Week 1 Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Crazy first week here at the MTC!!! I can't believe I've already been here for one week! I absolutely love it here. The first day was so crazy but in an absolutely amazing sort of way. Mom, after I said by to you and Kaiden on the curb my host took my stuff and I got more stuff and put my stuff in my residence and then went to my classroom and we studied for the rest of the day. They get you right into it and you are so busy that it's nearly impossible to feel homesick. Our teachers are only allowed to speak in Portuguese to us so it's been pretty crazy! I really feel like I've learned a lot here though! After a couple hours in the classroom we had some orientation meetings. We sang Army of Helaman but instead of singing "and we will be the lord's missionaries" we sang "and we are NOW the Lord's missionaries to bring the world his truth." SO POWERFUL! I am so proud to be a missionary and I thank my Heavenly Father every day that I can have the opportunity to be a missionary. Eu sou missionaria!!!
On Friday my companion and I taught our first investigator completely in Portuguese (we were so scared!) His name is Geraldo and he is from Mozambique. We completely butchered the first lesson. I don't think he had any idea what we were saying haha. But we taught him again on Saturday and yesterday and the spirit was there so strong! He has no background with any religion so he absorbs everything we teach him like a sponge. Our first lesson we taught him was on prayer and how much God loves him and his children. We couldn't get him to pray the first lesson but the second lesson we all knelt down together and he prayed. I felt the Spirit so much and I cried so hard. He is truly an amazing person and he has really helped me realize my purpose as a missionary.
 It's amazing how much our Portuguese has improved in the time that we have been here. I love teaching! I love being here. We are all so focused on our investigators and the work. It's amazing!
Gym time is one of my favorite times of the day. We usually go play volleyball in the outdoor field. MTC smack talk is hilarious (I humbled you once, I will humble you again!) My district and zone are all amazing people! Sometimes we get distracted and chat because we are all friends now. We are in the classroom all day. The only times we leave it is to go eat and go to bed for the night. The rest of the time we are either studying or learning Portuguese. The hardest thing I've faced as I've adjusted to missionary life is having a companion with you ALL THE TIME. It's really hard especially when one of you wants to do one thing and the other wants to do another thing. But you have to have the Spirit with you when you teach so getting along with your companion and loving them is muito importante!
Today we lost one elder (Elder Zenger) and three sisters (Sister Tenorio, Bishop, and Avarell) I was so sad when they left! They all headed down to the Brazil MTC this morning because they got their visas. Sis. Tenorio and I hit it off the second we met. If you ever read this Sister Tenorio, Amas voce! I will miss her so much! There are only two companionships of sisters in my zone now. Sister Yeater and I are the only ones headed to Cape Verde. Sister Huffaker and Sister Bluker are headed to Mozambique on August 17. They send missionaries here who are going to Portugal and Cape Verde and Mozambique on a six week rotation too so the only way we would get more sisters in is if they can't get their visas so they have to come here for a while. Tomorrow we are getting two elders who don't have their visas yet.
There is so much more I want to write but I don't have time! I'll write more next week and see if I can't get the pictures to work. Tell everybody to write me! I can only email once a week but I can write letters everyday before bed. So write me! I will definitely write you back. Everybody loves getting mail. Here is my address while I am at the MTC:
Sister Kelsy Ann Brown