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