June 11, 2012

MauAH. The accent is on the last A. The area is great. It is definitely a little better off than Diadema. Also it is a lot bigger. The name of the area is Parquedas Americas. My companion is Elder Kolb. He was at BYU with me. I knew him by sight. He only has one more transfer than I do. So we are very close in mission time. He also just became a District Leader which will be interesting since it means I will have to do divisions or splits more often. Oh well.

The new apartment is nice. We live alone. It has a bedroom, an empty room (other elders used to live there) a kitchen, a study, and a service area to wash clothes and stuff. There has been some issues with the electricity and I have taken a few cold showers because they heat water up with electricity here. That was pretty miserable. It is surprisingly cold here. Also there is no insulation in the houses so you really feel it a lot more. It makes it really hard to get out of bed at 6 30. But Elder Kolb gets up to work out right at 6 30, which really helps me. He is a big guy. He played football all through high school at a big football school in Missouri. He lives in Joplin. He is the oldest of four. First on a mission obviously. He was a defensive end and a guard/tight end. 

At transfers we didn't stay long because he had to go to a training to be a LD (District leader). So I didn't really see anyone. But that's ok. They don't really want you to stay around there any way.

I didn't get the package or any other mail. They don't give mail at transfers. I think there are too many missionaries there and it would be a really big hassle.

The temple dedication was really interesting. President Uchtdorf presided and dedicated the temple. He was really funny while they were sealing the cornerstone. Elder Cook was also there. It was interesting because they used a translator, and I didn't think he was very good. I felt kind of bad for anyone that didn't speak English. All the Americans agreed that a lot of the message was lost in translation. But oh well. It was still really special. We watched it in our stake center which is ENORMOUS. I would say the same thing about our chapel. Which is slightly smaller than the stake center. They are both very similar. Three stories, with just a ton of rooms. The chapel can be opened up to the cultural hall which just goes back forever. I'll take some pictures next week for you.

The weather in Mauá has been really wet and cold. It's rained everyday at least for an hour since I got here.

I can't believe Dallin is going to be a priest already. That seems crazy!! And all the others too. Wow. 

But I am not currently in need of anything. By the way, next week I'll be going to the temple so I might email on Tuesday. So don't be alarmed if I don't send an email on Monday. 

Well the adventure here is just beginning. I think I'm really going to like this area. I'll let you know more about the area next week. When I actually know more about it. Oh I'm teaching English again, and this time there are some pretty big classes. Apparently that's where most of our investigators come from. So yeah.

That's all for this week. Tchau

Com amor,

Elder Cameron Bruce