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