1st Week in Rio - Hey Family
Date
September 24, 2018
Area
Duque de Caxias
Companion
Elder Farias
1st Week in Rio - Hey Family
Hey fam! What a week, or two weeks haha. I finish the bom in
port! loved it and felt the spirit as I was reading the last chapter Moroni 10.
The book is true in Portuguese too haha. We left last Tuesday morning at 3:30AM
and arrived in Rio at 7:15. Man oh man is Rio beautiful from the sky. I couldn’t
believe my eyes actually. I saw the Christ statue from the air and it is huge.
after we went to the mission home and had a big amazing lunch. We met President
Kern too. He is such a kind guy and I can tell he will be a great
President. after we headed to the nearest meeting house and there they
introduced us and we met our companions, my companion is Elder Farias. He is
nice and has been out 6 months, says he has 9 baptisms so far. He is from Sao
Paulo. He is
the one in the hammock. I
am glad though because in our casa (an upper level of a member family) I am
also living with Elder Wade and his companiero Elder Peirerra. Wade was
our district leader and zone leader in the CTM. He also went to Princeton. A
very top notch guy and very intelligent. Him and I work well together because
both of our companions like to hang out a little more than us. We are in
zone 2 in an area called Duque de Caxias. I am here for 12 weeks, It is about
1hr by subway from the mission home which is in the heart of rio exactly across
from the water where they had the Olympics. My area is much different than
that. Still Urban thoughI dont know how it compares to the rest of Rio though.
A poorer area with a lot of homeless people and trash. Smells bad everywhere
haha. Nothing I cant get used to though. My casa is nice too, we built a bunk
for E Farias and I on Thursday. This past week was just crazy though I dont
know where to begin. First off I was a little overwhelmed at first because I couldn’t
communicate very well with my companioro because he speaks no English, either
does Wades comp. This is good though we will learn faster, We are getting
better though and I try to piece together the words he and everyone speaks and
try to make sense of everything. I am starting to understand more, but the people’s
accent here is a little hard to understand. lots of SHHHH sounds haha. The members
fed us well this week! we had a lunch meal at a members house every day. They
feed us well. But we have barely any food in our apartment so ive been having 1
meal and some snacks for the past week. Today i am going to go find cereal and bananas
haha. I eat a lot when members feed us. There is always desert too. We also started
making contacts this week because this is all of ours first time in this area.
Kind iof starting from scratch with a list of members lolo. We made a lot of
contacts though, apparently more than normal. In 4 days we made 70 or so
contacts and have a lot of numbers to call and addresses to visit here soon.
Apparently you usually wait about 1 week before you re-contact contacts. Down
the street from our casa is a "Tabernacl Escolar." Some kind of
religious school that all the kids go to around here. The first day we walked
past it a lot of kids were out front and said something to us and the next
thing I know we were surrounded by a bunch of little school kids saying things
to us. They were really interested in us because we we AMERICANS haha. I dont
think they meet a lot of them here. E Wade is blond and they were really
interested in him haha. Most people here think I am Brazilian already because
of the way I look so thats good. That was an awesome way to start off the week.
Those kids were sooo nice. Almost all of the contacts we made with week were
very warm and accepting of our m3essage, or at least willing to talk. The
people are very nice here and super religious already. Most of them are
Catholic, or just basic Christian, and usually don’t attend church. We are here
to change that haha. We gave out probably 4-5 LDMs this week too. Not far from
our casa is a very busy shopping are which is good to make contacts. For lunch
members usually feed us rice & beans, and some kind of other thing to go
with it. This week we had Fejoa, and stroganoff! Soooo good. I can eat this
food for 2 years easily; Yesterday was my first Sunday in Rio! The members here
are amazihng. Very kind. One interesting thing was we had church backwards from
what I am used to. We had classes first then sacrament. I think is tio make
sure people stay till the and for sacrament haha. not sure though. Sacrament
was good and the building is nice and is two stories. We had sacrament on the
top floor. I heard many areas don’t have buildings and they meet in members
houses though so we are very blessed. Friday was my favorite day other than
Sunday. We had to go back into the heart of Rio because we had a Mission
Conference. A general authority of the seventy was there and is traveling to
missions around the world giving presentations. We have about 130 missionaries
in our mission. Anyways, I have been praying a lot this week for the confidence
and teh faith to "abrir minha boca!" or, open my mouth. I want to be
an bold missionary who testifies simply and with power. This is my main goal at
the moment. On Friday we took the MetroTrain back into the main area of Rio. I
decided to do something that would scare me and that I heard of someone doing
at a devotional in the CTM. I held my book of Mormon up and said "Bom Dia
irmaos and irmas!" then I basically said i have a book hear, and book that
changed my life when I read it. And explained simply the BOM testifies of Christ
then I bore a simple testimony that it was true and encouraged people to ask
questions if the had any. Scariest thing I ever did haha. After that E Wade
speaks up and says, "I also testify that the Book of Mormon is true"
haha. Then he sang hymns for like 20 minutes. A little while later I found a
sign on the train that said no manifesting religion in any form on trains haha.
I guess I wont be doing that again. I remembered a verse I read in alma that
said when you teach the gospel "Be bold, but not overpowering,." This
is what I am aiming for. Not to be all up in their faces or yell at them,, but
to simply invite them to come unto christ and claim what I know to be
true. When I bore my testimony on the train it helped me a
lot after that because I realized it wasn’t that bad. I realized how important
our message is and if I keep my mouth closed people can miss out on the
opportunity to accept the gospel. This set the tone for the restr of the time
we tried to make contacts. Before I wasn’t as out going to people in the
streets. I dont care now much, I am more out going now. Also here are a few more
random things about my area. There are stray dogs everywhere. They leave you
alone, but I’m trying not to get too close to them. Also, I’m starting to be
able to tell the difference between gunshots and fireworks haha. They are every
day here. I feel safe though because I am a missionary and god will protect me.
Also, the pollution here is terrible. Trash everywhere, and the rivers are grey
with trash in them. There are apparently 2 favelas in my area that we haven’t
been to either yet. Anyways, good week! hopefully this next week we can teach
some lessons.
Feeling good!
Elder Angell
port! loved it and felt the spirit as I was reading the last chapter Moroni 10.
The book is true in Portuguese too haha. We left last Tuesday morning at 3:30AM
and arrived in Rio at 7:15. Man oh man is Rio beautiful from the sky. I couldn’t
believe my eyes actually. I saw the Christ statue from the air and it is huge.
after we went to the mission home and had a big amazing lunch. We met President
Kern too. He is such a kind guy and I can tell he will be a great
President. after we headed to the nearest meeting house and there they
introduced us and we met our companions, my companion is Elder Farias. He is
nice and has been out 6 months, says he has 9 baptisms so far. He is from Sao
Paulo. He is
the one in the hammock. I
am glad though because in our casa (an upper level of a member family) I am
also living with Elder Wade and his companiero Elder Peirerra. Wade was
our district leader and zone leader in the CTM. He also went to Princeton. A
very top notch guy and very intelligent. Him and I work well together because
both of our companions like to hang out a little more than us. We are in
zone 2 in an area called Duque de Caxias. I am here for 12 weeks, It is about
1hr by subway from the mission home which is in the heart of rio exactly across
from the water where they had the Olympics. My area is much different than
that. Still Urban thoughI dont know how it compares to the rest of Rio though.
A poorer area with a lot of homeless people and trash. Smells bad everywhere
haha. Nothing I cant get used to though. My casa is nice too, we built a bunk
for E Farias and I on Thursday. This past week was just crazy though I dont
know where to begin. First off I was a little overwhelmed at first because I couldn’t
communicate very well with my companioro because he speaks no English, either
does Wades comp. This is good though we will learn faster, We are getting
better though and I try to piece together the words he and everyone speaks and
try to make sense of everything. I am starting to understand more, but the people’s
accent here is a little hard to understand. lots of SHHHH sounds haha. The members
fed us well this week! we had a lunch meal at a members house every day. They
feed us well. But we have barely any food in our apartment so ive been having 1
meal and some snacks for the past week. Today i am going to go find cereal and bananas
haha. I eat a lot when members feed us. There is always desert too. We also started
making contacts this week because this is all of ours first time in this area.
Kind iof starting from scratch with a list of members lolo. We made a lot of
contacts though, apparently more than normal. In 4 days we made 70 or so
contacts and have a lot of numbers to call and addresses to visit here soon.
Apparently you usually wait about 1 week before you re-contact contacts. Down
the street from our casa is a "Tabernacl Escolar." Some kind of
religious school that all the kids go to around here. The first day we walked
past it a lot of kids were out front and said something to us and the next
thing I know we were surrounded by a bunch of little school kids saying things
to us. They were really interested in us because we we AMERICANS haha. I dont
think they meet a lot of them here. E Wade is blond and they were really
interested in him haha. Most people here think I am Brazilian already because
of the way I look so thats good. That was an awesome way to start off the week.
Those kids were sooo nice. Almost all of the contacts we made with week were
very warm and accepting of our m3essage, or at least willing to talk. The
people are very nice here and super religious already. Most of them are
Catholic, or just basic Christian, and usually don’t attend church. We are here
to change that haha. We gave out probably 4-5 LDMs this week too. Not far from
our casa is a very busy shopping are which is good to make contacts. For lunch
members usually feed us rice & beans, and some kind of other thing to go
with it. This week we had Fejoa, and stroganoff! Soooo good. I can eat this
food for 2 years easily; Yesterday was my first Sunday in Rio! The members here
are amazihng. Very kind. One interesting thing was we had church backwards from
what I am used to. We had classes first then sacrament. I think is tio make
sure people stay till the and for sacrament haha. not sure though. Sacrament
was good and the building is nice and is two stories. We had sacrament on the
top floor. I heard many areas don’t have buildings and they meet in members
houses though so we are very blessed. Friday was my favorite day other than
Sunday. We had to go back into the heart of Rio because we had a Mission
Conference. A general authority of the seventy was there and is traveling to
missions around the world giving presentations. We have about 130 missionaries
in our mission. Anyways, I have been praying a lot this week for the confidence
and teh faith to "abrir minha boca!" or, open my mouth. I want to be
an bold missionary who testifies simply and with power. This is my main goal at
the moment. On Friday we took the MetroTrain back into the main area of Rio. I
decided to do something that would scare me and that I heard of someone doing
at a devotional in the CTM. I held my book of Mormon up and said "Bom Dia
irmaos and irmas!" then I basically said i have a book hear, and book that
changed my life when I read it. And explained simply the BOM testifies of Christ
then I bore a simple testimony that it was true and encouraged people to ask
questions if the had any. Scariest thing I ever did haha. After that E Wade
speaks up and says, "I also testify that the Book of Mormon is true"
haha. Then he sang hymns for like 20 minutes. A little while later I found a
sign on the train that said no manifesting religion in any form on trains haha.
I guess I wont be doing that again. I remembered a verse I read in alma that
said when you teach the gospel "Be bold, but not overpowering,." This
is what I am aiming for. Not to be all up in their faces or yell at them,, but
to simply invite them to come unto christ and claim what I know to be
true. When I bore my testimony on the train it helped me a
lot after that because I realized it wasn’t that bad. I realized how important
our message is and if I keep my mouth closed people can miss out on the
opportunity to accept the gospel. This set the tone for the restr of the time
we tried to make contacts. Before I wasn’t as out going to people in the
streets. I dont care now much, I am more out going now. Also here are a few more
random things about my area. There are stray dogs everywhere. They leave you
alone, but I’m trying not to get too close to them. Also, I’m starting to be
able to tell the difference between gunshots and fireworks haha. They are every
day here. I feel safe though because I am a missionary and god will protect me.
Also, the pollution here is terrible. Trash everywhere, and the rivers are grey
with trash in them. There are apparently 2 favelas in my area that we haven’t
been to either yet. Anyways, good week! hopefully this next week we can teach
some lessons.
Feeling good!
Elder Angell
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