O CTM e muito chique-chique (sweet!)

Ok, This week has been pretty great, but not as crazy as last week.... first things first: I found my scriptures about an hour or 2 after I emailed last week. I guess someone thought that it was theirs, but then realized it wasn't, and then turned it into the lost and found. But thank you so much for caring and all the prayers :) 

SO on Sunday, we normally have interviews with our branch presidency, but this time, both my companion, Sister Schumacher, and I were called in, and we were asked to be the new zone Sister Training Leaders!!!! It's kind of like the zone leaders, but just for the Sisters. So on Wednesday, we had a new district arrive in our zone, so as the Sister Training Leaders, we welcomed them and showed them around, and made sure they are comfortable, etc. It's more responsibility, but that also means more room for blessings, right?

Today is the last day we can go to the temple before it closes, so who knows what we are going to do during our next P-days.... Oh, and I saw uncle Scott last week in the temple, but he didn't see me because he was working with someone else. Oh well, it was still neat :)

Random note: my branch presidency is super nice, but they are kind of strict. They asked us to not ever write letters unless it is P-Day, and although we have slightly more personal time on P-day, it is still very limited, and it's hard to write to everyone I want to. SO just know that I love you all!! Our theme of our branch is: obedience brings blessings, but exact obedience brings miracles.

Sooo, teaching in Portuguese: pretty good. We finished with our first investigator, Geferçon, and now we are teaching two more: Silmara and Batista. Yeah, apparently Brazilians have interesting names...

Well Silmara is a woman whose husband was a member but died, and she's super sad and quiet, and we can never hear what she's saying. We always have to ask her to repeat herself, not because we can't understand her, but because she speaks so quietly WE CAN'T HEAR HER!!! But, those lessons are SSSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good! Like the spirit is so strong every time, and she even committed to baptism... after she learns everything of course. and I was so proud of her yesterday: she said a prayer in front of us! Sometimes we forget that when an investigator prays, this may be the very first time they've ever talked to Heavenly Father in their lives. 

Ok, and Batista. I am at a loss with him. He wants to do good, and his wife just got baptized and his son is on a mission too, but I am having a hard time figuring out what his needs are. 

And this is a good thing though: I am now more worried about what the needs of my investigators are than how I am going speak. I feel like I can talk about pretty much anything in the evangelho de Jesus Cristo, so I am focusing on more the investigators rather than the lessons themselves. 

The food is ok. Kind of makes me feel "no jento" (gross) so I eat salad and wraps mostly.

 On Wednesday, the 2 other districts from my zone got their reassignments!!! (sorry, no DC SOUTH missions :( ) Well it was CRAZYYYY!! You know how a missionary feels when their get their mission call and the anticipation and everything,and then they open it and freak out. Well imagine almost 20 missionaries opening their calls at the same time. And they have already had this crazy 6 week training of the spirit. Yeah, it was super awesome.

Well, I love you all!!! Please write me some dearelder letters!!!!! That is one of the best parts of the day! 

Eu sei que este igreja e verdaderia, e que Deua amo todos Suas filhos. Eu sou grato por a expiação de Jesus Cristo e que quando nós arrepedemento, nós pedemos não tem nossos pecados. Eu amo voçes!!!

Sister Eliason

Ps. Sorry if what I wrote in Portuguese is not spelled at all correctly. We speak a TON more than we write.

Primeiro semana!

 I love the CTM!!!! (MTC) The first week was CRAZY though!!!! WE didn't have any downtime at all! After I was dropped off, I dropped off my bags in my room and went straight to my class where we were instructed in Portuguese for 3 hours. YEah, like no english. That night, we went into different classes and taught some "pesquisadors" (investigators) as a group. but..... on Friday, my companion and I taught our first pesquisador for 30 minutes. in portuguese. They seriously throw you right in there! We have taught him 5 times now, and have made some pretty good progress. It is difficult because we are not comfortable with the language at all, and we don't really conjugate, but he gets what we mean. Oh and teaching the restoration was hard because it's difficult to teach about Joseph Smith when you don't know how to speak in the past tense. Go ahead, try one minute of speaking about Joseph Smith without speaking in the past tense. see, it's hard.

But oh well. I LOVE IT HERE! and minha companheria is soooooo AMAZING! Seriously! And she's going to Porto Alegre Norte! I told elder eliason that he should look for her when she gets down there. She's from northeastern Colorado, and lived on a farm and loves goats. She has a great sense of humor, but is super spiritual too. I really know that we were put into companionships NOT by accident. We both don't want to get our visas for another 5 weeks so we can stay companions.

 Oh man, my thoughts are all over the place- I have so much I want to say. Well, I also am roommate companions with my old friend Sister (emily) Gates from Virginia! We went to the same singles ward, and it's kind of weird but awesome that we see each other 24/7! And HER companion, Sister Moody, is SOOOOOO FUNNY! We can't be around her for more than 2 minutes before she cracks a joke. I don't think it's really possible to describe her.

So people say to survive the first week of the MTC until Sunday, and that is so true! Sunday is a nice relief and you don't have any class. You have personal language study time though.  Guess WHAT!!?!??! Elder L. Tom Perry came for devotional on Tuesday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was AMAZING! perks of being in Provo... it was really neat to hear him speak directly to us missionaries. 

The days here are kind of the same: get up- eat- class- personal study/ comp study- eat- computer language study- class- eat- gym- language study (couple hours)- sleep

But it's so inspired here! I feel the spirit ALL the time!

My teacher's name is irmao McKinley, and he is super nice. He really cares about us and our language. and then yesterday we got another teacher: irma Tirrell (pronounced Ch-ee-helll) and she is likewise just so wonderful! I learned so much yesterday! Oh, and I have the purpose, the first vision, and the baptismal challenge all memorized in Portuguese. It actually helps a lot.

The only downer really is that the food kind of makes me feel not so great. I've been sticking to salads and yogurt and cereal and soup mostly.

We get to go to the temple today and I'm soooo excited! We keep waiting for neve (snow) but alas, it's raining today. 

Oh, On Sunday we watched a video of Elder Bednar's Christmas Devotional at the MTC called: the doctrine of Christ. It is seriously one of my favorite talks ever. My zone leaders said that it would change my mission, and it has. YOU NEED TO GO WATCH IT!!! YOUTUBE IT OR WHATEVER, BUT GO WATCH IT! IT's like an hour, but it is SUPER DUPER AMAZING! (ps, he imitates the cookie monster, and that itself is pretty awesome.)  And Madre, if you  could print that out and send it to me, I would love you forever. :) 

I will try to figure out how to send some pictures... loading pics is weird here.

One last thing that has been on my mind: this morning I was doing laundry and I set my scriptures and soap and bag down and left to do something. Well I came back, and my scriptures were GONE. I have no idea where they are! I don't know if someone picked it up by accident thinking it was theirs, but please pray to help me find them! Thank you!! 

I love you all, and I know that this church is true! I love it and I am just so happy to be here on my mission!

Te amo, Tchau!

Sister Eliason

P.S. I no longer say "hi" to anyone anymore. I say "oi!"

What To Bring On A Mission - According To Elder Eliason

Here is the e-mail I got from my brother, Elder Eliason, via 3 days before I leave on my mission:

So, I created a list for things that youl will need to bring with you...actually I asked a family of less actives that we reactivated to create the list. the list includes but not exclusively:

4 pairs of underwear

1 pistol

4 pounds of pure gold

1 hammer

1 machete

1 table saw

crayons

30 pairs of shoes

a change of clothes

glasses

1 photo frame to put a photo of your older brother who also is on the mission to show to your companions and make them jealous.  also his email address.

6 rocks

peanuts

nuttella

1 monkey.

50 galons of sunscreen.

I hope that that pretty summs it up :)

te amo, boa sorte.

EE

Here is a picture of my brother: 

Gotta love him!

MTC Address

Hey Everyone! My MTC address is :

Sister Brittany Lee Eliason
DEC17  BRA-LON
2007 N 900 E Unit  54
Provo UT 84602

I LOVE LETTERS, so please write!

Also, the site dearelder.com is wonderful because you can write to me in the MTC for free and I will receive the letter the same day! Please do it! 

Love,
Sister Eliason