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
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