Being transferred to Ponta Porã.

I have not received my package yet. Elder Watchman has been waiting for a package since I got to the area. And still has not received it. And if it does get to the mission Office I probably will not receive it until another Transfer, considering I am being transferred to Ponta Porã. It is the most southern area in the Mission. I have to take a big bus to get there. The bus ride is 18 hours. Looking on  the LDS maps my area is touching the Border of Paraguay. I leave on the bus at 8 tonight and I will arrive there at 2:30 the next day. I found out I was going to Ponta Porã last night at like 10 o clock.

My new companion will be Elder Albuquerque, a Brasilian. SO that will be good for my Portuguese.

July 14, 2014

Hola, Familia.

I miss Fish and Chips, a lot. I am going to eat a lot of those when I get home. Especially because I will probably have worms living in my stomach to help me eat them. A lot of the Elders here have them. I don't think I have contracted them yet. The other elders who have get really skinny and they say they can feel the worms move around.

I am healthy. I always work hard and my shoes and just fine.

We live on Rua 4 in the Bairro (Neighborhood) Boa Esperança for those who want to look us up on Google Maps. House Number 320.

Antiperspirant, extra strength is probably good.

I am holding about 3 whites shirts, 2 longs sleeve and 1 short.

I am soaking them in Detergent water before washing them, it helps them stay reasonably white.

I don't think any missionaries in my mission extend, I would not be surprised if others missionaries in Brazil did though, Cuiaba is not the nicest place in the world. It is a very hard mission. It is very very hot and we do A LOT of walking. I don't think I will want to extend.

This week my companion had a root canal done, he chipped a filling 6 months ago and finally decided to get it fixed. It's kind of expensive and very painful. I bet his mom is not happy.

We try to teach in some of the poor Neighborhoods called Favelas, the people there are home more often and a little bit more humble. But a lot of them already have a church and don't want to wake up at 9 to walk 40 minutes to our church, when they have "St. Whoevers" Church 2 minutes away. Not a lot of the people there have cars, or cars they are willing to drive to Church.

And EVERY body in the world has already been Catholic sprinkled, none of them believe that we need to be baptized by Immersion. We are going to have to start pulling the "Catholic Church has not Authority" card.

So for a few days this week we tried working in a neighborhood that is closer to the Church and has more money:

We taught a od widowed lady, She was SUPER Catholic. When gave her a Book of Mormon and asked her to read it she went on this HUGE 15 minute rant on how she not going to join any other Church because no other Church worships "Our Lord, Saint Mary, the mother of Jesus". Talk about having patience, she went on forever, and it would have been so easy to turn that situation into contention, but that would not be good.

We tracked this very, very nice house, the dad of the family invited us in. He is a judge and makes a a lot of money. His name is João (John). His son is  going to Law school and his name is also João. We taught the father and son about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they agreed to consider Baptism after coming to Church. They came to church and could only stay for the first two hours, which were Elders quorum and Gospel Principles. The topic in Elders quorum was the Teachings of the Prophets about BAPTISM! They discussed the proper way to baptize and why we need baptism, and who needs it. It was awesome. Hopefully they are willing to be baptized now, we are going top eat Lunch with them on Saturday, so we shall see them. 

The other Elders had a baptism on Saturday, but he did not show up to Church on Sunday to be confirmed.

This week was pretty good we did some good teaching and inviting. The World Cup finally ended, we ended up watching the Final game with some Brazilians, there was not any body to teach because the Final game is another where the entire Brazil, not to mention the world watches. Brazil's team got spanked by Germany. But for the Final most of the Brasilians wanted Germany to win because they still hate Argentina more.

This weeks tasty snacks where a Ferrero Rocher Milkshake and a Nutella MilkShake.

Love, Elder Gibb

July 7, 2014 Cuiaba

Brasil did win their last game, now they only have to win two more to win the cup, but their best player, Naymar is out for injury, so it will not be easy for them. The United States qualified for the finals but they were beat by Belgium, they were missing some players from their team for injury too. The star player for the US plays for the Seattle sounders. The US team also has the best Goalie in the World.

It is good Corbin is helping. Hopefully he learns to eat different kinds of foods. The strangest thing I have eaten so far is pig skins. They are really chewy and still have the hair on them.

I hope that MRHS just gets a teacher that is good as Monty or Foz.

I don't really need a ton of US stuff.  If  I needed things from the US they would probably be more deodorant and drymax socks. I am afraid that my socks will wear out, by they are holding well to far. I for sure. will run out of deodorant. Oh and for sure some peanut butter cups and peanut butter M&Ms

To do laundry we have small washing machine. It is not the most efficient in the world, but it gets the job done. To help keep my shirts white I soak them in detergent water for a day and them wash them. Then I have soap bar thing which a scrub on the collars or where ever to help too. Them we have two drying racks in our kitchen.

I'll get picture of the apartment probably after the game tomorrow, when I mop and sweep the house.

This week was pretty normal, the other Elders did not some to church this week because one had really bad diarrhea and vomiting.

Sacrament meeting ended after 50 minutes because we don't really have that many people in our ward to do testimonies.

We finally got our own copy of the ward member list, now we cant sort through all of the members in our area who are less active and start working with them.

We did not have any investigators at Church with us this week, they all say they will go, but they don't. Some things never change.

This week's snack adventure was Kinder Egg flavored milk shakes, yes it exists. Very tasty. Also they have a store here where I can buy kinder eggs for 4R$ or 2 dollars.

Our area is generally a rich area, we can teach in the rich areas, it is a little more difficult to get into the home but its still possible.  If we want to teach a lot of lessons we go to the poor areas. The poor neighborhoods are very interesting, they have dirt roads and the sewage from some home flows wherever it likes. The people in those neighborhoods are just about as open as the people in the rich neighborhoods, but they are typically more friendly and less busy. The really challenge that people in Brasil have is commitment, they say they will do something, but it usually does not happen.

To get to the poorer neighborhoods we have to walk through the College Campus. Which have  a TON of cats living on it. And in Cuiaba, I am pretty sure all of the cats are related. Typically the cats come in 4 types. black (like Toby), black and white tuxedo (like domino), Siamese (like Simone) or calico. They are deviations, but not too often.

Love, Elder Gibb

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