Dearest Friends,

The first week on the mission has been a whirlwind. So much has happened in such a small amount of time that I'm not even sure I remember it all. Online MTC is an utterly unique experience. 

One of the coolest parts of this week has been getting to know my companion, Elder Johnson. He is from North Carolina and likes to wrestle. Although we don't have all that much in common superficially, we get along fairly well due to our mutual hatred of the Portuguese language. The language itself isn't terrible, in fact, the more I learn, the more similarities it has with Spanish. What bothers me the most is that in the areas where it is not like Spanish, it is so incredibly inconsistent with Spanish, English, and sometimes itself, that I sometimes have microaneurysms trying to comprehend it.

Our district is really awesome and has some utterly unique characters, from Elder Malquist, our defacto leader, Elder Page, who we are all convinced is already fluent, to Elder Getz, who cannot help cracking jokes at every opportunity in the zoom chat. Our fearless leaders are Irmãos Jeronimo and Mentado. Irmão Jeronimo is equally confused and fascinated by English slang and laughed for literal minutes after we explained what it meant to be "caked up." Irmão Mentado is a literal saint. His native language is Spanish, and he has only spoken Portuguese for a year, but he uses a second non-native language, English, to teach a bunch of 18-19 year olds with enough patience to make a rock envious. 

One of the highlights of the week was yesterday, when we had our first opportunity to teach a lesson to a non-member in Portuguese. Although, to be honest, I think we did less teaching and did a whole lot more reading preplanend materials. However, I found the experience to be not only linguistically fulfilling, but also spiritually. The district is quickly recognizing the strength of the gift of tongues in that none of us would last a day in Brazil currently, exempting Elder Page, but each of us knows that the person we were teaching was able to not only comprehend what we had to share, but also was able to benefit from it.

I would say the biggest takeaway this week has been that the reason that missionaries have a specific sleep schedule is because this whole lifestyle is exhausting. Even though I spend most of my day behind a computer, I am ready to take a 2 hour nap by 2 PM. Despite the physical exhaustion, however, I can certainly say that I constantly feel spiritually alive in ways that I seldom have experienced to this point. I can't say my testimony has changed much in the past couple days, but I certainly feel greater conviction about its contents. The Lord has an interesting way of taking seemingly unconnected events and weaving them into a tapestry of personal significance. It is a way that He shows His love for us. I am grateful that it has helped me to make some very important insights about my purpose as a missionary.

Happy Trails,

Wyatt Whiting