Adjusting to life if Porto Alegre

I never thought I would miss hamburgers so much. The only American business I have seen is McDonalds, a tiny shack that only sells sorvete (ice cream) and it just the same soft serve as home! I’m starting to like black beans and rice...because it’s safe. The Brazilians eat a lot of cartilage on chicken and cow. So when you dish up meat nothing should be left but bone. Oh, and we are not allowed to drink the Coca Cola...makes your hair fall out.

We had a surprise stake conference and the presidency was switched out and our bishop got called as the second counselor in the stake. That’s great because he is fantastic, but we need a bishop!

I miss the microwave...and they aren’t cheap: 300-400 reais. Everything is done on a propane stove and every liquid is bagged. Milk, juice, yogurt, it’s a tad difficult to store in the fridge without it falling over.

Because my companion is from the north, we eat a lot of Couscous, which is basically oatmeal of the corn family. It’s alright, but its driving me crazy how often we eat it.

We have a bunch of investigators!!!! Oh, it’s so great and we keep running into people that seem to be prepared. Most of the time the people we run into just refuse to pray and read the Book of Mormon. If the Book of Mormon is true than the church is 100% true as well and we have authority from God. Wouldn’t that been a good thing to know? Also a very interesting thing, in the Portuguese Bible in Exodus, when it’s listing the 10 commandments, instead of “Keep the Sabbath day holy,” it says “Sabado” which means Saturday. So everyone in Brazil thinks the Sabbath is on Saturday. A lot of people don’t go to church; they just hang out a home a read the bible.

We can’t get anyone to come to church yet, but we have a goal for 4 baptisms in the month of June and the temple dedication for Manaus is coming up, super cool. My companion wants to marry Sister Willard so he can be my brother-in-law (and get to the states somehow). He’s super cool and speaks a little English; you can teach him!!

Anyway all is well, the language is hard, the hills are steep, the people are nice, and my purpose is clear. Baptize.

Love,

Elder Willard

First Week in Brazil

My very first week here in O Brazil. It is poor!! Everyone told me, “Oh, Porto Alegre is so rich; it’s just like America.” No, it’s not! It is a third-world country for sure. But, it’s really nice, the members love the missionaries and are willing to do anything for them. (That could be totally off because I understand about 10% of the Portuguese that is spoken.) My companion, Elder Bezerra, can understand everything I say in English, but can’t speak it very well, which is kinda annoying. I can barely communicate which isn’t helpful in a lesson when you don’t know what is going on....Bleh!! I need to be patient.

Lunch is the biggest meal of the day. Basically, you wake up, don’t eat breakfast, study for 4 hours, go to lunch for two hours and eat the biggest meal of your life, work from about 2-9pm not eating anything, had some milk with Nesquick and go to bed. One giant meal a day. It’s going to take some getting use to. Lunch is typically beans, rice, meat and chimarrão (look that up on the internet, hard to explain). Oh and the best lasagna I have ever had.

I totally understand why that missionary in São Paulo got hit by a bus. People are crazy drivers and there are no cops at all. Cobblestone roads with only hatchbacks, buses and giant Mercedes trucks roaming the streets with thousands of dirtbikes weaving in and around traffic. I’m surprised I haven’t been hit yet.

I am tired all the time because we walk ever where, which is fantastic but hard on my feet on no existent sidewalks and cobblestone. But people are really nice, as far as I can tell. People think it’s cool that I’m an American and always say that I speak really well, but I’m not buying it because my companion sometimes laughs at my accent. We have a ton of potential investigators because everyone we walk into on the street says, “Sure we will listen to your lesson. Just come by the house another day.” We taught a man name Jorge about the restoration and we just saw him yesterday and he says that when he reads and prays about the Book of Mormon he feels joy! Batismo!!! My very first day and my very first lesson we committed a women to baptism in 3 weeks. Brazilian are really humble, that’s for sure.

Well, I hope all is well, have fun on your cruise mom and dad! And you being married Zach and Sabrina! And you Brandon finishing off another semester. I love you guys.

Elder Willard

On the way to Brasil

From Mom:

I chatted with Elder Willard on Sunday for Mother's Day, on Monday night after a 6-hour airport wait for a plane that never left the ground, and Tuesday from the Detroit airport. He and two elders were preparing to board a plane for the 12-hour flight to Sao Paolo. They arrived this morning at 7am and began the next flight to Porto Alegre. He is very excited to be in his new area, but with the new challenge comes a new language.

Busy Week

We have almost no time to do anything this week. We completed a bunch of service in our area, helping two families move, working at a different church giving food to the needy, giving blessings to members in the word and trying to do typical missionary work with 4 hours of study....sigh. It’s Great!

It looks like we get to Skype this Sunday, but I can’t remember when church gets out so let me know this week via email. Our trainers had a meeting up in Davenport (about two hours away) so they decided to leave me and another brand new missionary behind and Elder Klc (yes, that’s how it’s spelled, pronounced Kelch). So you can imagine my apprehension and fear with no trainer and no plan of what to do really.

So this is what we did...

We gave a blessing to an Australian CAT employee at a Hotel with mysterious pain in his face. When we left he said, "I feel better already."

I had the opportunity to teach my first two investigators this last week. We taught a 15-year-old guy and his girlfriend, who was a member. He agreed to read the Book of Mormon and take the lessons with parent permission. He is living literally in the hood of Peoria; it is pretty scary.

Also we taught a guy and his member wife the plan of salvation. He didn’t say much, but Elder Klc thought he was very interested. He had questions about authority because he has already been baptized a few times in a few different churches.

We had the car so we got lost a whole bunch in Peoria even with a GPS, a combination of several 6 way stops, and an un-updated GPS.

Had a friendly conversation with a Baptist preacher while he was working on his lawn. He didn’t curse at us or threaten us at all, which is plus.

All and all, our trainers were very proud of us and we got a lot done. Sometimes new missionaries don’t do anything when they are paired up, so they were glad we did so much.

Also I got to eat something very weird. There is a missionary in the ward who served in the Philippines and he invited the 6 missionaries serving in the ward to come over and eat something called Balut (ba-loot).

It’s a partially developed duck egg that has a fetus inside developing for about 14-18 days. You boil it for a while, crack the shell on your knuckle, maybe put some salt on it, and consume the bird and the yoke of the egg. As you chew, you feel bones and feathers of the duck fetus. I will let you know more on Sunday, plus there is a video of us eating them.

Anyway, Peoria, the mission, and the missionaries are all great, I love you and will see you soon.

Elder Willard

P.S. I got my visa.