Week 1 Arriving at the MTC in Brazil







First Week in the MTC

It has been insane this past week. I’m on spiritual overload right now, and I am feeling so tired from all the work and studying, but this is still one of the happiest times of my life. It has its ups and downs so far. The classes are very interactive and very fun, but even though I love the classes and learning the language, I have been super mentally fatigued. Every moment of the day, even during our free moments, me and my companion, Elder Emig, try and study Portuguese, or some of the missionary handbooks that we have received. If there are some things that I have realized that missionaries live for, it would be food, sports, and sharing the gospel. Not all of them necessarily enjoy the classes for learning Portuguese though, but they love talking about those things.
I’m pretty sure that a third of the missionaries here are from Utah. (What a shocker) The rest are either from some other state, Mexico, Africa, or Brazil. Everyone that works here speaks Portuguese. Which makes it a lot easier to learn the language because you are constantly surrounded by the speakers. I found out that once you hit a point where you know enough Portuguese to go throughout your day only speaking it, missionaries set a rule for themselves that they can only speak Portuguese unless they are asking a question. The workers do know English, but they only use it around the newbies.
I found out that the Mexican elders love the vending machines. We each get a card that we use to get into the cafeteria for meals, but we also get 7.50 credit for the vending machines each day. Whenever you see a vending machine on one of the floors, it will likely have a line of Mexicans. I can’t make out what they say, but they are always happy when they use it.
Just some random other things:
-Usually around the time we all take showers, the Elders down the hall will all scream songs they used to listen to.
-Missionaries think you are epic when you wear your church shoes to basketball.
-Belo Horizonte mission is absolutely HUGE
-The food at the MTC is awful, so everyone usually eats the rice and beans. 
-Literally every single American Elder is a BYU fan and shows their pride during basketball. 
-People play basketball, but no one likes it because apparently there is a rule that you can’t jump here. 
-An elder’s luggage never made it on the plane to Brazil. Everyone felt pretty bad for him.
-An Elder broke the door off of the wall and dropped his dinner tray, shattering all the dishes in the same day. 
-Stairs, stairs, STAIRS. LOT’S OF STAIRS!
It is pretty fun down here. I don’t know these people that well, but we are all becoming pretty good friends already. The first few days went by incredibly slow, but I am starting to enjoy the days a lot more. 
I have also come to the realization that Portuguese is a beautiful language, so I am having a really fun time learning it. I hope that I’m definitely not the best Portuguese speaker here, but at least I’m enjoying it. It is a lot of work though. I can’t wait to see what the next weeks in the MTC will bring. I can’t wait to get out into the field and begin teaching the gospel. 

Sincerely,
Elder Gibson

Other Updates:
-We forgot to pack his tennis shoes so he is spending his first week exercising in his dress shoes
 -Tender mercy when a lady in Tooele offered to send up Brayden's shoes with her son who was leaving for Brazil the following week
-Missionaries are required to run 5 laps around the small track 5 days a week at the MTC
-Has been sick every single day since arriving in Brazil
 -Broke the glue off his permanent retainer

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