MTC Pictures

Week 3

Familia!

Hi all, I am alive and definitely well! I am not sick anymore which is really awesome. I am really glad to be not coughing anymore! My days here at the CTM are starting to blur. This past week for Thanksgiving the cafeteria staff did a good job of decorating and trying to cook american food for the holiday. No rice and beans! There were rolls. However they were like bricks. The morning of Thanksgiving most of the American missionaries sat at the federal police to get their visas okayed. I was there for over 4 hours. It was really forever.

Okay- Quickly a couple funny stories: Last week after I emailed Sis. Timario and I went and walked around Sao Paulo and we walked down this sketch street (All streets are sketch to me here) Any way we are walking and then a dog sitting on the other side of the street started growling and it started edging toward me. Sis. Timario evidentally didn't notice. I started to back down the street and I had to yell to her to come back because the dog was coming at me growling. We ended up not walking up that street and just returned the way we came.

Second funny story- I got in the shower yesterday... As I was closing the doors a huge cockroach fell on me. I freaked. It skuttled really quickly all over the bathroom. I screamed and sister Timario thought I fell and got hurt. But, I wound up running out of the bathroom in my towel and shutting the door until the Brazillians got back to kill it for us. It was really huge. And disgusting.

Our Brazillian roommates Sister Lima and Sister Medrado left today. They were both super cool. Tomorrow we are getting a sister from the Provo MTC and we will become a trio which should be cool unless she is super weird. The CTM is really backed up on receiving missionaries from the US I think Provo has like 70 ish missionaries that should be here but don't have visas because of the storm on the east coast and because the LA consulate is or was closed. So we should be getting a ton of missionaries all of the sudden when things start opening back up.

Also, There is no more hostess? What? ha ha

Love you all,

Sister Hoopes

PS write me por favor!

Week 2

HAPPY ALMOST THANKSGIVING! I hope you guys eat a ton of food and especially rolls in my honor. So, I have just finished my second week here at the CTM. Time goes by slow, yet so fast at the same time. Speaking of fast the minutes are already ticking aways so this will be a real fast letter.

 

So last week I got sick. So weird for me right? I tried to tough it out because it was just a foggy head, runny nose and a cough. But eventually I caved and tried to see the CTM doctor but he had pday so he was not available. The night before was so bad for my sickness that I didn't get any sleep and working all day literally was beyond exhausting. So the night that I didn't get into the doctor, I took a little white pill from my Brazilian roomate. I don't really know what it was. Sorry Parents  I know you would strongly advise against this, but it put me right to sleep. Since then I feel like I have been getting better and I did see the actual doctor and he gave me the grossest medicine I have ever had in my life. I do have a confession though, I sleep on the top bunk, super hard to quickly get up and down from and the other night I woke up coughing and I realized it might be more than just coughins so as I was trying to get down from my bed I vomitted all over my blanket and shirt and my hands. Too much information probably... So moving on- Weather. I was expecting the weather here to be super hot and unbearable. But, it's not. It has actually rained pretty regularly and the weather is quite comfortable. I am quite a bit south of Brasilia though, I think. The AC in the CTM is also way too high most of the time, so I kind of wish I had brought more cardigans. But, it's all good. Life in general at the CTM is pretty solid, especially for sister missionaries. We are always first in line even if we show up late. We also always get to sit in front in class and at conferences and devotionals. Last week we heard from elder Costa the area 70. It was a really great talk on missionary work. My favorite quote was "Don't miss a day of your mission" though. Church on Sundays is cool except for the fact that they don't tell you if you are speaking until they announce it at the pulpit. I got the priviledge/honor of doing so this last Sunday. It went well though. Luckily, I got to speak in English. I was definitely not surprised being called either. My money was on either me or my companion sister Timario since we are the only girls in the branch. My Portuguese is still a work in progress. I am really struggly to say the words with correct pronunciation. I read them like English words. I just can't help it!

 

Okay, I know this is short but this is all for now... I love you all,

                                                                                            Sister Hoopes =)

 

PS A kid who left a little bit before me from my Highland ward was in the same branch I am in here. He just left this last week for his area though.... so that was short lived. Heber may be particularly interested to know this- his name is Miles Jewell.

Week 1

Oi Folks! This computer is ticking the time away though so I will try to write as fast as possible. I made it to BRAZIl. The trip was pretty... LONG. Like longest trip of my life. I got to the airport in Boise early with dad and another missionary Kyle Smith was being dropped off by his family as well. We both traveled all the way to Brazil together along with a set of twins from Kuna (Elder Tippetts squared). The trip to Salt Lake was fast but the rest of the trip was soooooooo long. we had two long layover and we didn't catch up with any other Brazil missionaries until we got to Atlanta. There were a ton of us. 26 I think. Luckily the whole trip I got to sit in the aisle and I was always in the seat next to one of the Elder Tippetts. All the other missionaries on the other flights were super spread out. So, my plans to ensure that traveling would be fast and easy didn't really workout... like at all. I decided not to sleep Monday night so I would sleep on the plan. That did not happen and by the time we got to the CTM I was exhausted, but it was 8 am and they said we couldnt go to bed early. So we had to go to classes (mostly in Portuguese) all day long. 10 pm. That is when i got to bed. BEST sleep I have ever had. I am not fluent in Portuguese. However I can understand what my teacher says in class. That is probably because he talks really slow and uses hand gestures and has an expressive face. My companion sister Timario is pretty good with the language though. She took 7 years of spanish- so she might have a step up from me. I have two teachers here Irma Monique and Irmao Ricardo. They are both really good teachers and really funny. My life thus far is pretty much eat. class. eat. class. eat. devotional/fireside. sleep. Today was the first day I have gotten to leave the CTM, it was awesome we went to the temple. Also, the flight attendants did notify us that Obama won. Oh my goodness, I really can only imagine what facebook looked like. I have about 5 friends who openly admitted to liking Obama and the rest were pro Romney or just not talking about it. Okay So I am down to very little time so I have to end this. I will write the letter in advance next week so it doesn't sound so random like I am sure this one did. Love you all!

 

Love, Sister Hoopes

PS please write me real mail! No one in our district has received anything. I think it would make my life. Really. Also, snail mail takes like 1-3 weeks to arrive. Thats just what I hear. Oh and if you are sending packages send them to my mission home... and they will get it to me. if you send it to the CTM they will probably just return it. =)

Goodbye; I'm Fleeing the Country on Election Day

My vote is in. My bags are finally packed. My name tag is pinned to my shirt. I am an official full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint! I was set apart Sunday evening in La Grande by President Orton. My parents, Aunt Nancy, Uncle Heber and Brother Scrivner were all there for the momentous occasion.

Monday I spent my first day as a missionary and my last day at home up in the mountains getting wood with my dad and uncle Kenny. The weather was perfect, the mountains were beautiful, the smell of tree sap was quite desirable, and apparently the tree we got was perfect as well. All in all, it was a pretty great way to spend my last day in Oregon for a while.

It is 1 a.m. Tuesday morning as I write this. I have opted not to sleep tonight with the hope that I will be able to sleep during my travels. My dad and I are leaving in an hour (2 a.m.) to drive 2 hours to Boise so I can catch my early flight to Salt Lake City where I have a four hour layover. I will then fly to Atlanta, and following about a 3 hour layover there, I will catch my final 10 hour flight to Sao Paulo. Long and exciting. I should be arriving at 8:15 Wednesday morning. I am nervous, excited and a bit scared out of my mind!

I am sure I will have plenty of stories/exciting thoughts to share about my travels and about Brazil when I get to send my first pday letter! But for now I would just like to say sorry to everyone who I missed officially saying goodbye to. This last couple of weeks of my preparation has been a bit hectic. I love you all and I hope to get letters from you guys often! Alicia should be keeping up this blog with my current mailing address or letters can always be sent via dearelder.com!
Goodbye for now- Happy Election Day, GO VOTE, and stay awesome. See you all in18 months, but hopefully I hear from you sooner than that!

Sister Hoopes