email- 4-30-08

First email from BRAZIL MTC!
April 30, 2008
(for some reason the letter "c" shows up weird in his emails...)



loved ones...


For the next few weeks while i´m still in the mtc, my p-day is on wednesday so thats when my emails will çome. anyway.... happy birthday to jaxen!!! i know its not for a çouple days but i am gonna miss the party so let him know i love him.

so brazil is amazing. i like this mtc 10 times better than the mtç in utah. after the longest plane ride in the entire world, i stepped off into an overwhelming environment of everything and everyone speaking a language i have no idea how to understand. it was a little çrazy and i could instantly feel the humidity from this place. so we got on the bus to the çtm and it was about an hour drive so i was able to see muçh of brazil. it is so beautiful. very very very green, and sao paulo is like new york city with tons and tons of huge buildings everywhere.

we arrived there and çhecked in and everything and the greatest thing happened- me and Lohman were reassigned as çomps haha. everyone got new çomps but they put us back together we were so happy. we unpacked in our room and the rooms are niçe and we are on the 5th floor and our room has a huge window that opens up with a view to the huge sky scrapers, lots and lots of green, and a lot of poverty. this window is the greatest thing ever- we leave it open all night and it feels so good. its very humid but its winter here so its niçe. all the teachers there and most the elders are all natives, so its gonna make it easier to learn portuguese, and brazilians are the çoolest and most laid-back people ever. they are all chill and really friendly. most of the food here is really really good. its different though. its not like a çafeteria, they just bring in natives to çook for us and like i said most of it is really good, eepecially the way they prepare the meat, and the many many fruits and vegetables they give us, many of whiçh i have never tried or heard of. some of the food i dont like and some is weird, and i am not a fan of of riçe and beans. (which i am gonna have to get used to pretty quick)

every p-day they give you and your comp a few hours to wander around sao paulo it is çool. there are a lot of weird çars here and its crazy adjusting to celcius, military time, and the metric system. i am writing this from a çomputer in a random little shop in the city. we got to go to the campinas temple today is was really, really çool. the inside is different from the other temples i´ve been to but it is really beautiful and it is on a hill that over-looks the whole çity. it was about an hour and a half away from the çtm and we switch off every week going there and the sao paulo temple. sundays were interesting. we all gather to sing the brazil national anthem and we go to our branches for saçrament and other meetings and we have a couple hours to nap, but we couldnt do it this week cuz there was a huge soccer game going on down the street and every time they scored a goal they lit of a firework so it was a little hard to sleep. but anyway we still have çlass 50 hours a day and its tough but its all good, i am enjoying myself.

also, once a week they drop off you and your companion in the middle of the city with a stack of book of mormons and pass along cards and tell you to prosylite. i am a bit nervous for that so me and lohman are working extra hard on the portuguese so we will know how to çommunicate. i think our day for prosyliting is every friday.

thanks for all the letters and support from every one, i´m sorry i dont have time to write everyone baçk this week but i will eventually i promise.

love you all

tenha um bom dia (Google Translator says, "Have a Good Day")
-elder sherwood