Samambaia - Week 14

We did...nothing much to ring in the new year. Well, I made maple syrup actually, for the first time. It turned out super tasty! A bit thinner than normal syrup, but I guess that's to be expected. We used it as a dip for the fruitcake sorta things that we got from a member, it turned out really tasty! I think that was pretty much it. Also, we borrowed the DVD player from the sisters, because on Friday we had to stay in the house all day because of the drunkards and drogados [druggies] and stuff like that, so we watched The Singles Ward. Which I think was okay to do :) It was funny though. And I got some videos of the fireworks at 12, because...I was in bed but still awake :) Anyways, they're kinda big and not very impressive (more just super loud noisemakers, not too many actually pretty fireworks; although I think that maybe my many Disney experiences spoiled me :) ), but maybe I'll send them over sometime.

Cindy sent me a lot of stuff...a huge PB jar, Slim Jims, a load of regular/sour Jelly Bellies, Reese's Christmas tree things, socks...a Poke County Family Fair T-shirt, :) and some other stuff that I can't remember right now. It was super awesome, but unfortunately I forgot to take a picture until I had already eaten probably half of the stuff...oops.  

The rain is pretty hard-hitting sometimes...it feels like it's more too, because in about 3 minutes of any normal rain the roads are immediately turned into rivers, and you have to walk in almost ankle-deep water to get anywhere. Because their drainage is awful. But, it feels like you're in Venice :D No, just kidding. It's alright though, my shoes are putting up well. Although the two pairs have both got "wholes" now, so my feet are always wet it seems like. But they dry out well enough with a fan on them all night. So no complaints. 

So yeah, there was an emergency transfer on New Year's Day...because in one of the areas close to here (not in my zone, thank goodness), the assistants went to go do a division and they found some...not so great stuff going on. Nothing super bad, but a lot of the missionaries from there got transferred. So, only Elder Santos de Oliveira from our house got moved, and another American got put here, Elder Evans! I've already lived with him in my first transfer in Rio Branco, so that's pretty cool! 

And that's CRAZY about Grandpa and Grandma Bratsman's mission call [Uganda Kampala Mission]! What an awesome place to go! Also, the last place that I would've thought of. Actually, a missionary couple just got put here in Santos to help with the office stuff, so that's kinda cool! Hahaha, I'm sure they'll have good food there for the missionary couples. And I guess they'll be speaking English, right? Any other cool languages that they'll get to learn there? 

Love,
Michael

Daniel, from Aula de Inglês!