We received our first letter from Emily today. Val got the mail and placed it on the table unopened with the idea that we would open and read it all together as a family. I didn't know this...or think of it. I, instead, opened and read it all by myself. When Val explained his reason for saving it, I declared "Mother's right" to open it ASAP and read it so I would know what is happening to my daughter. This is, after all, the longest I have ever gone without hearing from her. So, here, in part, is what she wrote:
"The MTC is amazing! Very scary and very hard but it is a wonderful place. I walked into my class right when I got there and my teacher immediately started speaking Portuguese to me. Definitely not what I was expecting. We learned an entire basics Portuguese lesson already. We are required to learn the purpose in PMG [Preach My Gospel] in Portuguese by Sunday. And every time we learn new words or phrases we have to speak them all the time.
OK. There is so much to tell but so little time so I'll just jot down the jist of my first day.
-My companion is Sister J. [people will be referred to by initial only] I adore her already. She's from Utah (Weber City). She's 20 and she is assigned to Belo Horasanche (sp?), Brazil.
-We are in a room of 4. It's air conditioned!
-M.A. [daughter of Val's former MTC district sister mentioned in last post] is my sister trainer! She lives next door! She is leaving next week or 2 though. Her and her 3 other roommates still don't have their visas. They will find out where they are each reassigned soon. It will be US english speaking. When/if their visas ever come they get to choose if they want to stay or go. Sister A said that this will probably happen to us four as well and the rest of our district (12 of us... 8 Elders and 4 Sisters). Kind of frustrating but they have such a happy/chill attitude about it that I figure I can too.
-My p-days are Tuesdays. We get an hour to email. And we get to go to the temple at 7:10am every p-day (with our entire district).
-My name tag is so cool. I love it. We also get a card that says we are legal ministers! And a missionary I.D. card that get's $8 a week for bookstore stuff (which is all 40% off of marked price). [That made us smile. Same old Emily-- loves to shop and spend $ even if it is only $8!]
-I live on MTC campus. Bottom two floors are elders and top two are sister. There is a card swipe for each floor though so there's no possible way to cross paths. Plus no one would try anyway.
-Everyone is SO happy ALL the time.
-I'm exhausted. We actually get up at 5:30 -_-. Oh well. Tudo bem.
Wish I could write more but I've got to study! I love you all and I love this gospel! Ciao!
Love, Sister Heyer (Uma Missionaria da Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Ultimos Dias.)
Scriptures and quotes Emily included in the margins:
2 Nephi 33:1
2 Nephi 2:8
Mosiah 4:27
"We are not teaching lessons. We are teaching people."-my language teacher
"Which road is harder? Whichever is harder--choose that one."-investigator "Doug"
"People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."-unknown (to me)
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