First Letter

Oi meus amigos!

Well, it has been a week here at the CTM (that's what we call the Brazil MTC), and things are pretty crazy. A wise man once told me that the best keys to a good mission are to work hard, love the people, and forget yourself. So I'll try to let you in on how that's been going.

So working hard isn't really an option here at the CTM. My schedule is

6:30--wake up and shower

7:00--Personal and Companionship Study

8:00--Breakfast

8:30-12:00--Class

12:00-1:00--Language Study

1:00-1:45--Lunch

1:45-5:15--Class

Then dinner, computer lab, more study, gym, and more study. In the past week I'm fairly certain I've learned as much as I did in my entire first year and a half of French. I can really feel the Spirit helping me learn. Every day I learn about 30-50 vocab words, 5 gospel phrases, and a bunch of grammar. I had to teach my first lesson the third day I was here, so that was crazy. Obviously I didn't know that much Portuguese. But I love being pushed, I learned how important that was in acting, and they apply it here. I know I can take it.

Now for loving the people. I already do. We're encouraged to spend time with the Brazilian elders, and our district has no problems with that. In fact, our district is the favorite of the Brazilians. We had some friends leave yesterday--they were pro beat-boxers and rappers and all-around hilarious. One would always say "What the hot dog!" so our district now uses that as our catch-phrase. We don't know much of each other's languages, but we share the gospel. The Spirit is incredibly powerful here. I love it. We also made some new friends who we sit with at every meal. One has the same music tastes as me--he likes The Killers, Muse, Coldplay, The Beatles...it was a great talking point. They are all so nice and friendly, I can't wait to go help some of them to follow Christ. It's why I'm here.

As far as forgetting myself, the really hard part has been forgetting all of you. I miss you and love you. Write to me to let me know how you're doing. Know that the Church is true, and the mission field is the right place for me. I'll try to write more next week, I'm on a kind of tight time crunch here. Again, I love you.

Sincerely,

Elder Burt