I'm going bananas...literally

Elder L and me 

Daddy-o´s preguntas – So having been there a bit now, what is one thing you would encourage a YM to do to prepare for a mission? 

Im gonna be honest about something im ashamed of. I showed up for my mission thinking that would be enough. thinking i did my part putting in my papers and showing up. Boy, have i been paying for that mistake. i had never really studied the scriptures for myself, i had never really cracked open preach my gospel to read it which truely has EVERYTHING you need to know about being a good member of the church and an excelent leader and missionary. I had never read more than 5 pages in the Bible and now i quote the bible more than the Book of Mormon. (disclamer: i quote the bible more because I teach the first lesson 1,000 times and people already believe the bible, so it helps the transition. in other lessons you need to quote the book of mormon more) so i would tell them to start reading and start going out with the missionaries. PREPARE, cause people are going to ask you hard questions and you need to have something on the tip of your tounge like its second nature. just be familiar with the scriptures and preach my gospel. 

What is the biggest cultural difference that has taken some adjustment? umm probably the food... definitly the food. its good but no matter how good it is, your stomach isnt used to it. so thats kinda rough.  haha tough out the first 2 months and youll be good.

Do they have milk there?

yes its in cartons and unrefrigerated. so when i buy it i put it in the fridge and drink it with some type of nesquick they have over here. its pretty good but has a hint of coconut. haha

SO as for my caption

im literally going bananas... like ive never meant that in a more literal sense. this week we were teaching a less active family who im really close with and they asked if we wanted some bananas.. so i said yeah. i mean i like bananas as much as the next guy. and so the dude brought out a freaking branch of bananas. im talkin like 50 bananas of all different ripeness... hes like, here do you want more? hahaha i was like ``com certeza nao`` so i separated the ripe ones from the non ripe ones and the medium ones we ate... but you can only eat so many bananas. 

so we had banana shakes for breakfast and dinner, we had deep fried bananas, we had just plain bananas... bananas FOR DAYS. I also bought a chocolate bar (a little more than a bar) and covered some bananas in chocolate, which turned out pretty horrific. it was like gooey frozen chocolate nastiness, so theres that. our whole house smells like bananas and we still have like 30 more. 

it did rain a little this week and was a lot cooler, maybe i should have prayed for no rain? aha

the president election was yesterday and MAN was it close, like CRAZY close. the lady whos name escapes me won again. a women president.... can you imagine in america if we had a women president? haha.   So in brazil you have to vote. its not an option. if you dont vote you have to pay a fine of 3 reals (like dirt cheep) but you also cant have a goverment job if you dont vote. and there are a lot of government jobs out here so most everyone votes. you also cant sell or drink alochol till 17h. they also use army time down here - sorry

oh yeah so your christams package (although a little early) came in clutch.
Josh's 21st birthday package i could have done without.

But for the past week ive been rubbing myself down with a powder laundry detergent to try and keep the mosquitos off of me... its been working kinda haha so the bite stick definitly came in clutch. 

Love,
Elder Jacob Hamm