Corpus Christi

We're almost done teaching our second workshop. We finish teaching Monday, and I'm really excited because it's a really cool group. The last day is kind of a test for everyone because the students do a practice interview with either Fernando or Enrique, the two professionals at the center. It's a test for them to see how they did, but it's also a test for us because we get to see how well we taught. Last time I was kind of disappointed because despite our having preached the importance of using power statements and the Me in 30 Seconds, the people got to the interview and just answered the way everyone else in the world does: with relatively flat answers that don't say much about who you are. But I think this group is really getting it, and I think we'll see a big difference when they do the practice interviews.

This group has also been a lot of fun because it's a little smaller. We finished with something like 23 students in the last workshop, and it was just hard to manage that large of a group. This time we only have about 16, which has made the workshop a lot more personal and manageable. For example, we have this one girl, Fernanda, who's 18 and looking for her first job. She doesn't really have any experience, and so she had trouble with the power statements because she thought she hadn't ever accomplished anything. So I asked her if she ever had a really difficult class that she improved in. She responded that she never did well in math, but she decided she was going to get better grades. So she ended up with a power statement that went something like “I'm diligent. For example, I used to have trouble in math, but I decided to study more and work a little harder. As a result, I improved my grades 100%. I'm sure my diligence can help achieve goals in your company...”

We're finishing on Monday because Thursday was Corpus Christi. Man, we had a lot of fun. We went to a ward YSA party of a ward we don't belong to, which went literally all night. I learned a little forró and listened to a lot of Brazilian music. To be honest, it was the first time I've had fun at what was basically a dance party in a long time. I didn't get a wink of sleep, but at 8 am we went off to a stake YSA activity in a stake we don't belong to at a public swimming pool/rec center. Other than being totally exhausted, I really enjoyed it. So that's what some of those pictures are.

Today was also a ton of fun. Our friend Priscilla called us up and told us that her brother wanted to meet us, and she was going to take us to some really cool place, but she wouldn't tell us where. So we met up in front of the Cathedral (where I bought a hammock) and then went over to her brother's office and just kind of hung out for a while. Eventually, Priscilla's brother took us up to the top of the building where we had an incredible view of the city and the ocean.

I've been having a lot of fun just hanging out with people. I was so afraid that I wasn't going to be able to make any friends before I came out here, but that has definitely not been a problem. It may just be because we're something new and different, but a lot of people have been really willing to invite us to stuff, and what's more important to me is that we have some close friends that I really trust.

So there you go. That's life here in Brazil.

Some pictures

May 14, 17

May 14

We started teaching the workshop this week, and after the first two days, I think we're doing all right. We definitely could have improved a few things, and every time I teach I realize how much more I need to improve my Portuguese, but it's been nice to have people participate and actually teach the class to people who haven't ever had it before. The class is interesting because it's pretty diverse. Most of the students are in their late teens or early twenties, and they're looking for work to break into their career or just trying to get any kind of work experience. But there are some others, like a guy who's about 30 years old and very well educated. He has worked as a branch manager for a bank. He just moved to Fortaleza for some reason I didn't understand when he told me, but he's looking for a specific kind of job. Then there is a mother of about 45 years who is also looking for her first job, and she's got a pretty good idea of what she wants to do, but she seems to be pretty flexible. Then there's another guy who is about 20 years old who knows how to read and write, but not very well, so he has required some extra help to get some of the assignments done in a timely manner. But they're all wonderful people who are eager to learn.

I feel bad because I haven't really done much since I've been here. We've just been trying to get our bearings and make some friends. But the worst is that I haven't really done any homework. That's not good. Guess I better get started.

May 17

We finished teaching the workshop, and only 4 people that started didn’t finish! We had been told that a lot of people drop out, but out of the 26 or so people we started with, some 22 finished the workshop. It was awesome. Someone even gave Skyler and I clocks as a gift to thank us for teaching the workshop. Why a clock, I’m not sure, but oh well.

May 9th and 11th

May 9th

I've decided that I love the beach, but I sure hate the sand. Just a thought. I swam for the first time in the Atlantic ocean today. The water here is a perfect temperature. I could probably be content going to the beach every day, even if I don't actually go swimming every day.

It's definitely time to get friends. The sun sets here at about 6 o'clock, and we don't really know what to do around here after dark. I suppose we could go find a dance club, but that can be risky business, and I don't really like to dance anyway. So we're going to institute tomorrow to hopefully find some friends and some other things to do with our time. I suppose the other thing I could do with my time is homework, but that's honestly not so appealing at the moment. Besides, I need an Internet connection, and Fernando hasn't given us that thing yet, so it's kind of hard for me to do my homework at the moment.

Wow, I'm going to stop right now. I'm sorry if this is boring. Here, I'll take some pictures and put them here to make up for it.

May 11th

We have friends now! I'm not going to lie, the last few nights we really haven't done much after dark. It's been kind of boring just kind of sitting in our apartment with nothing really important to do, and absolutely no communication with the outside world. But yesterday we went to institute and made friends. It was quite the adventure getting there, though. We weren't exactly sure which bus to take there, so we started asking around, and one of the taxi drivers that hangs out about two blocks from our house told us just to take any bus down to the terminal, and from there we could find a bus to take directly there. But we went to the wrong terminal at first, so we then took a bus from that terminal to another one, and then waited like 45 minutes for a bus that finally took us to where we needed to be.

After institute we went with some of our new friends to take advantage of being in Brazil: we went to the mall, ate Burger King, and played Dance Dance Revolution. Hey, at least I drank a Guaraná with my Whopper, né?

Our ward is one of those center of the city, in one of the first chapels in the area wards. As far as I can tell, the ward functions pretty well by any standard, except they function on Brazilian time, which is if you're on time, then you're early. My guess is that's why they have priesthood first, and sacrament meeting last. I attended the YSA class and made some other new friends, so hopefully I won't be stuck in my apartment playing pinball on my computer on the weekends anymore.

I have to tell y'all about something that touched my heart in sacrament meeting today. When the Aaronic priesthood began passing the sacrament today, I noticed that there was one tray given to two boys. It didn't take long for me to notice that the smaller boy, who must have been Deacon-age, was blind, and the older boy, who was about Priest-age, was helping him pass the sacrament. I could have noticed the little blind-boy's courage and desire to fulfill his priesthood responsibilities, but that's not what really stuck out. What really stuck out was the older boy's attitude in helping this younger ward member complete his priesthood assignment. The older boy gently and humbly led the younger boy along. He didn't make a big show out of it, but I could tell by the smile on his face that he genuinely enjoyed serving in this way. I almost cried when I saw that, actually.

Here I am

May 7th

Well, here I am in Fortaleza Brazil. Driving through the city on our way to our house reminded me a lot of Santa Cruz. It's hot and humid here, just like Santa Cruz. It's extremely green, especially coming in, just like Santa Cruz. And there are a lot of homeless people begging in the streets, just like Santa Cruz. I'll be honest, that last one surprised me a bit. I wasn't really expecting Brazil to be like the United States, but a part of me at least wanted to believe that I would not see the same amount of poverty here in Fortaleza that I saw in Santa Cruz. I probably won't see the extremely poor neighborhoods like the ones I worked in on my mission, but that's only because I probably won't be getting very far out of the city center.

Our manager, Fernando, seems like a really nice guy and does everything he can to look out for us. He will probably even be lending us his satellite internet card so that we can get internet in our place (or any other place we may decide to go for that matter). He said he's paying for the service for when he goes out of town, but since he doesn't need it unless he goes on a trip, he's just going to let us use it. That'll be nice.

I was pretty exhausted from the flight. In fact, I should probably be sleeping right now instead of writing this, but I'm past the point of feeling sleepy. We made it safe and sound and thirty minutes late to Fortaleza, but our stuff didn't. It's still in Miami. At least I hope it is. Assuming all goes according to plans, we'll get our bags back tomorrow morning. So I don't have any clean clothes to wear for the day :(

It's barely dawning on me that this is going to be hard. I speak well enough to get around, but it is frustrating having to have someone repeat what they say three times so that I can understand. But this is going to be so much fun. I mean, hey, I live like three blocks away from the beach.

May 8^th

I feel a lot better today considering I actually got some sleep last night. Actually, I might have got too much sleep.

We got our stuff back! Apparently it took a lot of effort on the part of our manager to get our stuff back, including him being detained briefly because he was trying to get stuff that didn't belong to him, but I now have clean clothes, which is a huge comfort.

I'm getting really excited to teach next week. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow we have just been (will be) observing. But I'm noticing all the cool things that we're going to be able to do with the workshop.

We went into one of the neighborhoods today. I actually felt more at home there than I did in the area that we live in because the area was so much more like Bolivia: that is, the houses were really close together, there were people playing out in the street, and there were little corner stores all over the place. It was really weird though how that made me feel more at home than anything else. K, well that's it for today. Hopefully I get to post this before I have too much to write tomorrow.

P.S. Sorry this is so long...

Training

"A man out of work is of special moment to the Church, because deprived of his inheritance, he is on trial as Job was on trial—for his integrity. . . . The Church cannot hope to save a man on Sunday if during the week it is a complacent witness to the crucifixion of his soul" (Gordon B. Hinckley)

Well, we just (Friday) completed our training from church headquarters. It was kind of like the MTC and EFY mixed, although I guess I can't be quite sure since I've never been to EFY. We learned a ton, and I have a much greater testimony of the church welfare system than I ever had before. One of the most amazing things was what we did on Friday. We toured Welfare Square and the Humanitarian Center, and just seeing the sheer immensity of the program almost blew my mind. I was deeply touched when I saw the Bishop's Storehouse. For some reason the idea of a grocery store with no price tags nearly made me cry. I think it gave me a taste of what a Zion society is really like.

The most important thing to remember about the entire welfare system is that the Church does not (or at least should not) give out handouts. The people that receive aid (not "help," which we learned is a bad word :) ) have to do some kind of service to earn what they get. And that's the key: when someone is working, they retain their dignity and their desire to contribute.

That's why I'm so excited to go teach the workshop. I'll be able to teach people how to arm themselves to provide for themselves and their families.

I am a little nervous though. Teaching in Portuguese has helped me to notice that I have a lot of words to learn. But I'll be fine. It'll be a blast.

Oh, and how it's like EFY: I got to know a lot of awesome people. I guess I had met them before, but we just all became friends during the week, and I hope that I remain friends with at least some of them. But just like EFY, the reality is that I will probably not see most of them again. But for any one of them reading this: write me! That's all. Peace.