First Sunday in the Field!

hey everyone!!!

so the first day in the field we walked a full hour just to get to our lunch appointment! them walked around the rest of the day. (i also got pooped on by a donkey. they call donkeys boho, it means stupid. haha they have lots of carts being pulled but donkeys and i sat on one and it pooped and when got on my shoes and pants. haha) then the next day we found Bruno. he had been to church for a month and wanted to be baptised. my comp and i taught him and my first Sunday in the field i baptized him. he is 12. i guess they dont call this area the land of baptisms for nothing. so the pic of the needle in my foot with the thread, thats what they told us to do in the mtc, its supposed to let the liquid out and keep bad stuff out too. i thought it was weird so i took the tread out right after i put it in, but i had lots of blisters. their still really sore but i think my feet are getting used to it. i would add more pics but it takes forever for them to load! the first one just finished! so im just sending these.

im learning tons of Portuguese! we teach like 5 lessons a day and my comp has me teach a lot, although my Portuguese is still very bad. im learning fast though!! the area im in is very poor, lots of mud huts and everyone has concrete floors, but their all so happy and so friendly! i love them tons.

my apartment is... like the rest of my area, we run out of water every day. its weird to take 2 or 3 minute showers with the water on as little as possible, but im getting used to it. also the showers are cold, there is no hot water here. its ok, u get used to it. :) the fruit is so big and very cheep. i eat so many bananas haha i did laundry for the first time in the field yesterday, we have a washer but it doesn't work very well and it uses to much water, so i did it all by hand. by the end of 2 years my arms will be huge just from doing laundry! haha and we use dry lines, it drys your clothes as fast as a dryer because its so hot! haha most of the roads are dirt and u wouldn't believe how many dogs there are in Brazil. i dont think i have slept on night since i arrived in Brazil without being woken up by a dog. that reminds me, i saw a cock fight yesterday. o and my comp and i were walking back to out apartment and a huge turtle started charging us!! in the middle of a dirt field!! it was so funny!! i picked it up and wanted to take it home but my comp said not. apparently they are very territorial and like to bite. haha there are also cockroaches and lizards on the walls! we play soccer with the cockroaches haha today is p day and i played soccer for a few hours. it was way fun but it was also embarrassing because the Brazilians and so much better than me. soccer is a way of life down here. everyone plays and watches it.

well im not sure how this letter got so long, im still waiting for the pictures to load so i have time to write. also, i only get letters every 6 weeks, so im never expecting them, so just e mail me whenever you want. because we only get letters every 6 weeks we can e mail for a long time and whoever.

the memers here are so cool! we went and viseted some yesterday, they liked me so they gave me a huge bag of bananas and a pineapple and some guava fruit. they think im funny because i try to talk a lot with them but i speak so little Portuguese haha im getting better though.

well the last picture is done, i hope you like them, i hope your not grossed out by my feet, they will be better soon haha im loving the mission and im working hard. i hope all i well with you all. write me back soon and give me an update on whats going on. you can e mail me pictures too and i can print them out, that would be nice because the Brazilians love love love seeing pictures of the elders families and the u.s. and things. well write back soon! i miss you all!!!

Com Amor

Elder Cluff