June 30, 2014 - Someone Call for an Ambulance?

An old Ambulance out side of our house. It is Cuiabá, Walking Dead Edition

It is weird not having a 4th of July, but every time Brazil Scores (in the world cup) there are fireworks.  This last game was real crazy, it was a super close game between Brazil and Chile.  They tied all the way through overtime, and then went to a penalty shoot-out, at that point entire Cuiaba was cheering and screaming, and as many firework as they had, Brazil must have ended up winning.

It had been "cold"  in Cuiaba the past few days, it feels good to have a change, something other than the burning sun.

This week  ate a Churro filled with hot fudge.

June 23 - Visitors from Hawaii

Greetings from Cuiaba.

This week was pretty good.  A lot of world cup going on. We had 1 day last week where we had to stay inside for a Brasil Game. After 4 o'clock today we will have to be inside our apartments. 

Branco and his wife from Haiti. After they came to church we taught them the restoration. That believed most of it, but Branco had a difficult time with the first vision. He has heard somewhere that the Bible says that nobody can see God. We told him to try reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. This week we see if he has.

There are a lot of less actives in this ward to want to start working with, but the ward secretary is super busy, so we are struggling to get a list.

Its's hard to get a lot of work done here. Studies takes up 8 to 11 o clock. And walking to eating and walking back from lunch takes until about 1 or 2 o clock some days. The sun goes down at 6 here and it is to sketchy so go into some neighbor hoods after dark. So we try and schedule our lessons at the end of the day and we do our finding activities during the daylight hours.

We had an american family from Hawaii with us at church, we helped them out with church and some translation. It is strange speaking English with people who are not missionaries.

This week we ate at a  Churrascaria Rodizio, AKA Brazilian style BBQ. It was super good. It was basically the same thing as the Brazilian Grills in the States. The quality was not quite as good. The salad bar is minimal, but the desserts are included. Some of the meat was a bit burnt and the cuts are not as good but they still had good flavor and were very tasty. They had the people who come around with the skewers of meat just like in the states.  Per person to eat there  is only 12 Rais. Which is about 6 US dollars. So it is good cheap.

Rais, Brazilian money, said like"Hey-eyes"

We also went to this place called the "Camêlo". They have a lot of weird imported perfumes and fake stuff from China. The Camêlo consists of a bunch of 5 by 5 food stands in a warehouse that is just packed full of the little stores, and each little story is packed pull of clothes or electronics or stuff made in china or bags or what ever. I bought myself a fake Brazil Jersey for Cheap, only 35 Rais or about 17.50 US. Which is good considering real "official shirts" for the team are like 90 up to 200+ Rais. 

  Love, Elder Nolan Gibb 

June 16 - Starting to Tan

I am starting to tan and I am using sunscreen, I have only been sunburned on my nose and the back of my legs. Because we wear long pants 6 days a week my legs are whiter than my arms.

The world cup started in Brazil. We end up watching a few games. We are not really supposed to, but it is on when we go to Church members homes for lunch, for we kind of have to.  I have watched more world cup in the last week then my entire life. For Brazil games we have to me inside our apartments. But you can tell when Brazil scores, because we can hear all of our neighbors yell "GOOOOOLLLL" and the entire city shoots off fireworks. I really hope Brazil doesn't  lose, I am afraid of would would happen, not to me, just in general. 

I promise I will send pictures next week. Brazil is just different.

I don't know our address, but we live in the Neighborhood called "Boa Esperança"

For practice shipping, some peanut butter M&M would be a good test subject. I don't really need anything at the moment. They have normal M&M but not peanut butter.

My companion is Elder Watchman, he played foot ball for University of Utah. He is from Bountiful Utah. He only waited for 2 transfers in Billings Montana. He had been out for about a year and 3 months, I think.

We finally got some investigators to church. Blanco and his woman (they are not married, but living together so they can't be baptized yet) Marie. They are from Haiti. Blanco speaks more English and Spanish then he does Portuguese, so we teach him in all 3. She only speaks French but understand some Portuguese, so we are trying to  more French reading for her.

June 9, 2014 And then there were two

Bomdia,

This week we finally are down to a normal companionsship of two Elders. Our apartment was way to small. The compainion that left was one who liked to play League of Legends on P-Day. Talk about tempation.

Now all we have is  me and Elder Watchman. 

World Cup starts this week, The first game in Cuiabá is on the 13th.  (Me thinks) and the day they are having game we have to be back into our apartment at 5:30. We are not allowed to watch any games, but who knows what the other missionaries will do.

Is sooo hot here. And we walk a lot. We do a lot of sweating. I am trying to drink as much water as I can. We have lunch with members. After walking between 20 to 45+ minutes to their house they always give us soda, and I just want water.  Speaking of soda, I am not tired of Guaraná yet, I am tired of Coca-Cola, EVERY body drinks Coke here. I like Pespi more then Coke and Guaraná more then all. Lots of people also drink juices, fresh made mango juice is just about the best thing in the world.

I did cut my hair, I borrowed some clippers from a member. The biggest number guard was 4, so that's what my hair is now. I also cut my companions hair. I messed up a bit on his hair, but not too much.

Finally, I have my own debit card. I don't have to worry about a companion mixing up money or spending my food money. I did have to register with the police. That all said and done. They gave me an identification card to carry around. I don't have to take my passport with me anywhere.

Our stake and the stake next door did a Mormon Helping Hands or  Mãos que ajudam to clean up a park in Cuiabá. Alot of missionaries went. We did not get any yellow T-shirts, but that is ok. President Reber didn´t do any work, he basically showed up and talked to people and took pictures.

I spoke in sacrament meeting for 5 min yesterday, about the importance of studing the scritpures. I did not get any "good job" comments from the members or anything. The missionaires said that my talk made sense and that it sounded good.

Love, Elder Gibb

June 2, 2014 - Coxipó is said like "Co - she - po"

I don't have any pictures right now, I am  not quite brave enough to bring my camera outside of the apartment. We are at a "lan house" right now, which is just a really nice internet cafe with lot's of video games. Don't worry, I will not play them. (Emphesis on the "I")

My portuguese is coming back just fine, it is a bit tricky to understand some of the natives, they have some heavy accents.

The members here are really great and very supportive of the missionaries. We have an Almoço (lunch) every day. They cook very well. We always have rice and beans and soda pop, usually Coca Cola or Guaraná. 

We have a ward (not a branch). We just got a new bishop this week.

I am already starting to lose weight, we do alot of walking. And also, the big meal is lunch and I can't eat as much that early in the day. The heat and exercise also act as appetite suppressant.

Right now I have two companions, Elder Watchman and Elder França. They are nice. 

Elder Watchman is from Utah and Elder França is from São Paulo.

Our apartment is way to small for 3 Elders, one of them will be leaving soon. Our apartment may be small, but it is nice. We have a microwave, fridge, and a big gas stove/oven. The shower head that makes warm water is broken, so it is only cold showers for us. That is fine, because it is always hot, and I have gotten used to the cold water. Our sink has a filter on it, so we can have good water whenever. And the people here all drink filtered water or soda. The best thing about our apartment is that we have an AIR CONDITIONING unit in our bedroom. I was very pleased to find this out. Very few mission apartments have them.

The culture of the mission here is a bit difference, most Elders don't feel the same way about working hard and being obedient as they do in the states. The missionaries here are good at teaching lessons though, so they have their strengths. 

It´s really hot there, like really, really hot. I am getting used to it, but WOW it is hot.

The senior missionaries had to wait for their VISAs at home for a few months. They are really nice. They will be a big help to the mission and the mission president. They did not go to the MTC,

Coxipó is said like "Co - she - po" 

I don;t know our address. But we kind of live by "3 Américas".

Well, I am going to get off  for now, save my internet cafe money so I can have more for next week

Love, Elder Gibb