Olá família!
So this week we made a division with the zone leaders who are in Santarém. So in order to make one division, the zone leaders had to take a boat here to Oriximiná in the morning and meet up with us at about 6 pm. Then one of the Elders, Elder Lacerda, and I took a boat back to Santarém that night at 9 pm, slept on a hammock throughout the night, and arrived there at about 6 in the morning, while Elder Costa and the other elder, Elder Raphael, stayed in Oriximiná. We had a district meeting there in Santarém, then worked that day and slept at the home of the zone leaders. Then that night, Elders Costa and Elder Raphael took a boat to Santarém to meet up with us that morning, just so Elder Costa and I could take another boat back to Oriximiná at 8:30 in the morning. Man, it was a lot of work to just make one division. So we arrived back in Orixi at about 3 pm, dead tired and had not eaten for about 24 hours...rough day haha. But we both learned a lot from going out and working with the zone leaders. Haha and while I was in Santarém, we totally taught a kid about 16 years old that looked just like the actor who plays Jacob Black in Twilight. hahaha Just thought I’d throw that out there. Oh, and no, I didn’t get a picture with him haha.
So the next day after, since we were behind in lessons for the cause of the division in Santarém, we went on splits with two young men in our ward, one who is actually leaving this Wednesday to serve a mission down in southern Brasil. This day was particularly tough for me because since I was with someone who didn’t have any experience as a missionary, I had to be the senior companion for the day. And since I’ve only been here 1 month and a half, it was really pushing my limits. It was really tough and made me realize how much harder I need to work in order to be able to become better. Although, I can definitely tell I’m improving since when I first arrived because when I was at a ward activity in Santarém during our division, the members thought I was lying when I told them I’ve only been here for a month and a half. I think they were being nice haha. But also when we went on splits here, we passed by the house of the aunt of the boy I was with to see if she was interested in hearing a message (she wasn’t), but some girl there asked the aunt if I spoke Portuguese already, and instead of the normal answer, “he does just a little” or something, she answered, “yeah he already speaks Portuguese.” So I can see improvement, maybe not as fast as I’d like, but I think it’s coming.
I realized kind of how to compare serving in Oriximiná with Elder Costa as a companion with something that you can understand. I think that it´s kind of like a foreigner coming to serve in the USA, and after 2 months in the MTC, serving in the New England area with a companion from Mississippi haha. But it’s good; I’m definitely learning lots in my first area I probably wouldn’t have learned in another area.
With all of the traveling this week and everything, and on top of that we had a zone fast, Elder Costa and I were completely dead with lack of sleep and nutrition this week. We’re doing better today, but this was a really needed p-day. Hopefully we’ll be able to rest and be all set and ready to go to work tomorrow. Even with all of this, we found a couple good investigators this week. Oriximiná is a tough area to find people who really want to learn about the gospel and be baptized, but hopefully we found a couple - one girl, and a man with a family.
Oh and just a curiosity, is my plaque up at the church building? I don’t know why I thought of that, but it would be cool to see what it looks like or something haha. Oh and one more thing, I need my account number for my checking account. I’m trying to put some money in the account, and Elder Costa and I are trying to figure out how the bank here works. So that would be great.
I think that’s about all for this week. Love you all! Obrigado pelo apoio e tudo! Valeu!
Com Amor do Amazonas,
Élder Andrus
Morning in Santarém when we woke up from the boat ride
The Amazon!
The blazing sun
See the change in colors of the water? Here in Santarém is where 2 rivers, Rio Tropajós and Rio Amazonas join together. The dirty brown water is from Rio Tropajós and the blue water is from Rio Amazonas. It´s pretty sweet.
A cow sort of thing in the back of the house of the zone leaders in Santarém. I don´t really know what it is haha
It´s pretty sandy in Santarém. The word for sand is areia, so everyone calls Santarém, Sant-areia. Haha.
Another pic of Santarém
No comments:
Post a Comment