6/24/08

Elder Jason Allred
Brazil São Paulo South Mission
Rua Dr Luiz da Rocha Miranda, 159
8 Andar, Parque Jabaquara
04344-010 - São Paulo - SP
Brazil

Subject: The ocean!

Hello Everybody!

Yep! I was transfered. My new area is Parque das Bandeiras in the city São Vicente. It´s in the Baixada. The mission is split into three areas: São Paulo, the ABC Region (where I´ve been up until now), and the Baixada. "Baixada" means "lowered". The Baizada is the area more along the coast, which means I´ve escaped cold weather for during the winter. I saw the ocean for the first time today. The weather is very wet. My new conpanion is Elder Urie. He´s from Arizona. He has the same amount of time on the mission as Elder Risenmay does. He went to BYU before the mission and he already speaks Portuguese very well. We´re going to be a companionship of power.
We live in a house with two other missionaries: Elder Z. Santana and Elder Magnum. They are our zone leaders, but they´re not in our district. Elder Urie says that our area is shaped like a ´U´ and the house is right in the middle even though it isn´t in our area.

Last night, I said goodbye to some of the recent converts. Sergio and his wife were already making sure I would be able to attend their temple sealing a year from now. I´m really looking forward to that.
I had to wake up at 5:00 this morning to finish packing. 5 o´clock isn´t that early - seeing how I would wake up at 3 during the summer to go to work - but it seems earlier when you have a set sleeping schedule that gets interrupted.

So, we took a bus down to the Baixada. It was an amazing trip. Everything is so green. Then we took another bus to our area. This bus trip was different than any I have ever experienced her in Brazil. When I was in the bigger cities, life was always rushed and it was every man for himself in the transit. Here in São Vicente, the bus we took was almost like a large van. I would describe the experience more as car-pooling. The people inside helped us with our bags, had conversations with each other, and presented a more friendly environment. You can even tell the bus driver where to drop you off, almost like a taxi: "I´m going to the pharmacy" -for example.

Last week was really successful. We were able to bring 5 investigators to church: Maria and Luiz (who are married), Giselle (her husband was going to come but got called in to work at the last second), Danielle (who we taught again Sunday afternoon at her brother´s house and now has a firm baptism goal, and Simone (an old investigator that we hadn´t taught in a while, but now has finally decided that she wants to do what´s right and has a firm baptism goal in just over a month to give her time to get married). I won´t be able to work with these people anymore because I´m in a new area, but I know Elder Risenmay and his new companion will do a fantastic job helping these people.

Well, I have a lot to do, so I´ll say goodbye for now.
Goodbye.
--Elder Allred