Week 15...Campinas, Brazil

This week flew by. It is really crazy to look back and see how much I´ve grown since I´ve started. I started with not being able to speak Portuguesse at all and now I can talk with native people. It is still obvious that I´m American but hey we all have to start somewhere. Which brings me to another point. When you greet someone in Portuguesse you say Opa and after that you normally say Tudo Bom or Bom. I figured out you can say opa and whatever sound you want and people will mimic the sound. I remember one time this week I said "opa" and after that made the most ridiculous sound I could and the man repeated the same sound. Let´s just say I was dying laughing. Oh and to sound like a native you only have to say cada after every sentence. It literally means face but it means dude too.
 

This week was really tough to find people. My companion was really sick and we couldn´t leave the house one day. He is alot better now though. In the cities here they have a Centro where all the businesses are and then houses around that with bars spread throughout the areas with houses. Which is pretty cool because the bars are literally in peoples´ garages. I think though on weekends the people just dissapear because they aren´t in the houses and they aren´t in the centro. I am loving Brazil though. The people are very nice and patient with me. I know that I am butchering their language but I don´t think they mind. They are feeding me well and I have grown to love rice and beans with every meal. There is one food that I love here called salgados. They are a bread with cheese and normally some meat in them. They are super cheap so I can buy a bunch of them, eat them all, and not feel like moving for three days. Also the orange soda is AMAZING here. They use actual orange juice in it and it tastes completely different.
 

I also love one thing alot here in Brazil. Almost all the houses here have fences or wall around them. So when they have giant killer dogs you don´t have to worry about them because there is a 6" thick concrete wall in between you and the dog. There are dogs in the streets too but they are scared of us. I also love the drunk people here too. We were walking home and one drunk man stopped us and said to me something in Portuguesse then said Oh can you not understand me? I told him I could understand him and he asked where I was from. I said America because most of the people here don´t know where Kansas is, especially the drunks. Then he started in Spanish, "Yo hablo Espanol tambiem" in a really bad accent. Things like these just make me laugh. Oh also another story about drunks. We have a neighbor that loves to get drunk. When he gets drunk he starts singing really loud. I have a video but I can´t send it over e-mail. I asked my brazilian friend what he was singing about but he didn´t know either. I have so many stories I want to tell but I´d be here all day typing and sorry if my letters don´t make sense my mind is jumping all over the place. I love ya´ll. My prayers are with you.

Com muito Amo

Elder Saueressig

Week 14...Campinas, Brazil

This week was pretty awesome and I don´t know even where to start. I guess I can start with the most awesome part. We had a baptism yesterday. It was pretty cool because she is the first person that I have taught from the beginning all the way to the baptism. It was really cool because a lot of other missionaries have tried but no success.

 

Also we found a family knocking doors and we found 7 new investigators in one lesson. It was pretty funny because I said that I have a family in the US and they freaked out because they figured out I was from the US. Then they started asking me questions like how we say their names in English.

 

I also found two other things since I´ve been here. One is the annoying bird that sits right outside our house and makes tons of noise. Unfortunately guns are illegal and I´m not allowed to have a paintball gun or else it would have not been making noise along time ago.

 

The other is cows. Strangely enough I have not seen cows in Brazil till yesterday. We were walking home and they just came walking from a side road. It was strange because nobody was with them. Then they started following us. I don´t know why but it made it really funny because my companion is scared of them. All I heard was, "Oh fetch, Oh fetch, Elder Saueressig Corre." (corre means "run). Then I saw him take off as I just casually walked with a herd of cows behind me.

 

Oh other good news. Since it is getting hotter here it means that our showers are getting hotter too. No more cold showers! Well, till next year at least.

 

Ah Sim Hein! I´m hoping there will be three more Elder Saueressig´s at least, after me (that means Derek, Will and Dad).  I really hope that he (Derek) does serve a mission. It is definitely tough though. I have had days already where I feel like Satan is just laughing at me but when we have good days it makes all the bad days go away. Sometimes you are only faced with two options, laugh or cry. Sometimes you do the first so much that you end up doing both but a positive attitude is really what makes a good missionary.

 

I´m pretty jealous of Abby getting the opportunity to have Elder Holland come (I don´t know if that makes sense).  Oh well, we´ll all get to hear from him in a little bit (with General Conference coming up in October). Love ya´ll so much and pray for you guys.

 

Com muito Amo

Elder Saueressig

 

Week 13....Campinas, Brazil

This was one of those tough weeks for sure. I think it is actually harder to find people here in Brazil to teach than in Tenn. Maybe it is just because we are opening a new area. We have been working really hard making contacts with people but no success. I´m am really excited for this week because we are going to get a lot of referrals from the members this week.

 

This week was tough both spiritually and physically. Two days in a row we walked and hour straight for lunch. Then we knocked doors for 2-3 hours and then walked an hour back to the church. Also included is the 30 minute walk to get to the bus every morning and night. Which is normally where all the stories happen. Nevertheless my feet have seen better days. They are a lot better now but I had five blisters on my feet for most of the last 2 weeks. Also I have an amazing farmers tan now. I am actually darker than some of the natives. Also where I live there is another set of missionaries. So every night we play Monopoly deal and drink sugo de limea or lime juice except it´s not super sour just a little bit. I think this is what keeps me sane with the language and all. Last night we had pancakes which was amazing because they don´t have maple syrup here and pancakes at all. Luckily, the other American that is with me, his parents sent extract of maple or something like that and we had maple syrup and pancakes.

 

The members here are pretty awesome too. We have one member name Thiago and he loves us. We are teaching his mom and I´m pretty sure she will be baptized soon. He gave me a Brazilian jersey last week and this week he gave me a little Darth Vader statue. I think it´s pretty cool. At this rate my suitcases will only be things from Brazil when I return. How they eat in Brazil is very different too. We have lunch with members here instead of dinner. Lunch is a huge meal and dinner is just a snack. I think the first words I recognized and learned was, eat more and I´m full. I am starting to understand the language a lot better and I have been talking with the kids a lot here. The members are super nice though and really try to help so I don´t feel too bad. Right now I can understand when one person is talking to me but when more start my brain just kind of stops working. I notice progress every day though.

 

I love you all so much and sorry if my letters stop making sense. I have been trying to only speak Port. and I have noticed that my English already is getting worse. Also the keyboards here are messed up too.

 

Com Muito Amo

Elder Saueressig(I am going to keep this name)

 

P.S.(from a follow-up email between Elder Saueressig and his mom)  I told the assistants that I want to keep my last name because I think I am the first Elder Saueressig and I don´t want to change it. Oh and I read that talk it (a talk in the September Liahona/Ensign by Elder Holland) was pretty amazing. I have a deep respect for that man. I´m pretty sure if I met him I would pull a King Lamoni and pass out because of the spirit.

Week 12...Campinas, Brazil

So I finally made it to Brazil! It is definitely different down here. Most of the people are pretty nice. They understand that I can´t understand them at all which I think it is good. Also, if they know any English they try to use that with me. I do notice though that I can understand more and more every day. For example, I can now understand when they ask me questions personally. It is actually starting to be weird though because I tried to teach English and all I could think was Port. I am also happy because my trainer is a native. I like it because he speaks English to me and I speak Port. back to him. He is really patient with me which is probably a good thing.

 

As for our area, we are serving in Mogi Mirim which was shut down almost over a year ago because sisters were serving there and they were dating and doing other bad stuff. So we get to open the area. It is really tough because we almost spent an entire day trying to find a map to get there. Also we have to ride a bus for 30 minutes to get there every and back again. Which brings me to another point. DON´T DRIVE IN BRAZIL! It is insane. The people will swerve right in front of you maybe 2 inches off of your bumper and motorcycles are flying in between the cars constantly. Also cars don´t stop for people here but when the people aren´t driving they are nice. I have gotten two jerseys in under a week here.

 

Also the buildings here are very different. They use materials that will last a long time. There is no such thing as carpet here and everything is brick or concrete. Right now we are sharing a house with another set of Elders while they find a house for us. I think our house is pretty nice in general. Although there are ants and other insects. Also they don´t have hot water heaters here. So they have this thing that attaches to the shower head and heats up the water. I think it makes the water just warm enough so you don´t have hypothermia. It is definitely different down here but I don´t think that I´d want it another way. Ants and all.

 

I love you all so much and pray for you guys every night. Try not to be jealous of the paradise that I´m living in. The mangos here make up for any bad thing. I know that God is watching over me.

Com muito Amo

Elder Saueressig

 

Ps My president want me to change my name on the name tag to Elder Grant (Elder Saueressig's middle name - a family name from Sarah's family). I don´t really want to and I told him that I wanted to think about it. Just giving you guys a heads up in case my name tag says that.