Holy Cow!

Holy cow! I´m almost done with the MTC! I only will write from the dumb MTC lab computer one more time, and then I´ll be in Joao Pessoa. I fly out from here on September 7th. If you want to send me any more letters you´ll need to start sending them to Joao Pessoa, because they take about 2 weeks to get to me. My MTC time went by so fast... I don´t remember my Joao Pessoa address, so check my blog for it. ( if someone would send me an email to remind me of it I´d appreciate it.) A lot of Brazilians here think my companion looks like my brother. I think its funny. I´ll send you some pictures in a couple weeks. Amber was wondering if I´ve learned to snap like a Brazilian. The answer is yes. I don´t know how to describe it, but it´s kinda cool. I went to the Campinas Temple today. A ton of Campinas missionaries were there, but not Amber :( I met her mission president though. He told me Amber is a great missionary, and is making the family proud. I´m having a great time here. Not a lot of new things have happened. I love my new Brazilians. One is white with blond hair and blue eyes. He speaks pretty good english too. We learn a lot from each other. His ancestors are from Italy. He´s funny, because he knows a ton of slang words. He´s constantly saying things like, "Is the word 'crap' a swear word?", and I have to answer, "No, but you probably shouldn´t use it that much." I love it. Thanks for all your love and support. I love being a missionary. I´ve really begun to enjoy doing hard things, because then when medium things come up, they feel easy :)

Hey everybody

I keep finding things in Brazil that remind me that I´m not in America anymore. I never thought I´d find myself cold in Brazil, or cold in the middle of august. It's been about 50 or 60 degrees the last couple weeks. It feels nice mostly, but I get the chills every once in a while. I laugh that I was trying to get a tan before I came here. I wanted a tan so I´d avoid burning in Joao Pessoa, but now after 2 months in doors I´ve lost all the tan I had to begin with. This week we had a big church open house thing. It was neat. The choir got to sing at it for a few nights. Someone said the event might end up in the Ensign or something, but I don´t know much about it. They made us sign press releases though. I went proselyting for the first time this week. I went on splits with a Brazilian, so it wasn´t that hard. I´d try to introduce myself, and explain the Book of Mormon, and when I´d stall out he would pick up the conversation again. We handed out 9 Books of Mormon. We were only supposed to do 6, but I thought is was fine that we did extra :) It was tons of fun.

We lost our second set of Brazilians this week. That means I´ve got 6 weeks down, and only 3 to go. Only one more set of Brazilians and then I´m out of here. Time has been going by so fast... I hope my whole mission doesn´t fly by this fast. I´m really enjoying being a missionary. The schedule is tough, but every night I go to bed knowing that I accomplished something. That feels pretty nice. Today I got the chance to go to the Campinas Temple. It was really pretty. I didn´t get the chance to let Amber know I was going there, so I didn´t get to see her. I don´t even know if she could get permission to go there. I don´t now how close to the temple she is now that she´s been transferred. I´m going back to the Campinas temple next week though, so maybe I´ll get to see her then. The Sao Paulo temple is closed for cleaning. Mikayla was wondering if I learned how to tie my ties like Elder Miller. I learned to tie the cobra knot one of my first days here. I thing it´s way legit, and now my whole district wears it. Thanks for all your love and support. Everything is going great here.

Hey :)

I got a new companion this week. His name is Elder Anderson. He´s a way nice guy. He´s from Virginia. He got stuck in Provo for a while because of visa problems. We´ve been having a lot of fun this week. It´s great to be in a companionship instead of a trio. I felt like with three people, someone was always way slow, and we were always waiting to go places. My district now has 10 people in it, and Sister Olney finally has a companion. Today I got to go to a Brazilian restaurant. It was basically Rodizio Grill. It tasted great. Thanks everyone for your letters. I got some from grandma and grandpa and aunts and uncles. It´s nice to hear how everyone is doing. I love you all lots, and I hope everything is going well back in the states. This Friday my district gets to go out and talk to Brazilians and hand out Books of Mormon. It´s crazy. I don´t know if I´m ready to go talk to Brazilians about the gospel, but I´ll do my best. In the MTC the Brazilians know I´m learning, so they talk slow and repeat things a lot so I´ll understand, but on the street I don´t think people will be that nice. If I don´t know what people say then I guess I´ll just give them the Book of Mormon then run away before they can hand it back. Everything has been happening so fast here in the MTC. I feel like I was just writing you guys yesterday, but already it´s been a week. I can´t believe I've been in Brazil for 5 weeks now. I only have 4 weeks left until I get on another plane and go to Joao Pessoa. It´s going to be way crazy, but I can´t wait. I´m kinda sick of the MTC food, and I´m looking forward to walking a little bit instead of sitting all day. I came here at 160 pounds, then last week I was 176! Now I´m back down to 170, but still.. they say you know you served in Brazil if you gained 30 pounds in the MTC, and then lost it all on your first transfer.

4 Weeks Down

Hey family and friends :) Everything is going great here in the MTC. I know I´ve said this before, but I´ll say it again, the MTC is very repetitious... I´m locked into a schedule now, and it´s all I ever do. I´m learning a lot, and I´m following all the rules, but not much ever changes around here. They say the only difference between prison and the MTC is that in prison you get visitors. It´s not totally like that, but in a lot of ways it is. Last week our Brazilian roommates left, and we got a couple more. I can hardly speak to them, but they´re fun. This week our district is getting 4 more people. We´re looking forward to messing with them. We´re pretending we only speak Portuguese, and that we´re celebrating Christmas since it´s winter in Brazil. We´ll confuse them pretty badly :) . I´m getting a new companion since I´m in a three way currently. It will be weird. Not a lot has happened lately. We got a new cafeteria, among other things. I can´t believe I´m almost halfway done with the MTC. 4 weeks down, 5 to go. I'm looking forward to going out into the field, but I know I have a lot to learn first. I need my brothers and sisters to write me more. Dakota too. I love you all, and I love hearing about how you´re all doing. I spent way to much time reading, so now my letter is short. I love you and I hope you have a great week.