hardly ever have time. I've seen a few of the New Testament videos.

My shoes are doing great. No problems yet. Everyone says that after a year they just start to fall apart. Oh my tennis shoes are falling apart though. I don't really use them too much so it's not really a problem yet.

 

Answer to Dad

I'm doing great in terms of health, wealth (ONLY SPIRITUAL), and wisedom. As far as the work goes we haven't had any baptism yet here. We only have one young man (20) that is really progressing, he really is the only light in our teaching group right now. He is already finishing Alma in the Book of Mormon. He probably already finished it actually. He is really excited for his baptism next week. He lives with a returned missionary (which helps) and has a lot of the contact with the Bishop because they work together in a business called Mona Vie (It's very similar to Yoli). So he is doing great. I'm really excited for this next week. Our new Chapel MIGHT be ready. But no one is sure still. I'll be sure to send pictures of the chapel when its finished. As far as other investigators we have a bunch of people we are teaching, but they just aren't progressing. We meet new people almost everyday and always we have to stop teaching some people almost every day because they aren't progressing. It's a little rough sometimes. I worry sometimes that we stop teaching people to quickly but at the same time we need to be searching for the people that are ready. It's a difficult thing to keep in balance but with lots of prays and fasting I think we are doing what's right.

When it rains here it POURS and there is always a lot of lightning and thunder to accompany the rain. The longest roll of thunder I have counted so far was 13 seconds. Everyone says Sao Paulo is one of the most lightninged(?) places in the world. I believe it too.

I'm glad you're finally back at work. Which one is Fulton? I only remember one other clinic that wasn't in the hospital. But I don't think it was Fulton. I think it was just a letter and a number like D4 or something. As far as golfing, I had a dream that we were golfing at Ft. Lewis. It was nice. I still don't know if I'm dreaming in Portugues. I don't remember anyone talking in my dreams. But something that is interesting about my Portugues, when I think of past memories, especially conversations I've had, I recount them in my head in Portugues. As in you are speaking Portugues to me. It's funny because I don't realize it when I start to think. But after a little while I go, wait, he doesn't speak Portugues.

Well BYU will win it's first and sadly lose to Marquette. That's my prediction, oh and Kentucky beats Ohio State in the championship (I don't even know if that is possible). But oh well. Rory huh? Good for him. And I guess Messi is pretty good.

Well I'm going to go read mom's email now. Until next week.

Te amo

Elder Cameron Bruce

March 5, 2012

Holy cow Kasen is tall!! First thing I noticed in the pictures. So last week was pretty crazy. Did I tell you that I gave a talk here too. It's such a different area here. The ward depends a lot more on the missionaries for a lot of things. It seems very different than things were in the states. 

I got one package, the one with the map of the US and some candy and something else was in there too... oh yeah the Hymnal. Thank you very much. Everything is already being used so much. 

The conference was with President and Sister Tanner. It was really good. It was about Crescimento Real  e Conversão Real (real growth and real conversion) it was a theme that President recieved from the area authorities. Another little tid bit of information, Soccer has been banned. Not because anyone got hurt or there were any problems but, the area authorities said that it is a contact sport and we can't play contact sports. President Tanner said he even went up and asked after the meeting if they had misspoken. It really seemed like he wanted to let us play but oh well. I hadn't really played that many times anyway. 

It would seem really nice to be back in my own bed with my own kitchen too. ;) 

As far as Emergency Preparedness, they don't really teach anything. There aren't really any threats of natural disaster here. All the disasters here are because of poor workmanship, and things like that. A couple buildings fell in São Paulo and Rio during a rainstorm because they were poorly built. But nothing too serious here. Every once and a while there is a downpour that comes out of nowhere. Those are rather horrible because I don't carry my umberella with me because it's sunny out, and then an hour later it's pouring rain and all the roads turn into rivers. 

Well I'm drawing a blank on anything more to say....

Ummm. I guess that's all. Have a good week. Te amo.

Elder Cameron Bruce