Sister Neal in Belem: First Post from Belem with pictures!

Alright, I am officially in the Brasil, Belém mission!! WOO! And I love it. My area is Bacarena. Like Macarena. And it is SWEET. We had to take a boat to get here, so honestly, I have no idea where I am...so, if you could look it up and tell me, that would be fantastic. haha. But dang is it hot. So humid, I feel like I´m swimming all the time. Haha. And because it´s so hot, it´s a rule to shower twice a day. So we always smell nice, and I´m getting a pretty sweet tan! I love my companion. Her name is Sister Domingues, and she speaks NO English. Yaaay for charades. Haha, it´s been pretty great. She´s so patient with me, and I´m super grateful for that. So, our apartment. Yeah, it sucks. It´s disgusting. The humidity is so bad that there´s just mold everywhere, and there are bugs...looots of bugs. The ants aren´t cute little baby ants either, they´re huge and GROSS AND THEY BITE. You should see my legs, haha. But it´s not like we´re in the house THAT much. Anyway, President came and saw our house and basically commanded us to move into a different one, so we´re doing that this week. WOO! I´m getting over my fear of germs reaaalllly fast, hahaa. I kinda have to. The food here is fantastic, and I haven´t gotten sick at all yet! I´m feeling a little bit too blessed...nothing bad has happened to me except getting bit by stupid little bugs that think my bed is theirs. So I´m bracing myself for something ridiculous. Haha.

People here are so receptive! Contacting is so easy. We say we´re missionaries and ask if we can share a message, and they say yes! Haha, even the Catholics. We´ve already taught tons of lessons and have tons of baptism dates. We really just need to work really hard on getting them to come to church regularly.

I have already learned so much about my Savior and this work! It´s really incredible. I´ve had the gift of tongues a lot, I was able to understand everything the prophets said at conference. And the Spirit prompts me during lessons to say certain things, and the results are awesome. I just need to stay humble and open and ask for these blessings. I´m super excited to be here, I love it.

OH. Haha, can´t believe I forgot. My bags got lost on the way to Belém. They decided to go to Florianopolis, the opposite end of the country. So that was fun! But I got them back late the next day. And i was the only American to leave the CTM...so that was great. And it was April Fool´s day. I don´t know, it was just funny. I´m gonna try to send pictures! Tchau!

Love,

Sister Neal

P.S. - Also, my companion sleeps in a hammock. Haha, I might upgrade to a hammock, that´s so much sweeter and more exotic than a dumb bed with bugs in it!