Email from November 21, 2014

Wow! What an adventure it has been to get here and to be here in the beautiful country of BRASIL!
Flight from Salt Lake to JFK in New York city went smoothly! No problems at all!
Flight from NYC to Brasil on the 12th, not so much. Actually not at all. We get on the plane for Sao Paulo and all seems fine. We go onto the runway to prepare for takeoff, all of a sudden we turn around to go back to the gate... Captain announces that one of the generators for the left engine wasn't working at all. So we go back to the gate for maintenance to fix it. 3 hours (!!!) later, we head back onto the runway. This time we actually get off the ground! Then we start flying in circles. Captain announces that the generator went out again, So we have to go back and land to switch planes. He also informs us that the plane weighs too much to land safely. So he tells us that for the next 30 minutes or so we will be dumping the majority of our fuel into the Atlantic ocean so we can land. An hour and a half later, he tells us that it'll for sure only be another 30 minutes before we can land. So we all think Okay that's not horrible. An hour and a half later!!!! He finally says that we are headed in to land. At this point, we had been on the plane for 5 hours. We land and there's firetrucks everywhere and they ended up doing nothing. They just left. So captain tells us that they are taking the plane out of service and that we will be put on a different plane at 1030 the next morning... In actual terms, what was happening while we were in the air was pretty serious. They just weren't telling us that. But we made it safely to our destination... Wait. Nope! We are still in NYC. We then spent a very sleepless night in the airport waiting for the flight the next morning.
The next morning, we got safely on the plane and headed off for Brasil. Made it here 10 hours later!
That night, it was raining here in Sao Paulo. So as soon as we got off the plane, we could feel the moisture in the air. It was tangible! And it was pretty warm too! We got on the van to come to the CTM and got here at 1 in the morning. VERY long couple of days.
The schedule here is a lot like Provo was. Classes, studies, teaching investigators, practices, all that good stuff. Teaching is going pretty well! Both of our investigators accepted the baptismal invite! So that's really good! Both are very interested and progressing well!
Portuguese is coming along quite nicely! Still a long way to go, but I can understand what people say and have a conversation with them. I can also teach pretty decently! So that's always good!
The CTM is awesome! The food is SOOOOO GOOD!! Fruits are amazing! The meats and desserts and breads and juices and everything! The CTM is just a 6 story building with classrooms, bedrooms, a cafeteria, some offices and a couple courts for volleyball and basketball. Pretty small space. But it's awesome! I love it here in Brasil so much! But I can't explain why. There is just something inside me that loves it so much. Even though it's super dirty and smelly and poor and humid and HUGE, I just love it! It's so amazing! I love the people and everything about this place!
If there are any specific questions, just shoot me an email and I'll have to wait until next Friday because I am basically out of time. Only 45 minutes here.
Anyways!
I hope all is well in the US of A and that everyone is doing well!
My address for the mission home in Teresina is:

Elder Cole Joseph Gunnoe
Brazil Teresina Mission
Rua Tersandro Paz N^o 2129
Salas 105-108, Centro
64001-380 Teresina- Piaui (PI)
Brazil

So that is my address for the mission home.

Have a great week! And stay awesome!

Love,
Elder Gunnoe

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