MTC Week #5
This is Elder Dickson's last full week in the MTC. Where will he go next?
Oi! Tudo Bem?
Last week was interesting. My district got to welcome the new missionaries and will be doing the same thing again tomorrow. We have also lost one of our professors to a family vacation and have been able to hear many different versions of Portuguese (Portugal Portuguese sounds kind of funny).
No more than one week left at the MTC. We're expecting our reassignments as early as Wednesday and could leave Thursday. We're expecting them, but another district that was supposed to leave this week didn't get reassignments and have been redistributed through the other Portuguese speaking districts. Hopefully that won't happen to us too. It's just a little exciting to leave the MTC and get out to teach people that don't know the answers already.
This week we'll be going out around Provo for our in field orientation and hosting the new missionaries again. Seeing them makes me think about how little time I've actually been here and how much I've learned in such a short time. I remember getting out of the car and somebody who I thought new how everything worked welcomed me and very quickly guided me through dropping off bags, gathered all my language materials, and dropped me in a classroom with ten other overwhelmed people and a teacher who launched right into Portuguese grammar. That was easily the longest half day of my life.
Two or three days after that, we're expected to teach an investigator in Portuguese every day for the rest of our time at the MTC. These lessons normally go very slowly as we struggle to put sentences together and think of coherent responses to the investigator's questions. ( No memorized charts, Dad). Just yesterday, we had to teach the Law of Chastity for the first time. Imagine how uncomfortable it can be to tell an adult how to live his love life and then try to do it in a language you can hardly understand, let alone speak. That was a rough lesson. Oh, well. Tudo bem.
I got a great bit of news a few days ago from a certain Moldovan friend who got baptized sometime in the last few weeks. Not trying to be mean to anybody, but hearing about a friend's baptism while in the MTC could very easily be the best news it is possible to receive. Thanks, Natalia!
I know everybody at home wants to hear more from me, but questions do help me know what to say. It's very easy to gloss over each day without questions to help me look for specific experiences. Also, letters from my sisters would help me have stuff to respond to . . . (that means you, Lauren).
Grandpa,
Obrigato por sua mensagem. Eu amo comer frango e legumes. Eu terei muitas oportunidades comer as comidas estranhas. Com sorte, eu não vou tornar-se doente tão muito. Também, Dear Elder, não gosta de letras especial e os mostra como "?". É muito difícil entender as palavras. E-mail é melhor para escrevendo em Português.
I've also received a great deal of goodies in the mail. One of our teachers actually commented that he had never seen a district get so many boxes of cookies, brownies, cinnamon rolls, etc. We have to share just to finish the amount of sugar we get. Angela, your brownies and last box of cookies were very popular and Sister Openshaw really liked the cookies from Grandma Kent.
That Portuguese section took a lot of time and I still have to send pictures because I forgot my camera. I'll send some later today. For now, farewell, Hurrah for Israel, and any other movies lines you can think of.
Love,
Elder Dickson
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| Sam didn't end up sending any pictures, so here's a precious picture of The Elder and his mother. |
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