Hola everyone!
Week 3, done. It has been a pretty good week, amazing how time flies here though, the days go by a little slow but the weeks go by fast. Sometimes we don't know if an activity we did was the day before or that morning just because the days are packed full from 6:30am to 9:30pm of stuff we got to do. it is good but can get tiring at the same time. A loott of class time though, it's basically my home for the next 6 weeks. We have all our language and classes with our teachers here and we do a lot of study time here, I mean we can go elsewhere on the campus for personal and companion study so I try to go outside and get some sun, but since Utah has some weird weather (different, sorry for all the Utahians or whatever you call yourselves, one of my college tecahers calls you guys Utards hahaha but it is weird weather: thunder storm and rain one night then back up to 85 or so the next day, then overcast, then sunny..make up your mind! haha)
Hmm..so what did I do this past week?..Tuesday we had the weekly devotional again so that was good, don't remember who spoke to be honest haha again, it feels like it was forever ago but it was only last week. Wednesday, thursday, friday, and Saturday we did the normal schedule of language classes and stuff so nothing new there I guess. Oh ya! So when we go in to teacgh our "pesquisador (investigator)" we would bring in our scriptures, notebook with our translated stuff in Portuguese of what we wanted to say and another book that has Portuguese phrases and stuff to help us carry on a conversation that a 6 yera old could have. (it is so funny sometimes because we are talking like we are 6, por exemplo: "Voce sabe que Deus nos ama?" (Do you know that God loves us?) and they'll say "Sim" (said like 'sing' but it means yes) and then they'll start bustin' out some explanation or comment in Portuguese and our faces go blank, like "uhh...que?" (uhh...what?). It is funny sometimes but pretty nerve rackign though I'll be honest. It is getting a little better but I really want to be able to speak more fluidly with our investigator though. So now our teachers said that when we go in to teach we aren't aloud to use any notes, only escrituras (scriptures). Are you kiddin me dude?! How the heck am I supposed to carry on a converstaion, let alone teach someone about stuff when I don't even know how to say it, let alone not be able to understand them sometimes?! I swear the dudes at the front office are like: "hey let's have them talk to the investigators only in Portuguese haha and the funny thing is..they don't even know it! haha Good one sir good one!" Holy cow, sometimes it is overwhelming but I am slowly starting to get some stuff.
The cool thing about the MTC (Missionary Training Center) is that you start to learn more about who you are. Por exemplo (for example) for me, I usually get stuff pretty easily (if I have already said this then woops.. my B.) but this language thing is definately my weakness here haha I'll admit it, I am not going to make myself sound better then I am, I am eh/not that good so this is the Lord's way of humbling me I guess. I'm not gonna give up, that would be stupid to be honest, so I will have to keep working at it. just because it is hard now doesn't mean I won't get it. (think about that one) I'll get it sooner or later.
I have been playing futebol (soccer) more than basketball now. During the hour gym time we have daily I'll go to the field and play some scrimmage game and I forgot how much I miss soccer. 3 guys have already asked me if I play for BYU and I was like "Thanks for the comment, but no haha" Some other guys, who played high school soccer, and I have been playing on the same team so it is fun. I love it, I am soo excited to play in Brazil and sooo excited to play up at school when I get back. We have this soccer ball in our classroom with Portuguese verbs (to help us conjugate them in different tenses) written on it and so we always play around with it and the other day I walked up and down the hall juggling the ball, it was pretty cool to be honest haha Some people who were study in the hallways or the lounge area gave me a look like: "you should be studying mister..." and some guys were like: "dude, nice". Yeah I didn't care so I kept juggling up and down the hallway hahaha soo much fun.
Well I hope all of you are doing well, I am learning a lot and NOT fooling around at all..last night we put a bunch of our old extra food (cookies and stuff) in a giant pile in front of this guy's (in our district) door and so when he came out to brush his teeth he stepped on all the cookies and everything and he was like "ahh come on man!" hahaha But really, let's be serious now. I am learning and I am soo thankful to be here, wouldn't change it, and I am glad I am be humbled and pondering more. I think having times throughout the day to just go for a walk or sit outside or anything and just think is amazing dude. Somewhere peaceful or relaxing, it works wonders. I feel like soo many people are stressed that they forget about the things that matter most (look up Pres. Uchdorf's "Things That Matter Most" talk from general conference, if you don't have or don't know what I am talking about, ask my dad and he'll print one out or send the link for you (dad can you just send the link with this email so people don't have to go looking for it? Obrigado.) It is definately worth the read.
Thanks again for all the letters and messages, they really do help. College football is starting and soon college basketball soo Dad uhmm send me the weekly rankings for football then basketball? Yes? Good. Glad we agreed on that. But seriously, no joke, send me the weekly AP rankings (top 25). Tchau!
Elder Spencer Miller
Elder Spencer Miller
