So first off I love it here! The language is difficult, but it is coming along really well. We taught an "investigator" and entire lesson in Portuguese on our second night here! That was crazy. We had it all planned out before hand, but then the investigators have to go and ask questions... Why in the world would they do that?! Haha, the questions are the hardest part. You don't have any prep for those. Yet those are the things that matter the most and you really need to be able to explain and testify about! I probably sound like a caveman when I talk, but I am always able to get my point across... eventually. I heard ta really funny quote about the CTM- "Your first week at the CTM is like drinking from a fire hydrant." You get a little bit of water, but mostly you just hurt your face. Haha, I love that! It is so funny! I don't know that it is completely true for me though. It is a bit overwhelming to transition overnight to a completely new language, but it hasn't been too bad honestly. I am to the point where I can understand just about everything that our instructors say and what other Americans say. I still get lost talking with the other Brazilian missionaries though!
They talk so fast and slur everything together and drop out a bunch of words. It will come eventually though. We speak Portuguese all the time here.
Oh, so I did make a funny language mistake in one of my lessons though. I was trying to tell our investigator, Jennifer that I was going to school to become an elementary school teacher. I didn't have the vocab for that though, so I tried to say that I was becoming a teacher for children. Well, I used the word filhos for children because that's what we learned in our language studies. Only no one ever specified that filhos means your own children... Haha! So then I had to go through and explain that I don't actually have children. It was pretty funny. Now I know the difference though.
It is so cool to be able to share meals with native Brazilians. I feel like that is one of the best ways to learn- just talking with them. They are all so nice and patient with us. I love them! The other day when we were eating with some Brazilians we somehow came to the topic of pancakes. We then spent a good 5-10 minutes trying to explain what pancakes were in Portuguese to these Brazilians! It was hilarious. At one point they asked us to draw it for them... haha, but pancakes are just circles, so that was no help. I never realized how difficult of a concept a pancake was. I love the Brazilian people though. Already! It is amazing how much love I have developed for them in such a short time.
Monday night we were in a lesson with Jennifer and as I was answering one of her questions and then testifying of the Savior and His love for her, I was overwhelmed by a huge feeling of love for her. I started crying, of course (I'm definitely a Maxwell). Even though I knew that she was just acting and was already a member, I so badly wanted her to know the gospel was true and to understand the joy that comes from a relationship with Christ. It was absolutely amazing. That's why I am here. That's why I am on a mission. I am so excited to spend the next 18 months completely dedicated to the Lord. I want to share the joy of the gospel with everyone! Now I just need to get this language down so I can actually do that...
So to answer some of your questions: I did get to go out of the CTM this morning to go to the temple. We went to São Paulo. They did a session in English for us. So that was cool, though I kind of wanted it to be in Portuguese. We get to go out into the city after e-mailing for a bit too. We can do some shopping and etc. Other than p-day though, we are just in the CTM (well, later on you get one day to go out and proselyte). We spend all day just studying and teaching. It is exhausting, but wonderful. The food is really good here too. Most of the time I have no idea what I am actually eating... but it tastes good, so that's all that matters! I always ask what it is so I can learn the names, but my Portuguese isn't good enough to understand an actually in depth description of the food. Oh, they also have pre-cut toilet paper here. Weird.
The CTM is really open too. There are a bunch of garden areas and the ground floor is just open to outside. So that means we get some bugs in there... The other day when we were walking through the garden to lunch, my companion started to say something, but I just kept walking... and stepped on a giant cockroach(or however you spell that)! It squished all over the bottom of my shoe. It was so gross! I asked my companion why she didn't say anything and she said she couldn't think of how to say it in Portuguese! Haha, I told her that preventing me from stepping on a huge bug was cause enough to use English!
I hope you all stay warm up there in New York. If you ever get cold, just think of me down here in the tropics surrounded by palm trees in the heat of summer ;) Haha, I love you guys!
- Sister Maxwell
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| Temple in São Paulo |
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| Whole District at the temple |
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| Sister O'Reilly, Sister Su'a, and Sister Maxwell |
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