CTM Week 4

First in response to your question, yes having your name on things is very important, or at least something so that you can tell what is yours and what is other peoples.

So this week has been fun, and strange. We have been in a different class room this entire week because of the new missionaries in our district. We got two new districts this week so Elder Porter and I are in charge of more people. The Americans from Provo that came with us on the plane left yesterday and it was sad. I bet one of our instructors is happy because they would come into our room and speak English to us. Also my Brazilian roommates left this week as well, which was also sad, and I don´t think that we are getting new ones today. Because our roommates were leaving this week I played a few games of chess with them. Elder Palhano, who was one of my companions for splits, played one game with me. It was good and went back a forth till I won. I played 5 games with Elder Holanda, who was Elder Porter´s companion for splits. He won, then I won, then he won. The last day we played two games, and I won both. That was fun and gave me a little break from missionary life. We also had daylight savings, but because it is in a different hemisphere we went back an hour instead of jumping forward which was really great, but our Brazilian roommates forgot and woke up an hour early.

The cookies were great mom, and yes we always go there even though it is 7 reals ($2.27) for a cookie. That was awesome and funny. (We use an online service to send letters to him. The service also has a shop across the street from the CTM that sells American treats, like ice cream, soda, pizza and cookies. I tried to order him a treat online for Valentine's Day but the website was down. But when he happened to go in to get cookies on pday, they owner gave him four cookies for free and then had him dial my cell number so she could tell me that she had seen him. Such a fun surprise and treat for both of us!)

The temple was good today, and I listened to almost all of it in Portuguese. I didn´t understand all of it, but I could understand enough that I could do everything required of me.

I am going to send you guys some letters today, but it only wrote some for the family currently at home. I will try to find time to write some more, and send them, but this is what Ive done for now.

This week we got some more new companions for splits. My companion this week is from Portugal, I think he can speak 4 different languages (English, Portuguese, Spanish, and another), and I think he said that he has been living in Brazil for 2 years before coming to the CTM. He is a little intimidating looking, but that helped me realize how much the Lord helps me with my Portuguese. At first I was not looking forward to teaching with him, and because of this it was harder to understand him, but as I tried to love him more, as he tried to help me be a good teacher, and as I got to know him more, I started to understand what he was saying. That really bore testimony of the Lord's help with my understanding of Portuguese. 

We watched a devotional that Elder Ballard gave at the Provo MTC 2 weeks ago on Sunday, and it was funny because they put us in charge of starting the different versions so that everyone could listen to it in their own language. All we had to do was press a button on the laptops, but the thing was that they told us to tap the pad and not press the left click button so it didn´t work the first time and we had to do it over. 

The devotional was really great, and I felt the spirit very strongly during it. Elder Ballard talked about how our attitude as missionaries is very important, and that we need to develop an attitude of happiness and love for the work. There was something that Elder Martin, one of the missionaries that left this week, would say whenever someone would say something they can´t do even if it didn´t have to do with them. He would say ``Not with that attitude.`` Also Elder Ballard shared a story about when his son was on his mission, and he was worried about how many baptisms he was getting and about whether or not he was a good missionary. Elder Ballard´s response was: ``If you can get on your knees every night, and tell the Lord that you did your best that day, then Elder Ballard, you are a good missionary." This is a good analogy for life as well. I think that if you can get on your knees and honestly say to God that you did your best, then you are doing it right.

--Elder Pettingill