Thursday, March 15, 2012

My First Week!

I only get thirty minutes to type while I am in the MTC (here called the CTM) but I will try and answer all ya'lls questions as fast as I can! It will be hard for me to read long emails while I am in here so please try and keep them short for now. Oh, and while I am thinking about it, if you want to send letters please send the mail priority. I know its a little bit more expensive, but it stands a much better chance of getting to me than if you were to send it normal. Plus, its faster. Anyways, my week has been a very interesting one. So I found out the church booked my flight a day late so I arrived here a day after I was supposed to which was really stressfull. When I got to the airport I was the only elder getting picked up so I was totally by myself with no one to talk to. A nice man sent by the MTC helped me get all my passport stuff straightened out then they threw me in a car with just me and a middle aged Brazillian wearing sunglasses who did not speak English. So the whole ride was silent and very very bumpy. Also people here drive like maniacs. Anyways, we arrived in this super sketchy part of town and I could hear him talk on his cell phone and say that he had the North American. I kinda started to freak out and feel like I was abducted, and right before I jumped out of the car I saw the MTC and was greeted by a nice old man who spoke English. Never was I more happy to hear an English speaking person. He gave me a quick tour of the MTC which is a 7 story U shaped builiding with a tropical garden-like courtyard in the middle and the sports facilities and cafeteria on the top of the U kinda seperated from it. The sports facilities consist of a 100 M track, a weight room, two volleyball courts and four basketball hoops. We are not allowed to play soccer which makes me sad. But the food here is pretty good. Every morning for breakfast we get a kinda oatmeal soup dish as the main meal, a meat and cheese selection in which we can make toasted sandwiches with, fresh fruit which is AMAZING, and juice. For lunch we get two meats, a dessert which is usually a pudding with some kind of flavored surip (sorry Portuguese messes with your spelling), we also get more fruit, salad, and my favorite rice and beans! I never knew how good they really tasted till I came here. Anyways back to my first day. So after I got settled in I met my companions who are Elder Peterson and Elder Riggin who are both from America. I also have two Brazillian roommates who are super fun to talk to at night when I go to bed. They go to bed on time which is rare since all the other Brazilians stay up later than they should. Anyways I really like my companions, and this weeek for our entertainment Elder Riggen quoted the entire movie of the Lion King wich was pretty impressive. So anyways my first day was SUPER long cause I did classes all day and I was tired from the flight ( I got in at 7 am and went until 9 30 pm). But the days progerssivly got better and faster. My day is pretty simple. I study all day from 7 to 9 30. Have gym for an hour and three meals at 45 min each. The rest of the day I study and study and study. While it is a TON of work it is definitely rewarding. I am learning the language well, I can say my prayers and bear my testemony in Portuguese as well as teach a lesson with a lot of preperation which is what me and my companions did on Monday! We were all so happy we were able to accomplish this. Although I have a Sister and an Elder in my district who are fluent in Spanish so they are way good at Portuguese which kinda gets me down but it is still good to have them help us. So the MTC is better than what I thought it would be. I was under the impression that once we entered they gates we couldn't leave. But actually every P-day (Preparation Day) which is Wednesday for me, we get to go to the Sao Paulo temple (today I actually got to go to Campinas temple cause Sao Paulo was being cleaned! It was so pretty!) and also we get to go walk around outside the MTC in the streets where we can buy stuff and see a little of Sao Paulo. So my room is on the 7th floor which means it is super high up and super annoying to have to climb up to but once you get there you can open our window and look out at all of Sao Paulo which is bigger than I ever imagined. To even remotely be able to compare it imagine when you are driving to Salt Lake City and you reach the point of the mountain in Lehi and you see Salt Lake Valley in its huge expanse. Well imagine that but bigger and it is all sky scrapers and tons of traffic. Anyways I got to go. Sorry I don't have more time!!! I will write more next week. Oh,and I nearly forgot to tell you guys that I was called to be District Leader! Anyways nothing amazing has come from that yet but its just my first week. Talk to yall later!

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