Letter #10

Dear Family,

Harro again, peoples, it is I :) First, Anne Marie, I´m so glad you found a use for my engagement ring, I originally bought it for another blonde girl from Henderson (@ChatteringPlatypus), so I guess it´s fitting that you ended up with it. Just short random things that happened this week:

1- Saw my first natural Brazilian ginger. Then saw two more. They're real

2- Saw a car straight out of Fast and Furious, bright purple, revving it up in the streets. Then I saw another one, pure gold. Baller move

3- JACK GOT HIS MISSION CALL, just to let everyone know, don't worry if you don't know Jack,  don't either, but we've all been eagerly awaiting this news down here in Brazil. Way to go Jack

And now, for news First, very scary week for various reasons. Ironically, the only non-scary day was Friday the 13th

Let´s start with Monday. Well, the iron caught on fire. We even had a new one but they refused to use it. The plug, which I later found had been connected from an older iron after the then newer oone broke, it's complicated. Just know that I have been validated to the highest degree.

Tuesday: There are so many dogs in Brazil, and they just wander the streets, freely, aimlessly. Never have I been growled at, snarled at, felt the slightest bit threatened. We were walking and I see this doggo, black, mid sized, just standing there. Don´t pay him much attention. I look away, and I see a blur in my peripherals. I stop, on a dime, and step back. Said dog fliieees by me, open mouth, hits the wall next to me and then runs off.

Wednesday; We´re walking on a sketchy sketchy bridge. Handmade, plywood and two by fours over about a fifteen foot ravine. We´re crossing, I hear a crack, feel a shift, jump the last six feet or so, BAM - one board breaks, chain reaction, whole bridge collapses and I´m left standing on the edge looking amazingly calm apparently, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom style. Very scary

Thursday: We're riding the Onibus (I have a feeling you'll be getting lots of Onibus stories) and, having rained that morning, the roads, already very trash, are not the easiest to drive on. We try to make a turn, the whole bus, literally a train sized bus, starts fishtailing. Driver corrects it, we good. But, very very scary

Friday: Good day, see below

Saturday: We´re on the Onibus again. I'm on splits in another area, it's late, we headed home. We step on the bus and I start chatting up the driver. He tells us that we're his last passengers ever, weird thing to say. Then he tells us that the ride is more fun in the back? Strange but we go to the back. THEN, we reach the end of his route, where he turns around to go back to the terminal. He stops, turns around, yells, WATCH THIS. hmmmm. He takes off towards the turnaround, hits the brake, and drifts the Onibus, drifts it. Drifts. It. The Onibus. Drifted. Around the dirt turnaround circle. Then, the whole way to the station, he doesn't slow down at all, not even for the speed bumps on the highway (which they have here? odd). Thus, sitting in the back, every time he hits one, I got air. BIG air. We're talking two to three feet off the seat. Fun, absolutely. Scary. Definitely. Did we find out after that he was going to the US the next day to try to be a NASCAR driver? Yes we did.

And FRIDAY again. Like I said, this was a good day. Hot, sweaty, we walked to the edge of our area, also, the edge of our mission. Very hot. We´re in a town/area/place called Olympia. All the streets are named after Olympic events. We teach a lesson on Judo street, very good, cross Tennis Street, Basketball Street, and Gymnastics Art street and end up on Beach Volleyball Street. We teach a lesson to a family of four, two little boys and their parents. The dad, Irmão da Santos Fortunato , has a smoking problem. Big, scary guy, wolf pack, Grampa Bud on a Harley, style full beard. I ask him if he´ll try to stop smoking. He doesn't say a thing, just picks up his son's pvc pipe slingshot and his pack of cigarettes and walks outside. He is launching them, one by one, really letting them fly. He gets to the last one, pulls out a lighter, lights it up, and just stares at it. Then he drops it in the slingshot and sends it. He turns around and tells us that when he bought that pack of cigarettes two days earlier, he told himself that the last cig he lit would be the last one in that pack. Very poetic, lighting and not smoking it, great dude, can´t wait to see where he goes.

Also, last p-day, I tried to get a haircut. Simple enough, I really need one. The lady who cuts hair in our ward wasn't home so we went to a barber. He refused to cut my hair because, in his words, it would be a crime to cut a single one of my hairs. Apparently my hair is pretty nice right now if it causes a barber to refuse money to do his job. I don´t know. Just saying. The hair is flowing right now. And Tanner, sorry, but I think it´s staying.

And thoughts of the spiritual nature. I've been singing a lot and when I sing a hymn, I like to find and read some scriptures for it. I've had this one for a while now but it was in the noggin this week.
D&C 88:63: "Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

Love this because we do do a lot of knocking on doors and I´m constantly amazed how open and receptive people are. It really is a witness to the power and truth of this gospel, people who don´t have it can visibly see a difference in those who do, missionaries and members alike. Having an hour a day to study the scriptures has been wonderful. Everyday, i find answers and can feel myself, almost physically, becoming a better, different person. It´s a weird thought but it has been so evident in this week. The Lord blesses those who strive to serve him and seeing these blessing is a testament that I´m doing, at least trying to do, the right thing, the thing he wants me to do.

I love you, I´m off to get a haircut.

Much Sincerity,

Elder (Almost) Mola Ram