Latest from Brenna

Nov. 5, 2010

Hello!!! I absolutely love hearing from you everyday! I feel a little bad I can't respond everyday - but what can you do - right?? I am having a great time - it is very true about what everyone says - after you make it past your first sunday - weeks just speed by - it is already Friday! So to answer your question - my P-Days are Friday! It was so nice - I got to go to the temple this morning and do initiatories - you definitely have to go back and do those sometime - they are so nice! I don't even know where to start in talking about my week... I guess I'll start from the beginning! Sunday was awesome! We have a sacrament meeting with my branch and the first part of it is in Portuguese - we sing the hymns and have sacrament in portuguese and then they call up two people randomly to give a really short talk about the christlike attribute they assigned for that week - IN PORTUGUESE! I am so scared of being called up! Luckily this week is fast sunday so I have an extra week to learn a little more Portuguese... We have relief society with all the sister missionaries and before that we get to watch music and the spoken word on a big screen in the gym area here - which is where we also have relief society and devotionals - and that was so nice to hear music!! We get a little music deprived here - since we can't listen to any!!! I am also in the MTC choir - which is so awesome! We have an hour practice on Sunday and then an hour practice on Tuesday right before the Tuesday night devotional - which this week was by Elder M Russell Ballard! That's right! I got to sing for Elder M. Russell Ballard! How cool is that?! His devotional was awesome because it was all advice specifically for us! He is awesome! He spoke to us about communication. One amazing thing here is singing Called to Serve with all the missionaries here! That wasn't the song we sang for the choir - but we also sang that song - and it was amazing! Wednesday morning we do service - well at least that is when my district does it - and we get to clean! Yay! I was really scared I would have to clean bathrooms - but luckily me and sister brooks just had to vaccuum and dust and wash windows - not too bad! Also the weather has been super nice this week so we've been able to study outside and go outside for gym time - so we played more sand volleyball! People here definitely don't follow the rules of the game like Tuesday night volleyball... I miss that! It is still fun though - and I can actually hold my own pretty well - surprisingly enough... On Thursday we had our first TRC experience (Teaching Resource Center) this is where people come and volunteer and we teach them an actual lesson! I had no idea we did that already after the first week! We started out having to pretend that we were going contacting - so we talked to 3 different people for five-ish minutes about our message and asked if we could come back and talk to them - IN PORTUGUESE! We practiced this a lot before we went so I felt pretty confident about it - but we've only talked to people who are also learning Portuguese - apparently they talk a lot slower - because the first person we talked to talked SO FAST! I hardly understood anything he said! I just kind of nodded and tried to catch on to a few words - but I was pretty much lost the entire time... Luckily the 2nd and 3rd person talked a little slower so I could understand a lot more with them! Lets just say - I am definitely not ready to go talk to any Brazilians yet... After that - my companion and I went back to the last room we were in to teach the first lesson in English - thank goodness! It went pretty well - I felt like we did a good job of teaching the material - but they emphasize a lot in the mtc the importance of relating the lesson to the investigator and connecting with them - I definitely think we could have improved on that - I have been really trying to learn how to listen and follow the spirit in what I do - especially teaching a lesson - but that's definitely a learning process and I still have a lot to learn! Next week we'll teach the first lesson again and then the next two weeks we'll teach the 2nd lesson twice and then we have to do it all over again - but in Portuguese! I honestly don't know how we're going to do that! But missionaries have the gift of tongues - so I'll definitely be relying on that gift!! Other than that - I've been studying - A LOT! We get about four or more hours of just study time on our own or with a companion - which is actually really great - you'd think that that is a ton - but it's really not when you have SO MUCH to study! I have the scriptures and preach my gospel and I have lessons to prepare and a language to learn! It's crazy - I really thought I'd get bored of reading the scriptures every single day so much - but now that I realize I have so much to learn - I don't know why I even thought that in the first place!!! It's great to hear everything is going well at home! Sounds like things are slowing down quite a bit - which is nice! It's definitely nice to have a day that is not completely booked where I can get some laundry done and write letters and get stuff from the bookstore and take my time because every single other day is completely filled with things to do! 6 am to 9:30 pm and then I get to my room, get ready for bed, read my letters, write in my journal, and then go to bed and wake up and do it all over again! It is exhausting - but I love it - and like you know - I've always loved having a busy schedule! Anyways - the scary timer is blinking at me once again! I wish I could type all my letters - because my hands are dying from all the writing! Gotta build up that endurance after being out of school for so long! I can't wait to hear from you soon! Love you all!! Keep being awesome! Until next week...

Love,
Sister Dunlop