OLA! So, as you can tell, my P-Day for the next few weeks is going to be on Tuesday and I get one hour to write and update everyone. Let me just start out by saying I LOVE THE MTC. Seriously. Greatest place on Earth... most of the time. The MTC is such an emotion roller coaster though.
Let's talk about my first day. So there were FOUR other missionaries going to the MTC that were on the same plane as me. How cool is that?! And get this. One of them was going to the Sao Paulo Sul (South) mission! What are the odds?! So we finally get to the MTC, and I go check in and then... my favorite part... I got my name tag! It says... "Sister Hargrove, A Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Ultimos Dias." UMMMM SERIOUSLY? IS THIS REAL LIFE?! Probably the coolest thing. EVER. For real. So then, since I was part of the early arrival group, we watched the district, introduced ourselves (as SISTER HARGROVE!), and had lunch. Sidenote: The food at the MTC is... "good." But dang. It is HEAVY. They are totally trying to fatten you up before the mission field.
We then met in our classroom and I got my companion! Sister Dixon! Uhh funny story, I was already Facebook friends with all the girls in my District before I got here... HA. Anyways, then the teacher attacked us. Apparently the strategy at the MTC for language learning is to just refuse to speak English to your students. Scary at first, but so helpful. I'm learning so much so quickly. I've learned more Portuguese in the last week than I did in two years of high school. AMAZING what God can help you do.
My teacher, Irmao Mateer, is probably the coolest teacher ever. He served in Portugal (got back two years ago), is from Scotland, goes to BYU, and has been married for seven months. He teaches SO well. I have only been here for a week and we've already taught the first three lessons to a (fake) investigator. IN PORTUGUESE. Do I need to repeat that? I've already taught three lessons in Portuguese. We waste NO time in the MTC... seriously. Granted, it was broken and probably not totally gramatically correct Portuguese, but our investigator got the point of all the lessons. So far we have commited J to pray regualarly (which he did), come to church (he did), and pray about the Book of Mormon. Hollah. I can also introduce myself, bare my testimony, pray, and a few other things completely in Portuguese. SO COOL.
Another cool thing... We have lunch at 6:30 in the morning. DANG GOOD. I'm just high on the MTC.
Your first day at the MTC is awesome. EVERYONE welcomes you in their mission language when you walk through the hallway and they see your 'dork dot.'
We are in the classroom all day everyday doing language study, companionship study, district study, and a ton of other cool stuff. Speaking of my district, we have 6 companionships. 2 going to Campinias and the rest to Sao Paulo Sul.They're all really great.
So Visas. There are TONS of missionaries that are Visa Waiters right now. the majority are getting reassigned to places like Florida, Alaska, Nevada, Cali... etc. Anyone that gets their Visa while in the MTC is immediately hated by all the other Visa waiters... just kidding... kind of. haha.
On Sunday, we had our first Sabbath. The way talks work on Sundays is, everyone prepares a talk on a weekly subject and then when the Bishop announces the schedule in the sacrament meeting, he just chooses two people. So we actually don't know until the very last second. Dear Mom, don't ever murmur about giving a talk again. It's SO nerve wrecking! On the plus side, they only have to be 3-5 min, but in Portuguese. The whole meeting is in Portuguese. Hymns, prayers, everything. And I understand the majority of it!
Eu orei e Deus resdodeu a minha oracao. Eu sei isto e verdadeiro atraves do Espirito Santo. Gracas a este testemunho, Eu posso confiar en Deus e vencerdesafios e Eu posso ter uma vida feliz e vencer desafios. Eu sou grata pelo amor do mosso Pai Celstial. Eu amo Jesus Cristo e meu Pai Celectial. (Please excuse my lack of accentos, I don't know how to do that on this computer.)
Well, I love you all, Abby, Matt, Nate, Mom, Dad, Patch. Talk to you next week. Don't be afraid to snail mail/Dear Elder me some more letters/questions :)
Amor,
Sister Hargrove
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