MTC Life

Hello Family and Friends,

Once again I haven't had time to read any of the emails from the past week but I took pictures of them and will read them later today. Thanks so much for sending me emails, it is great to hear from home. I hope everything is going well for all of you. This past week went A LOT faster than the first week. We are starting to get into a more normal routine. Last Wednesday was P-day and it was awesome. After emailing Elder Jensen and I went outside and walked around the neighborhood exploring. It was really fun to be outside the MTC and get to practice some of the portuguese we had learned (although most people still stare at us like we're idiots whenever we try to talk haha). There is a tie shop across the street that sells ties ranging from $2.50 to $7.50 so I purchased an orange tie with blue stripes for 4 dollars. I think we'll go there again today. I am gave one of my ties away this week so I think I'll replace it. There was a kid who arrived at the MTC this past week from Mozambique who didn't have anything except the clothes he was wearing so me and a lot of other elders donated some stuff to him. Also last P-day we found a churrascaria place (like fogo de chao or estancia) except its only 8 dollars! Needless to say we're going there right after we finish emailing. The rest of the week was spent studying portuguese and teaching fake investigators. We study the scriptures some but mostly we just study portuguese. On Friday we had a thing called TRC where we teach a fake investigator in portuguese and it is filmed and then we get feedback on our teaching and get to watch the film. Elder Jensen and I though we did pretty well but the instructor who gave us very negative feedback, in fact he didn't say one thing positive about our teaching. It was a little frustrating but I don't care too much. We did the best we could with the 50 words we know. Also Elder Jensen and I got switched rooms, so now instead of being with 3 other Americans who are going to Sao Paulo East we are with 3 Brazilians who are serving across the country. I think rooming with them is going to help my portuguese a lot. Last night was another highlight of the week. We got to watch a video given by Elder Holland to the Provo MTC. It was a great talk. My favorite quote from the talk was "in order for your mission to be a success you need to convert at least 1 person, and that person had better be you".

Now to address some questions. I didn't recognize the MTC president as the pickleville piano player but it definitely makes since. He's a great guy and last week we had a devotional about pioneers and at the end he played a piano medlee of all the different Joseph Smith songs. It was really good and I think he improvised it on the spot because he didn't have any music. Every Tuesday and Sunday all the Elders have to sing in the choir. Elder Jensen is doing well, he's from Colorado and enjoys snowboarding and hiking mountains. The food here is nothing like the cannon center food. It's all authentic brazilian food (which means beans and rice at every meal). I get to play basketball about 4 times a week when we have gym. The weather right now is perfect. My normal day schedule is wake up at 6:30 and study until 9:30 with breaks for gym and 3 meals. I am almost out of time. Ariel you're welcome for the tent and good luck with wedding planning. Have a great temple experience. Lauren I'm glad that girls camp went well, Ben thanks for the email. Mom- enjoy getting your letters during the week through Cheney's. Dad- good luck with the Daddy Daughter dance!

I've got to go. Thanks again for the emails and keep them coming!

-Elder Caleb Anderson