Week 2

Hey Family and Friends,

I found out on Sunday that I will be leaving the MTC on the 19th of January. That's 2 weeks earlier than the normal 9 weeks. My companion E. Collingwood is leaving on the 12th. Elder Hodges (the American that arrived last week) has been a triple with me and Collingwood this week. Today 2 Americans arrived. I haven't seen them yet. One is going to be a triple with me and Collingwood and the other is going to go with Elder Hodges. Elder Hodges is 2 weeks ahead of us with the language because he was in Provo for 3 weeks. This week Elder Mordecai and Elder Cubbage moved into another room with Brazi's and Hodges moved in with us. Then last Friday Elder Douite went home due to homesickness and so his companion moved to another room and became a triple with some other Brazi elders. So right now its just us 3 (me, Collingwood, Hodges) in room 520, but today the 2 Americans will be moving into our room. I really like having the Brazileiros in my room because we can talk to them and learn from them in the mornings and before bed at night. Contrary to popular belief, I have no trouble waking up in the morning. Usually we all get to bed around 11 and maybe 11:30 most nights.

The language is pretty hard and I feel like I haven't really progressed. We were mostly learning the lessons in English last week but we just started more Portuguese. I can't wait until the day when speaking the language will just come easily. The food here is okay. Rice and beans are great. Random meat along with the rice and beans for lunch and dinner. For breakfast we have rolls and ham and cheese to put on them. That's it. It's kind of weird. My companion has gained about 2 kg since being here. I have stayed about the same.

The CTM is really empty without the usual 250-300 Americans. I like getting the personalized teaching and having more time to talk with the Brazi's but sometimes I feel that gym would be way more fun without only 5 people.

Today I went to the temple this morning and it was wonderful yet again. It took us about 30 minutes to get there and about 1:30 minutes to get back because of traffic. Crazy! The CTM kind of feels like a jail sometimes. But the Presidente is really nice and not too strict. He used to be the Presidente of the Porto Alegre North mission but I haven't really talked to him much about it. Currently I don't know of any Brazi's going to my mission but 6-8 of them went out last Tuesday for Porto Alegre North. If you guys have any questions about how I am doing or want to learn more about the CTM just ask me some questions.

Tell Matt and Savannah and all the kids thanks for the emails last week. I am sorry that I haven't gotten a chance to respond back to them yet, but maybe someday. I am excited Erin is having another girl.

I don't think this email platform supports photos. I will be sending Bryn my memory card in a month or 2 so maybe she will share a couple of photos with you.

Could you ask Sarah what she wants for Christmas? I may wait until I get the the field to get the present because I will have much more freedom in buying and sending then! I will hear from you all next week. Love you!

Elder Steele