Monday, June 2, 2014

Week # 50

Hi mom!
Thanks for the pics! Dad should try to sell some boats to people in Brazil..... Also don't send any letters. I will never get them. Tell people that if they want to write me to just email. I am also attaching my last pictures from Ohio. More from Brazil are in another email. 

Okay so I've only had like, one p-day in the past 3 weeks. I didn't get to email last week because we left Tuesday for Belem. So I'm finally back in the mission field! I was so happy to get out of the MTC.

So we left the MTC Tuesday and arrived at around 3 in Belem. Oh and I had to give a talk at church the last Sunday at the MTC. It is hot here in Belem! My mission president and his wife are super nice and were very surprised at how much Portuguese I can understand. Actually, everyone is pretty surprised. All I can say is the gift of tongues is real. So turns out I don't need any of my bags for proselyting because we received one at the mission home. I had an interview with President Tuesday night and he has given me 21 days to adjust to the culture and physical demands and to learn Portuguese and then he gave me a blessing and said I will learn quickly. So I have 3 weeks to speak Portuguese. My companion is Sister Mendes (technically my trainer) and she is awesome. She doesn't speak any English. It gets frustrating at times because I cant understand what she is saying and I cant talk to her. But it will come.

So Tuesday night we got our assignments and I am in Oriximina (or-ee-shee-mee-na). Where is that you ask? In the middle of the amazon. Literally. Its about as jungle as the mission gets. Tuesday evening I got on a plane to head to Santarem and I stayed with some sisters there. In the morning we went to the Policia Federal to work out my visa because guess what? They forgot to put a stamp on it so technically I wasn't legal to be here. But all is well now. So from Santarem Wednesday morning I got on a boat (yes, a boat) to go to Oriximina. 5 hours down (or up) the amazon. It was so cool!!!!!! I cant believe this is my first area. Exactly where I wanted to be. 

Oriximina is awesome. No I haven't seen an anaconda or any big spiders or crocodiles or anything out of the ordinary. I don't think I ever will. We live with two other sisters. Its a little crowded in our little house. And people sleep hedes (hammocks) here. So I'm going to by one because its way better than sleeping on a mattress. Everything is damp from the humidity and sweat and its just really gross. Everyone will listen to us here. Pretty awesome. We teach a lot of first lessons. Its really frustrating because I cant understand a lot of what people are saying and I can't respond because I don't know Portuguese! And I really want to help these people. So I fasted on Sunday. I know its only the 4th day so I need to learn to be patient. 
The sisters here have been baptizing every week and last week they had 13 people at church. Crazy! Also, we walk EVERYWHERE. There is no bus so we just walk and walk and walk and walk and walk. My legs and feet have never been so tired in my life because we'll walk from one side of town to the other and then back for appointments. Not sure the missionaries really know how to plan because doing all that walking just kind of wastes time because we're trying to make it to our appointment so we don't talk to people on the street. When I learn Portuguese I'll make a suggestion. The mission is very different here. From the way they report numbers to the way they teach. Its a hard adjustment. So basically this week we've just been teaching a lot and I cant really talk in lessons and I have no idea whats going on ever. But I'll get there eventually. Just keep my language learning in your prayers! 

Love you lots mom! 
Sister Clark

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