Monday, September 14, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
Brazilian Independence Day, baptisms and a fear of water, a lizard named Rihanna
Oí Família!
Dude, super otimo (great) about the BYU-Oklahoma game. Now they just need to keep doing that, right?
So today is Sete de Setembro, or in other words, the Brazilian Independence Day. So all the LAN houses (internet cafes, I presume...) in my area were closed and we're now running an hour behind schedule because we took a bus to get here to email. Very exciting, haha. For some interesting reading, you guys can look up the history of Brazil and how they got their independence. It happened before the US, and it's not much different, actually =]
Latest letter I got from you guys I don't remember the date, but you talked about Katie's car, katie wrote a third of a page (again =]), leese asked what Brazil Nuts are called here in Brazil (still don't know, sorry), dad talked about 4 man scramble in the golf tournament (I think?). So yeah.... sorry, don't remember the date.
So this week we had two more baptisms! I've got some awesome awesome awesome photos, but in the LAN house we're in I can't upload photos. Sad day. So let's see, the baptisms were Tatiane (30ish?) and her son Patrick (11). We've been working with Tati for about 3 weeks now because she had a fear of being baptized because of her relatives. We really couldn't convince her. But luckily there's a member in our ala (ward) who she wants to namorar (be the girlfriend of, and other things =]), and he talked to her about the importance of baptism, temple marriage, etc. So last p-day after email she saw us in the street and told us she wanted to be baptized. Shows the power of members, right?
So the baptism was yesterday, and there were only about 6 other people there besides us, the missionaries, because of Tati's fear of being baptized. And it turns out her son is agua-phobic (just made that up, haha), but he really wanted to be baptized. Aaaand to make matters more difficult, the heater for the baptismal font is broken at the moment. So the water was freezing- bunda (bum) cold. Tatiane's baptism went fine, but afterwards, it took about 40 minutes to baptize Patrick--he was afraid Elder Makiama was going to hold him under the water for an extended period of time. But eventually we got it done. Took about 6 tries because he kept flailing when his head hit the water and never went completely under. So in the end, Elder Makiama grabbed both his arms and dunked him super quick. Huzzah =]
Let's see, what else. Oh, we found a lizard in our house this morning. We caught it, Elder Makiama named it Rihanna (no idea why...), and it's chillin' in a box right now. We'll try to feed it, but I'm not really expecting great results, haha.
I also attended the my first mission conference this week, which was excellent. I've got a little handicap right now because I can't understand everything, but from what I understood it was great =]
Elder Makiama is from the state Rio Grande do Sul, city Porto Allegre. His portuguese is very clear, thankfully, and it's much easier to understand what he says than others. He likes to work. Which is great =]
So sad day about the swine flu, but happy day Elise survived. So what's up with swine flu? Is it what I always thought it was? A more mild version of the normal flu? Or is it actually deadly (I assume it's not because Leesie's not dead, haha)?
Well, love you all, glad everything is well!
Elder McGregor
Dude, super otimo (great) about the BYU-Oklahoma game. Now they just need to keep doing that, right?
So today is Sete de Setembro, or in other words, the Brazilian Independence Day. So all the LAN houses (internet cafes, I presume...) in my area were closed and we're now running an hour behind schedule because we took a bus to get here to email. Very exciting, haha. For some interesting reading, you guys can look up the history of Brazil and how they got their independence. It happened before the US, and it's not much different, actually =]
Latest letter I got from you guys I don't remember the date, but you talked about Katie's car, katie wrote a third of a page (again =]), leese asked what Brazil Nuts are called here in Brazil (still don't know, sorry), dad talked about 4 man scramble in the golf tournament (I think?). So yeah.... sorry, don't remember the date.
So this week we had two more baptisms! I've got some awesome awesome awesome photos, but in the LAN house we're in I can't upload photos. Sad day. So let's see, the baptisms were Tatiane (30ish?) and her son Patrick (11). We've been working with Tati for about 3 weeks now because she had a fear of being baptized because of her relatives. We really couldn't convince her. But luckily there's a member in our ala (ward) who she wants to namorar (be the girlfriend of, and other things =]), and he talked to her about the importance of baptism, temple marriage, etc. So last p-day after email she saw us in the street and told us she wanted to be baptized. Shows the power of members, right?
So the baptism was yesterday, and there were only about 6 other people there besides us, the missionaries, because of Tati's fear of being baptized. And it turns out her son is agua-phobic (just made that up, haha), but he really wanted to be baptized. Aaaand to make matters more difficult, the heater for the baptismal font is broken at the moment. So the water was freezing- bunda (bum) cold. Tatiane's baptism went fine, but afterwards, it took about 40 minutes to baptize Patrick--he was afraid Elder Makiama was going to hold him under the water for an extended period of time. But eventually we got it done. Took about 6 tries because he kept flailing when his head hit the water and never went completely under. So in the end, Elder Makiama grabbed both his arms and dunked him super quick. Huzzah =]
Let's see, what else. Oh, we found a lizard in our house this morning. We caught it, Elder Makiama named it Rihanna (no idea why...), and it's chillin' in a box right now. We'll try to feed it, but I'm not really expecting great results, haha.
I also attended the my first mission conference this week, which was excellent. I've got a little handicap right now because I can't understand everything, but from what I understood it was great =]
Elder Makiama is from the state Rio Grande do Sul, city Porto Allegre. His portuguese is very clear, thankfully, and it's much easier to understand what he says than others. He likes to work. Which is great =]
So sad day about the swine flu, but happy day Elise survived. So what's up with swine flu? Is it what I always thought it was? A more mild version of the normal flu? Or is it actually deadly (I assume it's not because Leesie's not dead, haha)?
Well, love you all, glad everything is well!
Elder McGregor
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
An article from The Economist - Mormon Jet Blue founder starts new airline in Brazil, where he served a mission.
Brazil's new "Azul Airlines" (Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras) with LDS founder David Neeleman (founder and former CEO of Jet Blue)The article really doesn't have anything to do with Trent's mission, but since Bro. Neeleman served his mission in Brazil and is now doing business there, it was of interest to me.
Click here to go to the article
Monday, August 31, 2009
Super Chique, Almoco, Dez por Trez, and Doce de Leite
Oi Família! Tudo bem?
Fun plans for today... don't think so. To be honest, we're pretty far from most stuff (Christ the Redeemer, etc.), so I think p-days are just gonna be more relaxed and less super busy for the time being. Can't wait to get some super chique (a word they use a lot here. Means pretty much exactly the same thing, haha) pictures of cool stuff in the future though =)
Again, to be honest, I'm a little backed up on letters. I've got to write one to you guys, Grandma and Grandpa, Jay and Judy, the Primary, and Melissa. So my letters might be a little shorter, just because of sheer bulk. And thanks to everyone for the letters. It's really great to get them!
BTW, we've only got a short time here in Barra Mansa until the next transfer, so I've got a new address to send letters to. It's the home of a family in the ward, that's really wonderful, and they're happy to let us use their address to recieve mail and forward it to us if we've already left. So here it is:
Rua Joana D'Arc
Bairro Coitiara
Barra Mansa - RJ
CEP: 27345-060
Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
So for now send letters here, until I can confirm what my next area is =)
Let's see, teaching... well one thing we've been doing is during almoço (lunch) with members (every day with a different family or member in our ward), we "play" a game called Dez por Trez (10x3). Each person gives us the names of ten people they know that aren't members that live in Barra Mansa, and then choose three to invite to a Family Home Evening. Then we, the missionaries, attend, teach a nice spiritual lesson, and leave. The goal is this: We don't actually expect there to be three investigators for each family member there. Usually there's two or three at most, but they're the ones that are willing to go, and are naturally likely to be receptive to our message and the spirit. We give our message and leave, and the family afterwards talks with the person, invites them to church etc, and if they attend, it shows their interest. Then we grab their address and teach them. Cool stuff. So far, we haven't actually had many FHE's because we only just started doing it, but we've gained two investigators already as a result. So it works. Huzzah!
And you're right. It's a lot harder to get men to come to church, to keep commitments, etc. Women and children are a little easier to help =)
This week, to be honest, wasn't too great. No baptisms, and the people we wanted to focus on didn't really want to be focused on. So this week we're going to double our efforts to have a good week. Huzzah =)
Anything new or crazy I've eaten.... nope. Just rice and beans haha. But I did have some Doce de Leite, which is fantastic. Something I really want to learn how to make. And I totally forgot about the shakes. I'll buy the stuff to do it today, cuz those were good =)
Testimony strengtheners... like I said, this week was kind of lixo (means trash in português, but that sounds really strong in English. It's not that strong, haha), so the testimony builder is that I know that when Elder Makiama and I double our efforts this week, to follow the spirit, to try to do what the Lord would have us do, we will see the fruits of our work.
Love you all!
Elder McGregor
P.S. I got one of the weekly letters from you guys this week at our house. Thanks a bunch!
P.P.S. BTW, Mom, thanks for doing the website and emails and weekly letters and all the other stuff. None of the other elders get weekly letters from their family, and it's a wonderful thing for me. I really appreciate the things you do =)
Fun plans for today... don't think so. To be honest, we're pretty far from most stuff (Christ the Redeemer, etc.), so I think p-days are just gonna be more relaxed and less super busy for the time being. Can't wait to get some super chique (a word they use a lot here. Means pretty much exactly the same thing, haha) pictures of cool stuff in the future though =)
Again, to be honest, I'm a little backed up on letters. I've got to write one to you guys, Grandma and Grandpa, Jay and Judy, the Primary, and Melissa. So my letters might be a little shorter, just because of sheer bulk. And thanks to everyone for the letters. It's really great to get them!
BTW, we've only got a short time here in Barra Mansa until the next transfer, so I've got a new address to send letters to. It's the home of a family in the ward, that's really wonderful, and they're happy to let us use their address to recieve mail and forward it to us if we've already left. So here it is:
Rua Joana D'Arc
Bairro Coitiara
Barra Mansa - RJ
CEP: 27345-060
Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
So for now send letters here, until I can confirm what my next area is =)
Let's see, teaching... well one thing we've been doing is during almoço (lunch) with members (every day with a different family or member in our ward), we "play" a game called Dez por Trez (10x3). Each person gives us the names of ten people they know that aren't members that live in Barra Mansa, and then choose three to invite to a Family Home Evening. Then we, the missionaries, attend, teach a nice spiritual lesson, and leave. The goal is this: We don't actually expect there to be three investigators for each family member there. Usually there's two or three at most, but they're the ones that are willing to go, and are naturally likely to be receptive to our message and the spirit. We give our message and leave, and the family afterwards talks with the person, invites them to church etc, and if they attend, it shows their interest. Then we grab their address and teach them. Cool stuff. So far, we haven't actually had many FHE's because we only just started doing it, but we've gained two investigators already as a result. So it works. Huzzah!
And you're right. It's a lot harder to get men to come to church, to keep commitments, etc. Women and children are a little easier to help =)
This week, to be honest, wasn't too great. No baptisms, and the people we wanted to focus on didn't really want to be focused on. So this week we're going to double our efforts to have a good week. Huzzah =)
Anything new or crazy I've eaten.... nope. Just rice and beans haha. But I did have some Doce de Leite, which is fantastic. Something I really want to learn how to make. And I totally forgot about the shakes. I'll buy the stuff to do it today, cuz those were good =)
Testimony strengtheners... like I said, this week was kind of lixo (means trash in português, but that sounds really strong in English. It's not that strong, haha), so the testimony builder is that I know that when Elder Makiama and I double our efforts this week, to follow the spirit, to try to do what the Lord would have us do, we will see the fruits of our work.
Love you all!
Elder McGregor
P.S. I got one of the weekly letters from you guys this week at our house. Thanks a bunch!
P.P.S. BTW, Mom, thanks for doing the website and emails and weekly letters and all the other stuff. None of the other elders get weekly letters from their family, and it's a wonderful thing for me. I really appreciate the things you do =)
Monday, August 24, 2009
walk walk teach, walk walk, teach, walk walk, find out they're not home, teach their parents/cousin/whoever, walk walk teach, walk walk plan sleep
Hello all!
Things are pretty interesting here in Brazil. A couple of days ago we were speaking with a lady about their daughter, Bruna, being baptized, and her very young daughter ran up and Mom started breast-feeding her right in front of us. I was told this would happen, so I wasn't super shocked, but like I said, things are slightly different here. Yesterday the dog of one of our younger members one of the Moças (young women) was hit by a car right in front of her house. So we carried it into their backyard and buried it for them, because the parents just wanted to leave it there. Crazy.
I think the thing that surprised me most about the work here is our investigators. The first day, Elder Makiama said "we're gonna go teach Israel's brother, Carol's cousin, and Brenner's parents." Israel is 10, and a member, and his parents aren't. His two brothers, Vitor and Daniel (who we baptized this week) are both members as well, at 15ish and 13ish. Brenner is about 10 as well. Carol is about 15, and her cousin is 10ish. So yeah, we teach and baptize children here. Which is slightly odd at first because it would never happen in the States. But things are a little different here. Everyone, and I literally mean everyone, believes in God. And so when children want to be baptized, their parents let them. So Israel and his brothers walk to church every Sunday, as does Carol, and she lives pretty far from the building.
The language is coming along really well. I'm beginning to be able to understand people much better, although I'm still pretty lost a lot of the time. Oh well, it'll come. Although I feel I can express myself pretty well. You know how when you're talking to a foreign exchange student and they don't understand and you need to change the words you use? I do that every time I speak, ha. Because there are phrases in English that simply don't exist. For instance if I wanted to say, "You don't mean that," it doesn't exist. "I wonder if..." doesn't exist as well. Kinda hard sometimes. So I always have to change the words I want to use in English to fit what I need to say. Crazy stuff.
Kelsey wanted to know this:
How's your comp? What's he like, how do you get on, how long has he been out etc... Do you have any investigators? If yes, who and how is it going? What's your typical day like in the mish? Do you tract, street contact, etc? What's your favorite and least favorite things about your current area? Anything super interesting about Brazilian culture?
Elder Makiama is 9 months out on his mission, and this is his first time being Senior companion, training me. He does an excellent job, and I've got very few complaints.
Typical day is walk walk walk teach, walk walk walk, teach, walk walk walk, find out they're not home, teach their parents/cousin/whoever, walk walk teach, walk walk, plan, sleep. So lots of walking, and a good amount of teaching, which I'm grateful for, because it means we don't do a lot of finding =)
Favorite thing--it's flat. Very few hills. least favorite--it's huge, and we're the only pair here. So lots of walking. =)
Well, I'm out of time, sorry I couldn't write more. Yay questions for next time, right? Love you all!
Elder McGregor
- - - - - - - - - - - -
And a separate email:
Oi Família! Tudo bem?
Everything's great here in Barra Mansa. Answers to questions:
How do you spend your PDays now?
It starts the same--wake up, pray, excercise, personal study, companion study. Then we come here to the Internet Store, write emails, etc, for an hour and a half (30 minutes of which is spent writing the letter to the president). After, we go do whatever we need to, including buying stuff (food, commodities, precious metals to make new plates for our journals, etc), visiting Correios (the post office), write letters (which I didn't have time for the last three weeks--sad day), etc.
When we send you email attachments are you able to open them just fine and see the content? Yep--just fine =)
How's your new camera?
Fantastic, love it. Sent you some photos, you can see for yourself. And I sized them down considerably--it's an 8.1 megapixel camera.
Do you have a cable or someway to upload pictures?
Yep =)
Is Volta Rendonda quite a ways to travel?
Volta Rendonda is the Zone, I'm in the area Barra Mansa, and there's a church building here. So I'm not sure if you couldn't find it on the map, but it's about a 25 minute walk from our house.
Do you take lots of buses?
Yeah, Barra Mansa's a pretty big area, and we take at least one bus a day, but we walk far more often than we take buses. Far more often.
Do you see amazing bugs and animals where you are?
I've seen baratos (cockroaches), house flies, and that's about it thus far. Animals--lots of cachorros (dogs) and a member had a Papaguaya (parrot) that spoke português. Too funny.
Is it "Bairro Cotiara" in your address? Just checking because I'm thinking it might be Barro? Let me know if it's not so we can send your letters to the right place.
Yes it is Bairro Cotiara =)
Elder McGregor
Things are pretty interesting here in Brazil. A couple of days ago we were speaking with a lady about their daughter, Bruna, being baptized, and her very young daughter ran up and Mom started breast-feeding her right in front of us. I was told this would happen, so I wasn't super shocked, but like I said, things are slightly different here. Yesterday the dog of one of our younger members one of the Moças (young women) was hit by a car right in front of her house. So we carried it into their backyard and buried it for them, because the parents just wanted to leave it there. Crazy.
I think the thing that surprised me most about the work here is our investigators. The first day, Elder Makiama said "we're gonna go teach Israel's brother, Carol's cousin, and Brenner's parents." Israel is 10, and a member, and his parents aren't. His two brothers, Vitor and Daniel (who we baptized this week) are both members as well, at 15ish and 13ish. Brenner is about 10 as well. Carol is about 15, and her cousin is 10ish. So yeah, we teach and baptize children here. Which is slightly odd at first because it would never happen in the States. But things are a little different here. Everyone, and I literally mean everyone, believes in God. And so when children want to be baptized, their parents let them. So Israel and his brothers walk to church every Sunday, as does Carol, and she lives pretty far from the building.
The language is coming along really well. I'm beginning to be able to understand people much better, although I'm still pretty lost a lot of the time. Oh well, it'll come. Although I feel I can express myself pretty well. You know how when you're talking to a foreign exchange student and they don't understand and you need to change the words you use? I do that every time I speak, ha. Because there are phrases in English that simply don't exist. For instance if I wanted to say, "You don't mean that," it doesn't exist. "I wonder if..." doesn't exist as well. Kinda hard sometimes. So I always have to change the words I want to use in English to fit what I need to say. Crazy stuff.
Kelsey wanted to know this:
How's your comp? What's he like, how do you get on, how long has he been out etc... Do you have any investigators? If yes, who and how is it going? What's your typical day like in the mish? Do you tract, street contact, etc? What's your favorite and least favorite things about your current area? Anything super interesting about Brazilian culture?
Elder Makiama is 9 months out on his mission, and this is his first time being Senior companion, training me. He does an excellent job, and I've got very few complaints.
Typical day is walk walk walk teach, walk walk walk, teach, walk walk walk, find out they're not home, teach their parents/cousin/whoever, walk walk teach, walk walk, plan, sleep. So lots of walking, and a good amount of teaching, which I'm grateful for, because it means we don't do a lot of finding =)
Favorite thing--it's flat. Very few hills. least favorite--it's huge, and we're the only pair here. So lots of walking. =)
Well, I'm out of time, sorry I couldn't write more. Yay questions for next time, right? Love you all!
Elder McGregor
- - - - - - - - - - - -
And a separate email:
Oi Família! Tudo bem?
Everything's great here in Barra Mansa. Answers to questions:
How do you spend your PDays now?
It starts the same--wake up, pray, excercise, personal study, companion study. Then we come here to the Internet Store, write emails, etc, for an hour and a half (30 minutes of which is spent writing the letter to the president). After, we go do whatever we need to, including buying stuff (food, commodities, precious metals to make new plates for our journals, etc), visiting Correios (the post office), write letters (which I didn't have time for the last three weeks--sad day), etc.
When we send you email attachments are you able to open them just fine and see the content? Yep--just fine =)
How's your new camera?
Fantastic, love it. Sent you some photos, you can see for yourself. And I sized them down considerably--it's an 8.1 megapixel camera.
Do you have a cable or someway to upload pictures?
Yep =)
Is Volta Rendonda quite a ways to travel?
Volta Rendonda is the Zone, I'm in the area Barra Mansa, and there's a church building here. So I'm not sure if you couldn't find it on the map, but it's about a 25 minute walk from our house.
Do you take lots of buses?
Yeah, Barra Mansa's a pretty big area, and we take at least one bus a day, but we walk far more often than we take buses. Far more often.
Do you see amazing bugs and animals where you are?
I've seen baratos (cockroaches), house flies, and that's about it thus far. Animals--lots of cachorros (dogs) and a member had a Papaguaya (parrot) that spoke português. Too funny.
Is it "Bairro Cotiara" in your address? Just checking because I'm thinking it might be Barro? Let me know if it's not so we can send your letters to the right place.
Yes it is Bairro Cotiara =)
Elder McGregor
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Don't you love Google Maps!
The pinkish marker (A) is Sao Paulo, where Trent spent his first eight weeks in the Brazilian MTC. The yellow marker is Rio de Janeiro. The blue is Barra Mansa, Elder McGregor's first area, where he is now serving. And just for fun, the upper left marker is Bebedouro, where our Brazilian exchange student is from:
Here is a closer view of Barra Mansa and the red is approximately where the elders live.
And an even closer view:
Here is where the closest LDS churches are. The person icon marker is where the elders live and the #s 1 & 2 are the two closest wards (the LDS.org site did refer to them as wards, not branches, so that's cool!).
A nearby street - Vila na Cotiara:
São Silvestre (St. Silvester), which is across the road from them:
Ponte de Arcos (Arches Bridge) - straight east of them:
"Rua Albo Chiesse vista do viaduto Alexandre Fisher. Ed. Attaché ao centro" Albo Chiesse Road as seen from the Alexandre Fisher viaduct?
Buildings seemingly plunked down sporadically in the beautiful green!
"Rua Albo Chiesse vista do viaduto Alexandre Fisher. Ed. Attaché ao centro" Albo Chiesse Road as seen from the Alexandre Fisher viaduct?
Rio Paraiba do Sul visto do Ed. Attachee
The South Paraiba River?
Buildings seemingly plunked down sporadically in the beautiful green!
Awesome:
Monday, August 17, 2009
Another frenzy of news and detail (not his fault)...
Oi família.
I don't believe it. I spend about 45 minutes writing a letter to you guys and it didn't send and it's lost. And I'm out of time and can't re-write it. Ugh.
My mail address is here:
Rua José Hipolito #556
Bairro Cotiara, Barra Mansa, Rio de Janeiro
CEP: 27345-000
I'm serving in Barra Mansa, which is part of the Volta Redonda area.
I'm really really sorry. Love you all.
Elder McGregor
I don't believe it. I spend about 45 minutes writing a letter to you guys and it didn't send and it's lost. And I'm out of time and can't re-write it. Ugh.
My mail address is here:
Rua José Hipolito #556
Bairro Cotiara, Barra Mansa, Rio de Janeiro
CEP: 27345-000
I'm serving in Barra Mansa, which is part of the Volta Redonda area.
I'm really really sorry. Love you all.
Elder McGregor
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