Yet Another...

Bom Dia everyone!

Bom Dia (pronounced Bone Jeeuh) means good day! Anyway as the subject says, my forearms hurt a bit so this email may not be quite as long. The keyboard is not very good here unfortunately. Also I don´t have as long today because one the way back from the Temple we went in every direction BUT back to the MTC! Seriously it was not fun. Plus it was hot since the AC didn´t work but that actually wasn´t too bad. I was even wearing my suit coat the entire ride home! I´m surprised at how well I´ve adjusted to the weather here. I don´t think I´ll have a problem with the heat in Teresina. Oh by the way, half of my mission is arid and dry. No humidity! Woo! I am a big fan of that. I can deal with heat easier if I´m not swimming in my own sweat.

An update on my attempt to lead a choir: I must say I´m pretty talented. I didn´t expect it to turn out so well. To be honest though it was mostly the choir and not me. They sang so beautifully. We sang Abide With Me ´Tis Eventide. I kinda got into it as the conductor. I used both hands I guess the other missionaries who conduct don´t and I was a bit expressive with them haha. Anyway, I was very pleased with how it turned out. I was scared at first because I didn´t really know how to run the 1 hour practice. It went well though and the fireside was amazing. Elder Soaris spoke. He´s an area seventy I think. Anyway it was wonderful!

Class is going much better. We´re more focused during class and we speak more portuguese during class as well! In fact if we try our hardest to speak portuguese for the rest of the week, our two instructors are going to make t-shirts for us! I really like my morning instructor Irmao Nascimento. He was a great missionary I can tell. He teaches us really practical things and techniques. The evening class is hard because we´re tired and unfocused. But last night we did much, much better!

Can I just say that I have probably the best district? I´m most missionaries think this, but we really are the best! Almost all of the instructors love us! And I think the ones that aren´t included in that statement haven´t met and talked with us.

I love my Branch President. He´s taught me so much! Sundays are so wonderful! But I especially love his wife, Sister Brinton. She´s so wonderful! I can feel her love for us and her love for the Lord. If President Dias' wife (my mission president when I get to the mission field in Teresina) is half as awesome as Sister Brinton I will have a truly great Mission President´s wife. But I have a feeling that Sister Dias will be really, really awesome! Irma Fiallo one of the teachers here told me that President Dias is AMAZING. He used to do something with CES (Church Education System) in Brazil and he was just really awesome. I´m so excited to meet him!

Did I mention last week that our room of 4 Elders became a room of 6 Elders? They added 2 brazilian Elders to our room. I´m starting to talk with them more and they´re alot of fun. They´re both going to Manaus.

New Brazilian missionaries come to the MTC on Thursdays. Last thursday 48 new missionaries came! The MTC feels so packed now even though there´s only about 75 missionaries total haha. I think it´s just because we have to actually wait in line for food now. We used to walk right up to the serving area and be served right away.

Oh my favorite fruit here is Goiaba. I think that´s the spelling. It´s guava unless I´m horribly mistaken. All you need to know is that it´s absolutely delicious. I hope I´ll be able to buy them in Teresina. I imagine that I will be able to. But who knows!

My studying is becoming more meaningful and I´m growing and progressing. I can´t even imagine what it will be like when I get to the mission field! It´s amazing to look back at these past 5 weeks and see the Lord´s hand in my life. And it´s a little weird to realize it´s been 5 weeks! It seems such a short time ago that I got here, but at the same time it feels like forever! I do enjoy the MTC. It´s such a unique opportunity that I hope I´m taking advantage of.

Until next time!

Love,
Elder Rackham