Hello all,
Thank you so much for the emails. Unfortunately we don't have very much time for emails so I haven't been able to read them yet, but I did take a picture of them with my camera so I'll read them later tonight. I hope all is well and that wedding planning isn't keeping you too busy. I have been very, very busy since I got here to the MTC and so much has happened that it's hard to decide what to write. Here is a quick summary of each day since I left. Also, it appears that the question mark key on this computer doesn't work so you'll will just have to guess whether I'm asking a question or not.
Tuesday July 17th- After passing through the security line at the airport I went to the departure gate and saw that my flight was delayed by 2 hours! Luckily they put me on a different flight to Dallas that was leaving in 5 minutes. Once I got to Dallas I took the train to Terminal D and was walking towards the gate whenever a random guy stopped me and introduced himself as a bishop of a nearby Dallas ward. I talked to him for a few minutes and he gave me 20 bucks to go buy food! Looks like the blessings of missionary work are already coming through! At the gate I met 8 other missionaries that were headed to the MTC in Sao Paulo. We all got to know each other a little better and then got on the plane.
Wednesday- The flight to Sao Paulo was very long and very boring. After clearing customs and immigration I exchanged all my American money into Brazilian money. We also met up with about 10 other American missionaries who had taken a different flight to Sao Paulo. The MTC people arrived and we took 2 vans to the MTC (or CTM as they call it here). After arriving at the CTM we were immediately given companions. My companion is Elder Jensen. In the picture I sent home he is the one standing on my right. He's from Denver and is a really great guy, we've become pretty good friends. We were given a room on the 6th floor with another companionship (a trio) who are also going to the Sao Paulo East mission.We are on the top floor and the view from our room is awesome. We are on the top floor and the view from our room is awesome. We spent the rest of the day on a regular MTC schedule and even taught our first fake investigator.
Thursday- Went to classes all day long with my district. The district consists of the 5 Sao Paulo East guys and 4 other guys going to Porto Allegre South. We spent all day learning portuguese and studying the scriptures. We also had our first gym time (we get 4 a week) so when we played basketball I took the opportunity to humble the rest of my district.
It looks like I'm not going to have time to summarize the rest of the week but here's the important stuff. Other than 4 meals a day and an hour for gym time, we work all day long learning portuguese and studying the gospel. Elder Jensen and I are teaching a fake investigator named Jose almost every day of the week. Today is P-day and this morning we went to the temple. The Sao Paulo temple is very nice (a lot bigger than SA though). After we finish email we're allowed to go wander around the city (we have about a 2 mile radius). I heard there was a shooting in colorado during the Batman movie. The food is pretty good so far. I drink Guarana at every meal and eat beans and rice and just about every meal. My time is up.
I love you all and hope everything is going well!
-Elder Caleb Anderson
Also I will be signing up for a service today that all the missionaries here at the MTC sign up for. It costs 5 dollars and every email that you send me gets printed out and sent to me. That way you don't have to send letters you can just email and it gets to me much faster.
