Falo Portugues!

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Ola!

Greetings from the MTC! I cannot even believe that another p-day has rolled around. So I am on week 3 here and I am still loving it. I love every part of the MTC.

This past week, however, one of my companions has been sick, so I have been spending a lot of time at the Health Clinic and in our room. We thought she just had the flu, but then symptoms got worse and it turns out that she has ear infections in both ears and will take about 10 days to recover. So, I haven't been able to go to class or participate in anything for the past couple of days, which is kind of disappointing but I am learning to be patient and keep a positive attitude.

So, in all of my spare time I have been memorizing a lot of stuff in Portuguese: The first vision, James 1:5, the missionary purpose, D&C 4, etc. So, I guess it is helpful to have lots of time to focus and not get distracted. We are kind of taking it day by day to see if she feels better.

So, I have run into a lot of people here at the MTC:
Ian Zollinger is here and he leaves next week I think. I have also seen Tonio Andersen and Zak Wilde from Los Alamos. From school, I have seen Brittany Allen (a girl from my ward sophomore year) and Sara Bradley (a girl from my summer ward) and my old roommate, Alyse should be entering in a couple of weeks! It is kind of funny to see the newer missionaries here and feel old compared to them, but really I have only been here 2 weeks longer than them.

I know I have mentioned this, but I LOVE studying Portuguese. I can't get enough of it. It is the most beautiful thing I think I have ever heard. But I think that I am in that awkward stage where I am trying to form sentences of my own thinking instead of memorizing things to say but I still have to work on my grammar to make sure I am conjugating right. I am working on the first discussion, but we don't get to teach it in Portuguese for 3 more weeks. My teachers are awesome. Their names are Irmao Okazaki and Irmao Cottrelle (Irmao means Brother). One served his mission in Mozambique (portuguese speaking) and the other in Brazil. And yes, Irmao Okazaki is of Japanese descent, but he does not know any Japanese. They are both attending BYU. Both of our teachers teach us so much and I am really surprised every day at my ability to learn so quickly. I love writing my testimony and talks for church and reading the Book of Mormon. Just so everyone knows: The gift of tongues is REAL! I am witnessing it everyday.

Thank you for sending me the package--don't worry, I will save the food for Portugal. Mail is very coveted here so I love getting it--especially packages. Whenever someone gets a package, we all vicariously live through them and their good fortune (a.k.a--we share the goods).

My district is really awesome. There are 6 elders and 5 sisters. I think that we are really lucky to have so many sisters in our district. There is not another district in the MTC that has that many sisters in them. The elders might not like it, but I do because it evens things out and we all learn from each other. For example, Elder Noda is from Italy and he knows 4 languages already. He didn't know Portuguese before coming here, but he is picking it up crazy fast! His companion, Elder Deffense (de-faunse) is half Portuguese, so they are pretty rockin'. There is also Elder Swenson, who ran for BYU track this past semester and his companion who played BYU football--Elder Rogers. They are pretty great. They are like complete opposites. Then there is Elder Farnsworth and Elder Dalton who just keep us on our toes with their sense of humor. As much as I love the elders, I LOVE the irmas! There's Irma Speigle (rhymes with beagle) who is so fun, vibrant, and loving and is really good with the language and she makes up jokes in Portuguese in her spare time, and her companion is Irma Graf, who is really sharp and pretty much hilarious. Everything is great!

Anyway, thank you again for the mail and the prayers. I know you are thinking of me and believe me, it really gives me extra strength.

I love you all to the moon and back,

Irma Perez :)