Brazil Piracicaba Mission: MTC: Week 1

Hey family and friends!

You are probably wondering what in the world happened to Sister Keeler? Did she just fall off the face of the earth!? Well, I'M ALIVE!!! When I got here they told me my P-day was on friday, but not the first friday here. So, I had to wait 10 days.....10!!! Talk about not having anything to wear by the end of the week!

Anyways, THANK YOU SO MUCH for the dearelder letters! They are like the best part of my day! (Especially the quotes mom! Love them! I put them on my desk :)

In case you were wondering, I did cry when I hugged Chris and he was crying too. Then I was doing pretty good until they put on my name badge. Then I BAWLED like a baby! I have been waiting so long for this moment and just putting on the name badge was so overwhelming, because I am now a servant and representative of Christ.

My district is amazing! I love them so much! But, the weird thing is, since we are the only Portuguese speaking district we aren't all going to the same mission! We have 11 missionaries in my District (group/class) [5 sisters and 6 elders] And, we represent 5 different missions! Its really cool but it's also sad that we won't see each other after the MTC. And, we are all from east of the Mississippi! Muito legal! ( really cool)

I have 2 companions (because the other sister got her visa before the MTC). Their names are Sister Roberts (from Minnesota, I actually met her on FB) and Sister Koford (She is from Missouri). I love them so much! It makes being with them 24/7 very enjoyable :)

Everyone said that the first three days would be horrible but I loved them! I LOVE THE MTC!!!!!! The second full day we had to give a lesson to a teacher ALL in Portuguese! Holy cow! It was amazing the things we can do with the Lords help! We had this detailed lesson but during the lesson we hardly said anything on the plan because we were actually talking in Portuguese! (We weren't very good but it was still Portuguese okay!) The second lesson was actually a surprise because our teacher that we were supposed to teach was in the hospital so 5 minutes before, we were told that we were teaching someone totally knew! OH MY GOODNESS! SCARIEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE! So, we prayed and after the prayer we decided to just follow the Spirit. Well, we definitely did! We didn't have ANY lesson planned but felt prompted to share the Restoration. We gave a 41 minute lesson. All. In. Portuguese. It was really rocky but we taught a whole lesson on our second full day here. "With exact obedience, Miracles happen!" It is so true! [The only bad thing about the lesson was I couldn't figure out what James was in Portuguese so it took me like 10 minutes to find James 1:5! Good thing I have companions! :) Afterwards, the teacher came in and wrote on the board "James=Tiago"]

Surprisingly, I am at the top of my class! Ever since the first day I understand about 90-95% of what my teacher or anyone else says in Portuguese and I talk most of the time during lessons. It is crazy! But, just like my blessing said when I got set apart. "The language will come easily if I diligently study it" So true......I slacked off a little on Monday and for some reason I was having the hardest time speaking and understanding! Which is hard because my companions rely on me a lot! (Sister Roberts has never learned a second language and she is still trying to figure out what the word conjunction means :) haha

Side note: The first day I lost my voice so my first 3 lessons I gave without a voice. It was really bad. Missionaries had a hard time understanding me when I spoke ENGLISH let alone Portuguese! I am feeling so much better now and got my voice back on Monday. (Yes, mom, I was using the onguard)

So, I now totally understand what people mean when they say the days are long and the weeks are fast. Holy cow. Yesterday wouldn't end! It was a wonderful Thanksgiving day but it was so long! We actually had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal! (Which is surprising because the food isn't the best here......)

So, this season is definitely the best time to be in the MTC! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving devotional by Russell M. Nelson!!! (I was in the choir and they broadcast every devotional so you can check it out and see me!) And, we are getting more General Authority coming!

My teachers are amazing and I look up to them so much. One really amazing thing that one of my teachers said was, the time you spend here is not a coincidence. What did Christ do before he started his 3 year ministry to prepare? He fasted for 40 days. And, how long are we in the MTC preparing? about 40 days. And, we serve almost as much as He did. Its not a coincidence and we need to not take this time for granted. We are representatives of Christ and doing EXACTLY what He would be doing if He was on the earth right now.

I am so thankful I am serving a mission. I know it has only been a week but I feel so much closer to my Heavenly Father. Everything we do is so selfless. We study the scriptures for our lessons, we study the language so we can teach our lessons, we do service,etc. This is an amazing work and its amazing to be a part of 83,000+ missionaries sharing the wonderful message of love :)

I love you guys so much! Keep writing me! Dear Elder.com is free! Use it! I LOVE letters!

Until next time!

Sister Keeler

Here are some Pics!