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| Elder Perry and the other new missionaries arrive in Fortaleza |
The only thing is, the most ready people here (in this area) to be baptized are the “rapazes” (young men). They are all really awesome. I have met so far two named Levi, Paulo, Brendo, and a few others. They have all been super nice, and for the most part they refrain from making fun of my Portuguese.
This first week here for me has also been the first week in this area for Elder Makino. The missionaries who just left this area left us with 2 addresses of people who weren’t interested when we went past, and beneath that it just said “Friend of Carla” and that’s basically it. Not sure how that worked out, because neither of us know where any of the members are. Because we have no contacts or anything, we are basically just walking around trying to get contacts by talking with people in the street, and knocking (clapping) at doors. Neither of these methods are super effective. We had a few families we planned on visiting this week, but they either failed to answer, or a menino would come out and say their parents weren’t home. It was muito chato. But, we have been getting anywhere from 40 to 60 contacts a day. On Friday, we got 8 addresses of people to visit. We are working on that now. We plan on getting more lessons taught once we know where the ward members live and getting references from them. Hopefully that will help move the work along.
I understand more and more of what people are saying to me every day. The first day hit me like a wall of bricks. The accent of people here is a little different than people in Sao Paulo, but I have been able to adjust. Elder Makino has been teaching me all the slang phrases they use. Another thing that is really funny here is that after basically any phrase most kids and some adults will append the word “man.” One phrase that Elder Makino always says to me is “ô cara man” which translates to “the face,” which means “the best.” It’s a weird translation, but that’s how most of the slang here is. So, “ô cara man” it is.
Every day there is a ward member who is designated to feed us lunch. We have a little schedule that tells us where we go. The lunch meals are always really good. It’s hard to eat so much, because you can always tell that our lunches are the best meals that they prepare. The members live in very humble circumstances, but are always willing to give us everything they have. I am also fortunate enough to be in the same ward as Elder Haddock from my CTM district, so our companionships always get lunch together. It is very “legal” (or nice).
Some days when a member who is supposed to feed us isn’t doing too hot, they give us a couple bucks to get a meal for ourselves. The other day (Saturday), this happened. We got the money, bought a 2 liter coke at the grocery store, and walked into this open restaurant down the street. It was kind of a self-serve thing with beans and rice, and then a woman serving meats at the far end. The meats all looked pretty strange, so when it got to me and Elder Haddock, we both pointed at this relatively normal looking orange meat, which the lady gave us plenty of. We sat down, and Elder Haddock’s companion started laughing at us for some reason. He said it was nothing, so we just kept eating. Partway through the meal, he asked us, “Do you know what that is?” in reference to the orange meat we were eating. We told him no, he laughed again, and proceeded to tell us that it was cow stomach. Delicious. Needless to say, I had almost eaten all of it at that time, but I wasn’t able to finish it. Elder Haddock felt the same way. I’m fairly certain that it is called panelada or something like that.
Yesterday, Sunday, was my first here in Fortaleza. We got to finally meet all the members of the ward. They are all super nice. Basically all of us drove over together in this really old looking bus. It was pretty weird, because I really didn’t know what was going on. But we got a really nice view of the ocean. I will try to get a picture of it next week. Anyway, the bus showed up a little late to the meeting - and we entered right at the beginning of the sacrament hymn. Directly after the sacrament, the bishop said that all of us 3 new missionaries would be going up to the pulpit to introduce ourselves and bear our testimonies. A little freaky given the quick turnaround after arriving, but it went pretty well in my opinion. Also, it appears that our ward doesn’t have anyone who plays the piano... so I played the closing hymn. Looks like I’m going to need a little time during the week to practice.
I love Brazil. I love you all. I love this work.
Elder Perry
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| Elder Perry and Elder Makino |
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| Looking for contacts in Fortaleza |
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| Elder Perry and Elder Makino (sent to David via Instagram!) |
