I don´t literally have a son. It´s missionary slang for when you train a new missionary. But the funny thing is is that my "son" is half Japanese like me. I didn´t know at first because when I first heard his name, I didn´t think he was Japanese. His name is Elder Braga. His mother is a Japanese Brazilian and his father is Brazilian. We get along really well. He´s way cool.
I´ve been transfered to the beautiful city of Camocim in Ceará in Brasil. It´s a coastal town. It´s actually pretty small, but really amazing. It´s nice to see the ocean again. The streets here are done better than those in my previous area. I don´t trip as frequently. Also, there aren´t really any animals in the streets either or scary buses. Maybe the occasional horse that stays waiting on the side of the road everyday. There is this awesome little ice cream shop that is close to our house. It´s way awesome because for some ice cream it´s only 50 centaveis (25 cents) for in a cup or 1 real (50 cents) if you want a cone. It has some fun flavors like limão, jaca, goiaba, açai, maracujá, and other flavors. I haven´t tried them all yet, but I will. The city is pretty small. It´s maybe the size of Santa Cruz. I think a little bit smaller, it has everything you need just on a smaller scale. Banks and the post office are small, but serve their purpose. I think you can walk the circumference of the city in a couple of hours.
We live in a house with another pair of missionaries. Elder Iglezia and Elder Melo. I´m the only North American, but it´s totally cool. They are all really cool. Elder Iglezia and my companion are both practically fluent in English, so we try to speak English at the house and Português on the street. The church is only a 2-3 minute walk away from our house. We don´t have a (capela) chapel yet, but we meet at a house that was reformatted to accomodate the church needs (or a casa-pela, casa means house combined with the word capela for chapel, casa-pela).
On Saturday, we had a scavenger hunt (picture style) with the members. It was a lot of fun. We had to take pictures and videos of specifc things and of our group doing things like jumping jacks or in the air pictures or the group on a boat. It was fun. During the activity, this guy rode by on his bicycle with a fish (that was about as big as me) strapped to the back of his bike. I took a picture, but I forgot my camera at the house today. I´ll try to post the picture next week.
The church here is pretty new, maybe 5 years(?), but it´s amazing. Yesterday we started a church choir, which I am directing, and on Thursday we will be starting an English class. I don´t really know how to describe my feelings, except that I´m amazed at the members of the church here and I´m really happy. I don´t think I´ve been this happy for a long time (except for during the baptisms of Marcos and Amanda). I´m anxious to get into the flow of working here. It´s a little confusing right now because we´re in a transition. Before Elder Braga and I got here there was only one set of missionaries and now there are two. So we´re working on adjusting, but it´s going to be awesome.
My friends, I can´t express how happy I am right now to be here, to be sharing the message of the restored gospel with people. It truly is a message of happiness. If you want to know why I am so happy, just talk with some missionaries. Seriously, you will understand. I know that my Redeemer lives and loves me. I know He loves you, and because He loves you, I love you.
-Elder Samuel H. Chiba
-Elder Samuel H. Chiba
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