The days here are very long. A
whole week is not very long but it feels extremely long and short at the same
time. We get so much done, but a week is such a short time. My first day was
fine, I've been comforted by the Spirit very much. Elder Stevens is my
first companion here at the MTC or in Brasil it is called the CTM haha. Elder
Stevens is our district leader (we only have 4 guys in our district.) The
good thing is that he wants to do the right things and be obedient, which are
both things I want to do as well. I've been blessed with a pretty great
companion for my stay at the CTM. Our district is very very close, just as
close as me and my companion. But to be honest, I'm much more close with the
members of my district than my own companion. We do everything as a district,
all our meals, classes, exercise, everything, and we all live together. Elder
Buck from Arizona is in my district and we are very close, he wants to do what
is right and all that too, I like him a lot and he is very funny. But the person
here I am honestly the closest with is Elders Buck companion, Elder Kagi, from
Dorset, England. He is extremely funny and smart. For some reason he and I just
click very well, we get along super well. So far I've really enjoyed my
companions, they are my best friends. I've known them such a short
time, but we spend all day together and we are going through alot of the same
trials so its great to be with them. I've been very blessed, I love
them very much, they will be lifelong friends.
Our room is
sorta small, bunk beds, a closet type thing, NO HANGERS btw, we all 4 bunk in
the same room with 2 Brasilaroes, meaning Brasilians who speak no English.
Being
American and white we are the minority here, which is annoying because
everything is in Spanish or Portuguese, so it is very difficult to communicate.
The food
here is alright, usually a small meat main course with extra fruit beans rice
etc. I eat a TON of beans because it is really the only consistently good thing
to eat here. The food is not terrible, but it is also not good. We had beef
stew yesterday and we found bone and a ventricle artery in it eww gross.
BTW, my
time to email is very short, less than 45 min.
A big
change that I was very frustrated with but I'm dealing with and being obedient
with, are all the rules. There are SO many rules here, A LOT of dumb rules. One
dumb rule is NO SENDING PHOTOS, so you will not receive any pictures from me
for 6 weeks...
We also
are not aloud to take pictures at the temple ( I was able to go to the Sao
Paulo temple this morning) or even bring our camera outside of the CTM or
take pictures in the lunch room. There are tons of other rules, but I've
just decided that to be blessed the fullest I am going to follow all the dumb
rules anyways. I know that is the right thing to do.
We are
allotted 40 minutes to workout 5 days a week and they actually have a cable
machine and pull up bar so I'm getting short OK workouts, we also play
volleyball alot here.
As for
Portuguese, out of the four in my district, I'm probably doing the worst, but
I am making improvements everyday and that is what matters. In the
beginning I was getting super, super frustrated because I was having a hard
time learning, but things are getting better and I'm being more patient with
myself. Every single thing you do here is in Portuguese, all of my classes,
everyone, everything is in Portuguese.
An inspiring
thing are all the Latin Americans here to serve missions, there are so
many! And I know they are making the same sacrifice I am by serving, it is very
inspiring that God hears their Portuguese and Spanish prayers the same as
God hears mine in English.
Soon we
are going out into Sao Paulo to do our shopping for the week.
Have to go!
Eu amo vocemos!
(I love you all)!
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