WEEK 6: First Area - Pedregal

I can send pictures now!

This email contains the last couple days at the CTM.

Not many new things happened at the CTM so I only included the days with significant events. 

I'm in Brasilia now!

WEDNESDAY

Man today was cool. Kind of a long entry.

So to start off we woke up at 4:30am to head to the Campinas temple (it's a long drive). The early morning (1am - 5am) is my favorite part of the day. It's called "Madrugada" in spanish and portuguese; english doesn't really have a good concrete word for it. Anyways Brazil is really cool at these hours because no one is on the busy roads. Traffic is CRAZY here so it's nice when roads are like this. So after the temple we came back and ran errands outside. Elder Warnick needed a haircut so we went back to the place where I got my haircut a few weeks ago, with the super chill huge guys covered in tattoos and piercings. They were so happy to see us. We talked for a bit and Warnick and I ended up giving one of them a Book of Mormon to read and pray about. He said he'd read the sections we outlined for him and we gave him another one that he said he wants to give to his kids. Warnick and I leave Sao Paulo this week so we'll probably not hear from him for a long long time, but he seemed pretty excited about it. Both of the guys followed us on Instagram so I'll hear from him in two years when I get home.

Later that day, we were just walking around and exploring the streets when we ran into a group of friendly older women who stopped us because we were Americans and they recognized us as missionaries. One of them actually thought I was Italian though (That happens a lot here. People don't take me for an American haha). We talked for a bit and found out that one of the ladies was actually baptized last year. They were really friendly and it was some good practice for our portuguese. I can speak it well enough to get my point across in sentences, but I have a lot of trouble understanding natives when they speak it. They all have different accents and kinda mesh their words together sometimes.

Anyways Elder Warnick and I shared a spiritual thought which they appreciated and we returned back to the MTC. It was cool doing this much missionary work just on a P-day at the MTC haha.

Later we watched a super powerful talk by Elder Holland (an apostle of the church) given at the Provo MTC in 2014. I can't imagine a better way to end a good day than with a devotional from Elder Holland.

FRIDAY

Man I had stuff to write about today but I forgot it.

So many funny things happen at this place I love my district.

The Brazilians keep asking me if I play pro basketball because I'm tall. Haha they're dead serious too. 

SATURDAY

Well today we said goodbye to Vianna. I wrote him a letter to him as a big thank you. Anyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE Dead Poets Society. Vianna teaches just like the character Robin Williams portrays teaches. I told him that, and he told me that that teacher has always been his inspiration. I thought that was so cool. 

We need more people like that in this world; people who aren't afraid to step outside the bounds of orthodoxy, people who appreciate the importance of being weird or doing things in creative new ways. That's how Vianna taught. You kind of have to meet him to know what I mean.

(Sidenote - if you haven't seen DPS ya gotta watch it sometime soon)

Besides that everyone is just packing up in preparation for leaving the MTC on Tuesday. We leave at 4:45am.

SUNDAY

One of my roomates is so funny. We share a desk in our room and any time I rearrange his stuff or if I do something stupid he looks at me with a blank face and goes "..o que isso..." (What is this...)

He keeps me in check

TUESDAY

We all woke up at 3am to board a bus to the airport. We all said our final goodbyes. Can't believe I won't see most of these people ever again. Right now I'm on an airplane with a group of other missionaries heading to Brasilia. It's crazy actually being out in Brazil. I feel like I hardly know the language now haha everyone talks so fast.

WEDNESDAY

Well I made it to Brasilia!! I love it here! Man the buses are insane haha they fly through the city and dont even stop to let people on; they just slow down a little bit and you have to jump on while it's moving. I love my companion. He's a total bro. His name is Elder Rudger and he's from Sao Paolo. He's been out in the field for 3 months so far so we are both pretty new as missionaries. He knows almost no English so it's helped me learn Portuguese because that's the only way we can communicate.

Turns out we have two baptisms this Saturday haha. I came at a good time. We are in an area called Pedregal, it's said to be one of the most dangerous places in the mission :D

But don't worry mom we are staying in a super safe house with plenty of gates and locks, and we go indoors before night. We're safe.

People stare at me as I walk down the street haha. I can hear them talking about me because I'm a jolly white giant from America and it's a new sight for them.

The food is so. much. better out here than in the CTM 😅

That's all for this week! 

(I'll send pics if I have time)

Elder Young