10/30/10

Hi! Or oi! I loved getting all your letters! I didn't get them until last night so I had a lot and I looked so popular!! I loved spending that last week with you too! Thanks for taking that time off! :) We have a half p-day today - so we get about three hours to do laundry - which I do not need to do yet! And write our family saying we made it safely! So - I made it safely! Now I can check that off the list! :) So... I guess I'll start at the beginning. The first day - Casey dropped me off and there were TONS of missionaries waiting there on the curb to welcome us - that was crazy! We got connected with a host - which mine happened to be Kristen! My old roommate! And Spencer got to be with Cameron! That was pretty cool! She helped me take my stuff to my room - which is where I realized that I forgot my scriptures in the car - my first realization that I had no instant connection to the real world! I couln't just text her and ask her to bring them by! So I've been scriptureless for the past four days - minus the Book of Mormon I bought in the bookstore - obnoxious! I saw Melissa today though working in the cafeteria so she said she'd bring them by! Yay! She then helped me get all my books and things and get my blue card - which pretty much is my key to everything and took me to meet my district. My district is pretty big - there are 15 of us - 10 elders and 5 sisters and we are all crammed in this tiny classroom that could probably fit about 8 comfortably - so that's been cozy! Elder Dunlop is in my district - so that's been awesome! And that is where I met my companion - Sister Brookes. She is awesome! She is so sweet and we really get along well! I was very nervous that I would get a difficult companion for the first time. The first day was a very long day - we had a ton of meetings and orientations and I just felt very lost and confused the entire day - everyone was super nice and helpful, but it was still hard. It was the first time in my entire life that I have felt homesick. It was my first realization that I was going to be away from home and all the comforts I have known for 18 whole months! But I got over that quickly and I have been having a great time! We are not into a normal schedule yet - the first week is always different, but basically all day long we are in our tiny classroom! Unless we are in the cafeteria or at gym time. Class is awesome though - we have two really awesome teacher. One actually happened to be in my freshman ward! That was quite a shock when I walked in the room! The other is just really funny and you can tell that he really loves the gospel and loves missionary work. They both just recently returned from their missions in different parts of Brazil. They come at different times - so we only have one teacher at a time but they both teach about portuguese for a while and then about the gospel and missionary work for a while. We have already learned to pray and to bear our testimony in Portuguese. It was very scary - today we went outside and had to find five random people to share our testimonies with! Luckily they were learning German so they had no idea how bad we sounded! I am actually really greatful for the Spanish classes I took, it has been very helpful! I can understand a lot of what the teachers are saying, actually most, speaking is a different story though because the pronunciation is pretty different, but I'm learning. So you asked if I've been able to exercise - there is a morning class that they do for the sisters at 6 am and it is super fun! They have different classes every day of the week - kickboxing and step arobics and pilates and strength - stuff like that or while that class is going on you can go and run around the indoor track - so I've done that and also we get a half an hour of gym time a day. Usually it is inside since the weather is cold but today was nice so we got to go outside to the field across from the MTC! It was very fun - I played sand volleyball and we actually ended up joining a group that was going to Brazil so I got to hear new phrases - they have all been in the MTC for 6 weeks so they were trying to speak just in Portuguese. Back to personal study time - I really love that time - I feel like I'm just thirsty now - to learn more about the scriptures and about Preach my Gospel and about the language - it's like I'll never get enough time eventhough that's basically what we do all day!! I don't get tired of the learning, but it is tiring to sit in a classroom all day long! I haven't done that in a while! Portuguese is actually a really neat language, I am starting to really like learning it, this is how you say The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: A Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Ultimos Dias - and here is how you pronounce it - if I can explain it... - whenever I put GE - it is like saying the ge in the word beige - A IgreGa GE GEzus Cristu dos Santos dos Ulchimos GEas - if that makes any sense - it is really hard to explain in writing! Well - the timer on this computer is bliking at me! I don't have much time left - but I can't wait to hear from you soon! I am really loving the spirit that is here all the time and I love waking up and getting to put on a nametag that says I am a representative of Jesus Christ - it is a really neat feeling, hard to describe but I really am loving it. Hope everyone is doing great! And I hope the competition is going well! Oh yeah - and Happy Halloween! I almost forgot! The days are all running together here! Love you all!

Tiao!
Sister Dunlop