Brazil CTM - Week 5

My two favorite flags!

Brazil MTC

My District at the Sao Paulo temple

Last week in the CTM! Last day going to the São Paulo temple, and last email from the CTM! Think about that! Next week I'll be down in Porto Alegre, with a companion who doesn't speak a lick of english (at least I hope he doesn't)!  I am so excited to get out and really start sharing this gospel and all the new things I've learned from the CTM. As far as this week goes, we had a General Authority come and speak to us in one of our devotionals and we watched a 2013 devotional at the Provo MTC at which Elder Holland spoke for our other devotional! What a huge privilege to hear from two general authorities in the same week! Filled up 6 pages of my journal with new inspirational messages and testimony building quotes!

My study desk

Pretty much everything is the same as last week though - same food, same teachers, same district! So great!

Here is one for Jessica Gregory, if she hasn't heard already! Irma Orfila

My District at Campinas Temple

She's one of the Instructors here and she started her mission in the Salt Lake City Mission while Jessica was finishing up the last few months of her mission! Such a small world when you're mormon!

And for Logan, do you remembers Irma Marques or Irmão Guilerme when you were in the CTM.

Not much has changed here, except for my testimony, my Portuguese, my love for temples, and my love for Brazil and it's people. That has all excelled!

Roomies

When all you guys read this, take a little time and shoot me an email! I love hearing about how everything is going back in The States!

Eu amo vocês muito!

Tudo Bem em Brazil!

- Elder Scarlech (Scarlett)

Ties are super cheap - 3 for about $5 :)

Pday in the CTM Halls

Brazil CTM - Week 4

Oi meu amigos! Tudo Bem?

Not much new here at the CTM, Just some more new faces as goes every week! I love the CTM for that reason! every week there is so much change with people coming and leaving, some people can hold a conversation some still know nothing in portuguese! it´s always a humbling experience! 

The Green Beans (newly arrived missionaries AKA Greenies) we got last week are really cool though, we talk with them a lot, and they have P-Day with us so that is fantastic! 

The highlights for every week is pretty much Sabados (P-Day´s), Domingos, e Quarta-feiras (Green Bean Day)!

An elder from our district went home this week though, we all had a hard time with it. He was a great addition to the district, but going home made him so much happier for the last day, so i´m happy that he´s back home happy with his family! A mission isn't for everyone. it´s hard work that require ALL of your time and tons of faith. It's definitely something you have to be willing to do!

If there is anything I've learned this week, it's the importance of faith in this life, and specifically in this work. If you don't have faith and you don't work, nothing gets done, lessons blunder, time is wasted, the spirit doesn't teach. With Faith everything becomes possible! EVERYTHING BECOMES POSSIBLE!!!!  After I understood that, the lessons I taught with my companion were filled with the spirit! We have to WORK, for "faith without works is dead." Me and my companion study hard every day - whether it is the language, or the scriptures, we are studying. And if we aren't studying we are either praying or preparing. Then the miracles happen. Since this gelled in my mind, the lessons I've taught have been the best ever taught since coming to the CTM.

The other things I've really learned and gained a knowledge and testimony of are the principles of obedience and its direct link to blessings! It's really amazing how much we are promised!

Anyways - Tudo Bem em Brazil!

Love you guys!

Stay fantastic!

-Elder Scarlett

Brazil CTM - Week 3

Another week in the CTM and everything is still going great! 

I don't want to talk about how great my Portuguese is getting because I talk about that every time I email! but it´s starting to really take off! I still know nothing, but I'm doing so much better!

My favorite two days here in the CTM are Sundays and Fridays (P-day)! Sunday is flipping amazing because we get to listen and learn about gospel principles in ENGLISH - it´s always a total breath of fresh air! Plus the leaders that teach us are pretty amazing themselves. Its hard to imagine them not talking with the spirit!

And of course P-day! How could I not love P-days! We wake up at 5:40 in the morning get ready and leave for the temple around 6:45. Today we were able to go to the Campinas Temple! The São Paulo temple is HUGE on the inside and 100% Gorgeous! But it´s smack dab in the middle of the city so the grounds are small, still gorgeous, because it´s a temple. The Campinas Temple is Huge on the outside! So much space and so many beautiful plants and so much beautiful architecture! it´s just Great!! The inside is a bit smaller, and honestly not as stunning as the São Paulo temple, but again, it´s still a beautiful place! after all it is a temple! 

Tuesdays we have devotionals and this time we watched the broadcast from Provo, which was sent to the Brazil CTM after it had happened (Sorry Sara :) ). It was a little funny when we all sang "Called to Serve" at the beginning because all the Missionaries were pumped up and singing in Portuguese, but they sang it fast enough that we were at least a line ahead by the end of each verse! There is so much spirit in these walls, but the musical talent can be lacking sometimes :D  I love all the Brazilians here so much! Anyways I felt bad afterwards because I fell asleep during the broadcast and missed most of Elder Nelson's talk and apparently I slept through the entire Brazilian National Anthem too! I was OUT! 

We went proselyting on quinta-feira (Wednesday) and we passed out at least 64 Book of Mormons as a group - it was crazy! and super exciting! and scary! all at the same time! I didn't know half of what anyone was saying but it was so cool to see how much they still were interested about the Gospel and the blessings it could bring into their lives! Even cooler was that they were willing to accept BoMs from 18 year-old Americans who barely knew a lick of Portuguese! It was really nice to be able to do that and now I'm super pumped to get out of here and really learn some Portuguese and do some teaching!

But everything is going fantastic here!

Tudo Bem em Brazil!

 - Elder Scarlett

My mailing address - Letters only!

Centro de Treinamento Missionário

Rua Padre Antõnio D´angelo, 121 - Casa Verde

CEP 02516-040 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil

Brazil CTM - Week 2

IT'S A MAD ONE HERE AT THE CTM!!

The CTM just keeps getting better and better! That being said, I am so ready to get out of this place! Not because I'm tired of the CTM or anything like that, I am just ready to get out there and teach the Gospel! 

As for the CTM getting better and better, every week I get better at the language! I can now teach entire lessons and even have small discussions! I understand about 75% of what the teachers teach now, and I'm starting to understand when I read the scripture in Portuguese! I've always believed in the gift of tongues, but it's to weird to have it! 

As far as my district goes, they're awesome! The sisters in my district got reassigned so that was a little sad, but we´re still going strong!

And I was on a MAD ONE!

TWICE!

in the SAME DAY!

Story time (Caution: involves Bodily fluids)

So me and my district were at lunch chatting it up. Usual stuff,  laughing, a lot! I can't remember the specific circumstances, all I remember was that I had a drink of water in my mouth when somebody said something, and we were all laughing! 2 options, swallow water or spit it out.  I'm too polite to spit it out, so i swallow it! Naturally the better idea, right? 

Horribly wrong.  So nobody told me this, so I'll tell you guys - don't swallow water while you're laughing hard - it's not a fun experience. You see, what actually happens is that you gag then water comes out of your mouth...

and your nose! But let´s not stop there! 

So if you know what siphoning is then you know how useful it is for stealing gasoline. The same effect isn't as fun when your stomach is involved, because I tasted my lunch twice! After the water came out my stomach was like, "But wait! There's more!" So don't swallow water while you´re laughing really hard!

That was MAD ONE #1

MAD ONE #2 

Same day, Wednesday is pizza night in the CTM and they have tons of great pizza so we had a pizza eating contest! My goal was seven, and I beat everyone with seven. But I love me some Banana Chocolate pizza, so I ended up downing 10 instead! Keep in mind this isn't Little Caesar's pizzas, these are full on Brazilian Pizzas! It was so good! So now I've been on two MAD ONE's according to my district :D

As fun as the CTM is, it's so hard - teaching 2-3 lessons a day for 20-30 minutos is muito deficil! Not to mention pretty much the rest of the time is spent sitting in a chair listening to someone speaking only Portuguese! I've never had my mental capacity tested so much in my life! I'm mentally exhausted by the end of each day! But I can't imagine doing anything else right now! I, along with every other missionary here, and all of our leaders, were called of God to help teach his Gospel and bring his children unto Christ! How great of a call is that! How great is it to be able to share that calling with tens of thousands of other people! I know that my purpose as a missionary, to invite all to come unto Chist, will help many people.

Love you all!

tudo bem em Brazil!

 - Elder John Scarlett

john.scarlett@myldsmail.net

Brazil CTM - Week 1

Hello everyone!

By far best week ever! Hardest, but best! The language is crazy, and so hard to pick up but I'm a week in and I can communicate pretty well with the Brazileiros now! The food here is great! The dormitorios are great! The people are the best! I love my instructors so much, even if I can only understand half of what they are saying but it is still fantastic!

We taught our first CTM investigator the third day we were here, in total Portuguese - totally crazy! It was pretty much the single scariest moment of my life! SO GREAT! and a bit of a lost cause...    We've taught almost every day since! I've progressed so much in this one week than in any week of my entire life! Now me and my companion can teach the investigator in Portuguese and answer most of the questions he has in Portuguese! Thinking about it now, I just want to cry when I see how far I've come.  I love teaching the CTM investigators so much, those lessons have become a fun part of my day!

We went to the Sao Paulo Temple today for P-day (We get to go to Sao Paulo or Campinas temple every P-Day in the CTM)! The temple was absolutely stunning and Huge! so big compared to Columbia or Raleigh! The murals they had were probably the most stunning parts of the temple, and the chandelier in the last room was huge and totally beautiful! I got some pictures outside the temple but we´re not supposed to send pictures from the CTM so I'll get those out to you when  get into my mission down in Porto Alegre! No sending packages to the CTM either. Wait until Iget out to the mission field to send a package, they don´t accept them at the CTM.

Our district is the best district in the CTM - we get along so well! Some nights we'll be laughing together for at least an hour straight! Probably should have been studying... :D 

They are all so great! love them all to death! 

Today is P-day so I get my 1 and only free cookie today from the bakery across the street! And we all get to hang out as a district some more! And I get a free cookie today!

I hear the cookies are so good :)  Guarana, best soda ever! So my mission for all of you guys is to find me somewhere I can buy it in America before I get home!

The spirit is so strong here in the CTM! So much study is happening and there are more prayers here per square foot than anywhere else in the entire nation of Brazil! Not even lying on that one....    Sundays are the best here in the CTM! The Spirit is 10x stronger and the classes are like two notches up from EFY! I feel like I got into a boxing match with the Holy Ghost and I got pounded with so much knowledge! 

Not sure what else to write but all is well in Brazil!  I love you guys all so much and I'm praying for you guys every day! 

Tudo Bem!

Elder Scarlett

john.scarlett@myldsmail.net