First week out in the field, August 23, 2010

Hey World!

Well I have officially finished my first week in the field and it is quite a change. I´m quickly learning that what they taught me in the CTM is not Português. Elder Tibbs says that I´m better at the language than most missionaries straight out of the CTM so right on! (But I still couldn´t do it on my own). My area is really interesting and I´m discovering new things about the real world all the time, which is both hilarious and a little scary. haha

Anyway, ours days are pretty busy. We leave the house at 11 everyday and go to our lunch appointment. We then knock doors or look for referrals for a couple hours then we have appointments all night. I´m pretty exhausted when I get home but I love it. Our investigators all make fun of me cause I don´t really say much but I laugh along because I think it´s pretty funny.

I´m so lucky because we got a baptism my first week in the field! His name is Rondinelli and he is so cool. A really quite guy who moved to São Paulo on his own to learn English and get a good job. He was so excited and he told me that I had actually helped him a lot because I bore my testimony for him when he was having doubts earlier in the week. The baptism happened to be scheduled during the biggest stake activity of the year so it was really loud but the spirit was definitely there.

Sunday was a trip. We weren´t expecting any of our investigators to come but we got 5 there! That is really good for our area. I didn´t understand anything that was going on the whole time but I met a ton of the ward and they were all really nice. We´re getting a new bishop next week so things are pretty wild at the ward. We report our numbers Sunday nights and we hadn´t met some of our goals because it took me a couple days to get into the rhythm so we worked like crazy last night. I make about 40 contacts in an hour!

Anyway I´m just getting used to the huge responsibility that is on my shoulders as a missionary. I´m nervous but way excited and I know I´m learning everyday. I found out I have even more on my shoulders because this is E. Tibbs´ last transfer so I´m only going to be with my trainer for 5 more weeks. That means I have to get to know our investigators and the area really well before he leaves while I´m learning the language so that I can help my next companion. Talk about pressure but I´m going to interpret that as the Lord knows what I can do.

Love you all!

Elder MacLane Taggart