Letter from July August 8th, 2011

"Things have been going good here so far. We didn't have a baptism this week, but we should have one or two this coming Sunday. It's tough trying to memorize all the new roads and everything, but I'm getting there. At least I know where our house is (haha). But, I'm in the part of João Pessoa called Mandacaru. It's a really poor part of Joao Pessoa. They call this a "favela" or in other words it's like the ghetto. I live in the same apartment as our Zone Leaders. So, I am the only American with 3 Brazilians. We live in an apartment with 1 bathroom that we have to share so its a pretty tight fit (haha). But, I'm liking it a lot. It's a lot more fun when you live with more people. We had p-day today with our whole zone here which is like 20 people. It was really fun. We had this funny teaching practice thing that got everyone laughing really hard. Then of course being here in Brazil, you have to play a little bit of soccer. It was my very first time playing. It was pretty fun, but there are some elders here that play really good. I think it was more fun just to watch. But, that's pretty much it here. I'm just getting to know the people and the area right now. Hope everyone has a great week!!"