Still Learning the Language

The people Here A wonderful the weather is rainy but sunny when it rains its often still sunny, really pretty and muddy.
The fist morning here one of my roomies (roomies?) asked me to do some pull ups, on a bar squished between a door jam and books on either side to add pressure. ha i didn't think it would hold me, but he was just like Jesse, actually he said elder Williams, just do it, it will hold you. i did a few, and the whole think came down. it was pretty funny. I have since then reconstructed the pull up bar, sturdy as a rock.

So I felt like I understood a lot more Portuguese ( when I left the CTM) than i actually do, make sense? well I should say Maceio Portuguese It's different here. they don't even obey the rules! I'm improving every day. I'm great at greeting people... then slowly the conversation goes down hill, pretty funny actually, Oi is easy to say then they respond, at bout 26 million miles an hour and then I can for the most part understand what they say take me a second to respond and then the conversation slowly comes to a stop. It's fun they understand I'm learning, and i get to just laugh with them, at me, I've said some pretty ridiculous things, sometimes they ask me something and i go off on something else completely different.for example the word for baby is bebê and the verb to drink is beber big difference except not really cause the r at the end of a word makes an airy sound which could easily be mistaken as a breath. anyway last night i was talking with some members and i thought they were asking if i drank at the church, or from the church like sacrament or something weird and so i said yeah, i do every week. the real question was have you been a member your whole life, since you were a baby? it took about 5 minutes for me to understand what they were really saying, they don't let me give up.which is good.

The work is going good, My comp is pretty Amazing, he goes home in a couple weeks. I like president and sister Beynon a ton.As for the food here, I eat it. even though 85% of the time it's questionable, because they make you share the same cup, sometimes, and they don't really cook the food all the way through. My mission doesn't serve monkey, but the two things they do serve that I won't be looking forward to are turtle and sea manatee. All I'm going to say is getting all those shots were worth it.

Mom Thanks for your letter this week, very descriptive. I look forward to hearing from you all. Lisa! A BOY! I knew it, how about you name him Lucas Bolzan Casper? ha that was the Name of my ctm instructor. isn't that a funny name? maybe maybe not. I love you all thanks for everything

Tawny! you need to hire a terminatro, get one of those fellows to follow you around and kill all those crazy bugs! you are so Funny! Thanks for the email, I hope your show Is going great I wish you all the luck in the world, and my watch just beeped, I should be sending a letter off your way in a bit.
love love love Elder Williams

Maceio

First off, Macieó is about a billion times beautifullier than Sao Paulo. President and Sister Beynon are great, My new comp, honestly i had to ask him if he was American or not. he is American and his name is elder Neilson. But people ask me if I´m Brazilian, then i speak, and they know.

Anyway. My humble abode, it's not bad the floors are kinda like hard wood floors but replace the wood with cement, and nice green walls that were white from the start. oh and last night i went to brush my teeth and I turned on the light and to my surprise I found about a fahillion giant ants... they scurried out the moldy window though. ha It's good though I slept very well and I love all my roommates.

This morning when I woke up it had been raining hard all night and The rode flooded! haha i think it was knee high or so. I've never seen anything like that, I do everything in Portuguese now my comps good at forcing me to use it all the time which is great, i'll learn faster. Last night after I left the mission home we went straight to our area unloaded our suitcases and then went out to work. Ha my sweet comp likes to put me in situations like hey, this kid has a message for you and then leaves me on my own to speak.

anyway last night we had a cool experience. they just finished a brand new church here, its probably the nicest thing with in a ten mile radius of our house, and it's the nicest church i've seen in Brazil. so we are blessed to have it here, so like i said they finished it last week, its pretty fresh, and as we were walking away from the church back home a man was walking with his son towards the church we said hi, elder neilson asked him how was was doing, he said not well, I'm going to the church to find the pasture because I need help, I have a problem with drugs, Elder neilson told him we could help. so we took about a five minute walk back to his house and taught him the first lesson, it is unreal first of all what this man was living in, and how makeshift his home was the family room was probably 5 by 5 feet and there were sheets blocking our sight from his bedroom and his kids bedroom. I felt so sad but they seem like a happy family, his boy was so funny and playful, and can speak a million times better Portuguese than I, well he committed to come to church and he seemed to have felt the spirit and the best part is, he wants help. I thought that was so neat I was grateful for the experience.
Ha Spongebob is on, opp now Donald duck funny.

Thanks so Much for the E-mails, Dad thanks for the advise
Mom thanks for the package, i loved it, I read something in the ensign saying people who love each other but are distanced can still grow closer to each other as they grow closer to Christ, I find it too be true. Thanks for telling me about the blessing mom, that sounds so so sweet, I'm glad you two had that experience, tell Jason for me. Lisa and Ace that I believe the babe will be a girl. I love you all thanks for the support.

Did I tell you guys the i pod came! on Sunday night, Thank Paulo for me if you can.
And TAWNY you did such an awesome job on it , wow. thanks. perfect. I wish you would've placed some photos of you on it though but really Thanks so much tawny.
AAAANNNNDD Thanks for The emails, I got your letter package too the day before i left the ctm of the church history trip! it was so so awesome thank you! tell your Mom thanks too I loved hearing from her, I sent a letter with sister linford for you two. kinda short i had little time so my apologies but thanks so much, the emails and everything. BYU H would be so cool, keep me posted ok . I love you hope your week is great.

Last Week in the CTM

Mom! that's sweet you got a calling in the young women, now you don't have to worry about Lauren when she goes camping, but, a downside to that is it leaves me to worry about the both of you! I'm happy for you though, good to know you guys are livin it up in Lehi, Lauren I didn't get any electronic mail from you this week, I know you are doing good though i hope your summer is great, its flying by. I keep trying to picture what you guys are up to every Sunday, what your days are like, everything changed when i left, strange. You are doing good at keeping me updated mom. I'm glad you enjoyed the letter, and the picture.
Thanks for sending the i pod with Paulo, Maybe try hard to get a hold of him, I'd really love to get my hands on that thing, thanks again Tawny for taking care of the music!

so I leave in 5 days! so so excited, It hit me yesterday, right before i was supposed to say the prayer in large group meeting, that i was leaving all these guys and i kinda got a little bit saddened and distracted, so before i knew it I was supposed to say the opening prayer in Portuguese and i thought it wasn't a big deal cause i can pray, anyway (t), I began praying and paused long enough to make it awkward , a lot of the missionaries peeked when that happened, and i was just smiling really big, I didn't really notice i paused for so long but i was so sidetracked by the thought of leaving these guys, any way i finished the prayer asked for the spirit to be with us twice and closed it. i didn't notice how strange it was until my district brought it up with me. haha pretty embarrassing. I thought i would share that story because you told me about Cindy's experience with the gift of tongues, mine was the opposite, but only cause i wasn't focused at the moment, I've learned so much and i know the Lord will help me learn all i need to In the field. the language is coming, i can communicate i think i have said that a lot but I've learned the grammar the MTC has to give i just need to learn to apply it which i'll have to do in 1 week. wish me luck. Thanks for everything Mom, I love you very much, and the rest of you know i love you too right? Lisa, Ace, Easton, Lauren, Dad. Dad i didn't get any advise, I sure love you I hope all is well i have a letter shooting your way, the Brazilian mail system is so sweet. I haven't sent it yet, I may have to send it in Maceio. But it´ll come.

Logan! thanks for including me in your email, and for the pep talk, I love you hope all is well, That's the second time I've heard from you in months, It made me so excited. Johnny, I hope you got my letter you sound like you are having a great time, are you talking any different? probably. I love you both.

Chad 3 weeeeeks! not long at all you sound like you are having a sweet time traveling, I'm not so far ahead of you but I can give you the advise i get everyday, be obedient, and strive to be Christlike, and planning is so important, you know all that i'm sure, I´m happy to hear you are doing so good.

Ryan, thanks for saying hi it's good to hear from you, good luck at School, 27th sound like a big day. I miss you and I'm glad you are doing good.

Tawny! the text, I have an explanation for it in my letter this week ha!Thanks thanks thanks for the email love you, hope you are having a great day.

MTC-CTM did you know it is backwards down here?

The center of training missionaries. hmmm Mom thanks for the email, you asked me about 26 different times how I'm doing, so good. I miss everyone one but I'm learning a ton! and i feel happy, it's trying, but so good for me. So Mom I am doing great, I can't believe i leave so soon,it's sorta like a fast version of high school here, I know this place so well, I'm excited to leave but it's kinda sad. But not too too sad you asked how i was eating and how the food is, well, I think i already told you but I miss your cooking so much, I love breakfast though i eat an apple, granola and some yogurt, and every other meal i eat something so no need to worry, my allergies are alright considering this is the most polluted city in the world,no need to worry, i think I've gained 5 pounds, i don't know exactly where it went but I'll keep you updated, a lot off kids are going bald here too, because of the pollution, stress, and lack of vitamins in the food and little exercise, which is alarming... i think i'll be fine though, and the air is clean in Maceio.

I'm great mom thanks for asking. did you ever send my i pod? there is no sign of it, bummer bummer bummer that's ok though. you said you were sending a package to the mission home could you place some of those instant breakfast drinks in it, and some more vitamins.
This last week i didn't do anything out of the ordinary, just studying and that is about it. but i go proselyting for the last time on Friday not the last but the last while at the CTM. I'll let you know how that goes! Dad thanks for the advise, lauren your letters make me smile i love you very much, Mom thanks for everything. Ryan, there is a kid here just like Tanner Trounce, so funny i like him.Tawny! thanks for the email! I hope all is well, you are flying through school way to go. love you all thanks for the support
ps Aunt Linda sent this to me telling me how close my mission was to being over, I thought it was so funny.

It goes like this-

MTC time is double because you have to work so hard and learn the language, so it is already December, but you can't count December because it is Christmas, well then you have the New Year which is a week and then it is Valentines Day, St Pats Day and then Easter -so that is really a month put together. spring is sooo fast that it is really a week and then you have summer- which is July so you will have been out a year in another two weeks--
so Funny tell the Allen's hi for me.