Second Week

I can't believe that I've only been in the MTC for a week!  It's really a time warp in here!  Thank you to everyone who sent me letters!  My district is under the impression that I'm super popular because of all the DearElderes I get, so let's keep that up! :P

 

I realized last night that being in the MTC is kind of what I'd imagine prison to be like.  Don't get me wrong, it's wonderful here.  And I'm sure I feel the spirit a lot more in here than I would in actual prison, but still.  Our living quarters remind me of jail.  Unsightly iron bunk beds with one pillow and one nasty, scraggley, ratty, small, thin, cold, hairy blanket.  That they don't wash ever.  They said they only wash it after we leave, but they would wash it if it was covered in something gross.  Apparently lots of other people's hair doesn't count as "gross".

 

Anyway, so today is my 21st birthday!  I'm pretty excited that it landed on a P-day.  Thank you family for the package, and thank you Allison for the cupcakes!  That was the best surprise ever!  I also got to do my laundry today!  It's sad what becomes exciting when all you do is sit and eat all day.

 

So Sister Keenan and I got our investigator Rafael to commit to baptism the other day.  Turns out that the guy who plays Rafael is now our second teacher.  That was embarrassing.  It was just like wonderful, now that you are completely and intimately aware of how much I suck at Portuguese, you get to teach me.  Also, he is incredibly attractive, so that's a little distracting. :P  He's a marketing major at BYU, so you should marry him Sarah!

 

I'm not sure what else to say!  I see lot's of people here, which is nice.  I see Elder Parker every minute of my life since the Spanish and Portuguese missionaries follow the same basic schedule.  I saw Sister Giblette once and Sister Catherine A. once.  I also saw Grant Russell, but he didn't see me.  Tabor works in the cafeteria a lot, so I always see him too!  And I ran into Erin the other day and she showed me her engagement ring!  It was delightful. :)

 

I never wanted to be one of those obnoxious missionaries who flaunts their foreign language by slipping it into casual conversation all the time, but now I see how much of a legitimate struggle it is!  I am in Portuguese mindset all day long and I find myself struggling to switch back to English.  My journal is a sad mixture of the two languages, and I find myself translating every thought into Portuguese.  The other day I was in the shower, formulating the letter I was going to write her on P-day, and I translated the entire thing into Portuguese before I realized that it was completely unnecessary.  Annoying.

 

So a funny story:  As background information, keep in mind that the Portuguese word for "also" is "tambem", while the Portuguese word for "yesterday" is "ontem".

 

So Sister Keenan and I were in a lesson teaching Rafael about the Book of Mormon.  Sister Keenan was saying that the Bible is true, and that the Book of Mormon is true also.  Guess what came out?  Yep.  "The Bible is true, and the Book of Mormon is true yesterday."   Since our lesson was on the Restoration of the church, saying that the Book of Mormon was true yesterday was kind of a problem.  It's kind of been an inside joke since then.  Hopefully that wasn't one of those stories that is only funny to missionaries in the MTC...it was pretty funny at the time.

 

Anywho, I need to go and do things, but I guess I'll end with my testimony in Portuguese.  It'll be short because typing in Portuguese is harder than speaking it, but my teacher wants us to practice and stuff...

 

Eu sei que o Livro de Mormon e verdadeiro.  Eu sei que Joseph Smith e um profeta de Deus.  Eu sei que Deus e nosso Pai Celestial e que Jesus Cristo e nosso Salvador.  Digo estas coisas em nome de Jesus Cristo, amem.

 

P.S.  Mom, I'm writing you a letter, I promise.  I just knew it was going to probably be a long one, so I should do the emails first.

 

P.P.S. EVERYBODY WRITE ME STUFF!!!!