Week 46 - Satelite

Olá gente! 

This week was a good and honsetly boring week! We spent most of it in quarintine with the other elders because the doctors think my comp has covid. But over all it was a very blessed week and I am grateful for many of the trials I have had so far. 

So to start off my week I worked a lot with the other elders in their area. I would usually leave for lunch and the early afternoon and help with teaching lessons and contacting and one of the other elders would stay with my comp and at night we would switch and we just kind of kept rotating. I am so grateful for these other elders! They have helped out so much! 

But eventually my comp got worse and so we went to the hospital again and this was for 4 hours! And after they really thought he had covid, so he had to get a test. So he got one and it was negative and they essentially had him keep going to get one till it came back positive. And so once he started getting tests we had to quarintine, all four of us elders. And thankfully no one, including people we have contacted, has gotten sick except for my companion. 

So with this quarintine I had a lot more time to study! It's been crazy to sometimes study the language for 8-10+ hours a day. Haha, sometimes I study till I get a headache and then I have to stop for the day and rest because I need to make sure it isn't covid. I also have stayed busy contacting, and trying to communicate with people over the phone! It works most of the time, haha. 

And also, I got to say, the members here in Belém are absolutely amazing! Especially in Satélite! Sometimes we call it Ceutélite(ceu is heaven, so we put heaven in the name ). The members have given us lunch everyday! They are always willing to give it to us and to help us out if we need anything! I love the brazilian people. 

 Today, I wanted to share a quote with you from an apostle of the Lord, his name is Jeffery R Holland, and he said "Gods opportunity is man's extremity." I really love that, especially because I have seen it in my own life recently. Life is hard and we get pushed to our limits time and time again, but something that I am trying to remember now is that those moments when we are pushed to our limits is Gods opportunity! It is Gods opportunity to work in our lives and to work miracles that we can't imagine yet. Those are opportunities for us to learn that God is among us, as Elder Uchtdorf(another apostle) taught us. So when you feel that you have been pushed to your limits, get on your knees and talk to your loving father in heaven and "he shall direct thy paths." (Proverbs 3:6) 

Alrighty, time for pictures! 

1. Last monday afternoon we were at the church for a few minutes(its the only AC we have access to) and when we were about to leave there was just a street dog chilling at the door, just getting some rest in the house of the Lord. 

 

2. I didn't get to send this last week, but I finally got to meet someone from my online MTC group, sister snow! This sadly might be the only person I actually meet from that group, but ai hope I get to meet more of them, cause they are all awesome! 

 

3. Some cool ominous looking clouds I saw at the hospital 

 

4. Here is a picture of the apartment I have been staying in for the past almost 2 weeks now. 

Sorry for the lack of pictures, we didn't leave a lot, but this is all for now! Feel free to email me if you would like or if you have any questions or people to pray for! Hope y'all have a great week! 

Com muito amor, 

Elder Sant 

Acreditar. Amar. Fazer.

Week 45 - Satelite

Olá gente! 

This week was crazy! This week was hands down the hardest week of my mission and life. I have learned so much! And I don't even know how I can convey what I have felt, learned, and seen this week, but I will try! 

This week we had a lot of lessons in person, and that meant a lot of walking. Some of the pessons were in very nice, gated communities and some were in homes that are wooden shacks built over a river. It has been crazy to see the extremes of rich and poverty here in Belém. Also it rains every afternoon here in Belém. It has gotten to the point where I don't care about the rain anymore. You just keep walking to the next place. Occasionally we will walk to a cover for a few minutes if it is raining really hard. 

Also, my comp got pretty sick this week, so we spent one day locked up in our tiny little apartment. And let me tell ya, I was literally going crazy. I have never felt this way in my life. Sitting in an oven of an apartmment, in a foreign country, with no one that I can really communicate with. It was terrible. So we went to the ZLs apartment the next day. And from there they started showing me the ropes of work in Brazil. I was very grateful for that, because the work here is very different. In the US it was all on FB, and here none of it is on FB. We are walking around and talking with people and interacting with them constantly. We will go to the neighborhood of someone who is interested in hearing our message and we'll walk around and gather the people in the neighborhood and teach all of them. And it has been working pretty good so far. It is really good to learn Portugues but also very new and different. 

However, my comp kept getting more sick. To the point where he felt like he couldn't walk. He has asthma and he thought he felt this way because of that mixed with the extreme physical demands. So our mission nurse sent him to the hospital. There, they would not let me go with him so I sat in the waiting room for over 3 hours by myself, with no internet to call anyone if it was needed. I also had no clue what was going on with elder Ossovski. So it was high stress, but we got through it, and he now has medicine to help him out. 

So needless to say it was a wild week, but a good one. The Lord has helped me and I am so grateful for the experiences I have had so far and I am looking forward to having more fun adventures, but hopefully much less stressful. 

Last week I said I could understand 50-60%, but I did not know what it meant. I understood about half of the words said by nice Brazilians who know I am a struggling american. This week, I learned it is much harder to understand context and those things. And right now I have my ups and downs with it. There are some moments where I listen to someone say something, and I don't know what they just said, and then there are sometimes that I have been able to have short conversations with people! But no matter which end I am on the Lord is magnifying my efforts. I have noticed that the times I understand and the people understand me are always at the most important moments where I need the most help. He will help his children according to his timetable. I was reading earlier this week in 2 Nephi 19, and it repeatedly said that God's anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. Times will be touggh and hard, but we just need to put our head down and work through it. Trust in him and grab his outstretched arm.

Alrighty, I am out of time, so it is time for pictures!

1. I was in the city last week 

 

 

2. And now I am a little more out there, but still in Belém 

 

 

3. Wanted to share our apartment. This is all of it. This and a bunkbed. Its pretty great! 

 

4. I got to drive by the temple that is under construction! That was pretty awesome! 

 

5. The view out the window above my bed. Brazil is awesome! 

 

 6. A meal that some members got us! The members are awesome here! We get fed at least 1, if not 2 meals every day. 

This is all for now! Feel free to email me if you would like or if you have any questions or people to pray for! Hope y'all have a great week! 

Com muito amor, 

Elder Sant 

Acreditar. Amar. Fazer.

Week 44 - Satelite

Olá gente! Tudo Bem com vocês?! 

What a week! I am finally here in Brazil and it is crazy! So much going on! To start off, I sadly left Kansas. It was sad, and I still miss people from there but I am happy to be here. 

I left from the Wichita Airport in the early afternoon on Thursday and went to Dallas. In the Dallas airport I almost missed my flight, but I made it in time to get on the plane! And on the plane I made some friends with some Brazilians and I got to practice my Portuguese! It was great and they were super nice! One of them, Walter, wanted me to sit in his seat for landing because he has seen São Paulo a million times but I never have! He was so nice and helped with a lot! And in Sau Paulo someone that worked for the airport helped me get through customs and to security for my flight and I waited in the São Paulo Airport all morning and into the afternoon and I then caught my plane to Fortaleza! That was great and long too. And then from Fortaleza I had about a 10 minute layover and then went to Belém!  It was great to be there, I was the only missionary in all of the airports the whole time! 

I had a welcoming party and I got to meet my companion, who has been in the field for a week! I am his first companion, which means I am supposed to help him get used to life as a missionary and help him become a better missionary. So I am training a new missionary, and it is great! And neither one of us have served in the area that we are working in which makes it a little harder! I don't know why my president has me, someone who barely speaks Portuguese, train a Brazilian, but I do know that the gift of tongues is real! In two days I have gotten to where I understand probably 50-60% of the portuguese I hear! Sure I am still missing a lot, but it has only been two days! I am so grateful that the Lord is blessing my efforts and helping me to understand what is going on. I can also get across to others what I am thinking, which is huge and I am so grateful for the many miracles I have already seen here! 

So my son, my companion, is Elder Ossovski, and he is from Curitiba. He is awesome, and he speaks a little English, and he has helped me learn a lot of Portuguese in the last few days. He is also very patient with my constant questions about the language or for him to explain things in a simpler way! He is amazing and I am so grateful to be with him. 

Yesterday I got to spend the day with my mission president and His wife, and it was amazing! There house is one of the few with AC and it is so nice to be in there. It was my second time being in AC while in Belém! And Belém is right near the equator, so it gets super hot as you can imagine. The first day I was sweating 24/7, but luckily I got used to it fast and I only sweat when I am in the sun now, which is still often. Anyways, the training was great, and there was another American Elder there that is fluent in Portuguese and he helped me to understand things yesterday. 

In a little summary, I love it here. Brazil is wonderful! The culture is a little different but I love. I thought I would get pretty homesick, and I was a little surprised at first, but besides the language I feel like I have adjusted really well! That may change but I love it here and their culture! 

Also, the work is going so fast here! The members here feed us every day and they are wonderful! And almost everyone you talk to wants to hear our message and why I came here to share it! It reminds me of a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 3:3(for my friends that don't know, it is modern revelation to some of our modern prophets that God has called, if you have more questions feel free to ask me). It says "remember that it is not the work God that is frustrated but the work of men." I may have shared this already, but the work of God can truly never be frustrated. Not by a pandemic or by a gringo in Brazil. God will magnify the efforts of his servants and will help them to accomplish His work. I also have seen the scripture in Ether 12:27 come to life this week as God has started to turn one of my greatest weaknesses into one of my strengths. I would not call Portuguese my strength, but it will be as I let Gpd prevail in my life. And it will be the same for all of you as you let God prevail in your life. 

Alrighty, I am out of time, so it is time for pictures! 

 

1. Having some fun my last night in Kansas. I will love Kansas forever! 

 

2. Flying into São Paulo 

 

3. Cool picture flying into Fortaleza 

 

4. Meu filho e eu! We were both celebrating month marks! He had 1 month and I had 10! 

 

5. View of Belém from our mission presidents house

 

6. The view at night 

 

7. My mission President and his wife! 

 

8. Some abandoned airplanes at the Brazil airport! 

This is all for now! Feel free to email me if you would like or if you have any questions or people to pray for! Hope y'all have a great week! 

Com muito amor, 

Elder Sant 

Acreditar. Amar. Fazer. 

Other photos:

Tracking his plane to Brazil all night:

Travel to Brazil pics!

Leaving Wichita:

Me sweating on the plane after my run through the Dallas airport, the meals on the plane and the sunrise from the plane over Brazil:

Clouds and little towns a little outside of São Paulo:

 

Descent into the clouds and São Paulo below them:

 

São Paulo Airport and taxiing and take off from São Paulo:

 

 

The flight from São Paulo to Fortaleza. Got some pretty cool photos and some that look like we are underwater and such. :

 

 Landing in Fortaleza, and the Fortaleza airport. I was in an aisle seat and it was dark for our flight from Fortaleza to Belém and so I don't have pictures of that part of the flight:

The view from the mission home, you can see the Rio Baía do Guajará

Jeaux sent Today at 6:08 AM

My mission President and his wife. He is the funniest guy! I will tell more about it in the call, but one thing is that he wears clip on ties, which I did not expect from a mission President: