1st Week in my new area

Hello my family!

First things first. I am so tired!!!!!!!! I cant even believe how tired I am! I haven't caught up from the no sleep for almost two days during the travel. I have never been this tired in my life! lol and I love reading your e-mails because one, well I just love hearing from you guys, and two they are in English and I can understand them!!
Right after leaving from the e-mail place we went and got hair cuts, my first one in brazil! it was well ok lol I couldn't really talk to the lady and tell her what I wanted so my companions just told her to do whatever and it ended up ok . Its not the worst thing I have ever seen. But the rest of the day was good. We went into town and shopped at some stores. Once that was over, we had to go back to work. The rest of the week was pretty much the same. I will do an overview so I don't repeat myself. We wake up everyday a little before 6:30, shower, and then its study time till around 12. After this we head out for the day and start working. Our area is pretty big. It takes a little over an hour to walk from one side to the other, so we got a lot of room to work with. Houses are crammed together and its pretty crazy. Everyday we have some people we try and talk to. We plan every night for the next day so we have a game plan of what we are going to do. Most of the time our appointments don't answer their door or are just not home. So we spend almost all our day knocking doors. Well, we don't knock here, we stand outside their gate and we clap and they come out to talk or they just act like they didn't hear us knock. We do that all day pretty much everyday. We talk to a lot of people but they just say they have another religion. That's been interesting to get to know all of those down here. I've met Mormons, lol Catholics, (lots of those) and even some devil worshipers... that's been fun. We walked by their so called church and its just an eerie feeling but there are just a lot of religions and no one wants to hear about ours so its hard to teach people. we just tell them our message will help them have more faith in God and Jesus Christ. We really don't get to teach that much here and that is hard. We teach 3 lessons a day if we are lucky and the rest of the time we are walking around street contacting and knocking doors. On Tuesday there was a church activity and we went to that. The whole ward comes because there is not enough youth, so everyone comes and they do a spiritual message at the beginning and then they do an activity. Its all combined, no one breaks off into groups like our ward, so its different but pretty cool. The ward is pretty close since there are less than 40 in it lol so everyone knows each other. So we have an activity, then they feed everyone! I love this part because I don't have to understand anyone to be able to eat! lol I know what to do with food. No one has to tell me that. lol Wednesday was district meeting. I got to meet everyone else in my district. They are all pretty cool. The sad news is the zone leaders taught what I think was a great lesson but I understood maybe 10% of it lol.

The language has been killing me... my head at the end of the day feels like it is going to explode!!!! it is so mentally draining to try and understand people all day long. I really haven't heard any English since being here. its pretty hard. I really don't even get to study in English. Its all Portuguese, everything! I guess I will learn faster haha but I just get so frustrated at the end of the day. About the last hour of working I just get so frustrated I cant even think straight. I have no patience with anything at the end of the day. All I do is put a big smile on my face and say sim, sim, sim, and nod my head or if when I say sim they give me a weird look I quickly change to nao nao lol then they realize I have no idea what they are saying and they say something to my companion and he talks lol but anyway the language is coming just really slowly. and I am trying my best. when we teach I say what I can, when I can, but its not much because usually I have no idea where the lesson is. I usually just bear my testimony at the end and that seems to be the best thing and helps the person.
So its just Elder Blanco and myself now. interesting story about that. we did have Elder Gillett with us but he is now a zone leader! lol he goes home in two weeks so that's cool for him! Elder Blanco and I get along pretty well. I mean we have our problems but the big thing is not being able to understand each other so sometimes we get pretty frustrated with each other. but its all good, we work well together and that's all that really matters. a funny story about us is last night he was snoring so loud I could not sleep. so I started clapping my hands till he woke up and I was able to chew him out and tell him to stop snoring, all in Portuguese, lol I thought it was pretty funny.
Everyone in our district calls our area the nova area lol They all say when my 12 week training is over, I will be district leader but I don't think so. I just really like to work hard our here. I don't want any regrets. I am working really hard and my companion likes it, he just gets tired sometimes and asks to sit down for a little rest. We walk a lot and fast, haha but we are doing as much as we can here. I think this areas is going to see some big changes with new missionaries working hard here. It will be fun to see! Our goal this week is to really find some good investigators so we are hoping to find the people the lord has prepared for us!
Another funny story for the week is one day we where working as usual and then we ended up back at the house and I asked why. Elder Gillett then said in English so I could understand, "We are dropping off our stuff. You need to take off your watch and leave your backpack and stuff because we are going to a part of town that isn't very safe"... that got my attention. It was very true and kinda sketchy where we were...but it ended all ok We only had an encounter with a drug guy who was up to no good but we handled it ok. haha we were all safe.
This week has been good though over all. I even had my very fist chicken heart burger!! lol pretty good actually until you see what you are eating then its kinda hard to get down. So I just don't look at the food, but it wasn't horrible, pretty tasty. Then I had my very first "chirrasco" its a Brazilian bbq with tons and tons of meat.

It was nice to be full haha, we really don't get to eat that much here. We eat one meal a day and that's lunch so I am super hungry all the time. It seems like it kinda stinks but we are going to the grocery store after this and I will get some goodies! haha
Its so HOT here!!! everyday it touches 100 degrees! And its humid, so I sweat so much you can see the sweat marks on my socks,

but I mean its so hot its going to take some getting used to for sure! And there is no AC here. No one even knows what that is lol so there is no way to get out of it! the best thing ever though is my camelbak!!! Another fun part are the bugs!! they are eating me alive and the scary part is I don't get bitten during the day... its only at night! I have bites on my face all over my arms everywhere! they love me! its pretty gross when you think about it... lol they only get me when I am sleeping. I try not to think about what goes on haha
Well that's about it for the week! its so crazy wrestling started! I miss it actually. It still haunts me how last season ended... it seriously keeps me up at night when I think about it. I can replay every match at state in my head. it just kills me. it really kills me when I think about it. but oh well tell everyone good luck for the season for me! I will miss being with them! I am doing good so no need to worry about me. I am really loving it in brazil even though I really have no idea what most people are saying to me! lol the people are pretty cool though! I have to say thanks to Madi for the hymn book because we sing hymns for this old lady when go over so, thanks Madi! haha I am just loving it! I am so thankful to be here. I love the area I am in, its perfect, and just what I have ever imagined! I am working hard and learning pretty quick about things here. Things are good even though I am so tired!! I mean so tired its crazy! but I am happy and love being here with the people and I love serving here its really cool! I am frustrated with the language but no need to worry, its coming, and I will get it eventually, just need the patience. thanks for all of you support I love you all. Have a great week in the snow. I will try and send some heat your way! lol have a good thanksgiving I don't get one :( thanks for the e-mails again I love you all so much thanks for all of your support have a great week!!!!!!!


love Elder Novakovich