Your Missionary Has Arrived!

Dear Parents,

Sister Martins Silva and I are very happy to let you know that your missionary has arrived safely at the Brazil Missionary Training Center.  What a great joy and privilege it is to greet each missionary as they begin their missionary experiences with us! We will surely take good care of your missionary.                                                                                                     

The missionaries now have companions and are settled into their rooms.  They are assigned to a district with capable and caring instructors for language and lesson study.  Their branch presidents and wives will meet them this Sunday.  These wonderful couples are richly blessed as they work with, motivate, and interview the missionaries assigned to their branch.

The MTC has a physician to care for their health needs. We are also happy to report that the MTC food is plentiful, healthy and very good.

Your missionary will be able to e-mail home on Preparation Day after a morning at the Temple.  This will be either Wednesday or Friday, depending on individual assignments.

Your missionary is about to make an eternal difference in the lives of many others. President Lorenzo Snow said: “There is no mortal man that is as interested in the success of an elder when he is preaching the Gospel as is the Lord who sent him to preach to the people who are the Lord's children".  We love these missionaries as if they were our own.  We will watch over them carefully to ensure they are ready for a wonderful missionary experience after the rewarding time they will have in the MTC.

We thank you for preparing such a wonderful representative of the Lord.

Pres. João Roberto Martins Silva and Sister Maria Lucia Martins Silva

I got there!

Hey!

So we got to the airport in New York, and they didn't have call phones. So sorry I wasn't able to call. But at least we had that conversation earlier.  P day is on Friday for our district and we only have 45 minutes to email, so it may take a couple weeks to reply to some of them. But don´t worry mom I will mail you first. haha. Our district is joining with an existing one down here, and i will be getting a new companion also. Hopefully, someone speaks inlges. haha. It is also a way different time down here, 12:30 pm here and 7:30 am back in Idaho so that is fun. haha. Well they don´t give us much time so I better get going, can´t wait to write you guys on Friday! Love you guys!

- Elder Child

Hey!

So real fast I get to email you guys since I will be traveling over p-day. I will be able to call you sometime during the journey. ha ha. We have a layover in New York at 6 pm until 7:43. Then we arrive in Brazil 8:20 in Tuesday morning. I will probably call in New York, if I am able to, which I think we are allowed one per trip. so fingers crossed. haha. If not I will let you know asap! Thank you guys so much. LOVE YOU!!!!! I will send pics next email!!

- Elder Child

We got our Flight plans!!!!!!!! Our whole district leaves February 12 and will be there the next day at 8:20 n the morning. One layover! One more week to enjoy the cold, then I'll be 6,000 miles away! WOOOHOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

Ola!

This last week was real fun. Our zone was asked to help host the new missionaries coming in on Wednesday and we really enjoyed it. One Elder that I hosted is actually in our zone and in the dorm right next to mine. haha. His name is Elder Parke and is from Las Vegas, a pretty nice guy even if he wears socks and flip flops. haha. We must've done a good job because we were asked to do it again this week. haha. Our district tried our luck with the barber shop today. And I kind of feel like a sheered sheep. But it does look good.  Everyone here is enjoying the warm weather in Provo, except Elder Arispuro, who misses seeing the snow on the ground. haha. The Portuguese is still coming along but it is getting a little harder because we now have two teachers, so we have breakfast, a 4 1/2 hour language class, lunch, another 4 1/2 hour language class, dinner, then 3 hours of study time. So they definitely keep us busy. haha. It is cool though because I can finally pray in Portuguese, they are short, but that just means they have room to grow. haha. We also had an impromptu lesson where we had to teach another member of our district the restoration in 5 min, 2 min, 1 min, and 30 seconds. It went pretty well even though I don't think any of my sentences made sense. The Teachers are really nice though and keep reminding us that everyone will learn at different paces so not to get discouraged. haha. Especially when one member in our district is basically already fluent. Sunday was fast and testimony meeting and we could share our testimony in our native language so I had to take that opportunity, it was great to be able to testify and someone understand. haha. We also had some in Spanish and even one in Tongan. The rest of our Sabbath included several other meetings, mission conference, choir practice, devotional, and a movie before we had to go to bed. This weeks movie was How to Recognize the Spirit, by Elder Bednar. Another great talk that he spoke at the MTC a few years go. The gist of it was answering the question, "How do I tell if it is the Spirit, or just me?" The reality is that it doesn't really matter. As long as you are trying to do your best, being a good boy or a good girl, keep your covenants, obeying the commandments, it doesn't matter. He told us to stop worrying about it. Our lives will be directed and we will be in the right place at the right time. We can't just sit around and wait for revelation to tell us where to go. We will be directed as we show our faith and trust is God. So that is some more great advice that I am trying to follow. Being a good boy, keeping my covenants, obeying the commandments, and trusting in the Lord that I will learn the things that I will need to, and end up where I will need to serve. Even if that means a temporary reassignment, until the Brazilian Government gets back from their vacation. haha. No word yet from my Visa, but if i do get it i may not have time to write next week, so don't freak out mom! Haha. Love you guys! And thank you for your support!

Tchau,

Elder Child

PS: Thank you guys so much for the Cake and the Package! You should be getting a letter about the package in a few days. The cake came unmarked so sorry i didn't mention it my letter. haha. LOVE YOU GUYS TONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1 week after drop off

So Allysha was able to stay in Utah after we dropped off Jake and visit with her family for the week before they dropped off Nathan the following week.  When Jake said he was going to have the opportunity to be a host missionary we were wondering if Allysha would be able to see him...well, guess what...Is this picture so sweet!

Ola meu Familia (e amigos), 

This week has been CRAZY!!! From day one it has been busy. We start everyday with breakfast, of course, then class until lunch, lunch, then class and study time until 5 which is dinner. Followed by study time until we have to be back in our residence by 9. Then repeat. It fries your brain but you really have to do your best to learn the language as fast as you can. The language by the way is similar to spanish but i still have trouble understanding it. Elder Arispuro, my companion, attended a spanish ward growing up in California, but says that he only understands about half. So that is comforting haha. The other Elders in my district are cool too. Elder Smith is from Middleton, Idaho, and Elder Sugden is from Alabama. haha. Elder S has a super deep voice not unlike Herman Munster and is very punctual with everything, which is good. haha. He already has exact obedience with everything so that is fun. haha. He and Elder Smith are already the new Zone leaders, because around 20 missionaries left from our zone this morning. So there are only 10 or so of us in the zone until Wednesday, then we have 22 scheduled to come in. We also have host duty this week so we will be escorting the new missionaries around, so hopefully i will be able to see some family friends. haha. A funny experience this week was during our study time. In our room there is one wall that is made up of windows and since I sit closest to it I find myself looking it a lot. Friday night there was a basketball game across the street so i was watching all the people walk by the building, I had my head on the window. Then down below a couple of people looked up, saw me, and waved. I couldn't help myself so I slowly raised my hand and put it on the window and slowly backed away. haha. We all laughed about that pretty good haha. Sunday is cool too. The services were in Portuguese so you really have no idea what is going on but you can still feel the spirit. We also have had the opportunity to teach an investigator twice already and we have another one tonight. Its amazing to see the progress on our Portuguese each time we teach a lesson. 

 Last night was movie night and we all watched the Character of Christ by Elder Bednar. If you haven't watched it you need to do so. The other missionaries are saying that it is on YouTube. It is around 2 hours but definitely the most eye opening talk I have ever heard. I encourage you all to watch it when you have the time, maybe tonight for FHE. It basically gives amazing examples of how Christlike Christ was, and how we can follow his example and always turn outward when the natural man would turn inwards.  It is very inspiring and i hope you will make time for Elder Bednar's message.

Pictures will be in a separate email.

Sua Amigo,

Elder Child

                   The first photo is of the elders in my district after we went to the temple this morning.​ 

The second one is all of the stuff the leaving elders left us. mostly food, but also a couple lint rollers haha.