March 10, 2009

Dear Family,
I`M IN BRASIL!!! It´s great! The keyboards are a little different so I´m kinda struggling but I think I will get used to it. The CTM here is great! There is a powerful spirit here and I am learning a lot! I know that the Holy Ghost is aiding in the learning and remembering process! It´s amazing! The language is actually coming kinda quickly right now. It´s fun because during meals my companions and I always sit by Brazilians and practice conversing with them. They are hilarious! And they are very nice...always acting like they understand our Portuguese and what not. It makes for a lot of laughing and not so much talking but we try...and try...and will keep trying. It´s non-stop studying as I´m sure all of you that have been to the MTC can testify of. We take breaks to eat, work out, and sleep. Even then Portuguese verbs, phrases, prayers, etc are running through my head. I fall asleep reviewing what I learned that day. It´s pretty intense!I have two companions because we were the only brand new sisters, and they are awesome! There names are Sister Marchant, from Colorado, and Sister McCandless, from Idaho. They both speak quite a bit of Spanish and Sister McCandless speaks some Portuguese as well so they are a good resource to help me learn! The country is so amazingly beautiful and great, with beautiful trees that have colorful blossoms and hills, etc, in some places...but...in others it is incredibly ghetto and dirty and crowded. It´s awesome! The food is great! We do eat a lot of rice and beans but not like any I´d ever had before...I love it. And lots of fresh fruits and veggitables! The CTM actually serves a lot of chicken too which is good. Mostly we eat rice and beans, a salad with peco de gio, and fruit. I was called on out of the congregation to give a talk the first Sunday here (two days ago...weird). It only had to be five minutes long but I had no prior notice or preparation. It was a good experience I´m sure haha...maybe they could have given me a week or so. I think it went fine, dunno if it was a full five minutes or not but my companions thought it was.Well I only have a couple minutes so I better bounce. I love you all! Happy Birthday this week dad and Anika! You are amazing!
Much love!!Sister Chelsea Dawn