Hey Mom,
This week was just about the same in all aspects. I really
liked reading those little updates. I don’t have time to read all my friend's
emails so if you can continue and do that for missionaries each week, just some
highlights, that would be awesome! It sounds like everyone is having just good
experiences and growing so much. I hope one day to be able to have a similar affect and
experiences with the people here, and really get to know them, but right now
I´m just always clueless as to what the heck is going on.
We had lunch yesterday with the bishop and his wife, who are
really nice and supportive, and keep telling me in 3 months I´ll be fluent. I hate those expectations because I just dread
setting myself up for failure. I am afraid the language is ALWAYS going to be a struggle
for me here. This week if anything it felt like I digressed. Bishop had me bare
my testimony again and it went even worse than the first time. I couldn’t think of the words I needed, my
brain went blank, it was terrible. Then He said to be prepared for a talk in
November. That’s gonna suck :(
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| FYI: Elder Sork is one of those people that could NOT have any food touching each other on his plate. |
If for whatever reason you ever get a package down here, two
things I REALLY want are resistance bands and a jump rope for some good
exercise with the 30 minutes I’m given. Without
stuff like that there’s not much variety that I can do. Also, I am uploading pictures
today; you will see a brown leather scripture case, the one I bought. I need an
extender for the zipper, I had a makeshift red one on it, but I was wondering
if McKenna could make something artsy/nifty that would work to attach to the
zipper, otherwise when I unzip the case all the way the zipper gets shoved way
back and lost.
From what I hear, I will be getting letters from the mission
home on the 26th. I got the letter from you and Austin/Dani the last day in the
CTM, but so far that is the only thing. I CAN print, but just use good
judgement on what you tell me to print because it costs money and I am sure it will
get complicated as everything seems to here in Brazil. (I'm not worried about printing costs so send me your emails and I will put them into one doc so he can just print once and get all his notes from home.) Also make sure you have
the correct mission home address, like triple check, I don’t have it with me
right now but that would calm my fears of my mail getting lost that way. I am definitely
looking forward to getting mail.
Hearing about Grandma today was really, really tough. I don’t
know if she has tried sending letters, but let her and ALL family know I don’t
get mail often so not to feel bad if I’m not responding or anything, let them
know email is a lot better if they really need to talk to me. I will definitely
be praying for her. That was a blow today, but thank you for sharing.
Okay, now from my list of experiences this week. This week was tough in many, many ways, but
during the week I carry around a paper and write down thoughts/experiences
unique that happened that I can email about so I´ll go through that:
1. There are
TONS of motorcycles here and not many cars.
All the cars I have seen are stick shift. It makes me want to learn to
drive a stick and also get a motorcycle when I get home... But I know that
would never fly with you! I’m just day
dreaming :) A member drove us to the chapel for a meeting this week and, oh my
gosh, if dad’s driving is bad, this is terrible. Cobblestone roads, lots of
speed bumps, stick shift, plus the crazy driving of Brazil, got me SO
SICK.
2. There are also SO many stray dogs! It sounds a lot like Texas
with Austin but instead of people shooting the strays, the dogs just die from
starvation all over. It’s really sad. I see so many sad puppies and sick dogs
all day :( I miss Pippin! Give him loves (and the rest of the family).
3. They don’t refrigerate the fruit here. I eat bananas and it is exactly like the
microwaved mashed bananas I used to feed Spike (Our box turtle from Louisiana).
They’re pretty hard to get down! Also, I discovered the first thing I do
not like – Papaya; especially warm, mushy, gross papaya. UGGGHHH it’s gross.
But my tummy is doing REALLY well so far (I
am going to chalk that up the regiment of vitamins and probiotics that I told
him to start taking a week before he left for his mission and then stocked him
up with.) That has certainly been a blessing.
4. We always have lunch with members, often dinner as
well. Every morning my breakfast is two
buttered pieces of bread with a slice of some kind of meat. I am not sure what it is, kind of like bologna/sausage
stuff, I actually really like it.
5. This week one thing that really, really was a bummer was
a recent convert named Wellyda (she was baptized by Elder Galdino) had some big
problems. Apparently for the first few weeks she was a perfect investigator and
gaining a super strong testimony, but this week we came across her really drunk
and with a guy. Now she isn’t going to church. We had spent a lot of time with her
and she had been a practice contact for me.
Now we´re cutting ties because she doesn’t have a desire for the gospel
anymore. That is really sad but also so, so common here. All the people here
seem to have been baptized already if they’re eligible, but then don’t continue
in the faith.
6. I HAD MY FIRST BAPTISM THIS WEEK! His name is Diego Da
Silva Fernandez and he is 10 years old. It was really cool to perform the ordinance.
I am so sad though because the line that reeled him in was Elder Galdinos, “We
will buy cake and Coca-Cola for you after the baptism.” He uses this line with
every kid, so we get a bunch of kids who want to be baptized, but no real investigators
and it just makes the work feel useless. Then I start thinking about if we do
find a real investigator, I am not going to be able to get to know them well or
effectively teach them because I can’t speak the language and it is even more
disheartening. I am still searching for my testimony, faith, and purpose out
here.
7. I don’t know if I already said this but tone deafness is
like an epidemic out here. My companion is SO BAD but loves to sing. It is so
hard not to either cringe, or just laugh, depending on the mood I’m in, when we
sing. He insists on singing hymns a lot in our house. What I would not give to
hear McKenna’s beautiful, sweet voice!! I miss her a lot, A LOT, Mom. Please
give her love for me.
8. Saturday nights we play soccer as a ward with a lot of
the youth. I wore my Timbers jersey from Tanner, they were all intrigued. I wasn’t
the best player out there. There are a
lot of really good Brazilians, but I am certainly not the worst! All those
years of soccer practice paid off. I had a few goals, and the Brazilians here definitely
have a little more respect for me now! It was good, and I was able to connect
through soccer if not the language. It
was fun to play, but I am SORE! It’s been a long time since I have run around
like that!
9. I have got my first few blisters of missionary work, with
many, many, many more to come. My socks are good sometimes, but others I find myself
wishing I had some black Nike socks like Austin did, just for a change in
material. My feet get so sweaty they often end up slipping around in my socks
inside the shoes because of the material. But its not terrible, definitely
better than normal Sunday socks would be!
10. It is REALLY heating up. In the middle of the day we go
back inside after almoço (that means lunch
in Portuguese – so he must be getting some of it ;) because everyone takes naps and everything
shuts down, but - even before and after this time it is getting roasty! This area is the cooler part of my mission.
Yikes! I sweat SO MUCH but am already getting to the point of just not
caring. There is not much I can do about
it.
11. I miss family the most by far out here on the mission,
but this week I heard some English music.
Tons of Brazilians listen to it and, oh my gosh, I miss music a LOT more
than I was even expecting I would. I didn’t realize how big a part of me it
was, even just being able to listen to it. On preparation days (p-days) I take
some time to play hymns in the chapel but I have such a craving for all types
of music I am no longer able to listen to. I will definitely enjoy having that
back when I get home.
A quick spiritual thought before I go: One conference talk I enjoyed was by Jean B
Bingham about how to find joy. This conference was the first one I went into
with questions. One specific question I had was how to feel closer and develop a more
personal relationship with Christ, how he is not just this being I read about,
but truly my savior, someone who understands me. One good line that
caught my attention first was that Christ doesn’t care as much about our
comfort as he does our progress. This made
me laugh a little inside thinking about this ridiculousness that I’m in Brazil
and don’t speak Portuguese! But then one thing she said was the best way to get
closer to Him is to study Him. Because of this talk I have started reading Jesus
the Christ from the special edition Jason gave me. I was waiting until later in my mission, but it’s
been really good for learning about Jesus and being able to personalize more his
life and existence and purpose for ME. Please let Jason know I am really
grateful for the book and I will be rereading and studying more in depth throughout
my mission. Right now just reading
through it, I am about halfway done, but I have really enjoyed studying his
life, and encourage others if they find themselves lacking in their feelings of
a personal relationship with Christ, to study more in depth his mission and
life before, during and after his ministry on earth. I still have so much room
to grow. My faith is so weak in this area because I still struggle to have
those personal feelings of Christ in my life, but I know this study will help.
Thales, the guy who speaks English, suggested one way to
study Portuguese is to listen to General Conference audio in Portuguese while
also reading along the talks in Portuguese. Not sure if it’s doable or if it
would even be helpful, but if it isn’t too much trouble I was thinking maybe
you could try and send a SanDisk card with the Portuguese audio of the talks
from conference in a letter or something, along with some printed talks? I don’t
know how hard that would be or even if it’s worth doing, but it’s just a
thought.
I have uploaded pictures to the drive. It’s hard to get pictures because I can’t
walk around with my camera - I don’t even walk around with my bag. My companion
suggested against it because it makes me look more like a target. There are a few pictures of my apartment, so you can feel like you have had the tour.
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| Kitchen, Laundry Room and Storage Closet all in One |
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| Study Area |
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| Bedroom |
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| The shower that contains a toilet that you can't flush toilet paper down, and the sink. |
This week I
am going to try and get a picture with a family recently reactivated in the
ward, Willian and Harynne with their children Guillarme and Maité. They are a super sweet family and so nice. Guillarme is really attached to me and Elder
Galdino already. Last night he was telling
me he’s really gonna miss me when I have to leave. I don’t know how because I don’t
speak his language really, but he likes listening to names of super heroes in
English. They were my first meal in the field, my first night in Campina Grande
and have fed us a lot. They are super
nice and encouraging. I am also gonna try and get a picture with a lady named
Meny, she isn’t a member but really likes the missionaries, and making fun of
my Portuguese. But she’s super nice (a little crazy, definitely a fire
cracker). Before I leave I want to try and re-invite her to church and give her
some lessons, but in the past missionaries were unsuccessful. She looked me up on
Facebook and looked at all you guys and said I had a beautiful family. She always
has fresh juice, and oftentimes cake at hand.
She likes to joke around with us. She’s kinda like a crazy, but still
cool, Grandma.
I can’t think of
anything else right now. My companion really
loves his computer time! I think he is
ready to go. I love you, Mom.
Love,
Elder Sork
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