Week 4- Half way though CTM!

 Hi guys! 

I'm officially halfway through my time here at the CTM, and almost to the one month mark as a missionary. That's so crazy to me. I feel like I've been at the CTM forever, but also like I just arrived.

It's been a good week, also a long one. Last Wednesday (PDay), my district and I had the opportunity to leave the CTM with one of our instructors and explore the area. Many of the shops were closed because it was a holiday. We were able to find some things that were open though. We got Açai, which was so good! I got mine with granola, bananas and sweetened condensed milk. We then went to a bakery where they gave us free samples of a couple different foods. Food outside of the CTM is delicious! Inside... still eh. I found out that if I mix the Danimal drink with granola that I can make a liquidy parfait!! Anyways, after the bakery we went to a little grocery store where I bought a 6 pack of Coke Zero and these little peanut butter candies.

On Tuesday, the CTM served waffles with breakfast! My prayers were answered. I got a chocolate Eggo waffle with a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk and then a parfait. It was awesome. My favorite new candy that Sis Ruchti introduced me to is Pregio. It's the Brazilian Almond Joy (sans almond). I love them.

An update on the language... it's coming along very. Very. Slowly. On Saturday, my district participated in a Portuguese only challenge.  No speaking English for the entire day. It was so hard! It was a good way to show though what areas we need to brush up on. We can all kinda talk about doctrine, but can't hold conversations below surface level "how are you?". It was a quiet day at meal times. 

Our Portuguese teacher also introduced the timeout corner. Speak English and you have to stand in the corner for 2 minutes. The most we've had in time out is 3 people, and i made my first trip Tuesday! 

On Wednesday, Sis Tueller and I had our first "Help Someone" lesson in Portuguese. At the CTM, to help you practice teaching, instructors pose as investigators and its your job to teach them every week. Our investigator is an alcoholic named Carlos who wants to feel God's love. So we've been teaching him since Home CTM started (in english). Yesterday we taught in Portuguese and extended the baptismal invitation.  Now here's for the big mess up of the week: instead of telling him "We'd like to invite you to take the next step in spiritual progression. ", I instead said "We'd like to invite you to take the next step in spiritual procreation." Oops! Thankfully "Carlos" as very understanding about the mistake and waited until after the lesson to correct my pronunciation.  I'm hoping that by our lesson next week I'll feel more confident to speak without having to read off of my notes.  But, Carlos agreed to be baptized on Aug 6 (we picked that date bc it's the date that we finish up at the CTM)!!

Spiritual thought: Roman's 8:38-39 

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God is always going to love us. No matter how far we think we've gone, no matter how unworthy we may feel, we are still loved. We are loved because we are His children. Our Father in Heaven is not some unreachable, cruel and merciless God who condemns us all. He is our loving Heavenly Father who, in His infinite mercy, provided us with a Savior who's Atonement covers all of our errors. Christ suffered death so that we don't have to. He did so willingly,  because of His perfect love for us.

We are always going to be loved and watched out for by our God. I have been able to feel that love so strongly during my time here in the CTM. Everyone is just radiating with Christlike love. I know that God and Christ love us perfectly and they loved us before we came to Earth, and they will continue to love us after we leave. 

I love all of you so much, and I miss you all! Thank you to all of you who shared kind words or funny stories with me throughout the week. Its so fun to hear about your lives! I'll talk to you all again next Friday!

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Here are some photos from this week, if you want to see more shoot me an email and I can add you to my Google Photos album. 

Photo comments:

1- Sis Tueller and me with our Acai

2- Sis Ruchti and me at the Sao Paulo temple

3- My District! Back row L to R: Elder Brewer, Elder Young, Elder Hughes. Front row L to R: Me, Sis Tueller (my comp), Sis Ruchti and Sis Egbert

4- My district after a fun lesson outdoors

5- Elder Brewer in the corner!

6- Oops!

7- The breakfast that was prayed for! Waffles!!!

8- And apparently I was far more tired than I had realized.