It’s been a long first few days, but they have been some of the coolest I’ve ever had and I look forward of course to experiencing many more. I have an awesome trainer named Elder Castillo from Sacramento. He has been very patient with me and I have been trying my best to keep up with him and all the members and investigators names. It’s kind of overwhelming, but I know I just have to be patient. My Spanish is still improving little by little. The people of this area are a little harder to understand because they speak in kind of a Portuguese accent, but I think I’m getting the hang of it. I just got to “keep swimming”.
In addition to having an area in Melo, which is pretty big and takes a while to get from place to place, we have an extension in a little town only 20 minutes away from the Brazil border called Noblia. We go to church there every other Sunday and went there this past Sunday. It’s a small little farm town, but there are 100 members. However, they are all for the most part inactive or want nothing more to do with the church. There are about 20 more or less who come, and there are only about 15 that are there on a given day. It was a very interesting Sunday yesterday, but it was really awesome! We met and had the Sacrament regardless of how many people there were. It’s hard, but we are always trying to encourage the people to go back to church. I guess we’ll just have to keep at it!
Melo has a lot more regular members and about 4 wards. The chapel we meet in here is HUGE! It’s really nice, but it’s in the middle of this really poor neighborhood. It has been really humbling to see the way people live here. Though they still have what they need and I know there are plenty of people in the world less well off than them. It is amazing to see how they cope with what they have. I am so excited to get to know all the members a lot better.
One of the members is our landlady. We live in an extension of her house, and she cooks dinner for us , which is AWESOME! She is a recent convert, and she is so stalwart in her faith. Her name is Sonia, but everyone just calls her Abuela. She has the funniest attitude.
My feet have never been so sore, but I don’t even care! I’m so happy to be here! I’ve never been happier than right now. Thanks for all the prayers, they have helped A LOT!
In addition to having an area in Melo, which is pretty big and takes a while to get from place to place, we have an extension in a little town only 20 minutes away from the Brazil border called Noblia. We go to church there every other Sunday and went there this past Sunday. It’s a small little farm town, but there are 100 members. However, they are all for the most part inactive or want nothing more to do with the church. There are about 20 more or less who come, and there are only about 15 that are there on a given day. It was a very interesting Sunday yesterday, but it was really awesome! We met and had the Sacrament regardless of how many people there were. It’s hard, but we are always trying to encourage the people to go back to church. I guess we’ll just have to keep at it!
Melo has a lot more regular members and about 4 wards. The chapel we meet in here is HUGE! It’s really nice, but it’s in the middle of this really poor neighborhood. It has been really humbling to see the way people live here. Though they still have what they need and I know there are plenty of people in the world less well off than them. It is amazing to see how they cope with what they have. I am so excited to get to know all the members a lot better.
One of the members is our landlady. We live in an extension of her house, and she cooks dinner for us , which is AWESOME! She is a recent convert, and she is so stalwart in her faith. Her name is Sonia, but everyone just calls her Abuela. She has the funniest attitude.
My feet have never been so sore, but I don’t even care! I’m so happy to be here! I’ve never been happier than right now. Thanks for all the prayers, they have helped A LOT!
