Rio at last!

By the mission home in Rio

Okay so I will try to remember all I can to email this week. Number one when we landed last Tuesday it was incredible. We flew right past the beach and the Cristo o Redentor statue. It was absolutely amazing. Then we met our president and drove to the mission house. They president and wife are super nice and I love them, but they are super strict about everything. I guess like a president should be. Anyways from what I saw up to that point Rio was amazingly beautiful, we were really close to the statue and it was incredible. Then we went and met our companions and I went to our area that night. Irajá. But we live in Ramos and have a 45 minute ride to our area every morning. My companion is Elder Carniero, a Brasileiro that speaks basically no English besides for a few words. He is really nice and helping though and with a Brazilian companion my language will improve quickly, though as of now it is still very difficult. He has been in the mission about 7 months. The others in our apartment and district are really cool, Elder Oliver and Elder Connell. I will let you know about others I meet later. Anyways when I heard all the rules and saw the apartment that’s when things got kinda hard.

Haha the apartment is really small, probably 2 of my rooms total. My closet is bigger than the bathroom. hahaha. Anyways I was really freaked out but things are all good now. We really need to make sure to use water filters, but luckily we have a filter on our sink to. The next day we had a baptism! Though I didn’t really have anything to do with it haha. It was an older lady that had been going to church for a year. I will talk more about investigators as I learn more. Most are just ones that my comp had before and we are working with. The biggest thing to get used to is the heat. Today it has rained all day and been mercifully cold. But the rest of the days I think in the 100s with lots of humidity. At night we are lucky if it’s in the high 80s, but you’re so tired it doesn’t matter. haha. They also don’t have dinner here, so we usually have breakfast, me usually oatmeal, then lunch with a member, usually rice beans, meat and a dessert or fruit. And then we can snack when we get home at 9. Also they don’t have milk like we know it in Brazil. Their milk you don’t have to refrigerate, but it tastes really bad. haha. I really like the ward. They are super nice and inviting, even if I don’t understand all the time. Basically things are going good, but I’m still kinda in culture shock. I was expecting more green in Rio. haha. All I see is concrete all day. But you can look up my area on google. It is in the city of Rio, and kinda a more run down area. Yes there are favelas that we can go in and some we can’t. Lots of the younger kids want to hear me speak English sometimes so that is kinda cool.


Anyways it was great hearing from you guys!

All we did yesterday was stay at the members then go home and study because of the murders. I guess they were 5 minutes from the church; people can get kinda crazy with alcohol, which is all people drink during holidays. Party and go to the beach. I don’t want you guys to worry about me though. Tell Paige congrats on the essay. That is absolutely awesome! Today for p-day we had a zone party and played white elephant. I got a bar of soap. hahaha. Let everyone know that I love them! Thanks for your support and help. Anyways I love you all so much and will for sure write more next week and try to send some pictures. Love, Elder Ottosen.

Flying over Rio

Pictures taken at the mission home in Rio

Proselyting for the first time!

Dear Family,  

I am glad that you are doing great things for Christmas!! That really sounds awesome! Hope everyone is enjoying it and enjoying the Christmas season!! Oh so I got the 20 you sent! Thanks so much! And tell Grandpa and whoever else thank you so so much for the support and gifts! I will bring them something back in two years. haha. Oh and I actually did get a letter from Grandma Fitz last week! I sent her a reply today but tell here thanks! I can’t thank all of you guys enough! haha. Hopefully the packages you sent will get there fine, but if not then oh well. haha. Tell Colton, Emily and Jordan congrats!! That is awesome and they won’t regret it a bit!! I’m way happy for the new high school name! That’s awesome! Let me know about the mascot! haha man I hope not 110!! That sounds more like Fortaleza where Rourke is going. But hopefully you guys get snow for Christmas! Oh and with the battery charger my comp actually luckily had an extra so don’t worry about it. I sent back a memory card today, hope you get that soon. I probably won’t get to talk to you again before Christmas but hopefully! I will call you but I don’t know when. Thanks tons for everything though!!! So this past week things were pretty normal until yesterday. We went proselyting in the surrounding neighborhood!! We just did street contacting, but we were given 2 Books or Mormon for each person and 3.5 hours. My companion and I passed out all 4!! It was a really awesome experience! Haha also pretty hard because 90 percent of the people we talked to already had one. But still it gave me lots on confidence! Next Monday we go to downtown Sao Paulo! And then the next day off to Rio! Man I need to remember sunscreen though, it was extremely hot and I got kinda burnt. I am super excited for Rio but almost more nervous than when I left for the first time! Anyways I hope you are all doing wonderful! I love you all so much and remember to have a very merry Christmas!! Love Elder Connor Ottosen!

Departure date for Rio

Oi Oi!!!!

That is crazy that Nick is finally gone! I hope he is having a good time in the MTC! I was able to mail a later to Jake today so hopefully he gets it before he leaves basic. So yeah I leave Tuesday the 20th. It is about a 45 minute plane ride, but besides that I honestly have no idea about skype, calling, or anything in Rio so I will have to let you know as soon as I know!! I am way excited to get there though!!  thanks for all the letters though!! They are awesome to read! But no I haven’t gotten anything with money yet, maybe soon! Tell everyone thank you so so so much for the gifts! I will try to mail them all something soon! Thanks for all the love and support!! So there isn’t a ton to talk about because every day is pretty much the same. haha. Today I did sealings in the Temple though and that was a way cool experience!! Also when I email you next I will have been proselyting once already. We go next Monday in the surrounding neighborhood! I am super nervous for that. So I guess that Sao Paulo won the soccer championship of Brazil or something? Because all Saturday Sunday and Monday we could hear fireworks going on every minute or so and loud music constantly from when i went to bed at 1030 to when i woke up at 5 30. haha crazy!! So I was talking to my teacher and prices for some things are crazy in Brazil!! Like a MacBook pro is around 5000 to 6000 reais. An iphone maybe 800 reais. And Nike shoes start around 200 and can get upwards of 600 reais! Haha some of the American products are extremely expensive! It is crazy!! But besides that I have mostly been studying and learning. I sent a very small Christmas of some candy and something for Kade today. Anyways I hope you all are having a Great Christmas Season! I encourage you to remember Christ in everything we do! Thanks again and you have my Love! Elder Ottosen