My THIRD Mission...oops!

We´ve walked a LOT this past week. My companion is a district leader (For those of you who do not know, A mission is divided up into zones, and each zone is divided into districts, and then each district is divided into areas. Keep this in mind, it will be important later), so we had to look for housing for a new set of missionaries that will be coming in. We walked for 6 HOURS STRAIGHT! The only time that we ever stopped was to write down the occasional address for a house for rent. I was about ready to die. Not to mention I also had/still have an ingrown toenail. I was wiped the next day, but (shocker) we walked some more. I´m definitely going to stay in shape here, that´s for sure! One thing that has really helped me over the past week is the time that I spent with our Zone leader on a companion exchange. One of the things that I realized, is that there is absolutely NO way that I could do something like this if it was not true. I would have given up a long time ago if I did not know the importance of the message that we share. Funny story time!
So, remember how I said how each mission has zones, and then districts, and then areas? Well one of the rules is that you are not supposed to leave your area unless you are doing something like interviewing if you are one of the leaders. So on Saturday my companion had to interview someone who was getting ready to be baptized. Since he´s the district leader, we got permission to leave our area to go interview this lady. After the interview it was about 8:45. It´s a long distance between our two areas, so we decided to take a bus back. We waited, and waited, and waited for the right bus that would take us back to the terminal  until about 9:15. At that point my companion decided that we should take a bus to the terminal in their area and then take a bus from there to our terminal. First off: I have notoriously bad luck with buses, and it´s even worse in another country in a language that I don´t really understand. So we got on a bus going the OPPOSITE direction of the terminal in the area that we were in! We ended up leaving that area (unauthorized), which is kind of a problem.

Ok, then we left the zone.... Annnnnnnd then the mission. OH MY GOSH. That was terrifying! We got in the terminal and were waiting for a bus back home when a member came up to us and started chatting with us. At this point in time it was about 10:30. Missionaries have a curfew of 9:30. Yeah, we were in trouble. Anyways, this member was talking to us, and we told him about our situation (he was worried about our curfew). He asked us if we had talked with President Fusco yet. ......Fusco???? Our mission president is President SOUZA! 

WE WERE IN A DIFFERENT MISSION!!!!! 

THE end of the LONGEST DAY

I was definitely wigging out! It´s my first transfer in this mission and I´ve already left the mission boundaries! I was very stressed, worried, and just plain old tired, so I was about ready to snap! Also, we couldn´t get in contact with the anyone to let them know that we were delayed because the other elders didn´t have the phone!!!! Anyways, we get in line for the RIGHT bus, and Elder G decided that he needed to buy some food and suco (juice) while we were waiting. Our bus pulls up annnnnnnd leaves as he´s paying for his food.... I was a little bit ticked, but I got over it surprisingly quickly. I remember thinking to myself; there´s really nothing I can do at this point, so why should I worry any more about it? Anyways, we got on our right bus, got home, and finally get everything sorted out around 11:45 (WAAAAAAAY past curfew!). Everyone was worried about us and was searching the streets of our area (we were miles away) and it made me feel good to know how much people care about the missionaries. Anyways, these pictures are us right after we got back, so that´s why I look a little frazzled. It was a crazy experience (that I don´t think I ever want to repeat)  and I´m glad that it´s over. 

Sunday was really really difficult to stay awake especially being in a different language and all. I ended up getting up in sacrament meeting and bearing my testimony in Portuguese though! I was super nervous, and still a little wigged out from the night before. Needless to say, I´ve been sleeping really well these past couple nights!

QUESTIONS FROM MOM ANSWERED:
1. What are your mission rules? Yep, our mission can watch DISNEY MOVIES EVERY P-DAY! I found that out this week and that we also can listen to any song from a disney movie. So yeah, if you could send me discs with some disney music and some EFY music, that would be super awesome! Also, I need better speakers!!! I seriously can barely hear anything with these! As far as backpacks go... Nope, we just had zone training this week, and they said that you have to have sidebags. They´re giving the missionaries who are already out a little bit of time for the transition, but I actually like my sidebag. My shoulders are totally fine as long as I switch shoulders (which I do a lot). 

2. Are you having any health problems? I kind of haven´t used sun screen... at all... I´m in the city (like apartment buildings every single block) and I haven´t even gotten sunburned, though I am getting almost as tan as my companion.  I think it´s kind of strange, but I´m not finding Fortaleza as hot or as miserable as I thought it would be. Probably because I got a warm up in Kansas ;) Anyways, I´m doing great, I don´t know if I told you that I had an ingrown toenail (which was TORTURE with the amount that we walk) but it is a lot better now that I went to the podiatrist. Tune in to my weekly update because I will be writing all of my stories on that!!! I´ve got a great one!!!

3. How are you getting along with the lanquage?  My language is coming along well (especially since I have 3 Brasileiros) and I think that I use more English in my emails home than I do during the entire rest of the week. I only got to listen to 1 session of General Conference in English, but I really really liked it. I thought it was funny how they had to address the whole women/priesthood deal. I think that some people are kind of crazy sometimes. 

4. Is there anything you need?  I would definitely appreciate if you sent me food, or candy, or cookies, or really just something to eat. We don´t get much of a budget (about 90 reais every 2 weeks, but 2 reais=1 dollar...) So yeah. 

I learned last week that one of the missionaries, Elder C, in my apartment is from the very same place in Rio where Taylor is serving. Elder C was talking about how he thinks that she is probably serving in his ward. Funny! We´re already pretty close friends. Like, he invited me to come to Rio after I´m done with my mission. I think that that´d be super fun.

I´ve felt a little bit homesick over the past week. Here are the things that I miss:

• Clean water (we have to buy clean water whenever we want something to drink)
• Hot showers (cold showers aren´t very nice in the morning)
• ENGLISH
• Eating something other than rice, beans and spaghetti every single day.
• And I guess that I miss my family just a little bit... Estou brincando! 

Arroz, frijoles, macaron

I guess that´s just about it, so it´s really not that bad. That´s all the time I have, but I hope that everything´s going well for everyone! Vá com Deus!
~Elder Colvin
 
P.S.Man, we do NOT get enough time for emailing!!!