Bem vindos a Brasilia!

Oi pessoal!

Well it happened! I'm really out here posted up in Brazil! After a very sad goodbye and an entire day of travel, I arrived here at the Sao Paulo CTM. It has been quite the experience so far haha.

First thing I noticed on the bus ride from the airport to the CTM is Sao paulo is HUGE. I've only seen a tiny sliver of it but there are skyscrapers as far as the eye can see so it's crazy. Me and my comp go up to the top floor of the CTM frequently to just look out at the city cause it's just so cool.

Also what's really weird is that us Americans are kind of celebrities here. A lot of the Brazilians here speak a bit of English and they all want to talk to us. It's funny cause I'll stumble through trying to talk to them in Portuguese and they will just try to talk to us in English. Whenever we run into Brazilians in the hall we get a lot of "Olá Americanos" and "Bom dia Americanos" and the occasional "heyy broo". We also try to always sit with them at mealtimes and try to learn some slang and culture stuff from them. But it's been so awesome to talk to them and I know that that's the best way to learn the language so I'm gonna be sure to do more of that.

Speaking of mealtimes, the food here is pretty dang good. I know that if this is the equivalent to American cafeteria food the food in the field is about to go crazy. Also everytime I tell a Brazilian I'm going to Juiz de Fora they always say that the food there is the best in all of Brazil so let's go. Or bora bora as the Brasilieros might say. But yeah rice and beans everyday. My family knows that I rely on several constants in my life so with everything being different around me at least I can rely on that being good. Tonight is pizza night so I'm excited for that. I had it last week and the was really good.

I have loved my life as a missionary so far. The schedule has been really confusing to follow and I constantly feel like I'm in the wrong place but my life is really simple. I wake up and study the gospel, study Portuguese, practice sharing the gospel in Portuguese, and play a little bit of basquete (basketball) in between.

Some funny things that have happened this week: 

First of all me and my comp get along really really well. We joke around a lot and we think everything is hilarious but it probably isn't to you guys haha so these are just a few of many many laughs we have had. 

One day during one of the workshops my comp got called on to say the prayer in Portuguese in front of everybody and all he could say was "abençõe meu companhiero" (bless my companion). So I feel very blessed.

He also likes these chips that are sabor camarão (shrimp flavor) that nobody likes even the Brazilians. So one day when we were going to bed we heard a knock on the door and a "hey bro". When I opened the door it was a Brazilian with like 5 bags who wanted to trade with us for our American chocolate haha. 

I learned that you can add an ão to pretty much any noun to make it big and inho to make it small so i will now be calling everyone dogão (Big dog). Also I learned "Eu solto um pum" means I farted so I'm really out her learning the most important stuff. 

We had ajudar alguem and I asked my investigator "posso sentir?" which I thought was "can I sit?" but was actually "can I sense/feel?" and I started laughing as soon as I realized what I said which wasn't great but that's why we have practice. 

Every single person here when they here my name is keeler goes: "keeler? Oh no I hope you aren't a keeler!" (like killer) I have no idea why they all know that word but it's pretty funny to have somebody purposefully mispronounce my name to avoid calling me a killer and then I get to proudly tell them that I am indeed a keeler. 

I got to go to the Sao paulo temple today! Really cool experience! It's kind of funny cause we did the session in Spanish because majority of the people here speak Spanish rn. Not sure why. I think it's cause the other south American mtcs are closed so they're all coming here. But it's been so so confusing cause I'll try talking to somebody in Portuguese and they will respond in Spanish and I won't know. But I'm just so glad I got to the temple and I'm going to be sure to make the most of it because I probably won't be able to go for 2 years after I leave the CTM! Don't take the temple for granted! Especially those of you in Utah where they are everywhere! The temple is a very special place and the spirit is so strong there. Take some time to disconnect from the chaos of the world and feel the peace that the temple brings! 

I love you all!

Pictures:

11) me and my comp in the room on day 1

2) typical meal
3) the district at o templo
4) Elder Baker next to an anotomically correct drawing of him
5) squad ready to destroy some Brazilians in basquete
6) the city
7) district during break

8) breakfast with CTM President Beck and his wife