Elder Jacob Shepard in Brazil: Jacob's Email Response to Claire

Dear Claire,

This is the song that never ends! It just goes on and on my friends! Eu lembro or I remember.

Everything is going great here in Brazil except for the fact that our stake center is 3 hours away and we have to travel to it each week. But everything else is going great. I showed up at a good time in the mission. We´ve had about 4 baptisms already and we are working for more. My companion, Elder Morris is pretty cool and he´s from around Seattle. I am doing great other than sunburn and sweating bullets. I´m lucky to have been called to an area by the sea where it´s windy. Brazil has two seasons here: the rainy season and dry season. Right now it´s rainy and it´s been pretty cloudy lately. It´s nice to settle into the heat a little more before it gets really hot.

I´m in a city called Camocim. It´s on the coast. It´s got a lot of people, but I think from what I´ve heard, I won´t be in a city that´s smaller than 40 thousand or so people. The places up in the north are not as advanced as the states or in southern Brazil. It´s still has a lot of the modern necessities, except for air conditioning, but it still has a very humble feeling to it. I´ll send more pictures of what it looks like down here, but it´s very different. I walk about everywhere, and only take a bus or taxi to other cities. The people here are pretty awesome. It´s hard to understand everything but I´m able to understand and speak somewhat.

Being here in Brazil is funny, because the church is pretty new here and only has about 40 active members. Everyone here is willing to let us talk with them and everyone has a belief in God. But a lot of people have problems coming to church and keeping the law of chastity. A lot of times, it´s just because they´re lazy and don´t want to come on Sunday. But in the Teresina mission, a lot of people are humble and want to learn more. Being American and wearing missionary clothes gets a lot of attention.

The bugs in my city aren´t bad and I only have to worry about them at night. We get a fan to keep us cool as we sleep and to keep mosquitoes away. I really only spray bug spray on my legs and it´s seems that after I am here for a while, my tasty American blood is not as appealing anymore. I blame it on how everyone eats rice every meal. I think every meal a member has cooked for us has had rice and beans in it. Rice is very filling and the people think that we have to stuff ourselves every meal so it´s better to eat somewhat slowly and talk a lot. Every other person that lets us into their house usually wants to give us juice or some kind of food they have.

The members here think a lot of us, so it´s pretty nice down here. I have a talk in Portuguese this following Sunday, so I have to study up on phrases. I am happy here, not dying of any diseases, and the people aren´t trying to kill us. It´s all good in the neighborhood. We are trying to get enough strong members in the branch so that it will become a ward and that the mission will send more missionaries to our city. I love you, miss you, and I know that you will be married someday. The time is now for all things, even if we do have to take things one step at a time.

With all of my love, Your Brother in the Service,

Elder Jacob Shepard