Email - 1/13/09

From: Bryan Barney
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 6:41 AM

Hullo!

I..m afraid far too much time has passed since I left São Paulo to give
a full length account of all that has happened since then. I simply
haven..t enough computer time, between my learning to send reports to
Pres. Tobias and my short time to e-mail home.
In any case, I..ll give as best a run-down as I can of the highlights.

New Year..s Eve in the MTC was more or less a normal day for us, until
around 5 ish, when we all went to the auditorium, stocked up on
popcorn, and watched The Ten Commandments until about 930. I think that
that is the first time I have ever seen that movie the whole way
through. For the most part, it was pretty good. The effects were a tad
cheesy, and Moses..hair got more outlandish as the movie went on.

At around midnight the city exploded, with fireworks and madness going
every which way. It was quite a show, and I..m afraid I can..t quite put
it to words or pictures, because there was simply so much going on. The
festivities did not end until about 2 AM.

We left the MTC Tuesday, and a small part of that large group (namely 7
of us) departed for the state of Goias. We got on the plane around
9ish, and touched down an hour or so later. I spent maybe 20 hours in
Goiania before leaving, but I..ll fill you in on those, too.

We met Pres. and Sis. Tobias, and went to the Mission Office (where I
received my letter/package from Matt) and then had our first bit of
training, where we were filled in on rules and expectations of the
mission, as well as the mission..s year end goals.

Later that evening we had dinner at Pres...s house, the building itself
having been pretty spiffy and the food being great, too. We were
instructed that, for the next 2 years, all first servings must be
small, because it is important here to eat at least two plates so as
not to offend the Irmãs who will be our main food source.

The next morning, we received our new areas. I am even now in Tibery,
Uberlandia, in the state of Minas Gerais. So I was in Goiania less than
a day, haha. I..m about a 6 hour bus ride away.
This is my address:

Rua Paris 86 Bairro Tibery
Uberlândia, MG
38405-082
Brasil.

I don..t know how long we..ll be there, of course, but we were told it is
faster to send letters to our homes than the office. Your call, I
guess. I..ll live.


My Trainer..s name is Elder Eliason, and he is from Delta Utah. Despite
this, he speaks Portuguese so well that people here have a hard time
believing that he is from America. I hope that..s me some time down the
line.

We work hard, every day. I..ve got a couple blisters, but I..m feeling
great. Every day we teach and share the Gospel, and our goal here is to
build another stake in Uberlandia, so we..re rushing about looking for
men who can be worthy to hold the Priesthood. We..re building Zion, and
while it seems a bit slow at the moment, I can already tell things..ll
go great.

That said, I have to take off now. I love you all, so please take care.
Send me whatever new info you feel like and I have to repent of my
asking for too many new ties, on account of space issues mainly. I have
to learn how to properly distribute weight for travel, but I imagine
I..ll be lightening my load by the end of this transfer or another.
With Love,

Bryan J Barney.