Week 1

Hi everyone,

 

How are all of you? Today is my first P-day, Saturday. From here on out though, my P-day will be every Friday.

 

So everything is going really great. I am very surprised with myself with how much I really am enjoying it here. The MTC is not as bad nor hard as I expected it to be. So all is grand.

 

My companion is Sister Holland from McCall, Idaho. Mom, she is the one we had lunch with just before I entered into the MTC. She is WONDERFUL!! We get a long really great and she has such an amazing spirit about her. We make it a point to laugh a lot...which doesn't seem to be a problem for the two of us. I know that she will teach me a lot during our 9 weeks as companions together in the MTC.

 

My district here in the MTC is really great as well. It is comprived of Sister Holland and I, and then 4 other elders. Sister Holland and I are the only two in the entire MTC who are going to our mission in Cape Verde. The rest of our zone is comprived of the two of us going to Cape Verde, our 4 elders in our district who are going to Portugal, and then about 20 others who are all going to Brazil. I guess there was a huuuuge visa problem so all of the Brazilian missionaries are getting sent to the MTC instead of the CTM and are all getting reassigned to the states until they can get their visas. So I am grateful that I am not going to Brazil since there should be no problems with my visa coming in on time.

 

We had a meeting with our Branch presidency on Thursday. It turns out our branch is made up of everyone who is going Portuguese speaking. So on Sundays, everyone has to prepare a TALK that must be in Portuguese in case you are one of the two picked at random to speak on Sunday. And all of our church meetings will be in Portuguese as well. It is a little rough but it helps a lot with forcing us to learn the language.

 

Speaking of language, all of our classes are ALL in Portuguese. Meaning from day one, both of our teachers speak to us in ONLY Portuguese. It's kinda funny at times cause it's like an on going game of sherades for 6 hours a day. I am grateful for knowing how to speak Spanish because it is a REALLY helping me to understand what is being taught. I have become the translator for the rest of the class. Everytime one of the teachers say something, they look at me and point for me to translate to the rest of the district. So it is kind of fun. I just memorized my missionary Purpose Statement in Portoguese and right now, Sister Holland and I are preparing to teach the entire first lesson in Portuguese for 20 minutes this coming Tuesday. I can't believe how much I have learned thus far and how quickly we are picking up things. I feel like just after 4 days, I already have learned and understand more Portuguese then what I did my entire first year of Spanish in high school. It is truly amazing!!

 

Well, that is all the time I have for this week. I love you all and miss you lots. I am loving things here so far so don't worry about me. I know that I am where I need to be right now in my life so I am grateful that I have this privledge and opportunity of serving the Lord.

 

God Speed!

 

Love,

 

Sister Beus