These guys arent no little punks, these things look like cats!

Bom Dia Familia. Hey mom! Thanks for the no email!  Man, Im sweating as I write this. So guess what! I had my first baptism ever on saturday!! His name was Anderson! The kid is soo great. It was such an amazing experience for me. But yea, my first one ever, definitly not my last. So Marituba!! It is the flippin Ghetto of the mission! The largest area. That is why my feet are killing me, I wish I could send you pictures, there pretty nasty. My stomach is starting to get upset this very moment, im getting pretty scared. I figured out that Ive been drinking the *poisen water* this whole time. man, am i in for a treat. An american Elder Looper, told me that pretty much everytime you have juice, which is at every members house, they use the faucet water. so yea. I drink so much of that stuff, cause it tastes amazing. But it hasnt affected me since ive been here, so who knows. Im trying to memorize all the fruit here, cause thats what everyone loves to talk about. My favorite so far here, is the manga. I love it just cause its everywhere, and it tastes amazing. But the members make sweet smoothies for us! And I cant describe the taste, I cant compare it to anythng in america, but its amazing!! Yesterday, I had AÇAI for the first time! If you ask anyone in Para what there favorite fruit is they will say AÇAI! and everyone grows it. They gave me a huge bowl of it, ad told me to try it, so I took one bite and it was soooooo bitter. and they all laughed and brought out the sugar, and this other white flaky stuff. and filled my bowl with it, and then i took another bite, and mom let me tell you, it was heaven.

 If it didnt feel like you were in an oven here, this place would be soooooo tight. I love it soo much. There are times that I feel really homesick though. Everyone says the first couple of weeks are going to be the hardest weeks of your life here. Mentally and physically. This place has turned my life around. I have been brought down to earth. And it feels like im a child relearning the ways of life. I am being humbled like no other. I have nothing here except for the Gospel. And thats all I need. I stay out of my house for as long as possible cause that place is just, not a house. I went to take a shower the other day and Cockroaches started to come out of the drain.. Come on.... When I was shaving a cockroach was climbing up my flippin leg, and these guys arnt no little punks. These things look like cats! haha. I want to tell you sooo much more, but I dont want to scare you haha.

 I am no longer american in my head. In order to live here, you have to think like a brazilian. My clothes are already nasty. Its soo hard to explain my everyday life here, and the people. But the kids here are sooo fun to play with! Everyone thinks im just the biggest thing in the world here, there sooo small people. I can pick up like 5 kids at a time. They loooove to jump on me haha. It was kind of awkward at first, because half the time they dont have clothes on. But now that I am getting out of the american mind set. Its just fun, you just go along with it and throw them around haha. 

Man! the busses haha! We have to use them a lot cause my comp is district leader and we have to do billions of baptismal interviews. My comp laughs everytime we use one, cause i hate them. The people are soo small, and im so big, and its sooo hard to get off of those things haha. I almost had to crowd surf one time haha. 

Anyways, If you could please tell me how much money is on my card. Cause I may need to use it. The portuguese is comming along much better. Im starting to understand more of what the people are saying. I prolly repeated myself a lot sorry, im just super excited that I get to talk to you, little bummed i didnt get an email though. Its ok though. Anyway, Life is super hard here, but dont worry, im adjusting. Sorry for thinking we never have any food at home, I would die for a can of anything in that cabinet now. Make sure to thank our Heavenly Father for all that you have over there. Were about to go to Belem, cause a member of the 70 here! Woot haha! I love you guys a lot! Have a great week!!

Tchau, Elder Arroyo

I walk around with a broom. haha

Ola familia para Belem!! This is the first time I have spoke in english since ive been here! and im not even speaking, im typing..!! My area is Marituba or something like that. haha. My companion is Elder Silva Da Santos. And guess what haha. He speaks no english.. So im learning portuguese super fast. The language is different here. They SHHH all there words. So im still getting use to that. And they speak super fast. I am BARLY starting to understand them. It is soooo hard. I cant even tell you how hard it is here haha. People can barley understand me and I can barley understand them. The only way I can explain the culture here is.. Very simple. Everyone lives in little tiny wooden or brick houses. TINY. And the roofs dont connect anywhere. So there pretty much just to get out of the sun and sleep. Our house is the same. First night here i slept with 1 eye open the whoooole time! haha. I Flippin hate cockeroaches, spiders, ants, masquitos, lizards, ect! haha! And there everywhere in our house! everywhere... Its like walking around in a scary movie when your in there. I walk around with a broom. And Scream every 30 seconds. My comp laughs at me. He has NO fears of those things. Its crazy! There are sooo many people! they dont wear a lot of clothes cause its SOOO hot! Im never dry. never. It rains everyday. and we have to find cover quick or well be Soaked the whole day. We walk probably a billion miles a day. My feet are killing me.. The whole bottoms of my feet are blisters. It hurts pretty bad when I walk. But ive learned to just not think about it. Ohhhh man! Let me tell you about the buses here... The people here are very little. and the buses for transportation are kind of like charter busses but, I dont know how to discribe them. IF they had one in america, legally it would fit about 25 people. Here, They fit unlimmited! And they stop at every bus stop! You get in on one side and get out at the end of the bus when its your stop. So were on there and theres like 60 people on at a time. My first time getting off the bus was very difficult hahaha, because in america you dont want to touch people like that, but now. I just squeeze through the aisle. and theres billions of people in the aisle. But im getting use to it now. Its very uncomforatable. Its very hard to explain. Anyways! We eat one meal a day here.. haha.. lunch. And its always rice, beans, fish, and fruit. The fruit here is amazing! And theres sooo much that I have never tasted before. I LOVE THE FRUIT! and the soda here is amazing as well. Im adjusting to the food. I havnt gotten sick yet. (thank goodness) i eat very little at peoples houses cause im afraid. The mission gave me a water bottle that filters all water. This is definitly the hardest thing I have every done. It is hard both mentally and physically. Everyone says is takes a couple weeks to adjust. The people here are very very humble. They will take you in in a heartbeat. They love it when you give them a thumbs up. I cant even describe the people. Just very simple. I love you guys a lot. Please keep me in your prayers. I need it . Theres a lot more I wanted to say, But Ill end here to see if your on. Tchau.


Love, Elder Arroyo
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p.s. Guess you guys arnt on now. if you are to send me anything, ill prolly need more bandaids. Bandaids are pretty much the only thing that ill need. Other than that im tyring to live like them. And live a very simple life. I hope yall have a great week. Love you all! Tchau!

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Forgot
Ahhh! I forgot to tell you! The poeple love missionarys haha! They take us in and let us share are message! and then accept baptism right off the bat. We have baptisms every week! Talk about humble! I might be baptising a family of 4 in 3 weeks if all goes well. But yea! Lots of baptisms here! Thcua!

Christopher's Visa Came In!!! 10/9

How exciting to answer my phone this morning and hear Christopher's voice!! He called to let us know that his visa came and he will be leaving for Brazil on Monday.
Flight information:

AMERICAN AIRLINES - Flight #1298

FLIGHT STATUS - ON TIME

Detailed Flight Information
Carrier	City	Date	Time			Terminal	Gate	Baggage Claim	Flight Status Notification
			Scheduled	Estimated	Actual
AMERICAN AIRLINES	Departing
	SJC San Jose	10/11/2010	10:20 AM
	Arriving
	DFW Dallas/ Fort Worth	10/11/2010	3:50 PM

AMERICAN AIRLINES - Flight #963

FLIGHT STATUS - ON TIME

Detailed Flight Information
Carrier	City	Date	Time			Terminal	Gate	Baggage Claim	Flight Status Notification
			Scheduled	Estimated	Actual
AMERICAN AIRLINES	Departing
	DFW Dallas/ Fort Worth	10/11/2010	7:45 PM
	Arriving
	GRU Sao Paulo	10/12/2010	6:40 AM

You can also track his flight while he is traveling at flightaware.

The best part of going up is getting to ride down!

Hey mom! Still in San Jose! Today it is pretty cold, im almost debating on whether or not to get a light jacket. Or wind breaker. Cause we ride fast haha. We are going to Ross today, so we will see. We just got back from the Post office. I sent home a poster that was given to me from a Less Active (for now). Brother Ruiz. I talked about him in one of my other emails. He is a very good painter. And this is a print of one of his paintings. So If you could Frame it somewhere or Keep it in its shell and let it wait for me. My legs are pretty sore! ha, we were visiting a lot of people in the HILLS for the past couple days. The best part of going up is getting to ride down! Its sooooo fun haha.

Hmmm, So still no news on visas? I wonder if it is going to come.. Mark is gone?? Whaaat? thats sooo crazy! Im getting close to my 4 month mark. Thats SUPER wierd! It feels like I just left yesterday, But it also feels like ive been here all my life. Its about time Ryan comes home! Man how long has that elder been out?? And my little Preston is leaving next month too?? Awwww :D.  Sister Burton sent me a portuguese hymn book, which is going to come in super handy. Those comments are soo cool! Im soo glad im so popular haha jk. Tell everyone I said thanks! And I love the support! In case you have been wondering I have been borrowing a members bike, and ive been using one of the Elders in my districts bike lights. So conference was amazing! We scheduled all the sessions at less active homes or part member families, so we watched it with them and got fed too :D. I feel like I connect sooo well with the members here and the less actives. And more and more people are starting to come back to church. *Always keep a smile on your face**And have a teddy bear personality* Ive found that to work best for me. And Aparently I have a southern accent haha. Did I? I dont know what else is really new? If all is still going good with my investigator Susie, She will be getting baptised on Oct 30th, Keep her in yalls prayers. Oh also I got the letter with my Pat blessing in it! And I have read it sooo many times since then! So much makes sense to me now. And I love the little card that came with it. Any other big news in the world? Sorry I dont have any pics this time.

Well, I dont have anything else to say! Sorry! Tell everyone I miss them, and Love them!

Love ya, Tchau

Elder Arroyo