My new companion has been out 10 months just like me!!!

Hey family!! 

As you´ve all heard and probably watched, Brazil started off the World Cup with a win! Things have never gotten crazier here (good and bad). 

Before I talk more about Thursday, I better talk about where I´m at right now. I'm in the same stake as before (Campo Limpo), but I switched wards and zones. I'm now serving in the Macedônia ward with my new companion Elder C. . He´s been out exactly as long as I have (10 months as of last Saturday), and he´s a blast!! He´s from Colombia, speaking Spanish, but he´s forgot a lot of it thanks to Portuguese. He´s helped me out a ton with the language, and I can tell I´ve already improved a lot in just this one week. 

They use real paint on the curbs of the streets!!!

GOOOOOOOOOAL!!!!!!! Score Brazil!!!

We live in a house that some members let the missionaries stay in. It´s not like the Yen House back in Mojave River (with the Jacuzzi and pool table), but at least we have a working stove in this house! Remember when Uncle Matt talked about those electric shower heads that heat up the water? Yup we´ve got one, but I haven´t gotten shocked yet (don´t jynx it). It´s only us two that live in it, but it´s a lot bigger than the last apartment. 

I still don´t know why the Emergency Transfer happened. Nobody went home, and there were at least 6 elders that got swapped around. President just told me it had something to do with helping out some newer missionaries. But it doesn´t matter, because Macedônia with Elder C.



 is a lot of fun. It´s still in the favelas, but it´s also on the wilder side of town. Saturday and Sunday nights get pretty crazy with all the Funk parties. Saturday night our lesson took a lot longer than we thought, so to avoid all the craziness we took a bus home. It´s ALWAYS an adventure on the buses in the favelas - imagine the Dinosaur jeep ride at Disneyworld, without seatbelts!! I easily got a foot of air off one of the bumps in the road haha.

So President let us watch the first game Thursday, but the whole day was just horrible for proselyting. If somebody wasn´t drunk and partying, they were painting and decorating the streets even more. Even the members were fixed on the opening ceremonies and everything. And President told us to get to our houses asap after the game, and now I know why. Luckily the member we watched the game with gave us a ride. Traffic in Brazil is bad already, but what a crazy ride it was dodging parties and barbeques. But no worries, the Lord always keeps His missionaries safe.

The ward is pretty cool. It´s a little bit smaller, but there´s quite a bit of members who want to help us out. There´s a recent-convert family that´s going to the Temple to be sealed this month, and they invited a neighbor to come to Church and hear the lessons. And he came!! We´re gonna start teaching his girlfriend (soon to be wife) this week too. The only problem is the marriage issue. It´s a big problem here, especially if they´re married to someone else but can´t get a divorce, and they´re living with someone else - headache. The members are still surprised I´ve only been here a month now by how I´m speaking, but I still have a long way to go. 

Father´s Day doesn´t exist here in Brazil, but I was still thinking of you Dad yesterday. Thanks for being a great father in my life and helping me be where I´m at now in my life. Packages are hard and pretty expensive to send from here, but I´ve got a letter I´ll send tomorrow after District Meeting. Hopefully it gets there at least before the 4th of July. I love you a lot Dad!

Love you all and hope you have a great first full week of no school!! Glad to hear the Dance Festival went well and it was a lot of fun! Keep your fingers crossed for Brazil and the US, but for my sake I hope Brazil wins in the end. People here already love Americans, but I bet that´d change if the US won haha

Love you all,

Getting my hair washed....you know what she did? She came, and washed my hair. Barney Fife with Mrs. MendleBright

Habibs (it´s like the Arabian Little Ceasers haha) The cost 25 american cents

Elder Nissinen