Week 20...Campinas, Brazil

Wow it is really week 20. It is crazy to think that I have been serving this long and next transfer will be 6 weeks and it will be Christmas. I really am grateful for this opportunity to learn and grow. I can honestly say that I have done just that. It is crazy to think that 6 months ago I didn´t know any Portuguese and now I can live in a house with three Brazilians and have a good ole´ time.

 

This week felt really long but it went by super fast if that makes any sense. We had one of the Seventy visit our mission. His name was Elder Snow and he is the church historian. He is an American and didn´t speak any Portuguese. It was funny because when he spoke to the president´s wife she didn´t understand anything and now she knows how we felt when we entered the mission. Luckily, we have some great missionaries that helped translate and he also had a translator. It was pretty cool to learn and grow during the conference. He talked a lot about having a vision for our area. He told the story of missionaries in Recifé. How the Elders had 2 months to go in there and see if the area was good. They baptized one person and 2 generations later there is a temple there and that one person was a sealer in the temple. 

 

This week we have been trying really hard to have a vision for our area. We have been working really hard in our area and we have had one baptism. The are several reasons why it could be hard. This zone is the hardest in the mission (it has never had the most baptisms in a month), we are opening an area, and I am being trained. We could use these as excuses but I know I´m here for a reason so I have been praying and thinking a lot. We asked the leader of our mission (forgot what it is in English) how many less actives and in-actives we have in this area. He said that we have 1,000 people. He said that this is how it is in almost every area of the mission. 1,000 people is a really good sized stake. So my companion and I feel like we need to work on less actives and in-actives right now. I feel like 100 of those people would come back with a little persuasion. We are getting some grief from our zone leader about this because our #´s won´t be the best but we called president about it and he agrees, so that kind of helped our case. Anyways I don´t have any really great stories now but I´m ready to get to work. I love you guys so much and look forward to Christmas. Stay safe.

 

Elder Saueressig

 

P.S. I knew about the arapima. I want to see one here so bad but they are really rare. Yeah, I learned that from River Monsters. My companion is Elder Lukas but Umpa Lumpa or gnome will work too. He is about 5-5 or 5-6 so we make lots of jokes about that. It is nice not being the shortest one. Seriously though he is pretty awesome and it will be tough leaving him.

 

Elder Saueressig's mailing address

If you wanted to write to Elder Saueressig or send a package, it should be sent to:

Brazil, Campina Mission
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Elder Zachary Saueressig
Rua Dez de Setembro, 38, Center
Campinas-Sao Paulo
13010-215

Please note that it taked about 6 weeks before he gets mail.

Week 19...Campinas, Brazil

This week was really tough but ended pretty good. This week it literally rained for 5 days of it so it is really tough to work when the water is knee deep in the streets. It literally was knee deep in some parts but was pretty cool. It is funny because it doesn´t rain even close like it does at home. It is just that it is alot more hilly here and the streets aren´t designed very well. Also when it rains it´ll rain for 20 minutes then rest for 2 hours then rain again so you can´t tell when it will pour. Anyways it was kind of tough but we had alot of fun.

I feel like all I talk about is my Portuguese but literally that is my life right now. It has been developing like crazy lately. It may help that I live with only 3 other Brazilians. It is really weird because ocasionally we will come across a Brazilian who knows a little English and wants to speak English with me. I can´t tell the difference right now between English and Portuguese. I can understand both and it takes me a little bit to switch to English again. So when Christmas comes expect there to be a little delay while my brain flops back to English. Also I have learned piano on my mission to. It is crazy how the Lord has blessed me. I play piano sometimes in sacrement meeting. I can play almost any song out of the simplified version of the hymnal.

 

Time is really starting to fly. I think I am finally getting used to the missionary life and starting to get used to Brazil. I think I will probably be transfered to another area because it seems when I get comfortable is when I have to move. Anyways love you and pray for you guys. Stay safe.

 

Also on a side note if you haven´t sent my package yet I would appreciate it if you sent stick deoderant and lots of it. They don´t have it down here. They only have aerosol (which is expensive) and the kind with the metal ball. Do you have a picture of the fish? (I'd told Zac about the newly discovered moster sized arapiama fish found in the Amazon And we know Zac loves fishing!!!!) I saw two guys fishing the other day and one had a fish on his pole and it about killed me when we had to keep walking but right now I´m fishing for other things.(clever eh?)

 

Love,

Elder Saueressig

 

Week 18...Campinas, Brazil

This week has definantly been even better. For one thing, I think my Portuguese has made leaps and bounds. My companion is now a district leader so that means that both him and I have a lot more responsibility. One of these responsibilities is we go on splits with the other missionaries to learn from them and teach them.

Well this last week I was on splits with an American Elder that had literally 2-3 days in the mission and knew no Portuguese. I was really nervous because I still have problems understanding when they use words I don´t know but, we had lunch with a family and I could talk with the members. Yeah there was awkward moments, but, it really helped my confidence with the langauge. I am starting to be able to joke with the people and gaining a sense of humor again. I feel like by the time this transfer is over, I will be able to talk and understand without any problems.

I am starting to really love Brazil. I love the weather most of the time. It is normally 80-90 during the day and 60-70 at nights with rain thrown in there every now and then. The bad news is the weather is opposite in Brazil. During December it is the hottest part of the year. So it is only getting hotter from here on. Also air conditioning is super rare here. It is normally found only in stores with expensive clothes. I am also learning to love the food. I haven´t had to eat too many strange things yet. I had some food that was questionable at the beginning but I decided it was best not to ask what it was.

 

They are missing some foods that I crave every now and then. For example, they don´t have peanut butter, maple syrup, and don´t use alot of cinnamon. They have foods though that make up for it. For example last week we were walking and we found a mango tree. I actually got to pick a mango off the tree and eat it. It was pretty awesome.

 

This week has also been alot better for our work too. We are starting to creat a pool of investigators. It has been really hard to find people in the past but my companion has been using my Portuguese to get people to talk to us. I am really excited for this transfer and I think we will have lots of success. Anyways love you all and know that I´m praying for you.

Love,

Elder Saueressig

 

Week 17...Campinas, Brazil

This week was a lot better for sure. I can say this now that it is over but before money was really tight. We receive 110 reals every 2 weeks which is fine but we had to pay for the bus everyday as I mentioned earlier. So by the time the 2 weeks were over we used 90 reals for just the bus. So we had 20 reals to pay for everything. This was impossible because just to eat lunch was 10 reals. So there were lots of nights we were going to bed hungry. This last week was really tough because my companion and I both only had money to pay for the bus for 1 more week. Then we decided we would look at the bank to see if we had anything. We looked at our bank and we had 200 reals in it. We called our president and asked why and he said that he felt like we needed it and he said that he will change it so we receive for every 2 weeks. It really was a blessing.

 

Also one night in the last week we were especially hungry. I´ll just say that lunch wasn´t the best. Then a member from another branch stopped us and paid for food for us. It was these giant hamburgers that I think I could live a week on. I put a clothes pin next to it in the picture so you can see how big it was. This week I really learned to trust in the Lord and he will protect and nurture us.

That promise of Moroni is really true. (Blessings often come after a trial of our faith). During that day that we saw our bank accounts we saw many miracles. One was a tucan sitting in a tree, which is really rare this far south. We also found two new investigators and one crazy man stopped us to talk to me in English and just where we would´ve been there was a car that flew around a corner not looking at all. I don´t mean for you to feel sorry at all. I just want you guys to know how much the Lord is blessing my life right now.

 

As for the stories I have some new ones now. I have come to love the dogs anymore as I think those are the only things we see. Finding people is really tough. One house that we went to there was this dog, well I wouldn´t even call it a dog. It was more like a large hamster but, it was trying to bark at us. It was pretty funny because I think it was sick. It would bark (which sounded more like a smoker´s wheeze) then sneeze twice and repeat. I didn´t have my camera so I couldn´t make a video of it but it was probably a good thing because he probably would´ve killed himself trying to "get us." 

This transfer is over and it flew by. It is crazy to think that I started 4 months ago. It has gone by so fast but I feel like I´ve grown so much. I can now read Portuguese plainly and I can understand a lot more. Only when I hear words I don´t know is what messes me up.

 

I am excited for these next 6 weeks. I feel like we will get a lot of work done and I plan on being fluent at the end of these 6 weeks. Ok, maybe not fluent but close to it. Thank you for your love and support. I appreciate the prayers and know that they are returned every night. I love you guys so much.

 

Love,

Elder Saueressig

 

Picture from TN

An additional picture sent by his former Mission President from the Knoxville, Tennessee Mission.

Week 16...Campinas, Brazil

It is amazing how the Lord blesses us. One thing I have noticed is when I am exactly obedient here in the mission, I receive the greatest blessings. That is something that I have been working on recently because it is a lot harder in Brazil. Also for General Conference they only have it here in Portuguese, so it is going to be tough for me to understand but I believe in the gift of tongues and the blessings are real. I am super stoked for it and just know that I am praying for you guys.

As for this week, it was really tough. Right now we are having problems with our area. We opened the area so we don´t have a house there and we have to ride the bus everyday. This makes it so we have to leave the area early and return early too. So we can´t work like we want to and we can´t study like we want to also. This makes it really tough because we have received referals except we can only contact them at night but we have to leave early. We have been waiting 5 weeks for a house now and all we can do is wait for the office to process the paperwork. It is really a test to stay positive but I have to remember how far I´ve come and how hard I´ve worked to be here.

Now that I´m done with that part I can talk about all the good things that I´ve experienced. Yesterday (actual P-day), we went to Campinas for my I.D. While we were waiting to receive the paperwork, I noticed that a couple infront of me was speaking English. So I asked him where he was from. He said he was from Georgia, his wife was from Brazil, and that he was going to be living here permantely. It was crazy though because as I was talking to him it was actually difficult to talk in English. Also I was trying to tell my companion about the foods that we have in America and I still can´t remember the name of the food that I love. It has a fried tortilla, beans, hambuerger, lettuce, and cheese. Anyways, I have been able to see how much my language is improving everyday. (Elder Saueressig is referring to a Montery - his favorite dinner that he asked for regularly when living at home. It is a Grandma Diane creation.) 

Brazil is starting to grow on me. The things that were strange are now starting to become normal. I am actually liking rice and beans every meal. It was nice this week though because we didn´t have lunch with a family one day this week and we got to have pizza and we made orange juice. Let´s just say it was super good to have it again. Even though it was a "cardboard" pizza and not from a resturant. The other picture are of salgados which I talked about last week. I don´t really have any crazy stories this week. I think it´s because I´m used to all the "crazy" things now. Anyways love you guys and pray for you guys everynight. Take care

Love

Elder Saueressig