May 24, 2010
Hey!!! So my p-days are now Monday. And I now have an hour to email.
So I am currently in Guadalajara, Fortaleza, Ceara. My trainer is Elder Lima, a Brazilian from Sao Paulo. He is the district leader. We live in a small apartment with two other Elders, Elder Cooper and Elder L. Lima. When I arrived, the apartment was a dump, almost unlivable. But after many prayers on my part, God inspired the other Elders to clean. So we spent the whole morning cleaning. I spent 1-2 hours in our tiny bathroom scrubbing everything from top to bottom. It is very, very warm here... I have sweat more in the last week than I ever have before in my life. The nights are nice though, I just lay there. No blankets, no sheets, and a fan! haha. I have met a lot of people, and just like everywhere in the world, some better than others. The ward is a little small because retention is not the greatest. It’s kinda weird to adjust to the culture due to the heat. Almost all the men here just go shirtless at home. The women wear about as little clothing as they can. I mean it is not horrible, but definitely different, and then all kids (little kids) just wear underwear. So basically everyone wears about as little as they can. The best time to work is at night though, because it is cooler. My first night here, we put my luggage in the apartment, I showered, changed into my other clothes, and we went out and taught a lesson.

Tonight, or in an hour or so, we are going to play volleyball with some people, because that is what they do on Monday´s or something. Only thing is, it’s outside, so it will be hot, but I will just have to deal with it. I have slowly developed or am developing a tan. I wear sunscreen every day, so I am sort of working into it.

On Saturday night, we were supposed to have a baptism of a 9 year old boy named Igor. On Saturday morning we did a division and Elder Cooper and I went to his appointment and Elder L. Lima and Elder Lima (funny, huh) went and interviewed Igor. Then Elder Lima and I walked all over our area getting ready for the baptism. We did not have a key to the font so it was going to be a really difficult and funny baptism. So, I was supposed to be the one to perform the baptism, so all week I had been preparing and practicing the baptism prayer in Português. We had the font ready, because they apparently do not drain the font every time, but Igor and I were going to have to climb over the railing into the font to do the baptism. Anyhow, I had all my clothes and towel and everything in my backpack and we went to get Igor and his mother, and we met up with a woman who I think was his aunt on the way to their house and she said that Igor’s father had just gotten home from like traveling and that the baptism was off for the night or something. So, no baptism. Haha,. But I got a lot of good exercise. We are hoping to get 6 baptisms this week! So we shall see what happens.

About two weeks ago I got a letter from Ashley Hamilton, one of my most favorite letters I have received yet. Anyhow I had not been able to reply until the plane ride, and then I could not mail it till today, so let her know it is on the way. I also sent a letter to Rick´s family. P-Days in the field are so much better, you have time to actually do things, and get things done. It is fantastic. Which reminds me, before I forget. The address you have is for the old mission homes address. So here is the new one…

Elder Jordan Wahl
Missão Brasil Fortaleza
Av. Santos Dumont 1789 Sala 1612
Ed. Potenza, Aldeota
Fortaleza-Ce
60150-160


Everything should be sent there, because the mail system here in Brasil is very, very unpredictable, so I could end up transfering before I ever even got mail. So send everything to the mission home. This means you need to update the blog, because it has the wrong address.

I am so excited to hear where everyone is going!!! I will hopefully do pictures in the next two weeks. But we shall see. It can get a little spendy sending things to the U.S., but it is definitely do-able. Hey, you should all watch some of the world cup that is coming up in June! Logan, If you want to know what a big deal is here, it is all about this upcoming world cup. If Brasil wins it, it will be time number 6, the most out of any country. Apparently everything is going to just come to a stop... so we will see how the missionary work turns out. Since the world cup only happens every 4 years, none of the missionaries or mission presidents were here last time, so we aren’t sure what to expect.

Well I miss you all! Hope you are all doing well. I have to spend a little time now emailing President Batt. Love you!!!