FEBRUARY 18th Ok so here is the email from my first companion down in Brazil. Its crazy Then I do get letters every now and then, I dont write as much though now because I guess I dont have much to write about... as of yet. But I will send one within the month:P so dont worry about the letters as long as they get out. the time frame doesnt matter so much. Things are going great here and I will hopefully have two people set for baptism within this week. Because Im a smotth talker like that ;P well heres that email I think you guys might like from my companion Elder Francom who is down in Brazil! Love your Son > Oi Tudo Bem! Hey how are you! > I hope that you are doing well and are happy and healthy and your family is the same. There are so many things this week that are so sweet and I am so excited to share these experiences with you. It started off on Monday when I got on the plane from Norfolk VA to Detroit and then to Sao Paulo... Brazil, then Porto Alegre. Overall it took 24 hours to get to where I needed to be but it was worth every second. First off it is hott as hek down here. You drink gallons of water a day and it is not enough. Secondly nobody speaks English.. duh right. Thirdly everyone has a flatscreen tv with american music but a dirt floor and tin roofs.I could go on but there are a few experiences I want to share. > We started off right away on the bus. In Brazil the cities are decent sizes but the are all up mountains and are 30 minutes to an hour away on a bus. So our bus didnt stop where is was suppose to so we stayed with a few other Elders in their apartments for the night. All the apartments here and very small and there are no air conditioners and no heaters and no dryers so yes clothes lines and then the worst of all there is no food. The elders that we stayed with however were very awesome and I am excited. The next day we finally got to our area which is a place called Farroupilha. We immediately started working. The work here is way different. We talk to everyone and invited them to be baptized on the spot. I love it. It really shows us who is open to hearing the word of the Lord or not. > So everyday we get up at 630 and exercise and it is hot. Then we dont really ever get to eat breakfast. Then we work. We work 14 hour days and its over 100 degrees outside and in our area every street is a hill and cobbelstone and all we have is our own two feet. Lunch is our big meal of the day which we usually eat with a family. I have eaten anything from cow tongue, pig fat, and grass. You think I am kidding, I am dead serious. Then usually dinner is a fruit of some kind or bread. We have started to get really creative and trying to get more together and we will here shortly. > Another thing that is different is all of the showers are ice cold. As well as no air conditioning or heating. So your houses temperature is the same as outside. > An experience that happened that I would like to share with you is really quite unforgettable. So after all week and praying for a baptism we come across this lady. Her name that she is known by is Nikka. So we clapped outside the fence and this lady comes out. Then with the best Portuguese I knew I said this: We are missionaries from Jesus Christ. We baptize people the way the The Savior Jesus Christ was baptized. Can we come share this special message with you. She said pode ser, or you can. She was baptized on Sunday. The hard work pays off and prayers are answered. > Next experience is this. We had the zone leaders come and do our interview so Nikka could be baptized. The thing is that we had to pick them up from the bus station walk 5 miles and then back and catch the bus again. So we get done with the interview a little late and are in a hurry then is starts to pour. Hard. The worst rain I have ever seen. The drop were like 50 cent pieces and they were all connected.. Then we went the wrong way. We were a mile away and we were already five minutes late for the bus. There was a shelter off to the side of the road where we could have stopped and waited out the storm and everyone would have understood. But there was someone in another city who wanted to be baptized and I knew and the Lord knew. We needed to get to that interview. As we were about to stop these words from a wise old man flashed across my mind. I am going to get there hell or high water. If you ever need to talk I know a wise old man that usually goes by the name Butch. So I didnt stop. We kept running and even though we could hardly see and knew we were late we ran anyway. We arrived at the bus station soaking wet and the bus had been delayed for 10 minutes. I dont know how but I knew who. I will always know who. We made the bus by a second and made the interview. She was baptized the next day. > I dont have time for anymore but I will share this. The showers might be cold and the days are hott and long and the hills are tall and the valleys are low. We eat one meal of cow tongue and grass. There is no air conditioning or heat or even lights in most of the rooms.I barely speak the language I have been here for a few days and I am thousands of miles away from anyone that I know. I dont where I am or which way is home most of the time. We get chased by dogs and almost eaten by giant spiders. We climb a mountains to get to the places we need to go. The water is warm and gross. Our feet or cut and bleeding at the end of everyday. But I am serving the Savior... There is something special about serving the Savior that warms you from the inside out and thats the way He works. The more I sweat the harder it get to walk. The more I sweat and the more I bleed the more I think of my Savior and what He did for you and for me. He fights my fights, He tends my aches, He takes care of me. He loves me and He loves you. He needs me in His army with banner sword and shield to find those lost sheep where ere they may be. I will go where He wants me to go, i will do what He wants me to do and if the Lord ever needs an errand run I will do it and He knows that. There are many things that I have learned already and of course the is so much more but that will come with time. The Savior will help me and it is His name I where proudly on my chest wherever the road may take me. We have trudged through jungle and got cut and fell time and time again because we knew that there was someone in that village who would accept the Gospel and she did. I have already been on many adventures but there will be many more and of that I am sure but I wont stop. I wont stop because I know that Jesus Christ lives and that there are people who will join the fold when they hear the voice of the Savior. I know that if you heard it you would to and I pray that you do. > > > Elder Reagan McKay Francom
Posted on: Mon, 03 Mar 2014 23:45:50 +0000
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