Arrival in Florianopolis ~ April 5, 2011

I'M IN FLORIANOPOLIS!!!!! And, yes, I am VERY VERY EXCITED! My PDay [preparation day] will be on Mondays, so I will be able to write you a more complete letter then, but I found out that I'm going to be in Ingleses (on the island), and I am going to have a Brazilian companion! I am so excited! We just arrived here and met my mission president and his wife (who I already love), and so far we just took care of some police paper work and such. I already met someone in the police station who gave me his number because he wants to learn more about the church.. AND he is in my area. The people here are so amazing and open. At the MTC they took us for 2 hours out into a Park and we had 5 Books of Mormon to hand out. We handed out 6! (we had to take one from some of our Elders that were near.) These people are so open. One person even just came up to us in the park and saw we were Mormon and asked us for a Book of Mormon! Its just amazing! Also, the president told me that I'm going to be teaching an English class (with about 30 people) and in this area the Sisters usually have a baptism once a week! I'm so excited!! I think my sense of humor goes over better here than it does in the states and therefore, I already feel Brazilian. Also the mission presidents wife said that the key to getting to know people here is smiling and having fun/joking with them.... ummmmm.. that's my life. SO. Yup! I loved my roommates [for the week in Sao Paulo at the MTC] and we would talk all the time in Portugues, and I can already talk with anyone. I don't understand absolutely everything, but everyone I talk to says that I'm doing really well, so I'm super excited! LOVE IT! I will write more on Monday.. but thanks for everything! (I haven't gotten my mail here yet, but that doesn't mean that I won't..)

Love, Sister Reising (officially a missionary)

Florianopolis is on the southern coast

The mission boundaries are the State of Santa Catarina

Florianopolis appears to be an island with various communities, and Sam's first area is on the north tip, Ingleses. The mission headquarters is located in the Centro area (mid left).

Photo (from the web) of Ingleses community and beach. The whole island is known for beautiful beaches.