A New Year

January 2, 2013

 

Hello family!

 

Things are going well here in Brazil. I hope your New Years was good. This past week was a little different. My companion broke our key into the doorknob of our room so we had to move all of our stuff into another room down the hall. My Brazilian roommates left for the field this week too. I'm kind of glad because all they wanted to do was trade stuff for all of my Nike stuff, so annoying. But, it was fun to try to talk to them in Portuguese. The same day we changed rooms, we got a new member of our district. He's from Utah but, he's half Brazilian so he already knew a little Portuguese before he got here.  He's not fluent so we're on the same level.  I only have one companion now because my other companion became companions with the new guy.

 

New Years here was crazy. As soon as midnight hit, the whole city went nuts. There were fireworks for miles and miles. It was like a war zone, people screaming and yelling and lazer pointers and stuff. I got a sweet video on my camera. We got some extra gym time that day. I think they wanted to tire us out so we wouldn't stay up. Yeah, right. We also watched the Emma Smith movie. It was good. I recieved the package you sent me through missionties.com. Thanks a lot. Pizza is hard to come by here and cookies are always amazing at Cheney's and milk is always way hard to get here.

 

Today we went to the temple. It was sweet. When we got back we went to a real Brazilian Rodigio Grill. It's pretty much like Tucano's but better. The meat here is amazing, even at the CTM. I ate like 5 chicken hearts. They just taste like a slimjim bouncy ball... weird description but, OK. I also got your letter from missionties Mom. It's always nice to be filled in on everything. Make sure you post the missionties.com information on facebook so friends and family can use it. I need Ashton's, Grandma's, and whoever else's emails you can think of. Tell Landon to check his email more often. And tell Ashton to email me.

 

My Portuguese is coming along but I feel like progression has slowed dramatically and I've kinda hit a plateau. I really want to be in the field right now. It sounds amazing especially since everyone says Recife is the best place. I've become addicted to Guarana, the drink. It's the best thing ever. Y'all need to go buy some at Costco or something.

 

Today I think I got one of my white shirts taken with our sheets by the laundry lady. Now I only have 2 of the good material shirts. The short sleeved ones that we got from Mister Mac are the best. The material doesn't rub my neck like the Izod ones do.  If you could send me some that would be awesome. I also ran out of Xout face wash and my creme and pills. Those are important here so that's another thing I desprately need. I found Haribos (gummy bears) at the grocery store here so that's all the candy I need to make me happy.

Over all I'm growing stronger in the gospel, strengthening my testimony, and improving my teaching skills. It's really amazing how much I've improved since the beginning but I know I still have a long ways to go.

Well, I love you all and pray for you daily. Can't wait to hear from everyone! Bye!

-Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll