January 30, 2012

Olá Family and Friends.

First off, no I don't get letters from any of my friends who are on missions. I would like to receive them, like Elder Brady and Elder Craft, but so far I don't have anything. Sounds like things are kind of busy for everyone. I can't believe Tessa woke up to a flooded house. I remember when our basement flooded. Dad got a bit "concerned" about that. Michelle is in my prayers and I hope everything turns out to be fine. We just have to keep on pushing. I liked Scott's letter about the DVD “17 Miracles.” That is a great movie. I am grateful that I do not have to go through all that the pioneers went through, but I am also grateful for what they did for us.

This new area is really nice and yet irritating at the same time. Our area is the south of the Island of Florianópolis, and it is very beautiful, but the beach is almost always in sight, and I miss the beach so much. I get upset about that a lot. ;) I am also in the center of Florianópolis as well. I like the city too. I feel that I would like to live in the city after my mission. Country is cool for only a few days, but after that it just gets boring, since there is nothing to do. On a mission we have things to do all the time. But when I am serving in the country, I noticed that P-Days are just boring.

My companion is pretty cool and he helps correct my Portuguese whenever I speak wrong. He is Brazilian. He is learning English as well, since it is the rule on the mission. So I correct his English whenever he speaks wrong. It works out. We made a goal that I will know how to teach the first lesson completely by the end of this transfer so that I will not need any more help with that. A lot of the time he is on the phone since he is the AP so while he is doing that back at the apartment, I go and hang out with the other staff in the apartment. Elder *****, Elder **** and Elder *****. Elder ***** is from Oregon, and the others I think are from Utah. Something like that. They are pretty cool.

When I first arrived in the area, I had to help out with all of the transfers. The first few days I got very little sleep. I am guessing that is why right now I have a Sinus infection. One thing I learned about the missionary staff very fast is that they get very little sleep. My companion and I will be moving to a different apartment very soon because it will be better for us to stay closer to our area. Unfortunately we will be downsizing tremendously because the staff apartment is very big. Actually, it's bigger than it needs to be.

That's my report for this week. Not much about investigators since we haven't been able to teach anyone yet. I think I will be sending out handwritten letters today for everyone so look out.

Love you all,

Elder Kevin Brady