PORTUGAL PREACHIN': First P Day.......

OH MY GOSH I LOVE THE MTC!!!

honestly i am having the best time here. Minha companheira is Sister Hancock. She is a doll. She's from Oahu and she is just super simple and super cute. She went to byu in provo oh and she knows Elder Graham by the way.. but she is super knowledgable about the gospel and she took Portuguese before coming here so she is a HUGE help to me. Love her. except the first day i met her she asked me where utah state even was..... go aggies. I get so excited everytime i see someone in here in their Utah state gear! seriously that's like more exciting than getting letters haha

The first day I got here, i was checking in a the lady helping me was Allie Howe's mom.. so S/O to her! haha then every where i went after that it was SO HOT. i wanted to die. I didn't want to be that sick girl that takes her shoes off in class, but i was dying... don't tell Martis, she'll be pissed. but i couldn't help it i was roasting in those things! Then that night we had our little introduction devotional and sang "We'll Bring The World His Truth" and on the line that says "and we will be the Lord's missionaries.." we sang "and we are now the Lord's missionaries.." wow. I am on a freaking mission. I could feel the spirit so strongly that this is where I am supposed to be. i love it here.

My district is amazing. It's weird cause you only have a teacher in the class for like 3 hours everyday.. you would think have 6 elders and 4 sisters squashed in a tiny room for 8+ hours a day things would get a little cray cray, but no. Everyone is so dedicated and so faithful that we all continue studying like we are supposed to. I mean yeah sometimes we go a little crazy and get off topic, but really not that much. and if we do lose focus, we pray. We are constantly on our knees as a district. If we're tired, we pray. if we get off topic, we pray. before we leave the classroom, we pray. it's so amazing. The other day our teacher didn't show up for class and Elder Zaccaria suggested we take turns each reading a verse in the B.O.M in English and then in Portuguese. so we went around doing that, seriously my district is the best! i know everyone says that about their district, but NO. mine is the best. Except yesterday i told them we need to do our emails in the laundry room cause the computers aren't timed and they all looked at me like i just told them i hate portugal or something..... chill out irmaos......

Plus my district is so funny. Elder Zaccaria.. oh he's a hoot. he just says things in English and adds a Portuguese accent and acts like it's portuguese haha it is so dumb, but so funny. and last night at dinner, we were showing off our bodily talents, and Elder Bowden grabbed my chicken strips and started juggling them.. haha i wasn't planning on eating them anyway.........

I don't know why everyone dogs on the food here in the empty sea... it's freaking bomb. it's the water that's gross!! seriously it tastes like an old rusty drinking fountain in an orthodonists office. ew.

And I know why everyone says make it to Sunday.... The blueberry muffins on sunday mornings are divine. literally. I was dying. I made my whole district go get one, even if they hate/ are allergic to blueberries.. I still made them try it. Yes, they were that good. Then the rest of the day is pretty laid back, just a lot of personal study and devotionals and temple walk which is like the best thing ever! better than recess in elementary school! and sacrament is pretty much all in portuguese and they call 2 people at the beginning of the meeting who will be speaking so you have to prepare a talk erry week... holla! not.

My 3rd day in the MTC we had to teach a full 30 minute lesson ALL in Portuguese. ahhh. good thing minha companheira is so good at Portuguese. Last night I lost my B.O.M. or should i say L.D.M. (o livre de mormon)... but it's okay cause i lost it to Vander our investigator who we committed to reading the book of mormon!!!! I was so excited! I can't even imagine how great it is gonna be when it happens for real in Portugal!.

There is a tree here that smells like cream soda. i'm not even joking. I can not wait for 2 more weeks Martis gets here!!! It is so exciting to see people you know here! I have seen....... Amy Crofts, Brent Syphus, Chincy, Jake Hutchins, Emily Sheffield, Kelsey Christopolus, Melodee Young, Hayden Stofferan, Gage Marberger, Brenna (sabricks cuz) and every single day i see BUH!! (Elder Neiderhauser) his classroom is right by mine so i see him erryday. but for real, it is like Christmas in the MTC when you see someone you know, but what is better than that.. It's like being front row and getting a shout out from Macklemore when you get letters!!! so write, email, dear elder.. whateva it takes, and i promise i'll write ya back ;) Shout out to all my homies who have written me! love you all.

well I'm running out of time, and i wanna send pictures, write and send pics plz!!!

I am SO happy. I love the MTC, I love my district, i love my companion, I love Portuguese, I love my mission, I love the gospel.

Eu sei que a igreja es verdadeira e o livre de mormon e palavra de deus. THE CHURCH IS TRUE and i love you all

until next week,

xoxo, Sister Dumas