1st Contact with the Jungle Missionary!

TALKING BIRD

Happy Mother's day!

Photos of 2nd area:

the fruit is called CUPUAÇU. i never ate the fruit but the juice AWESOME!

ACAI BERRY JUICE

9 MONTHS!

ONE OF MANY SPYDERS

May 28th Questions:

1. Tell me ALL about the bus ride

2. Tell me All about the plants

3. Tell me about the animals where you are

4. Tell me ALL about your comp

5. Tell me about the apartment

6. Tell me about the weather

7. Tell me about the people in your new area

8. Tell me about your contacts

9. Tell me about the ward/branch

10. Tell me about the food

11. Tell me about the terrain (rivers, jungle, city, houses, etc...)

wow with all these ?s i would think i had over a year in this area haha. but i will do my best with the responses. the bus ride was WAY long haha. it was crazyness. it was cool though cause there was a river without a road so we had to drive on a boat and it took us across the river. it was a great bus ride though. :)lets see the plants, well there is alot more fruit plants here. like juices and fruits are crazy good here. i thought cuiaba had lots of fruits, i was wrong haha. animals, i dont like the animals that are here. they have big spiders and snakes and you know how i am with spyders and snakes. my comp is from rio de jeneiro. he is black and cool. i like him. my house is, well worse then the first one but pretty much the same. lots of cockroaches and bugs in it and that is normal. my bed is worse, but o well. the weather is still bloody hot haha. its more humid i think but its pretty much the same. hot hot hot. the peple are awesome. the change from the US to cuiaba and cuiaba to here were like the same. the ppl here are awesome. i was in love with them after the first day. like they are awesome. they are so much more poor but so happy and just awesome. most of the houses are wood houses built up in the air. its cool. i know notheing about the ward yet cuase sunday was stake conf so i havnt been to a normal sunday yet. but i hear its....ya. haha. the bishop has no counselers and doesnt live in the area, the priesthood quorm pres...well dont have one or reilfe socity pres and ya. its a little dissorginized haha. the food well, rice beans and fruit. and lots of jungle and ya. thats aobut all i know as of now. its all going great.

i havnt seen a snake yet. i just hear the stories of everyone "wow we just saw a huge snake and killed it over there" haha. but like a yard long. i hope i dont see any haha.

Acai juice here its like 2 reias (75 US cents) for alot.

our house is cement. the missionaries have nicer houses so ppl cant rob us.

the ppl are awesome and offer us everything. one recent convert here i feel so bad for. he is older and his bike got stollen. a bike here is like a car in the states. its like everything. it was sad when he was talking about it. i wanted to go buy a bike for him. its expensive for these ppl but for us nothing. but i cant go out buying bikes for everyone.

the fruit is called CUPUAÇU. i never ate the fruit but the juice of acai is mmm AWESOME. its like everywere. its so good. it is a weird fruit though. HOLY its awesome. haha.

yup. its all pretty great. im gonna bring some juice home when i come home. well the pulp so we can make juice so you guys can taste it.

but my area is aquiry. and my comp has 1 yr and a half and he is from rio de jeneiro. yes LOTS of bugs but there was in cuiaba to.
the ppl are happy i just feel bad cause of how blessed we are and still complain. they are so happy with litterly nothing. one recent convert recived a liahona in the mail from pres and he almost died of happiness. he was so happy. every time we passed by his house that day he was holdint the envolope in his arms. THE WHOLE DAY. I live in a neighborhood. and ya its soo humbling. i love to be around these ppl. its not a compitition who has the best car, nicest house, best clothes. its everyone loves everyone. its awesome.

we walk. we're poor. and ya i will love it. the bugs arnt weird to me anymore. its like weird to say its normal. like walk in the bedroom or bathroom and have cockroaches and stuff. NORMAL haha. but ya i will like it here. i love the ppl. you have no idea. i would love for you and dad to come here.

my area covers the ward aquiry and the branch conquista Latitude: 8° 45' 0 S, Longitude: 67° 22' 0 W north of Rio Blanco about 30 minutes by bus, but a neighborhood of rio blanco.

Till next week! Love ya!!!

About Acre

The State of Acre is almost entirely covered by the Amazon forest. With an area of about 150,000 km2, Acre is twice as big as Austria, and nearly the same size as Illinois. The name Acre derived from the indian word Aquiri, which would mean "river of caymans".Half of the population lives in the capital, Rio Branco; this name means White River, a tribute to the Barão do Rio Branco, a Brazilian diplomat who in the early 1900s signed the Treaty of Petrópolis, by which Brazil and Bolívia agreed on the definitive borders. Other relevant cities are, by population, Cruzeiro do Sul and Sena Madureira; the city of Xapuri, despite of being small, became famous after environmentalist Chico Mendes was murdered there in 1988.All large cities of Acre were built by the banks of rivers, which are the main means of transportation of the State; the access to smaller communities, distant from the large rivers, is via igapós, kind of small channels which connect the large rivers.The Economy of Acre is based on cattle raising, agriculture and, mostly, extrativism of the rubber trees; these trees are called "seringueiras" in Portuguese, the people who do the hard work are called "seringueiros" (Chico Mendes was leader of a union of seringueiros), and the people who profit from the work are called "seringalistas". Marina Silva, the Minister of Environment (2004), was an ex-seringueira, who worked alongside Chico Mendes.Acre is one of the most environment conscious States of Brazil; the idea of sustainable development is behind all the actions of the government. However, the State has been suffering from the action of timber smugglers and illegal farmers, who burn down the jungle to clear space for the cattle.

TRANSFER!!!!

yo yo. ya this week was way short haha. i have no cool stories cause i just emailed you friday. but lets see... I WAS TRANSFERED...right now im still in my first area but tonight i grab a bus to my new area.....guess where.....yup ACRE. its the state farthest north of the mission. it will be alot like the amozons. it will be awsome. you can look up "acre" and read about it and stuff. i believe the city i will be in is the capital "rio branco" but im stocked. i get a bus tonight for there. a 36 hour bus ride. ya for me.. haha. i will prob die on a 36 hour bus ride in brasil haha. jkjkjk. E. orr was in acre for his whole mission to. me and him were both in our first areas until this transfer. he left acre when i go to acre. haha. how great huh. well i will see him someday haha. well love ya.

Baptism!

baptism L-R. wellington, ullisius, me, jenifer, glauber, vauldarine, elder maraesother photo we made brownies and bought icecream. it was good.

so this week was busy but not with alot of teaching, it was more of conferances and practices and interviews with pres. it was pretty intese. he said since he leaves in a month he is teaching us everything so is clothes are clean from our blood in the last days haha. he is a funny guy. but it was a day and a half of this stuff. he taught ALOT of deep doctrine stuff. it was awesome. he even got into deep doctrine with marrige. holy its like totally trunky haha. jkjk. but im kinda scared to get married. did you know if you get divorced the 1st pres. wont even look at your name for at least 15 yrs to be called to be a bishop. WOW. i didnt know that. but all is well here. love ya.