Elder Keller & Elder Phillips in Sao Paulo

Elder Keller & Elder Phillips in Sao Paulo

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Week #1 in the CTM! August 29, 2014

holy cow!!!!!! i dont have a lot of time and i have a ton of things i have to tell you guys so im gonna try to go as fast as possible! plus i left my notebook with everything i was gonna write about in my room so im probalby gonna forget a ton of things! haha but yeah elder holland spoke to us the second day i was here!!! how crazy is that??? i can honestly say i have never seen a more spiritually powerful man in my life before. plus we allgot to shake his hand. so cool!!!! so to begin he started with talking about our purpose as missionaries is to "invite other" and he asked to invite others to what?his point is that we have something special and we have to give it to other people. but i mean there arent words to describe the power and the spirit that he brought to the mtc here. he lit a fire in all 300missionaries here and left making sure we knew exactlyhow passionate he felt about this gospel. it was honestly one of thecoolest things in my entire life and i know i will never forget it. at a couple different times in the talk he was literally pounding his fists against the pulpit and yelling into the mic! i mean the dude does not care what anyone thinks about him, he just wanted to make sure that we got it into our heads that a mission is absolutely the most important thing we can ever possibly do in our entire lives and that wehave to give upthese two years for the lord because there isnt anyone else to do it. i dont know if i should be writing about this but at one point in his talk he said that when a missionary comes home or when a returned missionarty gives up on the gospel and falls away from the church it makes him want to shoot himself. haha definitely not coming home for two years! i mean i wish i could have just taken a video and sent it to you guys because when he isnt in front of the whole church i think it enables him to get a little crazier. but he knows how to do that and slam you in the face with the spirit at the same time. i mean there is NO possible way i can deny that this church is true after hearing that guy speak.
but anyways the first week and a half has been survived and i got to go to the campinas temple this morning! so cool! the ctm is alright but i already want to get out of here haha the language is coming really well and spanish helps so much! its just that in my lessons i speak like half spanish and it always confuses the investigator... haha but oh ya! i have to say really quickly a super cool experience, my comp e. heaton prayed one night to have a priesthood experience soon and so we are teaching a brazilian member the next day and at the end of the lesson we ask him if he needs help with anything (this is all in portuguese btw) and so he then turns to us and tells us how he is actually sick and needs a priesthood blessing. i just turned to heaton and asked him like did that guy really just ask us to give him a blessing? and he was like yeah i think so. so i turn to the guy and said in portuguese? and hes like yeah and then i said now? and hes like yeah. so me and heaton were just like alright lets do this thing! so we asked the guy for some help on the exact wording before hand and then my comp annointed him, i sealed the annointing and then gave him a blessing! i dont remember exactly what i said all i know is portuguese words that i knew came to my mind and so i said them and it ended up making sense. i didnt say much but i went until i felt like i needed to say amen and then ended the blessing. that was like 2 days ago i think and it was honestly one of the coolest things in the world! the power of the priesthood is real and i know that with all my heart! my first blessing with the melchidez priesthood was in portuguese and theres no way that could happen if god wasnt there to help me. missions are the most amazing things in the world! holland was defintiely right.
but anyways about my comp! his name is elder heaton adn hes from utah. ill try to get pictures to you guys but there are so many rules here and its hard to find a free wifi thing. but hes a great guy and so far were getting along well. hes a little quiet but hes starting to gain confidence in his speaking abilities in our lessons and in talking to others. but my district is awesome and i feel like were getting along great! its 12 guys in a room all day which youcan only imagine gets a little crazy sometimes but everything is awesome. its so fun to have hayden here! or elder phillips haha but im actually emailing right next to him right now haha hes totally helping me out and showing me how everything works which is super nice becasue i feel like we are cataching on faster than others.

but about the food, i was so wrong haha i had a great first impression with my first couple meals but dang do i miss america and moms cooking haha the food isnt that bad but when youre just eating mtc food for a week and a half you really start to get kind of sick of it. they have these juices though that are the best thing in the world! i dont know what they are but they taste amazing. with the food you dont really know what it is either but you just dont ask questions and eat it haha theres nothing to crazy its just that sometimes they will serve some slimy thing and youjust eat it cuz youre so hungry haha but they have the best bananas here! i think im eating like 10 a day haha but anyways im starting to run out of time so im gonna wrap it up. i know im forgetting tons of things so ill have to make sure to include it in my next email when i have my notebook. anywasy family i love and miss you so much! sorry my grammar stinks but one i dont have time and two portuguese screws up your english haha but anyways mission life is great so far! hardest thing ever and im tired all thetime but this past week and a half has been amazing and filled with amazing experiences! love and miss everyone and ill talk to you in a week!
Elder Keller

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