Week 1

Bom Dia familia!

Monday/Tuesday 01/11

I met an Elder at the airport, Elder Giles.  We talked a bit and I mentioned I was in the army and whatta ya know he’s in the navy!  We talked a lot and it was nice to have a buddy to talk about the military with, a little piece of home.  He works in intel with special operations so we got along well. He and I talked mostly but we met all the other new missionaries about 12 of them.  The flight was ok.  When we arrived at the CTM (MTC) we were oriented and got our companions and rooms.  My companion's name is Elder Franklin from Layton, Utah.  Elder Giles is in our room too with his companion, he’s from American Fork and his companion is from Texas.  I’m so mad because we have bars on our windows that let the air in but we can’t see out because there’s a clothing optional swimming pool next door, everyone else has sweet views of the city.  We had a bunch of orientation classes and a devotional that night that was pretty good.  All I can say about the food here is that it’s a gamble.  Its super weird and it can be either good or bad.  Every single dessert is some form of gelatin.  The best part is the endless guarana on tap.  I drink it every day for lunch and dinner.  They also have fresh juices and yoghurt drinks like kefir but better.  There´s some really cute sisters here! like my dad used to say if he actually said it was that when you go on a mission the markets not closed, your just window shopping. 

Wednesday 02/11

Today I woke up at 6 instead of 6:30 to work out with elder Giles.  We ran some laps and did pull ups and pushups.  I thought it was sea level here but I can feel it in my lungs that it’s not.  Also Don Winter said I should do squats every day but I won’t need to at the CTM because we live on the 6th (really 7th) floor and we can’t use the elevator.  Every day for breakfast we have paninis which are just a roll with cheese and ham.  It’ll get old quick.  We had a class and we took pictures with the CTM president, Presidente Grahl.  Then it was just orientation classes all day and introduction to Portuguese.  That night we had interviews with our branch presidency for district leader who´ll lead about 12 other missionaries.  When my turn came I tried to speak as much Portuguese as possible which actually turned out pretty well.  When he came up to us after everyone was done he said the person he chose was chosen by the Spirit and wasn’t his choice.  In broken English he said Elder Holdaway will be your first district leader.  I had to double check to make sure he said the right name :)  As excited as I am to take on this responsibility, I just hope I can lead my district to success, progression, and righteousness.  They serve us a snack every night at 9 which is pretty cool, like a juice box and chocolate.  We got two new Brazilian roommates today; one can speak pretty good English and the other not a lick.  Hopefully they can help us learn quickly.

Thursday 03/11

Language class all day.  Imagine taking a language class in high school but you don’t learn the basic grammar or words on you first day, they just talk to you in Portuguese and hope you catch on. Like a big game of charades.  And instead of one hour its 6, my mind is muita cansada.  We also had to prepare a lesson to an "investigator" in Portuguese.  Batismo de fogo.  We taught him about baptism which went ok but we forgot to actually ask him to be baptized.  Oh well.

Friday 04/11

Today we were in class all day.  The lesson with our investigator went pretty well and I was able to teach him things in Portuguese from memory without it being written down.  Our Brazilian roommate shared an amazing thing with us that night.  He said that he knew all of us before, and I was like yeah the premortal life, but he said he had a dream that he was at the CTM and he recognized us all from the dream and that’s how he knew to serve a mission.  He said that growing up he was always in trouble like street fights and stuff (he’s a mui tai fighter) and he always felt the dark spirits around him all the time. But now he feels the Spirit of God all the time.  He also said that his sister can see angels since she was a kid, which used to freak him out but now he gets it,  He said like if she saw you in a room she can see the angels that surround you.  Elder Lira is going to be the prophet someday, mark my words. 

Saturday 05/11

Another long day of studying.  We get an hour for exercise every day for like volley ball or basketball.  We prepared a pretty good lesson for our investigator about baptism by authority (because he was baptized catholic) but when we were teaching him I pulled out the restoration pamphlet and didn’t realize it was the English one until I started reading it.  I tried translating it on the spot but only said "john baptism apostle priesthood authority joseph smith" it was embarrassing.  Despite that I committed him to baptism and church!  My companion’s not doing so well.  the other day he was really down about the language so I talked to him during companion study and shared with him D+C 58 3+4. I decided to do a district fast for fast Sunday.

Sunday 06/11

Conferences and meetings.  My companion is not feeling well, so I gave him a blessing before dinner to comfort him. I’ll try to be there for him. 

Sorry my grammar's so bad I have limited time to write.

I love you all and it is hard here but I try and strengthen those who need it more than me. Until next time!

Love,

Elder Holdaway