Saturday, October 11, 2014

Life in the CTM

                                                                                                                                                            

There is no way Cole is driving...                                                                                      Oct 10, 2014
 
Anyways Oi Familia!!. Oh man where to start I have been in the CTM for 9 days now and already it feels like I have been here for like a month. Going 10 days without a p day is hard, BTW I only have 45 min to write so much to say no time. I love Brazil! it is definitely very different but it is all really pretty (at least from a far) because up until today I haven't been outside the CTM. It almost doesn't feel like I'm in Brazil sometimes during the day. After classes I go up to my room (6th floor) and look out my window and it is the best view ever so awesome!. We have the best room with a view and all the other elders come into our room to look out the window. It's awesome huge 20 plus floor buildings as far as you can see just a sea of buildings, definitely new for me.
It is hard being the minority, I am definitely not used to it. Everyone here speaks Portuguese except like 20 % of us Americans. The Brazilians always come into our room and try to speak with us and then they start laughing and pointing fingers and calling us gringos!! ha ha it  hurts but they are cool.  The first day we went to our class room and sat down expecting to be taught in English but our teacher just went OFF!! She went on a rant just speaking Portuguese and we were all like what just happened. However I was able to pick up stuff and talk back to her which was cool (thanks to Aston). I even gave the first prayer and she was impressed.
Even if people speak English they never will to us. The second day we had our first lesson in Portuguese and man was that rough. My companion and I almost cried, it is so frustrating knowing what you want to say but not being able to say it.  I have come so far, the other day we had a surprise lesson so we didn't have time to plan for it so we had to go off of what we already know.  I never prayed harder for anything in my life then for the gift of tongues and that lesson actually turned out to be the best one I have given yet. It was really cool. I pretty much gave the whole lesson though because my companion knows nothing which is really hard because he doesn't even try and he is always negative and yeah it sucks, I even try to help him but he is lazy and I can't study for him, it sucks.
I am starting to understand people a lot better and I can read pretty well however I cannot speak to save my life!. Btw I am the senior companion and district leader, which is cool except for the fact I have to check the mailbox every day after each meal, it is kind of like a daily ritual for the district to huddle around the mailbox and its usually always empty lol.
The meals are pretty good, however my bowels have not adjusted AT ALL (sooooo much beans) I love them so much but later in the day I hate myself so much yet I have no self control and I never know. I hope my body adjusts. Their breakfast is always the same, some type of porridge, I've learned to put bananas in everything because it tastes way better! Lunch is the biggest meal and always different like 2 different kinds of meat with rice and beans (today we had hamburgers and fries, I almost cried). Dinner is smaller but usually just as good, and later in the night we get lanche (snack).
Our district has started going Crazy!! One day we were in the sala de aula [classroom] for 8 hours straight it is so hard we were literally losing our minds. We find the dumbest things to entertain ourselves with, like passing notes through the window to the sisters in the other class or singing Disney songs at the top of our lungs and I figured out I can't sing in Portuguese either. The other day we stuck googly eyes all around the classroom hidden and our teacher started finding them and couldn't stop laughing for like 20 minutes. I wish I had time to say everything we do. It is a lot of fun, but very hard work!!!
I have never been so excited for conference in my entire life! This whole week I was just waiting to finally get to listen to someone speak to me in English. I think that was the best general conference I have ever heard. So many good talks! and there were a lot of talks about missionary work. It was awesome to take a break and have a chance to feel the spirit because it has been hard when you are just constantly stressed out about the language. I saw Zac singing and that made me really happy!! So much to say but I'm almost out of time. I went to the temple today for the first time and the Brazil temple is by far my most favorite temple now, the inside is beautiful and we got there 2 hours early so we were doing service I got to fold the laundry down stairs then after we were able to perform ordinances like baptisms and confirmations! My first confirmation was in Portuguese and in the temple in Brazil! It was a sweet experience and I have never felt the spirit so strong. I'm about to go out of the CTM onto the streets for the first time! wish me luck! Love you guys !  BYE ! 
 
-Elder Riddle
 
The view out my window from the 6th floor

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