Well I´ve been in Brazil for a week now. More the CTM than actually in the city, but it’s been nice. My companions name is Elder Higgins. He’s from Florida, went to BYU, plays Frisbee (we played the first day), and is pretty quiet. At least he was pretty quiet, he has now opened up a lot and is a pretty funny guy. We room with 4 other guys and they are all pretty cool and we get along well. There are 10 guys in our district, and half are from Utah. They are all going to Recife or Masseu. There aren’t a lot of missionaries going to Manaus. There were about 20 Elders on the plane ride over here, and only 2 others were going to Manaus. Other than those two I've met one other guy (a Brazilian) going to my mission. One of my instructors served his mission there and just got off two months ago, and says its way hot, but the mission president is awesome and its a fun mission.

The food here is mostly rice and beans (big surprise huh?) but its not bad. I’m starting to get a little tired of pinto beans, but I guess I should get used to them. Other than that they have different kinds of chicken or beef usually. We had tacos last night and it was amazing. Thursdays we get pizza hut, but its not pizza hut. None of the pizzas are anywhere close to normal in anyway. Like they have cinnamon covered chocolate banana pizza, or fish pizza (I don’t know what kind of fish) and just random other pizzas. But its a nice change. I love Guarana, and the juices and fruit are good. Guava, mango, and passion fruit juice mixed is legit. But apparently the passion fruit makes you tired, or so some of the Brazilians say.

We try to eat at least 2 meals a day with the Brazilians. They are super nice and funny people and are really friendly. They like to joke around and really help us speak Portuguese. They usually try to group one companionship of Brazilians in each room with Americans to help us with our Portuguese. But we didn’t get any. We like to talk to them though and a lot of them remember me as the kid going to Manaus. We live on the 6th floor (which really means 7th) and we always use the stairs. But at least we get a decent view of the city, which is freaking huge. It just goes on forever.

My classes are going pretty well. We wake up at 6:30, have personal study for 30 minutes, then breakfast, then comp study, then MDST (Missionary directed study time) for like 2 and a half hours. Then we have lunch and then class with Irmão (brother) Nunes. His favorite band (I asked) is the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and he plays the electric guitar. He’s a pretty funny guy and is a good teacher. We have class until like 5 and then class with Irmão Ramon, who just got off his mission in Manaus. He speaks very little English, which actually helps us to understand more. I’m doing well with the language. Spanish has really helped, and I’m getting the language faster than almost all my class. I could pray and bear my testimony after about 3 or 4 days. But those are easy because you don’t have to listen to others and understand what they are saying. So I'm working on understanding the Brazilians (sitting with them at lunch helps). But the language is going well for me. Unfortunately, its not going so well for others. Some guys are getting really discouraged (possibly also because the people that took some Spanish are understanding really easily). One Elder in particular was thinking about asking to go on another mission, but we ended up giving him a blessing, and talked to him about staying. Some of us bore our testimony to him that this is where he should be and that the Lord will bless him with the language if he stays and just has faith.

Other than Portuguese, we are learning to teach the message of the Restoration. My comp and I teach fairly well together. He is a scripture genius. Like I can ask him what almost any chapter of the BOM is and he will tell me. He has so many scriptures memorized, but he goes off on tangents and doesn’t always teach in a very concise way. So we work well together, because I can talk and he has the scriptures ready. We are really starting to get along and become friends and joke around together.

Today we went to the temple and it was cool. Its definitely nicer than the Seattle temple. It was about an hour bus ride to get over there. I’m enjoying my break from the CTM and actually getting the chance to walk around. We have gym almost everyday, and that’s fun and kind of our break from the CTM, but its nice to actually be in the real world. I bought some cheap ties (apparently the cheapest in Brazil) that are pretty nice. They are only like $4 US dollars, so its not a bad deal. I still have to do laundry and stuff though, and my time is almost up.

So, Im hoping to hear back from you guys. I hope all is going well at home. I miss you guys (except you Megan) and hope you are enjoying the summer. its technically winter here, so it gets dark around 6 but its still pretty warm. Im thinking of you guys (between classes and whatever) and just want you to know that I love and miss you. I´ll email next week. Tchao!