WEEK 10

hey there! i am so glad that everyone is doing good! really its nice to hear from everyone! sorry for not emailing last week but we had no time to do it. as soon as we got here we went right to work! literally and its awesome (be sure to print up this email because i have had no time to write in my journal since we got here) so we took a 2 hour plane ride south to Porto Alegra and from there met the assistants and took about a 6 hour bus ride to Santa Maria and that was pretty cool ( and it was just us ,19 new missionaries,on the bus so no chickens ;). Is not really what i expected Brazil to look like but it was really good and ate the best sandwiches i ever had and Guaraná ( pop of choice down here in Brazil, reallyt good) and then we got there and dropped off our luggage at the bus station because we were not going to stay in Santa Maria very long, then went to the mission home which was very beautiful apartment at the top of a building and there were all all the trainers and new misionaries and president and his wife and the assistants. it was awesome! and we all met and had a good time and ate a ton of pizza and met people and it was awesome. president and his wife are soooooo awesome! and i love them a lot. so my companion is an Élder Vianna. he is alright, kinda a slacker...hahah NO WAY!! he is awesome! probably one the best missionaries in the world, seriously! and he didnt want me to know it but he just got done being the Assistant to the President and unfortunately he is going to die with my, this is his last tranfer. so after the transfers we went to the assistants house and spent the night over there and then the next day we had training which was cool but all in Português so i didnt understand it all but its all good. then we found out our area and its a city of about 40,000 named Itaqui and we opening it!! its way awesome! and our bus was not leaving until 12 30 that night so went and walked around and talked to people and he said bye to some of the families he knew and then later we got permission to stay out late and his old bishop and us went to a pizzeria and it was awesome and we ate a ton! and so we then got on a bus and took a 7 hour ride from santa maria to Uruguaiana and from there a two hour bus ride here. its pretty sweet! there are tons a great people. so got to our house and it is really big and there are only 2 companionships in it. then we took showers and changed and went to work meeting people and members and its great! there is only a small branch here, can you believe that, 40,000 people and only a small branch!! my comp. and i dont understand and we are going to put an end to that! but here it is so awesome!! all the streets are coble stone ( kind of hard to walk on) and dirt and a couple aspalt streets. there are only a couple normal and big houses here most of them are really small but the people here and so awesome and dont care about that and have a lot of love and are proud of what they do have! and no one can pronounce my name! its hilarious! and there are also a lot of horses here and people still use them to pull stuff around and its cool and sometimes they get loose and just wander around the streets, pretty sweet. i am learning the language more but oly because The Lord is helping me and each day i understand more its great. o i love it here and the people are so awesome and FANTASTIC cooks! but i love you Mom and Dad and Mitchell and Grandma Vogel and G and G Wilson and all my other family and friends!
love,
Élder Hollandsworth!