so you guys will need to give me some time to tell you about my new area, as i just got here. (how about a week?). SORRY no video, this computer doesn’t seem to like them, maybe next week. i only had time to load the pictures that i could while i read your letters. the pics are from last p-day.
well things are all new here, i don’t have much to say about current investigators, cause, i don’t know anything about them yet. so i will just tell a few short stories about this last week:
story #1: "Mate"- i would rather die
we went to a members house to pick up something and the old lady there offered us some mate. i didn’t know what it was, and elder rodrigues said that he didn’t really like it, but that he could try a little bit. so i said that i would try a little bit too. so then this sweet old lady that i can hardly understand, grabs what are, i am sure, the biggest glasses that she own and fills them with "mate" (pronounced like match). mate is this gross looking brown, coffee-like looking liquid. and the lady then asks if we want some sugar in it. YES please we respond. i still haven’t tasted at this point. then she stirs it and hands it to us. i take a little sip, and so does my comp. RIGHT then i knew i was going to have difficulty finishing the glass. i look at the glass and wonder how i was gonna do it, then i looked up at e. rodrigues, and that guy was chugging it while the old lady was looking at me to see if i liked it. i told her i liked it and then tried the e. rodrigues method and tried to guzzle it. it was TERRIBLE! imagine like cold, old coffee mixed with dirty water. that’s what it looked and tasted like. i managed to chug it, and the old lady thought that we liked it and wanted to give us more. we very carefully told her that it was delicious, but that we were full. by, what cannot be a coincidence, "mate" is also the command form of the verb "matar" = to kill. yep, it almost killed me.
one more little story then i gotta go, my comp is already done emailing: we had a noite familiar (family home evening) at a members house whose mom is investigating right now. that lesson was great and so were most of the desserts and brincadeiras (games- we always play games) but then my comp had a game he wanted to play, so he had me come outside to confer really fast. this is what we normally do, to let the other in on the secret of the game. so i go out with him thinking that that was what was going to happen, that he would tell me the secret to the next game. but all told me is that when he calls me in that i need to sit on the stool in the middle of the room and pretend that i am a monkey. i thought that this sounded strange, and so i tried to listen to what he was telling them inside before he called me in. i didn’t understand, but it didn’t feel right. i went in and sat down but i had stage fright, because i didn’t know what was going on. eventually i did act like a monkey, and everyone laughed. here is the kicker: apparently, he went in and told them i was going to act like i was going to the bathroom! i was pretty embarrassed because i didn’t know what was happening for a long time, and they kept on laughing. it was a bad night for me.
well got to jet------ ill tell you about my new area next week. times up...
well, love ya
elder helland
ps about the favela thing: WE DO TEACH IN FAVELAS. sure they are dangerous, but if you are smart and obey the rules, there is no problem. yes i know the difference between poor neighborhoods and favelas. favelas is an indicator of poverty and architecture- house poorly built all right on top of each other. i think that the rest of brasil is scared of the word favela, but mine were pretty safe. we DO have dangerous areas, w/ dangerous favelas like cidade de deus, ramos, and bangu. well, not to worry now, i am in the interior.
Pictures from last P-Day
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