On Monday Madalyn wrote her family a letter because having only an hour to email everyone was just not enough time so she decided she would write more details in addition to the emails she sent. Below is a copy of her letter! The pictures below were sent to me from an employee at the MTC- it's of Madalyn cleaning the bathrooms haha! Addison also sent me a picture of Madalyn and her!
Hello Family!
Okay I feel like there are so many things I always want to tell you guys, but an hour is SO short and I got way more emails than expected this week. I know that will die down in like three weeks but I figured I would write a letter that is not rushed for you guys so you can know more about the MTC!
The MTC is awesome! The first few days lasted FOREVER though! Plus we have so much studying and that was so hard to get used to, but now I am super grateful for it! I have really grown so close to the Lord this past week and I can really feel the spirit guiding my life! In my room its me and Sister Shepard. We are alike in some ways, but also really different too. Sometimes it’s hard though because she did theater and can memorize passages so quickly and she gets the language so quickly. But she has been really patient with me and this week which is so nice. I memorized the missionary purpose “convidar as pesoas a achegarem-se a Cristo e em sua expiafao ajugando-se a recceber evengelno resturado por meio de fe’ em Jesus Cristo, do arrepedimente, do baptism, de se receber dom de Espirito Santo, e em perseverrar a te’ o fim”- the spelling probably sucks on that because I did it from memory, but I am trying to say it as fast as my phone haha!
The language is funny because we “sh” all the S’s and the R’s are H noises. And “Cao” is really common and it has like a “show” with it in the back of your throat. Like with is “com” but you say it with your mouth open the whole time so the “m” sounds funny. We had Brazilian teachers this week. It was so hard to understand them! The language gets super frustrating sometimes because in lessons I will want to say something, but I don’t have the words. But like in lessons sometimes a word I have studied before will just come to my mind- it’s awesome! The gift of tongues doesn’t work the way I thought it would- you have to work for it so much- but then it helps you after all you can do.
The food here isn’t terrible, but the other night the only option was chicken fried steak. Seriously the grossest thing I have ever eaten! Then one night it was raspberry chicken or meatloaf. I had a nice tall glass of water and a peanut butter sandwich and then we all ate so much junk food at 9:30 p.m.
Waking up is not getting easier- actually a lot harder but we are “presservar ate’ o fim”! Enduring to the end!
One thing I am really working on is getting confidence in the language. Sometimes I really want to say something, but I won’t know one word so I just won’t talk, but I really just got to say it. Like right now people totally understand if you make mistakes- plus the quicker you make mistakes the quicker you learn the language.
I have so many funny stories form things happening here, but I have told a lot of them already. I just love my whole zone so much! We are all so close and they are so funny. We have an elder who looks exactly like Cory in the House from Disney Channel. He is my favorite! I love him so much. Also the district leader didn’t talk to me for a whole day because I kept getting him out in four square and he was so bitter. It was so funny! He even withheld my mail for almost a whole day. Oh and Robyn and Dave overnighted me a package of Butterfingers…it was so awesome! Mail is great because you can read it everyday instead of just Mondays. Also Elder Nattress has been emailing me a lot and we discovered that my companions boyfriend (Nathan Hale) mom is super close with him and his companion which is so funny! Such a small world that I am connected to a girl from Texas through kissing cousins haha! Its SO funny!
Okay I don’t know what else to share. The days here are so long but I am learning SO MUCH and I always come home so happy to be a missionary. Here is my testimony in Portuguese:
“Eu sei que a Dues chama Jose’ Smith ser um porfeta. Jose’ Smith restora o verdade igresdia de Jesus Cristo a terra. Eu sei ave atreves de a expiacao, nos pedimos voltar a pai celestial. O Livro do Mormos es verdadiero”
(Okay that was rough I don’t know how to spell ANYTHING!)
Con Amar-
Sister Jones
Okay I feel like there are so many things I always want to tell you guys, but an hour is SO short and I got way more emails than expected this week. I know that will die down in like three weeks but I figured I would write a letter that is not rushed for you guys so you can know more about the MTC!
The MTC is awesome! The first few days lasted FOREVER though! Plus we have so much studying and that was so hard to get used to, but now I am super grateful for it! I have really grown so close to the Lord this past week and I can really feel the spirit guiding my life! In my room its me and Sister Shepard. We are alike in some ways, but also really different too. Sometimes it’s hard though because she did theater and can memorize passages so quickly and she gets the language so quickly. But she has been really patient with me and this week which is so nice. I memorized the missionary purpose “convidar as pesoas a achegarem-se a Cristo e em sua expiafao ajugando-se a recceber evengelno resturado por meio de fe’ em Jesus Cristo, do arrepedimente, do baptism, de se receber dom de Espirito Santo, e em perseverrar a te’ o fim”- the spelling probably sucks on that because I did it from memory, but I am trying to say it as fast as my phone haha!
The language is funny because we “sh” all the S’s and the R’s are H noises. And “Cao” is really common and it has like a “show” with it in the back of your throat. Like with is “com” but you say it with your mouth open the whole time so the “m” sounds funny. We had Brazilian teachers this week. It was so hard to understand them! The language gets super frustrating sometimes because in lessons I will want to say something, but I don’t have the words. But like in lessons sometimes a word I have studied before will just come to my mind- it’s awesome! The gift of tongues doesn’t work the way I thought it would- you have to work for it so much- but then it helps you after all you can do.
The food here isn’t terrible, but the other night the only option was chicken fried steak. Seriously the grossest thing I have ever eaten! Then one night it was raspberry chicken or meatloaf. I had a nice tall glass of water and a peanut butter sandwich and then we all ate so much junk food at 9:30 p.m.
Waking up is not getting easier- actually a lot harder but we are “presservar ate’ o fim”! Enduring to the end!
One thing I am really working on is getting confidence in the language. Sometimes I really want to say something, but I won’t know one word so I just won’t talk, but I really just got to say it. Like right now people totally understand if you make mistakes- plus the quicker you make mistakes the quicker you learn the language.
I have so many funny stories form things happening here, but I have told a lot of them already. I just love my whole zone so much! We are all so close and they are so funny. We have an elder who looks exactly like Cory in the House from Disney Channel. He is my favorite! I love him so much. Also the district leader didn’t talk to me for a whole day because I kept getting him out in four square and he was so bitter. It was so funny! He even withheld my mail for almost a whole day. Oh and Robyn and Dave overnighted me a package of Butterfingers…it was so awesome! Mail is great because you can read it everyday instead of just Mondays. Also Elder Nattress has been emailing me a lot and we discovered that my companions boyfriend (Nathan Hale) mom is super close with him and his companion which is so funny! Such a small world that I am connected to a girl from Texas through kissing cousins haha! Its SO funny!
Okay I don’t know what else to share. The days here are so long but I am learning SO MUCH and I always come home so happy to be a missionary. Here is my testimony in Portuguese:
“Eu sei que a Dues chama Jose’ Smith ser um porfeta. Jose’ Smith restora o verdade igresdia de Jesus Cristo a terra. Eu sei ave atreves de a expiacao, nos pedimos voltar a pai celestial. O Livro do Mormos es verdadiero”
(Okay that was rough I don’t know how to spell ANYTHING!)
Con Amar-
Sister Jones
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