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