Weekly Letter #3

I'm really sorry I didn't email last week. It's not that I don't have time, it's that I totally forgot. My days are fairly similar and I'm not completely sure what to write.

I am alive. Just so you know. Portuguese is muito dificil. I've been having about as average a week as you can in the MTC. Just learning gospel principles, having a language shoved down my throat and eating not so great food. Recently, as a companionship, we've been doing some "street contacts" where we talk to people on the street in Portuguese like a real one except someone translates to English. The people are very nice. Other than that, lots of studying and lots of class but it's good. I do have a suggestion for you, it's a talk by Elder Bednar. I don't know if you'll be able to find it but it's titled "Character of Christ" and it's really, really good. I also have two pieces of advice that I heard this past week that I would like to share with you. First: "Don't count the days, make the days count." I really want to lose myself in the work so much so that I'll just be working one day and get a phone call from the mission president saying, "Your flight leaves tomorrow, are you packed?" And I'll have no idea what he's talking about. The second one: "Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right." It's so true, we need to believe in ourselves. We can do amazing and difficult things. I know that the Lord is strengthening me every day and that I'm learning so much because of Him and the Holy Ghost. It's really amazing.

-Elder Michael Carlson

Q&A

[Has anyone else in your district received their visas?]
No one else in my district has. A lot of other people in other districts have but none in mine so far.

[What is your favorite thing so far about the MTC?]
I just love the Spirit that is ever-present here in the MTC, you can always feel it so strongly.

[How are you doing sharing the room with four other Elders?]
It's rough but I'm doing a lot better. It's a big change from not really having to share a room to sharing it with a bunch of people who also haven't ever had to share a room.

[Now that you're down to just a couple of weeks left in the MTC, how are you feeling about your readiness? What about the language?]
I feel a lot more ready than when I got here. I know I'm never going to be fully ready but I know that I can be made ready through the power of the Lord. The language is going a lot better than I thought it would. We have SYL (Speak Your Language) times for two hours every day which means we speak nothing but Portuguese unless we aren't understood. It's amazing how much we can actually say.

[Is there anything you'd like us to pray for on your behalf?]
I'm fine. Maybe just pray that I can grasp all the grammar concepts and be able to remember all my vocabulary.

[Are you healthy?]
I am healthy. There's been a cold going through the MTC but I've been able to avoid it by taking some vitamin C tablets. So you know those Flintstones vitamins you sent me with? I opened them and they smelled horrid. It was so bad that I couldn't even eat them so I threw them away and got some other ones at the bookstore.

Thank you for all your mail and all your love.

-Elder Michael Carlson

Weekly Letter

I would break the week up into days, but it's all pretty much the same. Wake up, go to breakfast, go to classes, go to lunch, go to gym, go study for a bit, have dinner at 4 (that's our scheduled time), more classes, more studying, and then sleep. That is pretty much every day. So I'll just run over some highlights.

We finished teaching our first investigator but we're going to get two more tomorrow. Also, we get to meet our second teacher tomorrow, which will be nice. Sunday was very good. I went to a devotional about the gorilla of missionary work. Have any of you seen that video of two teams throwing a couple basketballs around and you have to count how many times one team passes it? And then in the middle of the video a man in a gorilla suit dances for a second and walks off. About half the people who watch that video don't notice the gorilla. The devotional was all about how missionaries need to not be so focused on the details, like prayer and reading the Book of Mormon. They're both essential but they're not the reason we're out there. The reason we're teaching is to bring others to Christ. I thought that was good. Pretty much the only other highlight would be the temple trip today. The Provo temple opened yesterday so I was glad I could go today. I think that's it.

One thing I don't like about Portuguese: Implied subjects. You conjugate the verb for a subject but then you don't need the pronoun, which makes it very confusing to me.

Muito amor,
-Elder Michael Carlson

MTC Week 3 Q&A

[Michael doesn't have a lot of time to write so his regular email was a bit short. There was some good information in his responses to some questions his Mom emailed to him though.]

[Are you in the regular MTC or one of the new locations? The return address you put on your envelope is different than the address we have been using to send you mail.]
I'm on the main campus in the Joseph Wilford Booth building, also known as 16M. I don't actually remember what the return address I used was. If it was a stamp, that's just the general MTC one. I have been getting your letters and packages. I did get the Portuguese hymnbook. Unfortunately, there are a couple misprints. The most notable being the chorus of Come, Come Ye Saints is missing. But it really is nothing, it works just fine. Out of my whole district of 11 people, only two of us have hymnbooks and they're both misprinted, pocket-sized ones.

[Have you seen anyone else from Corvallis yet like Jonah or Jacob?]
I haven't seen Jacob, which makes me really sad because he leaves in a week and I want to see him at least once. I have seen Jonah a couple times, which was fun. Also, I saw Alex Porter a couple times, but I think she's actually left by now (English speakers only stay a week).

[How is the Portuguese coming along? Is the accent/pronunciation difficult?]
Portuguese is coming well. I always feel like I need to be better but when I look at how much I've learned in such a short amount of time, it's amazing. The pronunciation is quite difficult. M's and o's at the end of words make very different sounds than m's and o's in the middle of words. But one day, I'll master it.

[How are you doing in your trio? What are the names of your companions and where are they from?]
My trio is good. Elder B is from Indiana. He's a military/band kind of person. He took German in high school so we're both in the same boat. Elder L is from Maryland. He owned a snow-cone stand before he came here. Both of them are just out of high school, so that's interesting.

[Have you been healthy?]
I have been healthy. There's been a bug flying around but I've been washing my hands and using hand sanitizer and all those healthy other things. I've been doing good.

[Is there anything you need from home like a hand towel or washcloth?]
I did bring a hand towel and a washcloth but I don't need them. They have paper towels galore.

[I realized we forgot to label your stuff. Do you want me to send a fabric marker and sharpie for you to write your name on your clothes and things?]
I think I'm fine without the fabric marker, I haven't lost anything. But thanks for the offer.

This is a good quote. One thing that my teacher said that I really liked was: "It's not what you've done. It's not what you do. It's all about who you are."

Com muito, muito amor,
-Elder Carlson

Here's a Picture

This isn't my weekly email, I just wanted to send you a picture. I haven't taken that many, sorry I've been busy. This is my companion (the one who went to Brazil) and I in front of a map. I'll email you more soon.

- Elder Carlson

First P-Day

My week has been kind of crazy. The craziness started on Tuesday.

Tuesday 7/30
I woke up kind of early and was set apart as a full-time missionary of the Lord. Then I waited around for quite a while. I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself. There wasn't a whole lot I could do. Then we drove to the Eugene airport and I said a teary goodbye to my family. I boarded the plane to SLC and I was off. The plane ride was mostly uneventful except for the final descent. It was pretty bumpy and when I was greeted by Grandma and Grandpa, they said I looked a little pale. I was pretty hungry so we went straight to the Salt Lake Temple cafeteria. Then we went through the temple there. It was really good and I enjoyed it. Then we went to the Lion House for dinner and I was much stuffed. After we drove home, I called home to let them know I was alright and Stephanie to finalize plans for Wednesday. I was pretty tired, so I fell asleep quite fast.

Wednesday 7/31
I woke up at 7 and had a nice breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa before they dropped my off at Stephanie's apartment. When I got there, we did a couple errands and I got an apple. We had dinner with Kiera and one of their other friends who I didn't know at an Indian restaurant named "Banana Leaf." It was very good but I didn't have much of an appetite. Then I was dropped off at the MTC. And stuff got real. I was pretty nervous but you just get right to it. I was given my packet of stuff and I dropped my bags off at my room. Then I went to classes. I didn't even get time to unpack. My companion didn't show up so I was pretty worried. Finally, he made it (his last name starts with a W, so he was one of the last to check in). And we went to a devotional and dinner. Then we got about an hour to unpack before we went to more classes. Finally around 9:30p we got to go home and unpack for real. I had to be on the top bunk that has no ladder so I had to jump up onto the top (which is no mean feat). We fit 6 people into a room made for 4. It was squishy. And we finally slept.

Thursday 8/1
We had so much class that day. It was crazy. About 10 hours of Portuguese instruction, 3 hours of devotionals, 1.5 hours of eating and 1 hour for tours made for a crazy, and long day. It was just go, go, go. I don't actually remember much of that day, it just went by so fast.

Friday 8/2
My companion and I taught our first lesson solely in Portuguese. ON OUR SECOND DAY IN THE MTC!!! It was very nerve-racking and we didn't understand a whole lot but it was alright. Then we had more classes. And more classes. And then some study time. And then more classes. You'll find a pattern here, lots of classes.

Saturday 8/3
We taught our investigator another lesson. It went better, but we still didn't understand a whole lot. We did this thing called TALL which is basically just Rosetta Stone. It's quite helpful for learning the language. We got some gym time and played a very intense game of four-square. It was so intense, one of the elders in my district dislocated his shoulder. He had to go to the hospital. We had more classes.

Sunday 8/4
Sunday was pretty different. We sat in hard chairs for long periods of time and listened to very good talks. We didn't have any class today (surprisingly). We watched the movie Mountain of the Lord that evening and went to bed tired.

Monday 8/5
This day was also really different. We had gym in the morning and played volleyball in the fields, which was fun. Then we went to class, but before we could start, my companion got PA'd into the travel office. He got his visa! And he left for the airport in about 8 hours. So the rest of the day was spent packing and laundering all his stuff, so he was ready. It was kind of a boring day for me, I didn't do much. I went to class for only 2 hours.

I don't have any more time, but I hope you all are doing well.

Love,
Michael

Pre P-Day

[I asked Michael a series of questions and here are his responses as the first email we received from him]

[How are you doing? How is the MTC? How crowded is it?]
I'm doing well but I now understand why Matt asked if he's ever going to not be tired again. It's long days and short nights. The MTC is super crowded! I went to an MTC-wide devotional yesterday and the auditorium area was completely packed. There are six elders in my room (which was made for four).

[Are you getting along with your companion?]
My companion is great! Unfortunately, he's leaving tomorrow at 4:45 in the morning because he got his visa (he submitted his papers about a month before me). It's not actually my P-day but my companion gets to email his family because he's leaving and I'm supposed to do what he does. So I get to email you guys twice in one week. My P-day is normally on Tuesdays.

[Have you been receiving and enjoying the goodies and letters we've been sending?]
I got the brownies and there are a lot of them. I've been sharing them with my district (13 people) and we haven't even gotten halfway. I've gotten two letters from you guys so far but they had a huge mix-up in the mail so they're reprinting a lot and I may get more.

[What's your district like?]
My district is really fun. There are 10 guys and 3 girls, soon to be reduced to 9 guys and 2 girls (visas). We make a lot of jokes but we also know how to learn really well.

[Do you like your teachers?]
I actually only have one teacher. I don't know why. Her name is Sister Peterson. She's pretty nice and she knows her stuff (she doesn't know the Portuguese word for jelly beans though). It's a lot of fun and I'm learning a lot.

[How was church in the MTC on Sunday?]
Church was crazy! There's so many missionaries here! I went to a mostly Portuguese sacrament meeting. Even the hymns were sung in Portuguese. Speaking of which, can you guys send me a Portuguese hymnbook? I wanted to buy one at the bookstore but they sell out within minutes. I don't care if it's pocket or normal size.

[Is there anything you need? Do you want some more goodies?]
I think I'm good. I'm really glad Mom made me get the chap stick. I wouldn't have any lips right now without it. But everything is working great, no blisters so far, I've gotten a bunch of compliments on the bathrobe (and it is fantastic).

I was pretty nervous when I was dropped off and it was a little scary, but I threw myself into the work and I've been taking it one day at a time so I'm much better now. I've gotten mostly used to the food, it's not quite as good as the Cannon center, but the MTC has to cook for a bunch more people.

One piece of advice that I thought was helpful was: "You'll fail if you look how far you have to go and you'll succeed if you look how far you've come." I just find it amazing how much Portuguese I've learned. It's about two years worth of language in 4 days.

As they say in Portuguese, "Tudo bem!" Everything's good!

-Michael