1st Letter

Hey Mom!

This is my first p-day at the MTC. I only get p-days on Tuesday so thats why its been so long. The MTC is so much fun here. We wake up at 6am, get dressed and go to breakfast to be at class by 7:00.  We're already teaching our first "investigator" named Joam in portuguese, but we are by no means fluent.  Turns out most people here took some Spanish and are getting the language much faster, but it is coming along. Most of our day is spending studying either portuguese or preparing our next lesson in portuguese, its crazy.  We taught our first lesson in our language on Friday, and that was really difficult. My companion, Elder Landro, took AP Spanish so he has a pretty good grasp on the language already for how much time we've been learning it, so he is the one who mostly talks, but our lessons are still mostly scripts, though we are trying to get away from those. Here at the MTC we don't get to back to residence until 9:30pm after a full day of teaching so by then we are exaushted. Sundays and p-days are the best, b/c we don't have to work as hard and have some time to relax.   My district had 13 people in it on Wednesday, but we're already down to 11, and two are walking injured. Two people left early today for the Brazil MTC b/c their visas cleared and everybody can't wait to get one. One person has a concussion and the other dislocated his shoulder on Friday in gym. Makes for an exciting day.

There is a lot of food here, though not all of it good. I've learned to beware the waffles b/c they are like cardboard, no joke. But on the whole, it is pretty good and you can eat as much as you want. I've been trying to watch how much I've eaten so I don't gain a lot of weight here b/c we  only get to exercise for 50 minutes a day. Tell Tom when he gets to the MTC, he NEEDS to exercise b/c most of the day is spent in a chair. 

I've seen a few ward members around the MTC which is a little weird at times. I've seen Austin Gorge, Brenna Donnelly, Seth and Katie Percival from first ward. I've only seen them really in passing when we're hurrying from one place to the other. Thanks for all the mail and packages.  Its so cool to get something in the mail.  I did get your package and a package from Uncle Michael so if you could tell him thank you for me. I've been sharing all the goodies with the people from my district b/c I'm really the only one getting food and I've have quite a bit of it. Could you send me address both email and house address for people in the ward and friends that I have on facebook, b/c most of the time I can only get a physical letter sent during the regular week and can only email on Tuesdays for max 1 hr.  Its been a lot of fun here though! I hopefully will be able to see Joshua when he gets here tomorrow! Obrigado!

Love Ben

P.S. I can't email pictures right now b/c the MTC computers won't let me, so I 'll try to find a way, but it may have to wait. Sorry.