2nd Week in the Field-Written on July 11

Hey family!!! Life is great here for the most part, the only thing that would make it better is if I spoke this language. But other than that I absolutely love it! Saturday was my first baptism. Sis Moraes and I didn't really do anything, it was the elders before us, but we claimed him anyways. He is an 18 year old man/boy, and we are hoping to get him on a mission! He became interested in the church with his girlfriend, she was baptized three weeks ago, and he followed her. And on Saturday we have another baptism, Juan.
The language is the most difficult thing right now. I am trying my hardest to not get frustrated, and I am trying to rely on the Spirit to help me. My comp makes me speak Portuguese with her every hour of the day, so it is helping me some, but I am not really learning any words that I need. But when I should ask I can't think of the words I want to know. Their accent is nothing like anybody said it would be. They shorten all their words, and they almost talk with a Portugual accent mixed with a black accent. Yeah it is hard to describe, and hard to understand. But it is coming little by little. All of our investigators know I am learning, so they usually speak a little slower for me.
The members in the ward are all super nice. They feed us lunch every day...and yes every meal I have had involves beans, rice, and some sort of chicken. But it is all good, because their beans and rice aren't like dad's beans and rice. Dad, I hate to break it to ya, but you haven't quite figured out the seasoning to them...there is something different they do with their beans and rice. I am trying to figure out the recipe they use. We have one investigator, that is writing down all of her recipes, so when I come home, I will have a lot of Bahian recipes. And let me tell you, everything they make is super good, and comes from scratch!!!
I know I am not supposed to have favorites in my investigators, so I don't. I just like two more than the rest....haha, not really, but there is something different about these two. It is a father, and daughter. The dad is Edson, and he is divorced, but his daughter, Erica(18) lives with him. Erica came to church on Sunday, so that was good! I'm hoping with all my heart that Edson decides to come too. You walk into that house, and the spirit is there, and they don't know it. I am hoping that we can make them recognize the spirit. Edson was contacted a few years ago by the missionaries, but for some reason didn't continue with the lessons. During the first lesson, you could just see his eyes fill up with understanding. All of a sudden he was asking a lot of questions about the gospel. Needless to say he was interested in what we were saying.
The nice little lady that we are renting from is also super cute. She is about 50-60, and is always bringing us food. She calls us her daughters. Missionaries have been renting from her for the past 15 years or so, but for some reason they haven't baptized her yet! We made an appointment with her, and taught her the first lesson. She was receptive, but not really interested. At the very end of our lesson she asked about where we go after we die, and where did we come from, and why we are here....yes in pretty much those words! Because we had another appointment, we had to reschedule a lesson with her. I have a good feeling about her...it may have taken 15 years to accept the gospel, but I have a sneaky suspicion she will.
There is another man, in his late 60s or early 70s that is getting baptized the 29th of this month. He has had all the lessons, and goes to church almost regularly(because we don't have a chapel in Mussurunga you have to ride a bus to get to the closest chapel, so when investigators come it is a blessing. This area is kind of poor). But last night we taught him the Plan of Salvation, that was a pretty neat experience. When it was my turn to bear my testimony, I couldn't put into words what I wanted to say. My comp prompted me with the question of how I knew it was true. I paused for maybe a minute, and the words spilled out. It took me completely by surprise at how strongly I love the plan of salvation that I just started to cry. Yeah, it was embarrassing, but an experience that I will treasure forever.
I absolutely love this gospel! I love sharing it with others even though I can barely do it in Portuguese. I can tell the more I try and rely on the spirit, the more I can say things I want to say.
Love you all! And I love it here! And I love the Gospel!
Love, Sister Rounds