Another Week, Another Apostle!

Oi! Tudo bem? Como vai?

 

Yet another week has passed.  Time is fluid these days.  I didn't get any questions to answer this week, but I have enough to talk about I think.

 

To our surprise, we had a second apostle visit us.  Russell M. Nelson last week, and Richard G. Scott this week!  It was amazing.  It was almost a mirror image of last week.  I was singing in the choir again.  We were singing an arrangement of "Faith in Every Footstep."  Right in the middle of prelude music, the leader reminded us to stand in the case that one of the Twelve were to arrive.  And sure enough, like clockwork, there is Elder Scott. 

 

I don't know if anyone realizes this, but Elder Scott's wife died in 1995.  He is aging, and on the surface looks very tired.  Yet, when he speaks he reveals that he is very wise, and puts a great deal of effort into making sure that the things he says are clear and really quite poetic.  His comments focused on feeling the Spirit and being able to recognize and be guided by it.  He composed a sheet with forty-one points of truth about the Holy Ghost that he said was essentially all of his learning about the Spirit and its guidance throughout his life summarized and compacted onto one piece of paper.  Each missionary received a copy of that paper through their Branch Presidencies the next day.  He encouraged us to listen to his remarks, instead of focusing on taking notes, since all of his main points were on that sheet.  He addressed about half of the points throughout his talk and encouraged us to review the remainder in our personal study time.  Elder Anderson and I have enjoyed doing so as of late.  Also of note, five different times he spoke the words "I exercise my apostolic authority, and invoke a blessing upon you that..." Two times were to the sister missionaries if I recall correctly (my notes are back in the apartment--and yes, don't worry, I focused on him and not not on taking notes, though I took some).  One of the blessings stuck out most clearly though.  It was powerful.  It was the fifth blessing.  He said that to all those missionaries learning a new language that as we exercised faith we were license to have the fullest power of the gift of tongues.  He said that as we practiced and focused--preparing in all ways that we could--that in those moments when our language skills were needed that we could recall words and phrases, answer questions, and have the correct grammar come to our minds without any difficulty.  It was powerful.  Typing this now, it seems like common sense, but there was real power in what he said, and I felt the truth of his words and the special help that came with his statements.  Even though I am not (at least not yet) struggling with the language, it was a comfort.  Good experience.  More to talk about.  Moving on.

 

There has been a new rule enacted.  Suit coats at all times.  Apparently, this is the normal rule, but over the summer they allow you to be in white shirt and slacks.  This is interesting, because I have only one suit.  And I have only one pair of matching pants (the suit is subtly pin-striped).  It's fun.  It has been getting colder though.  The mountains have been dusted with snow, which I imagine will stay till summer.  We had a pretty heavy snow a few nights ago for the first time though it melted in the 60 degree high the next day.

 

I was a host on Wednesday.  It was fun.  I had an Elder from Florida who was shivering violently.  He is headed to Las Vegas West.  I also hosted an Elder from Salt Lake City who will be going to Kennewick, Washington.  I was a good host.  I explained a lot but not too much and I feel I made them comfortable.  It was a fun experience.

 

This last week in our official Portuguese teaching appointment things went well.  However, we were short a volunteer investigator.  So, Elder A and I had to split up and join two different companionships.  It was interesting, because it was last second, and you become accustomed to teaching in a certain way or manner with another person.  Yet, we both felt we had very successful teaching experinces.  Elder A felt very good about his Portuguese and it was definitely a positive appointment.  Happiness and joy.

 

I must share my favorite quote of the week.  Out of context, quotes can be most entertaining from random people as you walk through halls and around the campus.  My favorite this week was from an Elder.  I was in the cafeteria.  (I must explain, on Sundays, everyone in the congregation (we are split up into over 100 branches if I'm not mistaken) has to write a talk about an assigned topic and then two missionaries are called randomly to speak.  So sometimes its nerve-racking. Because you have to give the talk in your mission language.)  It was Sunday morning at breakfast.  Anyway, he said to his companion as I walked by "Well, my thinking is, if I am going to throw up because I have to give a talk, I want it to be beautiful puke."  I did a double take and looked down at his tray.  He was eating four blueberry muffins for breakfast.  Oh dear.

 

The end is soon at hand!  I am scheduled to depart on November 9!  That is less than 2 weeks!  If the visas don't come, which is most probable, then we will find out that we are reassigned soon- most likely on Wednesday.  It will be a temporary reassignment somewhere in the states.  Excitement and nerves!  It's like getting a second mission call.  We will see.  It is amazing how much two months can change your perspective and change the way you think.  And yet, I still feel like there is more to know!  I suppose that's part of being human.

 

Have a lovely week everyone.  May you have God's comfort with you in trials and God's joy with you in your happiness.

 

Elder JOSHUA BODILY

 

Apostolic Visit

Tudo Bem!

We have officially finished our sixth week.  I've already been here twice as long as English-speaking missionaries.  I can't believe that they only get three weeks, I still feel like I've got a long way to go.  Progress has definitely been made, however.

Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came to the Tuesday Night devotional.  Elder Anderson and I were are in the MTC choir so we got to sing during the meeting.  We sang this beautiful song "Ever Be Near Us".  They do not announce who is speaking at the Tuesday night devotionals.  They are always a member of Church leadership, but rarely apostles!  About 15 minutes before the meeting started, the head of security (a very tall and built bald man who could intimidate your socks off from 100 yards away) came up to the pulpit and said "We would remind you, Elders and Sisters, that we do not stand as we sing our prelude hymns.  However, if we see one of the Brethren, then we should stand."  At which point he sat down and the prelude hymns began.  There was a buzz of excitement of course.  Then, on the second song him and his wife just ambled in and sat on the stage.  It was exciting.  His message was actually quite short.  Items of note in his address:

-Those on missions will be more safe (physically and spiritually) than those who do not go on missions, so don't worry about that.

-A mission pays rich dividends not only spiritually, but--he promised-- in your line of work and future careers.

-Don't be a distraction between those investigating the church and Jesus Christ.  You are to help build that relationship, not distract from it.

-It is better to have character than to be one.

-Remeber that we follow Jesus Christ.  This is His Church.  (He even said, if you are speaking Portuguese remeber "Nos seguimos Jesus Cristo".  If you are speaking Spanish, "Seguimos a Jesucristo".)

-Learn of Him and learn to be like Him.

-Maintaining spiritual strength is like maintaining charge in a car battery-- the car has to be running and active in order to keep a charge.

-Missionaries as well as their families and friends of missionaries receive special blessings.  (Enjoy those blessings!)

Moving on.

Get this.  I finally ran into someone from Boise.  He is in the district that stole our teacher.  So.  He is from "Boise" or rather, Meridian.  He lives near Linder and Cherry.  He attended both Meridian and Capital High Schools. He took Spanish all through high school and speaks almost fluently.  He studied Portuguese over the summer, and had several Portuguese friends so we is picking things up quickly.  He is going to MY MISSION- Vitoria, Brasil.  [PS I would add that I only know of 5 or 6 other missionaries out of the 2200 here at the MTC headed to my mission].

Then things get weirder.  The suit he brought for his mission?  The same exact suit as mine, bought at the same JC Penney during the same sale- this is a pinstripe suit, not some generic black suit.  And! The first time we saw each other wearing the same suit, he was wearing a tie that I have!  They are different brands, but they are literally identical.  Candy cane looking ties.  We basically have a lot in common.  Strange. Oh, and he sings tenor in choir.  On top of everything else.  And his last name starts with a B.  You get the idea.

I lost my key for the fourth time.  Hopefully I will find it for the fourth time or I will face the hefty fee of three dollars.  The stress is overwhelming. Or something like that.

Luckily, cereal is always available during mealtimes.  My worst day was this last week.  I didn't like the breakfast options so I ate three bowls of cereal.  Then at lunch I just had a salad and some fries because I didn't like the lunch, and --go figure-- didn't feel like cereal.  Then for dinner I had three more bowls of cereal, because the options combined against me.  Oh well.  There were also some awesome cafeteria surprises.  Some good pasta dinners especially.

We taught another lesson in Portuguese.  Of course, we teach every day in Portuguese by now.  Elder Anderson is doing very well.  Basically, he has covered and probably understands better four semesters worth of Portuguese at BYU better than those who actually took the classes.  And all in six weeks.  Basically from scratch.  He sometimes gets a little overwhelmed as do we all, however, the progress is ridiculously apparent.  He continues to talk in his sleep, sing constantly, and be an awesome person to be around.  Hard to believe I know, but it's true. 

Ooh!  Along with our district's rapid growth in Portuguese come some gaffes.  Here are two especially good ones.

1. Elder Anderson and I were beginning to prepare a lesson in Portuguese for one of our practice investigators.  He meant to say:

       "So, what are we going to teach our pesquisador (investigator) today?"

       

        Instead, he said:

       "So, what are we going to teach our pecador (sinner) today?"

2.  Elder F in our district, as we were teaching as a class to our teacher (who was in his investigator alter-ego), was trying to say "Jesus Cristo morreu por voce".  Meaning, Jesus Christ died for us.

Instead he said:

"Jesus Cristo mulher por voce."   Meaning?  Jesus Christ, woman for you.  It reduced our poor teacher to tears of laughter.  Suprising the blasphemies and sacrilege that comes from new language learners.  :)

Ask me questions!  I don't often know what to write about in these emails.  I will answer questions!  Love to hear from you, your mail is awesome and a bright spot of my day.  30 seconds left.  Farewell for another week.

elder JOSHUA BODILY

A day in the life...

Oi! So...I was not sure what to write about so I decided to give you a run down of a typical day. I chose yesterday, seeing as it is most fresh in my mind.

So.  First, wake up around 6:20 am because Elder Anderson's alarm goes off and he dutifully turns on the light.  I am groggy and in an odd mood.  Gym time is up first, and I don't feel like exercising or doing much of anything.  However, I know myself well enough that I realize by the time ten minutes have passed and I have made the long journey (a 1.5 minute walk) to the gym I will probably want to run.  So I prepare and we leave.  The person in charge has someone pray, then the chaos begins.  Five simultaneous half-court basketball games, two volleyball games, and a four-square game break out on the gym floor and all the weight lifters and runners go up to the top floor.  I decide to just jog the whole time.  Wednesday I went all out and got a new record time for my 4 mile run.  I end up running 4.5 miles at a much slower pace.  I imagine I am running through the Jardin de Luxembourg in Paris, Central Park in NYC, and the National Mall in DC.  You get the idea.  Elder Anderson finishes with basketball a few minutes early, so we get a headstart back to the apartment.

We shower and prepare for the day.  Our vents in the room have switched officially from blowing out frigid air, to hot air.  I now call the entire apartment building the "hot box".  Because it feels like a sauna.  And it is shaped like a box.  Anyhow.

We walk to breakfast on time (I have been making special efforts not to make us late anywhere), but when we arrive, I realize I have forgotten my "blue card" which allows you access to the cafeteria.  So, back to the apartment we go, back up the stairs, get the card, turn around and get back to breakfast 8 minutes later.  I eat hashbrowns, bacon, and eggs with a glass of grape juice.  And a glass of chocolate milk for dessert to be sure.

We have the morning for MDT (Missionary Directive Time) aka, we don't have a teacher present, so we choose how we use our time.  Elder A and I search for a spot to sit.  All the couches in the building are taken.  Literally, all of them.  We checked.  So we went to our neighbor building, the one we used to have class in the top floor of, and sit in a quiet lobby area with big windows.  Very peaceful.  We see that Elder Rose and Elder Wolman from our district have also wandered over to this lobby so we chat with them for a bit and then begin study.  We do personal study for an hour.  I review my notes from General Conference and do some scripture study by topic based on a select few talks.  I break down for what is only my third vending machine indulgence after I see peanut butter M&Ms (a long time personal favorite).  I eat those as we finish personal time.  Then we move into companion study.  We decide to focus on language and we start reading scriptures in our Portuguese Bibles and Book of Mormons (yes that is how you pluralize Book of Mormon, I don't care what you think).  We read verses we are familiar with in English, then translate, then pick out vocabulary that will be useful to remember.  We also did practice writing sentences using past, present, and future subjunctive.  (Unlike Spanish, Portuguese uses future subjunctive all the time, not just in writing).

Next is contacting time.  It is sunny and the temperature quite mild, so we go outside to go practice talking with other missionaries and sharing beliefs and testimonies.  Of note among those with which we conversed was a group of four Elders at a picnic table.  One got stung by a sting-ray in the ocean this summer while trying to teach himself to surf off the coast in San Diego.  Scary.  Another was only 19, but had already done a tour with the army in Afghanistan and he related a story about his Humvee (he pronounced it hum-VEE) being flipped by a roadside bomb and then the enemy opened fire on them.  He talked about it like he was talking about something as tame as gardening or shelving books at a library or something.  Fascinating.  We shared testimonies.  There was this picture perfect moment where I started my testimony (in Portuguese I should mention, all the testimonies are in Portuguese) and off in the distance the belltower on BYU campus rang out twelve-noon.  I finished just after the last of the twelve chimes had died out.  We also met two missionaries headed to the Philippines (SP?) who spoke Tagalog.  Their testimonies sounded super cool, and of course, completely unintelligible.  Anyway.

Lunch next.  Cheeseburger and fries. 

Back to the classroom.  Have a hymn, spiritual thought, prayer, then we had 45 minutes of MDT time again.  Elder A and I made flashcards for our upcoming teaching appointment (the scenario happens in a store, and we have to buy something and then talk about the Gospel with the store clerk).  Such and such. 

Then our teacher Irmao (Brother) De Groot arrives and teaches us about conditional tense and reflexive verbs.  Yawn.  Just the same as Spanish.  Plus, I taught Elder Anderson reflexive verbs the night before becasue he kept seeing them and asking what they were and I finally just explained it.  We went on a walk in a line and the teacher walked backwards at the front.  He would say a sentence in English and we had to translate it correctly and then move to the back of the line.  That was interesting. 

After Irmao de Groot left at 5pm, it was weekly planning session time.  We set goals and analyzed our performance on last weeks' goals (by we I mean me and Elder A).  Then we had companionship inventory (discuss each others' strengths, weaknesses, ask for help from each other, resolve conflict, give advice, share important info).  As usual there was nothing in the way of conflict.  We had a nice session and he actually opened up a lot with me.  We are pretty good friends by now.  Pretty darn good.  I am so eloquent sometimes. 

Gotta hurry, time is short.

Dinner.  Spicy boneless chicken wings and fries.  Not as healthy as I wanted, didn't eat much.  Elder Anderson made a spicy chicken salad for himself.  Always one for style, he is.  Returned to class.  I gave prayer in Portuguese, we sang Lord Dismiss Us With thy Blessing in Port. Luckily, it doesn't mention dismissal, so you can logically sing the song in Portuguese at the beginning of a meeting and not just at the end.

Irmao Mecham came and taught us about sufffixes.  It was all rather confusing.  Then the district in the room next door (they are destined for Brasil but all leaving for South Carolina on temporary re-assignment next week) taught us a lesson, then we taught them lessons as companionships.

We finished, prayed, returned to the apartment, read my mail.  Got ready for bed.  Did some flashcards with elder A and then went to bed.  32 seconds left.

Tchau for now,

elder JOSHUA BODILY

One Month Mark!!

Greetings todos,

First off, there is much to be communicated!  It has been anything but an uneventful week here.  Foremost, yesterday a bundle of about 15 Brazil visas came through to and were delivered at the travel office.  Mine hasn't come, don't anybody freak out.  However, one member of our district did receive his.  And get this, they called his name over the PA yesterday morning around 9:30 am and he left this morning.  As in his connecting flight to Dallas left an hour ago.  He had about 24 hours notice, and he will be in Sao Paulo within 48 hours of being notified of his visa.  He is not going to my mission, but rather the Cuiaba Brasil mission.  It kind of gave us all a reality check.  The Portuguese room  next door to us lost three of their members and the rest were scattered among other districts.  That includes the guy in my BYU ward going to Brazil who got here a week before I did.  He is gone.  Craziness.

Second, we moved classrooms.  We had a big room on the fifth floor (top floor) of the tallest building on campus near a study lobby with windows offering a panorama in the direction of BYU and the mountains.  The room had a teal accent and a big screen tv attached to the computer so our teachers could show us teaching videos on it.  Stunning.  The only con was that it had no windows and was a little stuffy.  Now we are in a squat building, in the basement.  The room has a window that opens, so it is nice and cool.  However, its view includes a concrete window well with some landscaping.  And the study lobby is windowless.  Oh and the new room echoes because all four walls are white brick.  It is a test of patience for all of us.  I think I am the most equipped of everyone though.  Really, it is nothing compared to the noise of being at home.  Just kidding...kind of.  Most of the Elders in my district are actually the youngest or second to youngest children in their families.  They seem to have a lower tolerance for the racket than those of us with younger siblings.  But it can be painful.  Anyway, we have made it into our new home and it has begun to grow on us.

Third, we lost a teacher.  He got reassigned to yet another of the new districts pouring into the Provo MTC who were originally destined for the Sao Paulo MTC.  So, we got a fresh teacher.  He just got hired.  He got off his mission over a year ago and hasn't spoken Portuguese since then.  He knows the language, but is, let us say, not yet accustomed to teaching.  However, he is very nice and we haven't given up on him yet.  We mourn the loss of our other teacher though.  He was dearly loved.  We gave him a card and such. 

Conference was last weekend.  Elder Anderson sang in the Priesthood Choir.  He was on TV!  You can see him.  Go to www.lds.org then click on the October 2010 Conference link.  Find the list of talks separated by session.  Click on "Show Music".  He sang in the Priesthood Session.  On the song Hark, All Ye Nations from 0:44-0:52 he is on the top row, third from the right.  (Recall that he is tall, blond, and blue eyed).  Then in Called to Serve from 1:52-1:54 the camera is panning upward to the left and for a moment he can be seen in the top left corner of the screen.  Not that we watched it online afterwards over and over again or anything, can you tell?  It was sad that I didn't get to go sing, especially because they did so well.  They were gone for only 8 hours, but it would have been nice to go on a little road trip.  Anyway, it turned out cool.

Conference other than that was absolutely fantastic.  We watched every session in the gymnasium (having classes cancelled on Saturday and meetings cancelled on Sunday).   My favorite was the Saturday Morning Session.  Fabulous.  I didn't even fall asleep once.  (Though, during the Sunday Afternoon session the Elder sitting next to me was particularly stricken with fatigue and had a slight tendency to flop over onto my shoulder every few minutes.) 

Anyways, things feel different.  It has been one month today since I entered.  I feel like I can't relate to the newcomers any more.  They look so dazed.  I feel compassion, but I am fairly comfortable here.  Hard to think that I could just up and leave at a moment's notice. 

I love hearing from you all.  Letters are so much fun and definitely offer a morale boost.  We get them delivered at night just before we get ready for bed when we are tired and worn out from working all day.  Thanks to those of you who sent your addresses! 

Ate mais,

(Elder) JOSHUA BODILY

And so it goes on...

Ola!

So...not too much in the way of news has come to pass in the last week.  The MTC choir will be singing in conference this weekend, so I can finally have that out of my hair.  I am excited to conference.  All classes and meetings for Saturday and Sunday are cancelled, so we just have to worry about conference.  That will be nice. 

For those of you who have been asking, if I don't get my visa, my estimated date of departure will be November 9.  I don't know if they will simply reassign us temporarily to somewhere in the states or if we might have a few extra weeks added on to our stay here.  Of course, keep in mind, that if the visa comes (not likely), I will be on a plane to Brasil within the week.  That would be a challenging transition at this point.  Our branch (like a ward, but smaller) is 100% Portuguese speaking.  Three districts left this past week.  A couple (like, maybe 4 of the 24) were headed for Portugal and for Cape Verde, so they had visas and flew to their respective destinations on Tuesday morning.  However, most of those 24 missionaries are destined eventually for Brasil (including two for Vitoria!), but have no visas.  They were temporarily reassigned to one of three missions:  the Salt Lake City, Des Moines Iowa, and Dallas Texas missions.  Crazy stuff.  There they will await their visas.

The gym (volleyball courts, basketball courts, indoor track, and exercise machines) re-opened this past week after a remodeling project that consumed the past 2.5-3 months.  So...Elder Anderson and I have not been running outside anymore.  Instead, he plays basketball and I do laps on the indoor track.  The track is up high, on the fourth level of the building (hard to explain, the gym in the middle is open to the ceiling, the perimeter of the building has multiple floors).  Anyway, the track is up basically against the ceiling with the giant ventilation tubes, and they have it set up quite nicely so that cool air blows out of vents every few meters along the tubes.  On the second day of basketball however, Elder Anderson pulled a muscle in his calf.  Yesterday was the first time that he was able to play again.  We had to go to the trainers for ice and to get it wrapped and eventually for them to do some physical therapy with a tool remarkably similar to a rolling pin.  Meanwhile, I have kept running.  The track is 10 laps for a mile.  I have run either 30 or 50 laps each time.  Only problem, the track is narrow.  It varies between being two and three person-widths wide.  And, to complicate matters, there are exercise machines in the corners.  So, all the weight lifters are switching from corner to corner, or waiting in line and blocking the road.  I feel a little like Cruella when she is driving down the road while I am running.  A good day usually consists of having to come to a complete stop on the track two or three times to wait for the clog of people to unravel.  One plus of Elder Anderson's injury is that we got to use the elevator to get up to our fifth floor classroom (a journey we make about 3x per day).  Back to the stairs for now.

The showers here are quite tempermental.  It seems that they are all connected to each other in unpredictable ways.  A toilet flushing or another shower turning on or off will result in a completely random flash of Arctic water or Yellowstone geyser water, or sometimes, nothing at all.  There appears to be no pattern, but it does make showering an adventure.  I have a favorite shower that tends to be most resistant to change, but even this morning it made me gasp in a most embarrassing manner after a particularly icy spurt of water issued forth from the shower head, again, at a most random moment.

I got a haircut at the barbershop for the first time since arrival.  The competition for haircuts is vicious here.  They are free, and there are 2500 missionaries here.  And, you are required to have a haircut within 10 days of leaving.  So people fight hard for the suprisingly limited amount of space and open appointments.  My attempts to sign up included two visits to the sign up sheets (posted every morning around 6 am) before class- both unsuccessful and yielding only late arrivals to class.  Also, an attempt that involved waking up at 5:40 and standing in line until 6:35.  That only failed because whoever it is that posts the appointment sheets did not show up until past 7.  (Class is at seven and we had yet to shower or get dressed or groom at 6:35.  That wasn't so fun.  But, alas, a random hopeful visit in the afternoon finally resulted in one blank spot for which I signed up.  My hair is shorter than ever.  They cut the sides with a 2 on the razor.  It looks decent I suppose.

I have had some really good days.  Every Wednesday they serve cookies n cream BYU Creamery ice cream at lunch and dinner.  It makes for a great comfort food.  Also, Elder Anderson and I had a really great teaching experiece this last week.  Our best yet.  We had a fifteen minute Portuguese session followed by teaching a lesson about the Plan of Salvation.  Our "investigator" was actually a Portuguese instructor at BYU (she teaches one of our MTC teachers, in fact), and is a native Brazilian from Porto Alegre.  So...We did very well making small talk and learning about who she was (of course, it was role-playing).  It went quite well.  Elder Anderson had cue questions memorized for when there were awkward pauses, and then I would basically carry the conversation as far as I could in that direction before the next pause.  We make a great team.  Then the lesson was in English.  We adjusted the lesson to her needs, taught clearly and with the Spirit, and felt really really good about things afterwards.  Also, it has been nice and sunny and just happy.

One Elder in our district has gained 15 lbs in three weeks, another has been dieting and has lost approximately 10 lbs.  So, it is possible to control your destiny in regards to weight here.  I am at the same weight as arrival. 

Elder Neilson in our district makes me laugh all the time.  He has created several lines that have spread to be inside jokes.  They include "Como el shpank was that?", "jotah-kapah" (the rough equivalent of JK in Portuguese- though there is no letter 'k' in Portuguese, as well as him singing "Olho de Tigre" or 'Eye of the Tiger' crudely translated into Portuguese.  He keeps us from ever getting too depressed.

Such is life.  Another week down.  101 to go.  Not that anyone's counting... Thanks for the mail folks, it is appreciated more than you realize!

(Elder) JOSHUA BODILY