As for animals, I haven´t seen too many strange animals. It helps that we are living in a city and I think I always will be but we do see the occasional 2-3 ft. long lizard. I have seen toucans two times on my mission. Also our house has cockroaches that are literally 3 inches or bigger in the attic. Luckily, they don´t like to come down when we are in the house. The only time I saw them was I woke up to get something to drink and turned on the lights and saw 6-7 of them run and hide really fast. We are going to get some poison though to kill them soon. Also for pets they normally have just dogs, lots of birds, and the occasional cat. We do have one member that has pet tortoises.
As for this week, it went by super quick. I think I will be saying that probably every week here. I really learned alot this week about the importance of patience, how to be a leader, and the importance of choosing the right girl in the future. This week we have been working with the members alot but specifically the bishop. One day, we found him in the chapel with cleaning supplies out and on the telephone with another member. They were getting ready for an activity that our ward had. We heard him say, "If I leave to get the stuff, I will be here to 8 at night cleaning the chapel." So we offered to help him and we got the opportunity to talk with him a lot about our work and what he is doing too. It was really good because now he is really excited to help us. He also talked a lot about how his wife is so great and is taking care of the kids when he is at the church. He stressed the importance that we need to choose right. He said that we both will be bishops in the future and probably stake presidents. After this, my companion and I looked at each other and started laughing. The though of us being bishops is a little scary.
One thing I love about Brazil is that they have holidays literally every 2 weeks and sometimes every week. This week was a holiday that I guess was pretty big because we had a pretty good churrasco (BBQ) with a lot of members and investigators. It was really good for everyone because our investigators could see that we are normal and got to talk with the members, we got to play volleyball and eat a ton, and the members got to relax. I love how the people here cook. They had 8 kilos of just beef and lots more sausage to go with that. I think I put down one of those kilos(don´t worry I´ll walk it off.) I also have learned how to talk to the members here. It is nice that I can talk to someone without my companion right beside me. It is crazy to think that 6 months ago I literally didn´t know anything in Portuguese. In fact this week I have been working on my English. Luckily my companion is pretty good at English so I can practice with him. I can still speak English the only problem is I want to switch to Portuguese during the middle of the sentence. Everyone I talk to here can understand when I switch to Portuguese so it really is different to just speak only English.
This week we have been working with a family that just the grandma is a member. All of her grandchildren go to church but their moms won´t let them be baptized. So in turn, we have been working on the moms and teaching them. We are really excited because one of them is accepting the lessons and I think next week will go to church with us. I think once we baptize one, all of them will follow and their kids too. It is really cool watching how they respond change. When we begin they are always closed to our message but as we talk a little bit more they always open up. It is so cool watching the gospel work. I am so happy to be on a mission and so grateful also. I love you guys so much and stay safe.
I haven´t got my package because our zone leader has it right now. We are far away from the office so we couldn´t go get it but he lives closer so they made a trip. I will get it tomorrow at the next zone conference. I think where we are serving you don´t have to worry too much about packages being stolen. Our mission is the richest mission in Brazil (it helps that one of our members in Campinas has a Ferrari).
Love,
Elder Zachary
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