Chapter 29--11.1.94

Today Marion D. Hanks spoke and shared some beautiful words. Our district meeting was pretty cool.

Chapter 28- 10-31-94

Today really picked up after class. We had a big party with all kinds of candy donated by many parents. We put it all over the floor and just ate away...we couldn't care less where the candy came from ;)Happy Halloween!

Chapter 27--10-30-94

I went to correlation for the first time. We went to all of our regular meetings, your everyday Sunday. But it was a good Sunday President Campbell taught us how to create our own football team in respect to the Church and it's leaders.

Chapter 26- 10.29.94

What are my feelings about the Savior? Well I know that without him, I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be alive. The atonement and sacrifice and resurrection are as sacred as my covenants in the temple. I know my Savior lives. I love him for sacrificing himself for me, a sinner who has seen the light and hasn't any desire to ruin it. In these 3 weeks-I've learned so much about Christ. I bought Jesus The Christ. I like it, it tells me the type of account that I really want to hear. My life has really been centered around him. Why would I go to Ricks in Idaho? Why would I have a couple of perfect attendance years in seminary? I love to learn about my Saviorand I really do wish I could learn more about him which is why I bought the book. His atonement has worked miracles in my life already and those things thatI have done personally to make him bleed. I have promised that I will never do them again. I am sorry for the things that I have done wrong to this end. I realize the power of sin and its weight on my conscience. I love my Savior and the fact that he died that I may live and he knew he was doing it for me. He knew that with my downfalls, my life must be spared with the righteous which I have a hard time with at times...but I know now things that will keep me from sinning again even if I am writing this on Sunday..Anyway I can't express in words with ease all that the Savior has done for me..I say this from the heart, en nome de Jesus Cristo, Amem.

Chapter 25---10-28-94

I always think on Friday nights about the football games then look out across the Utah valley -no lights anywhere! This gospel is so rad..I didn't see lights and my focus returns to where it belongs...each day is very repetitive.

Chapter 24- 10-27-94

Today is Donnie's birthday- I couldn't forget and I hope he had an awesome 6th birthday. My day was long--the subjunctive concepts are difficult but not impossible.

Chapter 23--10.26.94

We woke up at 0430 to do our laundry. we then had breakfast and went to the temple. We played 3 games of ultimate Frisbee and ditched dinner..between meatloaf an spaghetti there is no winner.

Chapter 22--10.25.94

What ? Do you want to guess today was different? ahhh yes you lose! Today was great. We had classes as usual but we had the coolest district meeting. Elder Young gave me a blessing. Elder Butler also received a blessing although his was for the sick.

Chapter 21- 10-24-94

Today was pretty cool. I testified in Portuguese that I knew the book of Mormon was true. We learned a lot more vocab. Im about 500 words deep. Our teacher had a meeting so we learned a lot on our own.

Chapter 20---10-23-94

Eu ensinei o lecao nos profetas. Eu pensei o lecao foi bem! A reuniao sacramental Elder Young e eu somos sustained distrito leaders.

CHapter 19- 10-22-94

We played Moca na Cadeira(hangman?) e tentaria availiar que a frase dizer..tive divertemento. hoje nao muito novo!

Chapter 18--10-21-94

Jessica mailed me a letter today and I answered all of my letters yesterday so I'm par on letter writing. Class was good..we keep on learning HOFRS and CPT on our comps.

chapter 17---10.20.94 (thurs)

another day another 10 hours of study with the spirit and the language..lunch breakfast and dinner..your day in a nutshell with the spirit being our driving force.

Chapter 16--10-19-94 (wed)

Basically today was Pday when we do all of our activities: gym, laundry, temple trip, food and ultimate frisbee..we had a cgood class today and we keep learning.

Chapter 15--10.18.94(tues)

hoje meu companheiro e eu estivemos chamado estar distrito leaders. Estou assistente para Elder Young. Elder Featherstone gave an awesome talk and I know what song I'll sing at my homecoming..."Consider the lilies of the field!"

Chapter 14 -10/17/94 (mon)

Todos de nos tivemos aula e nos tivemos aula. Esta' um destes aqueles dias. OK stop with the Portuguese no one understands...look today waas just a a really long day and I am tired...ummm..Elder Winter just died?

Chapter 13 10-16-94 (dom)

hoje estava muito bem. Nossa reuniao Sacramente. Eu recebiu Katie's address em New York. Elder Crump gave a pretty good talk today and I saw Elder Hill from Ricks. He's going to DC Norte. Eu tambem vi Elder Jacob Martin from home who is going to Chile! I wrote Katie a letter today and prayed that she would receive it with a good heart...I really hope that it was her address too...I hope that when she receives it she'll know that I am serious but totally out of love and as friends...Katie's very cool..

Chapter 12- 10-15-94 (sab)

Today was about the same as the day I got here. It was really exciting There was a cool piece of lint in class today. It looked like a concert ticket...probably was! I got a good feeling at LGM again! Mesmo ontem e para sempre? getting a good feeling doesn't really credit the spirit very much..>I'll go with illuminated-much better..

Chapter 11--10.14.94 (sexta)

Hoje foi muito longo. Nos precisamos enfocar a lingua Portuguesa. Acho meu companheiro e' devagar porque ele quer fala portuguese bem mas ele tem mais do que eu. Ele estuda quando eu quero fazer teste minha vocabulario. estou com cansado estou vontade dormir. Espero amanha esta' melhor do que hoje boa noite. (the following morning) Well I would like to say that yesterday I was very tired and I wrote whatever I wanted in that condition. I actually learned quite a bit yesterday to keep testing myself on the vocab. Also we shared scriptures today. Lunch was lunch and one more ice scream sandwich...I say scream because you can break your teeth on them-they're so hard...then we checked mail-nada-pois e'! Then back to class and the spirit-today err yesterday was better than it sounded.

Chapter 10- 10-13-94

We didn't do anything new today. We didn't have service or gym, so we had personal study time and we will have this every quinta feira. Things were pretty much the same, bad food and good learning and even headaches from learning so much. I was kind of tired today..and when tired, very little gets accomplished. dont' get me wrong, when we have these little study times, it's totally cool but when you're tired, there's little focus..let's hope it stops. It's days like these when you actually learn a lot but if someone actually asked you what you learned-you'd fall asleep on their shoulder..but hey that's life sometimes..

Chapter 9 10-12-94

Our first Pday. 3 things I know, The Provo Temple is pretty on the inside, the church is true an the laundromat is the last place I want to spend all day. Ultimate frisbee is cool! it's hard! The temple was cool, but I didn't accomplish much. I hope I can budget my time a bit more wisely. It was my first time at the Provo temple and it is really small. I guess in comparison with LA, everything is really small, but Provo is small. It is really really pretty on the inside though, but as if it were really supposed to be anything but? The Provo temple is a carbon copy of the Ogden temple..at least it looks like it on the outside. But the experience was a very good one.

Chapter Eight-10.11.94

I saw Jacob Martin today and he is going to Chile. ...anyway no change today..we started FSL fala sua lingua. It isn't easy at all. But as I work, it will get easier. It will be a challenge for two years to speak this language and especially speak it clearly and lose my english english accent. By next October, I want to see how I speak.

Chapter 7 10.11.94

We learned more vocab and the food will never taste good so that's not even worth talking about. This first week is going slow, but I think it will go faster after it's over. This language takes a lot of out of me. The teachers have their meetings, so we rely on the elders in the district for ajudas. The elders I work the most with are Elders Tanner, White, Young, Oxenden, Cook, and Von Niedernhauser, but I get help and a lot of advise from the others...and I get to teach Elders Butler, Smith, Miller and Von-it's good!

Chapter Six 10.10.94

nothing new today...we learned more.

Chapter 5 -10.9.94

Hoje nos fomos muitos reuniao. Fight the Turtle! We just had a ton of meetings and got a little done with the teachers but much within ourselves. Let me explain the turtle...Elder Shaw was falling asleep as he was writing something and wrote "the turtle is coming to get me"...so now in our class if someone is getting tired-fight the turtle! Kill the turtle-don't let the turtle win! I can only imagine that this will be one of many jokes in this district. I'm sure it'll last longer than that. Today was a good day to learn too!

Chapter 4-10.8.94

Today we learned a lot of new words. We went over verbs, the LGM was awesome. I found 2 reasons for my mission, Words of Mormon 1:7 and serving as the ambassador of Christ! It was muito bom. O Espirito Santo ta' firme em meu coracoes a manha e amo teu evangelho. The LGMs are meetings where all of the Portuguese speaking districts are in the admin building in a room. We have a speaker speak on one of the basic parts of the commitment pattern. It's the time to take notes, to learn, to have fun, share and hear mission experiences and to learn from others what to do and what not to do in the field!

Chapter Three-10-7-94

Today was pretty cool. We had gym today for the first time. We learned regular present verb conjugations and even though we sing all the time, tonight we sang really well-We sang Careco de Jesus (I Need Thee Every Hour). It was so awesome-Sister Hodson really brings out the spirit in all of us. Irma Hodson realmente traza no Espirito Santo em todo munde. I hope that I'll be able to sing in Brazil and feel the same thing I felt tonight. If nothing else, I'll probably know the language better. It's still really difficult. But after 3 days, it doesn't just come, you really have to work for it. But I am going to do my hardest to learn as fast as I can. Elder (Nate)Tanner is pretty smart.

*(1/7/09) I am going to maintain the Portuguese in the diary, I will translate what I choose, but for the most part, I will translate everything that is there, lol-the diary is still what it is..so there are things that are still somewhat personal but that is the interesting part of a diary, it gives you everything about that person and the experience so some people will get more from this than others and those who speak Portuguese and English will get it all. The reason for keeping the Portuguese is for language progression and to see the errors when I was still learning the language*

Chapter Two-10-6-94

Today we woke up early (5:30!) We had an early breakfast. We went shopping for some stuff and we had orientation. I got a haircut, then went to class. We had our first cantar e orar (sing and pray). The Enforcer (Brother Bailiff) taught us the first discussion. It was a very spiritual time. The meals are 3 times a day but I guess it is not too hot in Brasil and I don't mean the temp! I feel happy to be here, it is a fun experience. I had my first interview. I am the Sr. for 4 weeks then Elder Young will have his turn-life is good at day two.

I also met a few old friends and their missions are as follows:
Elder Joel Votaw-Raleigh, NC
Elder Reid Sullivan-Dominican Republic West
Elder Nate Anderson-Philippines

Chapter One-10.5.94

Oi! Can you ever explain the feelings of any new experience that first day?I got my shots and my companion Elder Mike Young from Perry UT. MTC food? That is scary, but I think I'll live. It is non toxic. I left my Levo-T pills in the glove compartment, so I told everybody and made 2 phone calls-lo and behold they were there for me here a few hours ago. This was a great first day. I'll miss my family, but we all know this is where I should be. Elder Penrod is the AP here. President Campbell is the Branch President and President Barney is the MTC President.

*(1/6/09)you will notice that every post is a new chapter, as is everyday of our lives...we write a book with our lives and everyday we decide how it will turn out, sometimes based on the days before (damage control from errors) OR progressive action that helps us in the future which also has its own positive consequences*

Welcome to my mission

The idea behind this is solely due to my brother being in my mission and to remember everything that happened back in the day. I remember a lot of people and loved everyone that I met while in Belo Horizonte as well as every other city that I served in. It also gives people a chance to really know what happens in a mission and how we learn the language and may provide someone with the desire to know more. This is not in any way for self promotion because anything I gain from this opportunity and experience is based upon the Spirit blessing me with memories and reminders of one of the best if not the best experiences of my life. I am grateful that my brother Donnie is serving there as well. It is a fun and common thread between us and I hope that he gains as much from his mission as I have.

I hope that whoever reads this gets a bit of an idea as to who I am through my writing style and is willing to accept that not everyday is a great day, but everyday has its memories whether good or bad. I may place some personal conjecture or comments from today if a day hit a nerve or was a great day. I will mark what is from now and what is straight from my journal. I actually did write everyday, so you will have a daily post of everything that occurred. I didn't write manuals while in the MTC because while there was a LOT of spiritual moments, I was getting in the mood/habit to write a journal since I hadn't written in months to years prior to.


All this said, let's begin on Day 1 in the MTC...nothing better than jumping right into this!