Oi, minha familia e amigos!!

 

This week has been really quite fantastic!! I LOVE the CTM. The Spirit is so strong here!! Every meeting we have, every devotional and church meeting...the Spirit is amazing! There really is something so different about being with a group of people who are all focused on the same thing, at the same time. It's incredible.

 

Last week Elder Scott spoke at the Provo MTC, we got to watch it here in the CTM on Sunday for devotional! I loved it so much and took TONS of notes. He spoke about prayer and how Heavenly Father put us on earth to SUCCEED!! He talked a lot about asking the right questions. Something he said that really struck me hard was: "A withheld answer [to a prayer] is evidence of His trust in you." I love that!! Just because we don't get an immediate answer, it doesn't mean He's not listening--He trusts us to make the right decision!!!!

 

P-Days here in the CTM are the BEST. We get to go to the Sao Paulo temple in the morning, then we can head over to the Distrubition Center (so far I've gotten nice Portuguese scriptures there, Pregar Meu Evangelho, and a pic of the temple)...things in the DC here are SO much cheaper than in the states, btw. The temple is SO beautiful, I wish I could send pictures!! But no sending pictures in the CTM. :P

 

My Portuguese is getting so much better!! I can actually complete sentences. I love talking to everyone I see. I feel like a little kid who is just learning to talk and read, so I talk to everybody and then read every Portuguese word we pass by on the bus to the temple...I love it. :)

Fun fact: It takes about an hour and a half for us to drive to the temple in the mornings (rush hour traffic)... that's the farthest I've ever had to drive to get to a temple!! Ever!! I've been blessed, that's for sure!!

 

I love teaching lessons. I am getting better and better at teaching with every lesson that I give and every pesquisador (investigator) that I speak with...The Spirit is so real, I know that I could not do any of this on my own. There's no way I would be learning Portuguese this fast, and there's no way I would be teaching people about the gospel in Portuguese by myself. I know that Heavenly Father will use me as an instrument if I am willing and ready!!!

 

My favorite scripture this week is in Helaman chapter 10. Verses 4-5 hit me!! Nefi got down too, which showed me that even the best missionaries aren't happy all the time. But I love the counsel that the Lord gives him in these verses. So inspiring to me.

 

I hope you are all doing well! Muito amor de Brasil!! <3

 

Sister Hill

Querido familia e amigos,

 

Ola from Sao Paulo, Brazil! I made it!!

 

This week has been hard but good, as missions are. :) The CTM is so much fun, I do love it here. The food here is fantastic, I love eating lots of funny things Brazil has...rice and beans every meal but breakfast, all the elders in my district drink 'guarana' (yes they have it here in the CTM--Google it), and meat. Mm.

 

Brasil is such an incredible country, I've only been here for one week and I love seeing how amazing it is!! The people are so beautiful, and so kind. I love talking with the Brasilians here at the CTM--we have to work hard to communicate but they're hilarious, I love getting to know the other missionaries here from other countries. My favorites are the Argentines. They're hysterical.

 

My district is me, Sister Heck, (minha companheira), and 8 18-year-old boys fresh out of high school. Yippee. Haha, they're not too bad. Kinda crazy, but I know that they will grow out of it eventually.

 

My companion Sister Heck is from Idaho! She's a cutie. We're very different but we can work together when we have the Spirit and put our minds into it.

 

I've always read from my friends in the MTC that the days go by veeeery slowly...THEY, WEREN'T, LYING. I've only been here 7 days and it feels like I've been here for a month. That's what 16-hour-days do to you. You wake up at 6:30 and by the time you're in bed at 10:30 you've accomplished more than you ever thought you could. That's how it is for me, anyway...I'm accomplishing more by noon than I did at home in an entire day. (haha.)

 

The language is not hard!!!!!!!!!! I'm picking it up really fast...people are always asking me about words and how to say things, they assume I know but really I just seem smart in class. Lol. Portuguese is an amazing language, yes it's a little similar to Spanish but if you say something in Spanish to a Brasilian they very well could be offedned. It's funny. You gotta make sure you separate your Portuguese and your Spanish. :) I get frustrated when I can't understand th Brasilians because I really really really want to talk to them, but I know that I will get this language eventually!! A goal of mine is to know more Portuguese today than I did yesterday. And so far, I've been doing great at that!! Love learning the language.

And it's a toooon easier to learn Portuguese when you're immersed in it. I really only speak English to my companion and my district. Love it.

 

We got to go to the Sao Paulo temple this morning!!! That was such an amazing experience, the temple is BEAUTIFUL!! Much smaller than any other temple I've ever been in, all of the ordinance rooms are on one floor...but I love that the Spirit is the same all around the world!! The gospel in Brazil is the SAME gospel in Utah! I love that!!!!!!

 

Have a wonderful week!!

 

Muito amor,

 

Sister Hill <3

 

P.S. If you thought I was attached to my phone before, I'm more attached to my watch now. #alwayshavetoknowwhattimeitis

 

Tweet of the week: 

If one more person asks me what time 15h00 is I might poke them. With a really pointy pencil. #sorryyoudontknowmilitarytime #sorrynotsorry

They're letting us email family right now:) thank you for the emails. I got here safely! Brazil is SO beautiful, I love it already. I didn't really know what to expect here at the MTC, but it is good so far. The people are nice, I'm fine with the fact that I can't understand anything yet. I'm grateful for the promise from the Lord when I was set apart that I will not have difficulties learning the language. That has given me much hope.

 

My cold actually got worse today. It was pretty bad on the 9-hour flight to Sao Paolo...that wasn't fun. Scratchy throat and kind of runny nose right now. But I've been pounding Vitamin C and just took a Zinc lozenge, praying hard that it will not last too long. :)

 

I will let you know as soon as I find out about mailing. It sounds like you can mail letters to the MTC...I don't think you can mail packages? Not sure yet. I've only been at the MTC for about 2 1/2 hours now. Not very long.

 

Sister Heck from Idaho is my first MTC companion! We are the only 2 sisters that got here today that are brand new to the mission!! All of the other sisters have been waiting for their visa for months and months, a couple sisters have been waiting 14 MONTHS. Lots of elders who have been waiting long times, too. Sister Heck and I are grateful we have been blessed to come here. The other sisters/elders that have been waiting for visas will only be here in the Brazil MTC for 12 days, I'm here for 6 weeks.

 

The rooms are nicer than I thought! Not too small. We have a shower in our room, had a hot shower after breakfast this morning which was SO nice after traveling for 24 hours. I smelled pretty awful. O.o

 

I know that I will be okay here! Heavenly Father is looking out for me. I can't understand Portuguese right now, and I know that I am not a perfect teacher, but I pray that the Spirit will guide my thoughts and my words as I prepare to teach that I can know how to be an instrument in the Lord's hands.

 

Weird thing: No clothing hangers. -_- Guess I'm folding up all of my shirts and skirts for now. Sigh. #shouldvepackedhangers

 

I love you and miss you already!!! But I'm happy here, not too homesick. I know that the Lord will protect me. He has plans for me after this mission, this is just a little break that I am devoting to Him. He'll keep me safe. Tell the family I say hello!! Please pray that my mind will be open and that I will be able to focus even though I am not feeling too well.

 

Much love!!! xoxoxoxoxo <3 <3 <3

Sister Hill

Hello! McKenna (soon-to-be Sister) Hill here. I will be dropped off at the airport next Tuesday (IN ONE WEEK!) to head to the Brazil Missionary Training Center! This blog will be updated with weekly emails I send home to my family! My mom will keep it updated. It is very difficult to mail things to Brazil, so if you would like to keep in touch, email would be best! I'm excited to serve the Lord--the gospel is true!!