Melissa's First Letter from Brazil

Tudo bem! Como vai! Wow I can´t believe its been an entire week already!...but at the same time it seems like I´ve been here forever! I got here wednesday at like 9 in the morning or so...at the mtc anyway. My companions name is Sister Kennard and she´s from American Fork. We get along pretty well. She´s a really goal oriented person so she motivates me to try harder...but sometimes its a little overbearing and I just want to take a break. We were oriented, unpacked, ate, more orientation stuff, watched a video about missionaries in san antonio (how to use preach my gospel effectively). We were all exhausted but they made us stay awake so we could sleep that night. That night was probably the best night of sleep.

So on thursday, we began actual class. We were already expected to know things for the following class! We met with the MTC president, or the CTM as they call it in Brazil. His name is President Woodward. He is such a nice guy. We met our new teacher Irmão Paçahna. He is the best teacher in the CTM. Seriously. Everyone says so and I believe them. He is sooo good and he just motivates us to be the best missionaries we can be. Its hard though, cause he expects us to know a lot and that adds up to a lot of pressure.

Friday we met our other teacher Irmão Bolzan...who is actually Italian decent. His name used to be Bolzani. All the Brazilians ask him if he´s American cause he has blue eyes. His accent is pretty strong though. The funny thing is that he sounds like the little bat on Anastacia. I think his name was Bartok. Oh man...we had him quote some lines from Anastacia and it was HILARIOUS. It probably isn´t to you, but man, we were rolling on the floor. We learned how to pray today and haven´t been able to pray in english since then....at least in class.

Saturday we had class and then choir practice. (yeah, we decided to do choir). Elder Scott and Elder Anderson came and we got to shake their hands. That was a really good experience. Elder Anderson spoke about how one of the most important things we need to testify to others is that apostles and prophets walk the earth today. Elder Scott spoke about the importance of not only reading the scriptures but knowing them and knowing where certain scriptures are so we can share them on the spot. He also told us that we should write down all our spiritual promptings as soon as we get them, and then carry them out. He said that God speaks to us through our promptings and if we write them down we won´t forget what was asked of us.

Sunday was almost like P-day only we had church. Sacrament and Sunday school was all in english minus the songs and the prayer. Relief Society starts off with the Brazilians and Americans together. It was kinda cool cause they had an American read the português and the Brazilian read the english stuff....you know, to announce the prayer and song and stuff. It was cool. My branch president´s name is President Lorero (lor-ed-o). He went on his mission to Recife so I´m looking forward to talking to him about that. I haven´t had the chance yet though. Oh my goodness....speaking of Recife...every time I tell a Brazilian thats where I´m going, all they say is oooooo calor! Calor! Guess what calor means? Yeah...hot. Imagine how hot it is if all the Brazilians are saying that. Sheesh. I´m in for a real treat. J.

Monday we had a normal day at class and such and then we learned how to approach people with our 30 second power statement to get them interested in what we have to say. So basically just the first four principles in Lesson 1 of preach my gospel but all bunched together. It was pretty cool and I can tell it will be powerful....although we haven´t learned it in português yet. Soon I´m sure. My comp and I started reading out of the O Livro de Mormon. I think it will be good to start that even though we might not understand it. We had a fake investigator (Juliano) and we had to make a lesson plan to teach him. That was pretty fun.

Tuesday was normal day but with a devotional. It was about how to make weak things become strong.

This morning....we got up at 5:45 and were supposed to leave for the temple at like 6:30 but the van got a flat tire so we didn´t end up leaving till about 7:15...sheesh. I didn´t think we were going to make it in time for the session, but we did. It was so beautiful. They did the session in English thank goodness. I wouldn´t have understood much if they hadn´t. We went to the Campinas Temple. Its about and hour-ish away. The countryside of Brazil is beautiful. Actually São Paulo is very beautiful with all its buildings. There are hundreds of sky scrapers! There are like 10 million people here! Wow. We have our work cut out for us J

So overall its been a very long week, but its been good. The language is coming but very slowly. I don´t really feel like I know anything yet but when I talk to some of the elders that have been here for 3 or 4 weeks I´m almost at the same level as them so I know that our teacher is good and I´m being blessed tremendously. I´ve been working hard. This is definitely not going to be easy but its going to be so worth it. I´m excited to actually go and teach the people of Brazil. They are all so great. I love the brazilian missionaries that I try to talk to every day. They are sooooo friendly and very helpful with words and accents. Elder Costa and Elder Lobo are two of them that I really enjoy talking to. It helps that those two speak english though. Haha. Its a lot easier to communicate with them than a lot of the others that don´t speak a word of english.

How are yáll doing? Great I hope. I´ve missed you more than I could ever imagine. I don´t mean that in a bad way, but I didn´t think I´d miss you this much. I´ve lived away for 2 years almost and i didnt think it would be a big deal, but man...being in a foreign country where I can´t even call you up occasionally...its hard. I just want you to know that I love you so much. I hope that everything is going well with you and everyone else. Tell everyone I love them and miss them. Send letters!!! Missionaries live for them! Seriously. I haven´t gotten a letter yet and its so sad. Oh yes, and I think it takes 3-4 weeks to mail a package but you can still mail to the ctm. Anyway...I love you and hope to hear from you SOON!! Tchau!

Love,

Sister Ortolani