Week Nine - Heading into the field

Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 2010 11:18 AM



Hey everyone! I hope you´re all doing great and that you´ve had a good week so far. Wednesday is my new pday now, so that´s when I´ll be writing. I have a lot to say, so this should be a long letter. And I have an hour to do emails now, which is great!

I left the CTM yesterday at 5:30 in the morning, meaning I had to get up an hour and a half earlier than I usually do after hardly being able to sleep the night before and get on a bus to wait for my flight, which departed at 10:15. Needless to say it was a long wait. One of the elders in our district left his passport at the CTM, but I´m certain that he´s safe somewhere in the Brasilia mission now. The flight was only an hour long, but it was so crazy to actually be on my way to my mission! I was freaking out by the time that we met my mission president, his wife and the assistants. They´re all so great; President and Sister Cordon really have a love for the work.

From there we had lunch at the mission home, had a sort of orientation and did interviews. It was so crazy to see American missionaries that can speak Portuguese really well, like fluently! It´s just another testament to how real this work is and how the Lord helps those who need it. There are 11 people that came with me to Curitiba, the five elders in my district and six brasilians. Once all of the interviews were done, we headed to the Barigüi Capela to find out who our trainers would be and to what areas we´re going.

So once we get all settled into the chapel and have a prayer and stuff, we start transfer calls. The president said he would start with the people leaving the city of Curitiba and going to what they call the Interiór, which I find strange because it´s actually the exterior, but at any rate I was called first. I knew I would be, too, but I was called to go to the city of Prudentópolis, which is where I am right now, writing this email. The city doesn´t have a ward or stake, only what they call a district and a congregation of between 40 and 60 people, if I understand my companion correctly.

My trainer´s name is Elder Barbosa, and he´s the leader of our district as well as my treinador. He doesn´t speak English, which is interesting, but I think it´ll be good. We´re the only missionaries in Prudentópolis, and the city has about 15,000 people in it. It´s very interesting to be in my new area, but I´m glad I am now, because last night was insane. I had to run to try and catch a bus to the city (with all my bags) which we missed, then I took a ridiculously long bus ride to the mission office until one group of secretaries took me back to their apartment, where I slept.

One of the assistants, Elder Young, got up in front of everyone on one of the buses and started preaching, too! It was insane. Then I had to try and get addresses for people, which I did get one but most people either weren´t listening or said no. In both of the cabs that we took, he did the same thing. I guess that´s what it takes to be successful out here: talking to everyone, even if you can´t speak the language well.

I´m here now, and I don´t know what exactly is in store for us, but I´ll keep you updated! I love you all, and testify that God lives, Jesus Christ is His son, and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth again. Have a great week!


-Elder Eric Dohrman









Mom-


There´s a lot of cobblestone streets, and it seems like the people here are very nice. My house is huge; there´s 3 bathrooms and tons of room for everything. Elder Barbosa cooked today. He´s been out for around a year I guess, and he´s also the district leader. I drank the water but I took some pills so I think I´ll be ok. I hope, at least. Worst case I´ll be sick for a few days, but I don´t want to waste any time. We have a referral to go see today, too! It´s pretty exciting that we actually have stuff to plan now.


There´s a lot of immigrants here, and lots all around the south, I guess. It should be interesting to see what exactly will go on. Oh, and I have a washer and dryer, but it looks like we won´t use the dryer a lot. It´s crazy though; everything´s so different! They really tried to Americanize the CTM.


I love you!!

-Eric










Hi dad!

I hope you´re well. I´m sure mom sent you the email, but I want to make sure I write you too. My new p-day´s Wednesday, so that´s when I´ll write from now on. I think I´ll like that better anyway.

So it´s really cool being outside of Curitiba for my first area, but at the same time, I´m super nervous. Elders Burright, Croskrey, and Robinson are all in the city in various neighborhoods, but Elder Stevenson´s in Ponta Grossa, which is a two hour trip, and I´m in Prudentópolis, which is a three hour bus ride from the city. I´m in the Guarapuava zone, which is the farthest west, and we´re the only missionaries in the entire town! It should be a really interesting experience.

I hope that work´s still steady and that you guys are getting everything done that you need to! I´ll be praying for you! I love you a lot Dad, and hope you´re doing really well. I´ll write again soon!

Love, Elder Eric Dohrman