A Safe Arrival and a Good First Week

One week ago Tuesday our plane touched down in Brazil. We made it into the country without any problems, though on the flight from Rio de Janiero to Brasilia we had to pay for our extra luggage. Apparently, Brazilian airlines allow you to check only one suitcase and one carry-on bag for domestic flights, but we arrived safely with our all of our things intact. Ottis and Betty Hochstetler, retired MMN missionaries living in Brasilia who are working with us and the churches in the Federal District, met us at the airport, along with my host father Helio. They drove us to the church in Gama, the town that we are living in for the first month which is located about thirty minutes out of Brasilia. When we arrived, we where greeted by some members of the church with food and hugs (apparently, these are extremely popular in Brazil. It seems you can´t go anywhere without recieving some of both). Then we were driven to our host families' homes, where we will be staying until at least the end of this month.
Learning to speak Portuguese is our main goal at this point. We have classes at the church Tuesday through Friday from 9am to lunch, with the afternoons off. On Saturday we visited the church in Céu Azul and met with the pastors. That night we attended a welcoming party with the Gama church that lasted until midnight. The bus broke down on the way home, though, so we didn´t get home until after 2. However, the Sunday service in Gama did not take place until the evening, so we had plenty of time to catch up on sleep.
On Monday we spent the day with Ottis and Betty. We took a bus from Gama to Brasilia to meet them at their house. They showed us some of the city and talked with us about some Brazilian culture. They also helped us to register with the Federal Police at the airport. We will be meeting with them every Monday during this month to learn more about Brazil and its culture.
And so the rest of this week up to this point has been spent learning Portuguese and spending time with my family. Helio and Vilma and their 9 year old son Fillipe make up my current host family. We live on the fifth floor of an apartment building in Gama, which is about a 20 minute walk from the church.
My Portuguese is coming along slowly. Portuguese is structured similarly to Spanish, but with many differences. I hope to have some sort of communicating ability by the end of this month, because I may have to start teaching English in November.