Mel's 4th week out

Oi! Tudo Bem! Well, 4th week...here I come! I can’t believe we’re starting our 4th week already. Pretty crazy. The time has really flown by. I know we really haven’t been here that long but it kinda feels like we just got here. Well, I didn’t tell you before, but when we got here we had to surrender all our money and our debit cards. The gave us 60 reais and told us they’d give us 60 more in 5 weeks. So here I am on my 3rd week and I only have 15 left. Yikes. I developed some pictures to send home and it cost me 20 reis! Holy cow. Yeah, I didn’t know it was going to cost that much. So now I don’t have enough money to mail them home. I don’t have envelopes big enough to put pictures in and I still need money to get on the internet and mail letters so I’ll have to figure that out in 2 weeks or so. I’m going to borrow an elder’s card reader and try to send an email with pictures. I hope that works.

Thank you so much for the package! It made my whole week! I was so excited to get stuff. Oh, I talked to one of the ladies in charge here and she said that the MTC doesn’t have to pay for clothes so if you want to send that dress along....that would also be appreciated. You could send me one of my skirts too if you want, like the blue one with the polka dots. Turns out that my skirts only have to be below the knee. Could you send me hangars too? Turns out I should have brought them cause I haven’t seen them sold anywhere around here. My clothes just get wrinkly really easily. I can’t believe I got that package a week after you sent it. I got the letter from mom the same day as the package too. Did you send them on the same day?

And I saw that you signed up for mission ties. I think that might be fun. How much did it cost? I wasn’t really sure how it all works. I do know that I can write to anyone though and just have them email the letter so they get an email with my handwritten letter attached. Pretty cool. Oh, I got a letter from Nana and Papa so if you could tell them that I received it that would be very much appreciated. I love getting mail. It’s always so exciting. Can you give me nana’s email? I forgot to write it down.

Oh...I translated something....and our district quotes it all the time...anytime someone says QUESTION.

Pergunta: Qual urso é melhor?? J That means: Question: Which bear is best? Lol. Yeah. We’re dumb but we laugh every time. One of the guys in my district is hilarious. He watched the office all the time so he says quotes from it all the time. It’s great.

Oh yes, I had a really hard time deciding which scripture I wanted on the plaque. I really like 1 Nephi 10:19. I think you can put that one on there. I also really like 3 Nephi 20:30-31 and 1 Nephi 9:6. Moroni 10:35 or something like that is also really good. I had a really hard time deciding.

Well, the language is still coming along. Slowly but surely. We’re going proselyting on Friday and I’m scared outta my mind. Holy cow. I can’t speak enough Portuguese to have a conversation with people. Yikes. It will be a learning experience for sure. My companion is progressing so much faster than me and the rest of the district. It’s insane. She kinda makes me feel inadequate but I guess that’s not really her making me feel that way. I’m the only one that can make me feel that way, but MAN...Portuguese is just REALLY hard for me. I just keep telling myself that I’ve only been here 3 weeks and I can still learn more cause I have 6 weeks left at the MTC. Still scary. Well, I don’t know what else to tell you about. I should have probably written some stuff down but oh well. I hope everything is going good at home.

I love you so much. I hope all is well. I love hearing from you so keep writing lots!

Com Amor,

Sister Ortolani