March 18, 2013

HELLO my particularly odd and lovable loved ones from the land where cars are at least bigger than the people that drive them. Well...at least most people in the US fit in their cars, but it's not because the car is too small. Here, the cars are all a good bit smaller than cars in the US, so you really gotta squeeze when you have to take your family of 5 to church in a hatchback car the size of a porter potty. But the problem there in the States is that there are occasionally people so obscenely obese that the steering wheel does the heimlech maneuver every time they drive. I'm finally starting to understand why everything's bigger in the United States! :)

So, I've got some lightweight news and some intense news this week!

I got a couple more "Brazilian Firsts " this week. Number one is that I ate crab at a member's house yesterday, and it was way good! At least, I think it was good...well, to be honest, I can only imagine that it was good, because I ended up eating crab that was pretty small... and with the small ones, the accessible meat on each one totals about a tenth of an ounce...so I ended up nibbling pea-sized bits of crab at a time, for some 45 minutes until I just kind of gave up. It's not worth the effort.

Number two is I had my first interaction with a Brazilian screech owl (as seen in the photography picture image). Our neighborhood is actually filled with them, and there's a whole flock of them spread out over the housetops on our street. I was cooling down after the day at my desk reading something, when all of a sudden I heard a ridiculously loud screech coming from our patio area. So I nabbed my camera, and crept over to the window to snatch a photo right quick. When I looked up at the owl, all of a sudden it was staring intensely at me, so hurried and took the picture, blasting flash and all. I waited for it to turn tail and flee, but it just sat there perched and staring at me while I looked at him a bit unsure of myself. All of a sudden the thing screeched, no SCREAMED at me and I about peed myself because for a second my animal instincts made me think I was about to get nibbled on by a demon-bird, but I courageously held my ground and yelled at it, and I managed to get him to flee from my superior prowess. 

I had to shake myself off a little bit after that one, because my companion was closed up in the bathroom taking a shower and I was all alone. :)

SO THE INTENSE NEWS:

I'm getting emergency transferred this week. YEP! Got the news a couple days ago that there are some North Americans coming in late from Provo, in the middle of the transfer, and....I'm gonna be training one of them. ME. YES ME. A WHITE BOY FROM THE STATES. And I'm going to teach him how to survive in Brasil. Not sure if I've figured that out for myself yet. But I'll be staying in the same house and all, so no worries there. But you know, I won't lie, because I'M SO EXCITED THAT I'M GONNA BE A MISSIONARY DAD!

SO I GOTTA GO NOW! I sent a picture of my current zone and district this time.

Also the demon-bird is in one of the photos, the moment before I nearly weed myself. The creeper has some freaky eyes.

BYE LOVE YOU!

I STILL LOVE YOU!

AND NOW I LOVE YOU TOO!

Love, 

Elder Daniel Reneer