Elder Ramos said that he needed to send another email so rather than sitting here doing nothing I will write some more. I convinced him to take a lunch break though. There isnt much more to say about my week so i will tell you about Brazil. > First of all Brazil is hot. It is summer and i have gotten more color in the last two weeks then i have for the last three years combined. But it also gives you a funny tan line on your neck for when you are in casual clothes. But this last week actually hasnt been bad, the first week was hot and muggy, this week it rained almost every day and even though it is about 65 or 70 degrees (i cant be sure everything is in celcius) people are walking around in coats and sweaters. > The people are very friendly and have no problem with giving you there address when you street contact. Infact i can only think of one person who wouldnt give us his address. But they have some definate problems with chastity and modesty. All of the women, old young fat or ugly all wear clothes like they are 17 and of lower moral standards. And the 17 year olds of lower moral standards dress like they are working a street corner. And it is quite common for a girl to have her first child at 13 or younger. but it is not actually that bad here. I was talking to one of the sister missionaries, while Elder Ramos was doing a baptismal interview with one of their investigators, and she said that it is not bad at all around here. She served 10 months including all of last summer on the beach and she said that it was not that uncommon to have topless or otherwise immodestly dressed women on the streets and that for men speados are very popular in Brazil. But that said I havent had any real problems with modesty issues. Except for breast feeding in public. But that is a story all its own.
My Area is all city and has alot of people. In one city block there are more people then you could find in an hour of looking. they build houses in the wierdest places and have their doors in the most random incomprehensible locations. Everything is build out of cement and these wierd red bricks, the bricks are closer to cinder blocks. They are all built by the inhabitance. It is hard to tell from the outside what the inside will look like. Some people spend no effort in having the outside look nice but have a very nice tiled and clean inside, and others are the opposite. If you didnt know Brazilians do not like President Bush and they like the Clintons. I was seriously considering punching one of the members because he wouldnt sut up about politics and about how he didnt like Bush and the war in Iraq and how he hoped Hillary wins the election. I couldnt speak enough Portugese to make any sort of argument or to tell him that I didnt care what his political arguement was, and my atempts at changing subject were unsuccessful. And Elder Ramos was no help. But as to my companionship it is working alright. I felt like I wasnt doing anything because for the most part I just follow Elder Ramos around. I asked the president in our interview what my responsibiblity was as a junior companion and he told me that I was called just as much to be a missionary and that it was my job to get involved and do as much as i could and to keep my senior companion in line. I have been trying my best to do so. Elder Ramos wont tell me anything unless I ask, so for the most part before i wouldnt even know what lesson we were going to teach before we entered a house to give it, as you can imagine that meant i was not giving any part of the lesson. Now I am constantly asking what we are going to do next and asking if i can give parts of lessons and in general begging for things to do. I am really not used to being this quite. I enjoy being alone and quite but it is wierd for me to say nothing when there is a conversation going on. So i am working on that. The one great weakness of Elder Ramos is punctuality. We are always late and never because we were doing something worthwhile. He loves to talk after lessons and after lunch and before lessons and we tend to have a 3 to 1 talking to teaching ratio. And we are always late getting out of the house and always late getting back in. So I am taking it on as my personal responsibility to be Elder Ramos' concience and tell him how long we have to teach the lesson and when we need to go and what time we need to be home. He doesnt like it, but that is not my problem, when he is punctual i will be quite about how much time he is alowed in a house. And that said he really hasnt changed much when it comes to puctuality. We have been late getting home 5 out of 7 days this week and late leaving 6 out of 7 days this week.
I dont think that i have said anything about other missionaries so i will say allittle about them now. Elder Wright and Elder Santana are my zone leaders and I really like them. I had a 'devision' (split) with Elder Wright and i really enjoyed it, He is a very energetic (not in the anoying way) and powerful missionary. Elder Santana speaks english very well and even got my lawyer joke. I learned this one at the mtc: What is the difference between a lawyer and a catfish? One is a scum sucking bottom-dweller and the other is just a fish.> The sister missionaries that are in my district are very cool. Sister Adams and Sister Santana (of no relation to Elder Santana) sister adams talks at a hundred miles an hour in English and portugese. Sister santana is quiet and speaks english ok. but they are very good missionaries. they always have over 250 street contacts every week. My time is about up so i will just say one more thing. This is the wierdest thing I have ever done! But it is awesome.
Elder Reed Risenmay
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