August 19, 2013

This week has been pretty good to me:)

Elder Ginatto and I have been working to get some baptisms for this coming weekend, and I've been having a pretty good time working with him. Just one thing: We are constantly out of our house so much, on p-day and every day, that I hardly ever have a shred of time to get handwritten letters to you guys :( Last p-day was NUTS, and didn't work out for any sort of letter-writing. Seriously, just SOME of the things that happened:

-We ended up not taking the bus and walking an hour to downtown (our bad)...in the sun...

-We all got sunburned

-We all ended up spending way too much of our budget while in downtown.

-The coconut water guy hustled us for double the normal price in downtown (Dude, you gotta understand that coconut water is amazing. Not a good feeling to get hustled for it).

-Elder Gross (who lives in the house with us) lost the keys to the house.

-Elder Ginatto sprained his ankle.

And so we all ended up just kind of dissatisfied with p-day when we got home. Actually, we were actually kind of happy about it. It was kinda one of those moments where you failed so miserably, failed so utterly, that it just makes you feel like laughing. Like when Loki challenged Hulk. Or like when Leia kissed Luke (actually that wasn't funny). Or like white people that like to play basketball, or beatbox, or break dance. Just makes me cackle healthily every time I think about it.

And this p-day we discovered a SAM'S CLUB in our area, and we all took advantage! Elder Ginatto got a membership car today, and so we all headed over and spent all we could afford. Carefully observing the pictures I'm sending, you'll see the MOUNTAIN of Froot Loops we bought, that we got from a sale they were having. They were selling big boxes of Froot Loops for 30 CENTS! So we actually ended up almost filling the cart with just that.

And I also found out this week that Dad called into the mission office, and actually ended up talking to one of my ex-companions, Elder Roberto. He said he got the jist of what you were trying to say, and understood that you WEREN'T trying to get me to come home early:) That's gotta be a tough phone call when one end only speaks Spanish and English and the other end only speaks Portuguese:)

Alright, things are going AWESOMELY out here, I'm loving Jacintinho!

And I LOVE you guys!

More than missionaries love Froot Loops:)

Bye!

Elder Daniel Reneer

(Sorry, this one won't fully upload)

August 12, 2013

Another new transfer! So news of the transfer is that now I'm with an elder I lived with in Lagarto, Elder Ginatto. He was my zone leader there, and now we're working together. He's a hard worker and super determined, and we're getting stuff DONE here in our area. We already ended up getting a baptism in this week of a little boy that has been going to church for 3 months now with the bishop's family. We're trying to get the mom and dad on board with the baptism, too, but they're living together unmarried, so for now, that's the difficulty for getting them to baptism. 

And you wouldn't BELIEVE how many people here are living together unmarried, it's RIDICULOUS. I don't know what's going on, there are just SO many and it is soooo hard to find any sort of family around here where the parents are married, I'm estimating it's something like 30% married. I think the churches here have stopped preaching that that's a sin or something, it's like they don't even talk about it anymore, I just don't know. This is probably the thing that most missionaries detest on the mission here.

But yeah, I'll just leave that topic where it lies, it's like an old boxing glove. Every time I pick it up, it's smelly, ugly, and every time I put it on I feel like punching someone. Repeatedly. Until they get married.

So last P-Day we had a farewell party for Elder Albuquerque and another one of my old companions that's returned home this week. We had the party in one of the member's houses, and I ended up using a chunk of my P-Day, about 2 hours, to blow up balloons for it, and we FILLED that house with balloons...or in other words, with the proper air from my lungs. 

So mom, as far as losing weight/taking care of your body goes, I'm right there with you. Actually, I'm not trying to lose weight, I'm actually trying to do the opposite, trying to put on any weight I can get my hands on, but it's NOT WORKING. I am literrally doing EVERYTHING I can to gain weight. I'm eating more ice cream, getting more sweets, piling on more rice and beans, slapping more slabs of meat on my plates, but it's NOT WORKING. I'm pretty sure it's common knowledge that if you want to gain weight, you gotta eat heavier stuff, so I'm even trying to eat straight lead to see if that'll add any sort of a fraction of a pound. I'll let you know how that works out, when I see some results. 

But yeah, I'm really trying to get somewhere with my body right now, and so I've been working out twice a day, and so far, I feel great! If I keep going in the direction I'm going now, when I walk out of the plane, keeping in mind my balding head, workout habits and my Brazilian sun-bronzed skin, you will most likely mistake me for Dwayne Johnson when I walk out. Seriously.

I LOVE YOU GUYS!

Also I LOVED the BYU tie, not sure if I forgot to say something about it or what. I just can't look at it for too long, or I start thinking about home and start having trunky moments. It's my only tie that makes me think about getting married at the "Happy Hunting Grounds" of BYU.

Elder Daniel Reneer