Below is the email from Kyle...his last from the USA before getting on a plane tomorrow for Brazil. I love seeing his fun personality shine through in so much that he writes, I also love to see his spiritual side and the growth that has come in such a short time!
Tudo Bem!
Portuguese continues to do dirty things to me, and my companion, Elder Rhodes, continues to just do nothing...at all...ever! During language study he's writing letters, during classroom time he's drawing pictures of dragons. He wonders why his Portuguese stinks! I've tried to get him to do things and every time he tries to pray in English I make him start over in Portuguese. It's so hard to be mad at him though. We had a little district pow wow the other night, just kind of a more in depth look at each other and he started crying. He said his only friend growing up was his older brother. His Dad was in the military so they moved a lot. He told us that I remind him of his brother. And on top of that, one of his good friends from Layton died in a car accident on Thursday I think. So it's been a rough go for him. Every time I want to hate him, I can't! Then I remind myself that I leave for Brazil tomorrow and I get a new companion...problem solved!
It's weird leaving tomorrow. I've got such a great district and zone. Our zone leaders, Elder Perkins and Elder Gooch are so tight! Elder Perkins walks around with spoons shoved down his watch band and at random times he'll just throw spoons at people...haha. So in retaliation we fashioned a catapult out of stretchy band and a chair and fired laffy taffy's (the nasty yellow ones that nobody likes and yet they continue to make). It was all fun and games until we shot one through a pillow...then we decided that it wasn't such a good idea to shoot it at people. But we established dominance of the dorm so it all worked out.
I continue to dominate at 4 square. The MTC is the only place that it's acceptable for 20 year olds to play 4 square. During my reign as king of the square (I prefer dictator) I found a worthy nemisis...a 200 pound sister, I don't know what her name is but we are all scared of her...but she cheats! She catches the ball, winds up and baseball throws it at people. But one of the funniest things I've ever heard happened during gym. There's an Elder that left for Brazil today, Elder Nicholayson, who is one of the funniest people I've ever met. During 4 square he got the kid that nobody likes out and yelled "3rd Nephi Chapter 14 Verse 1 YOU SUCK" right in this kids face. It was so funny because the reference is in the middle of Christ's ministry and we looked up the actual verse and it's the one that says judge not lest ye shall be judged, or something like that...so all around a great saying. Out of Control!
It's been a pretty long week waiting around to go to Brazil. It turns out our first investigator, Hugo, is our new teacher and he's not from Brazil...he's from Texas! He has a really convincing Brazilian accent and he's a fantastic actor. Way better than Elijah Wood. He's the man! He's more of like a fun teacher and Irma (Sister) Gonzales is more of the serious teacher that hates fun and everything that is good. That's a lie. She's coming around, she probably just thinks we are weird. She kind of look like Mila Kunis. I left her a little note, which she will find on her desk on Wednesday. What does it say you ask? Wait for me! Hopefully that doesn't come back to haunt me.
The language is getting easier. Hopefully being surrounded by Brazilians will help me pick up on more of the everyday stuff. Spelling still kills me but I figure I don't have to write in Portuguese. I guess on P-days they let you go out in the streets for street contacts and encourage you to just talk to people. That will be awesome, seeing as the Provo MTC is like a prison and you aren't allowed to leave the campus...ever...except to go to the temple...but other than that...never. Me and this Elder, that is flying down with me, have decided that we're going to eat as much fast food and drink as much caffeine as possible in the airport on our way down. Hopefully there's a Taco Bell so my last meal in the US can contain a Beefy Crunch. If not Chick-fil-a will suffice. We're probably going to baptize the entire plane on our way down to Brazil.
Alright...well I love you guys. I'm doing my best to keep on keeping on. It gets a little rough and I want to kill myself 83% of the time, but I know this is where I'm supposed to be and as soon as I get the language sort of down, the hardest part will be over. There is an Elder Murray in my zone who is going to Teresina as well, who I swear is going to be an apostle someday. Everything this guy says is like awesome and speaks to my soul. He was talking to me about how he was feeling all good and everything and his 2 companions and him were teaching a lesson and his companions are fluent in Spanish so Portuguese was no big deal for them. Elder Murray was only thinking about what he was going to say, and when it finally came time for him to talk he froze up and couldn't say a word. The moral of his story is quit worrying about yourself. Not once while Jesus was on the earth (or ever for that matter) did he ever think about himself. Even on the cross he was more worried about the 2 guys next to him and the rest of the people. So I need to forget about myself and worry about whats best for my companion and especially the investigator and the rest will fall into place. Elder Murray leaves the MTC next week and his visa still hasn't come through. Hopefully it does soon, he deserves it!
But I love you guys. Thanks for the love and support. I couldn't do it without you all!
Ta bom. Deus ama voces<----gift of tongues (I probably didn't say it right, but it will do!)
<3 Kyle
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