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
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