toto, i don't think we're in provo anymore.... august 28, 2013

we got into brazil… customs etc was quick, they gave me the wrong stamp on my entry card so we had to get that sorted out, got some cash out and apparently i might have done it the wrong way so sorry if there are fees. check for me. p day friday so i will tell you more then. only have ten min now.  two ladies picked us up. they had paper signs that said lds travel missionaries or something… but really, it was a way sketchy situation. after they got us all and got the stamps they left and we got into this van. anyways... i'm in brazil. which is crazy!!!! honestly this is hard.  i'm completely exhausted, suffering from culture shock and this is no provo!!!!  i got my hopes up because i heard some good things right before i left.  But, right now i'm disappointed but i'm sure it will get betterJ i just know it will be an uphill battle. right now the only thing looking up is i know one person, elder edwards, p day is friday, and i only have a couple weeks before i will be in the santa maria. i heard you don't get dear elders here so i can't even look forward to that… but we will see. my mail box is 24 if the dear elder thing does work. i'm trying really hard to have a good attitude about it all, but as of now the visa thing doesn’t seem like a great thing. i also had a ton of letters to send and the terminal in atlanta had no mailbox drops and they have usps stamps. won’t work in brazilL i'll be fine. this is good. i'm excited to go out in the sao paulo and explore. it's really only a couple of streets we can go on. they bus you to the temple. the streets are crazy here and there's a reason missionaries can't drive. i'm surprised that we even can cross streets. i guess a missionary got hit once. so hmmmm.  my roommates are from argentina and columbia. haven't met them but i creeped on their luggage tags in the room. honestly this is the hardest day of the mission by far and we haven't even done anything!! i didn't really eat lunch but for dinner they have one thing, a cook fire whatever pizza so we had that and that was ok. by the sounds of it cereal is a delicacy for breakfast. food may be better cooked in brazil, but provo had options. but then again provo had like 12 times the missionaries, if not more.  everyone’s nice though. i feel bad because i think the americans that have been here can tell all of us “newbies” are disappointed. elder edwards and i are really missing our district in provo. it would be so much better if they were all here with us… but such is mission life! i'm excited to say a good prayer tonight and start new and hopefully refreshed tomorrow.

pray for me.  Love to all,

first day in brazil

sister faldmo