First week in the Field. 9/26/11

Hey hey family. How is everything going? It sounds like your are all having a great time. Potato harvest huh? That sounds pretty intense. I bet that is fun and of course you didn't see Aubree. She stays hidden as much as possible ha ha {By the way... Andy is lying here.. haha. I don't stay hidden. ha.}. I'm glad that Rusten had a good birthday and that he was made a deacon. That is such a blessing. Tell him congrats 
for me. 

Well it has been an eventful week. We went proceliting, that's not how you spell it but whatever ha. So we went to Paulista and we gave out all of our copies of the Book of Mormon, so that was legit. The street was so crazy and so huge. It blew my mind. So then we finished up our last couple of days at the ctm, and we headed out at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning, so that was pretty dang cool. We got to Vitoria at about 10 and met up with the AP's and they took us to the chapel to meet with president and have lunch and everything. So we get there and have this meeting with all of the trainers and with the pres but we still don't know who our trainers are yet. President is really nice. So we got done with everything at the church and headed off to the bus station because that is where they do the transfers. 

So we get there and I'm expecting this quiet little meeting, but heck no! It was so dang fun. Everyone was just talking having a good time and then they called all of the new missionaries and the trainers up, so we headed up there and they start   announcing the names and my trainer is Elder Swanson. He is way legit. He is from Las Vegas and I'm his last comp that he will have on his mission, so that is pretty cool. So my first area that we're assigned to is called Linhares. It is about a 3 hour bus ride North of Vitoria and it's a smaller little town. It's pretty legit though. There are 3 duplas in our area including us, and Elder Swanson and I are in charge of the biggest area of Linhares, but it is really cool. So we got off the bus at about 9 and we didn't have a way to get home or even know where our house was for that matter, but we got a member to come get us and take us home. So we get to the house and Elder Swanson tells me that this is a really nice house and we got there and I was freaking out because it wasn't very nice, but the next day when we went to lunch at the members house, I realized that it really is and I'm very greatful to have what we have. So we have just been tracting and kinda teaching lessons and just doing the normal stuff.

It is really cool to actually be out here. The language is still pretty rough, but it is coming along good. My first Sunday was cool. Straight Portuguese except this one kid that I talked to that could speak English that is going to BYU-I. He was cool. General Conference is next weekend and we will just watch it at the church. We have a branch of about 100 members and they are all really nice, so that is awesome. So last night we had to catch a bus and take off to this other city to go do some baptismal interviews. The city is São Mateus and it was about an hour away and it was so cool. It's right by the ocean and there is this river that goes through it and it has a slave trading port and everything. It was nuts. So that was way cool except the only 
bus that came back last night was at 2 in the morning, so we got back this morning at about 3:45 and then had to walk an hour to get to our house from the bus station, so that was a good time ha ha. 

I love it here and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I hope everything is going 
well back home. Being out here has made me realize how thankful I need to be for what I have because the people here do not have much. Some of the houses are so horrible, so I'm thankful for what I have. Well have a great week. I love you guys. 

So the pictures I'm not sure what the order is of them. but the big one is my two teachers and my district at the ctm. Then there is one in Sao Mateus, and then there is one of me and Elder Brown at the ctm. He is the one who is taller. Then me and Swanson at the transfers, and then the on with all the green, and that lake looking thing is in Linhares. Love ya!