Week Seven

So, it is into week 7. WOOHOO!!!! The weather is perfect. By perfect I mean really warm all the time. Thank goodness my classroom has AC. But it´s in the 80s pretty regularly I think. I´m not sure because it´s in Celsius down here, and the thermometer reads between 25-29. So, I´m not really sure what that means.

Anyway, I´m just glad that I get to wear short sleeves all the time rather than a suit. I´ve only been really homesick for food. Eating in the Refetório (cafeteria) everyday is getting to me. But, only a couple more weeks until I can prepare my own food. I am excited for that day. I don´t remember if I´ve told you very much about my companion Elder Epperson. He´s way cool. He´s from the Seattle area in Washington and he used to work as a veterinary assistant. He´s totally chill and 1/4 Japanese, but looks completely caucasion with his blond hair and green eyes. We both have an irrational love for Korroke(croquettes) and sushi. Well Japanese food in general.

Friday was our first time proselyting around the neighborhood. It was a very awesome experience. I love sharing awesome things with awesome people. By awesome things I mean the Gospel of Jesus Christ and by awesome people I mean everyone in the entire world!

I´ve been studying about Charity lately, and I realized that I need to be more charitable to everyone. Also, I need to work on humility also. Ok, well actually there are a lot of things I need to work on, but Charity is the one that I´m focussing on right now. Oh! and patience, I definitely need to be more patient. Oh man. I was asked to sing tomorrow for a special devotional because there is a general authority coming here to the CTM to visit. It´s going to be sweet because I´m going to be singing with a Sister missionary and our song that we´re doing is beautiful. We´re singing an arrangement of ´Abide with Me Tis Even Tide´. (Oh, I also miss In 'N´Out. On a different note...) I´ve come to really enjoy the New Testament a lot. Especially St. John lately. Anyway, we have a couple weeks left until we head off to the field, then it will be even more amazing. I love you all.

-Elder Samuel H. Chiba

(p.s. I leave the CTM on the 16 of March, so if you want to get a letter to me some time in the next couple of weeks, send it soon because my address will change shortly!)

How long has it been? Seis Semanas?!?!? (6 weeks)

Bom Dia! (Good Day, actually means good morning but translating word for word would be good day) This past weekend was Carnaval, but I couldn´t tell because I was in class and studying the whole time. But I´m totally fine with that because I´ve heard things about Carnaval.... On the brighter side of things, we have three new additions to my district. Three SisterMissionaries. Sister Harper arrived on Saturday and Sisters Davis and Marshal arrived yesterday. So now my happy district is 11 missionaries strong. Oh, this my 6th week here. It´s crazy how long I´ve been here even though it doesn´t feel like it´s been that long. Now I can kind of speak Português. Random fun fact, I am in love with the Guarana soda. It´s amazing!!!! Also, I am in love with these delicious things called Pastels. They are like super amazingly awesome hot pockets that are fresh. You can get gourmet/savoury ones or dessert ones. It´s been pretty warm here. Well actually it´s been warm since I arrived, but especially now because it hasn´t rained for a while. Tomorrow my district is doing an English fast to prepare to contact people in the streets on Friday. I´m really excited and terrified at the same time. But, I glad to finally be able to share the gospel with people. But, my Português is still developing.... So, it will be interesting. I only have a few more weeks here at the CTM then it is off to Teresina. I plan to be fluent in 1 to two months after I leave the CTM. I´ve always loved the Book of Mormon, but I´ve really grown to appreciate it a lot more since I´ve been here. It´s awesome because when you read it along side with the Bible it makes things way more understandable. It truly is another Testament of Jesus Christ. Family and Friends at home, I love you all so very much, and I wish that you could be here and see through my eyes so that we could all share this amazing experience together. But alas email, letters and blog will have to suffice. I want you to look up a scripture reference in the Book of Mormon, it´s in the book of Moroni chapter 8 verse 3. So, if you don´t have one go get one and read it because I love you. Also, please send me a letter if you want to correspond with me because I´m only allowed to email my family. I love you. May God be with you til we meet again.

-Elder Samuel H. Chiba

Quick Português Lesson

Here is a Quick Português lesson from Elder Chiba

Irmã - Sister
Irmão- Brother
Irmãos- Siblings

Filho- Son
Filha- Daughter
Filhos- Children

(an ´h´after an ´L´or ´N´makes a ´y´sound)

Por exemplo... Filho (feelyo)

oh and parents

Pai - father
Mãe- mother
Pais- parents

possesives

Meu - my (for masculine words)
Minha - my (for feminine words)

CTM Update

Things are going great here at the CTM in São Paulo. I know more Português than I did last week. We on have a couple more grammar rules to go over. I´m not fluent yet, but I´m becoming capable. So, now I just need to stockpile vocabulary and reenforce the rules. Even with a language barrier, I´m pretty good at making friends with the Brasileiros. It´s really cool. My companion twisted his ankle yesterday playing basquete (basketball). So, he was on crutches for a little while. Today, he´s doing better though. Just hobbling or limping a tad.

This morning we went to the Polícia Federal to get fingerprinted and such. It was fun. I met this old couple the old man was from Hawaii and he was with his old lady girlfriend who is from Brasil. They were there to renew some sort of document so he could stay in Brasil longer. They asked me about our temples so I explained to them that in the temple we are able to be sealed to our spouses and families for eternity. It was cool. I didn´t get to utilize my growing Português though. Oh, also today one of our instructors treated us to this fresh fruit juice place. I had him pick out a new kind of fruit juice for me to try. The juice was totally delicious. Something called ´graviola´ , I have no idea what the fruit actually is, but it was way totally awesome. It was white, and the cool thing about the juice place is that they just blend the whole fruit. My companion, Elder Epperson, had acai juice.

Oh! Good news! We have a lot of missoinaries here at the CTM now. My district and I have been fasting every Sunday so that the missionaries could make it here to Brasil. There have been a lot of visa problems, but since we started fasting I think at least 200 missionaries that were stuck in Provo received their visas, and the CTM is running at about 50% capacity rather than 10% when I first arrived. It´s really amazing. Anyway friends and family. I love you all. Until next week. May the Lord bless you and keep you until we meet again.

Love,
Elder Samuel H. Chiba

(p.s. I´ll be here until March 16, so get all your letters sent off before March 1st)

Woohoo!!!

This keyboard is nifty.

Ok, well, I get fed way too much in the cafeteria. But the food is pretty good, but the flavors are kind of repetitive. I miss the freedom of preparing my own food or cooking for others. I am also in heaven weather wise. It´s warm all the time and it rains at least everyday. Yesterday there was some crazy awesome lightning and thunder. The thunder was so loud that it actually startled me. We had gym time just barely before that.

Oh, good news, my mile time is 8.14 minutes. Which is way better than I ever did in high school. I still weigh about the same though. It´s funny, there is a scale and right above it on the wall is a conversion chart from metric to whatever system we use. I think I´ve decided that once I am fluent in Português I won´t speak Inglês anymore. I´ll still type though. English is so weird. So, you better brush up on some kind of latin based language before I get home. I´ve not been doing so great at practicing my vocal technique. There just isn´t enough time to do anything other than study the gospel and Português.

Last night a huge moth invaded our room. (oh, by the way, there are now two Brasileiro missionários living with us in our room, they are totally cool) Anyway, I was dodging a lot as it was flying around. It was as big as a bat. CRAZY!!! and the worst part is, that there are spiders that are that big where I´ll be serving up north. Oh, the population here is São Paulo is about 20 million. not 200 million, that´s crazy. It´s the second largest populated city in the world? Anyway, it´s great. We have a great view from our window. Oh, the streets with all the cars are like 4-6 lanes on each side and sometimes a separate motorcycle lane.

Anyways, I´m really grateful for our Heavenly Father who loves us and is watching over all my friends and family at home. And I am so happy to be preparing to share that good news with the people of Brasil. I love you all very much. May the Lord bless you and keep you until we meet again.

Love,
Elder Samuel H. Chiba

(p.s. this is my address until March if anyone wants to send me a letter or something. make sure to put your return address on the back of the envelope.)
(p.s.p.s. nothing inappropriate please)
Elder Samuel H. Chiba
Branch 5 Distrito 03-A Box 21
São Paulo Brasil Missionary Training Center
Rua Padre Antônio D´Angelo, 121-Casa Verde
CEP 02516-040 São Paulo Brasil - SP - Brasil