WEEK DOIS

They say here at the MTC that the only thing worse than the first week of
the MTC is the second week. I can testify to that. Opa it was a hard week.
Mas, it was so good at the same time!! I'm learning so much every day that
it's like trying to drink out of a fire hydrant.

Also I solved my dilemma to waiting in line for the shower. I either shower
after gym time in the afternoon or I wake up at 6 AM and shower then.
Perfect. Whole bathroom to myself. Tambem if you're wondering what it's
like to live in a tiny room with 6 sisters then just imagine living in a
bee box. Because that's what it is tido. Muito muito muito pessoas.

Primeria I would just like to thank all the peeps that sent me mail or
packages! I love you all so much! My district is makes fun of me by calling
the mail "Sister Helm's mail" instead of just "the mail" They're just
jealous that I have a super bom familia.

PORTUGUESE IS HARD. ALSO ALL THE THINGS MISSIONARY ARE HARD. Like for
realz. I've never worked harder in my life and I'm still barely keeping up.
Mas, I'm getting there. I've memorized A Primeria Visao and also Nosso
Proposito and the Seven Habits of a Diligent Missionary. I'm getting
there.....lots of things left to do. Uncle Peter sent a perfect poem at the
perfect time and I was reading it yesterday. It's about discouragement and
I need to remember to not get discouraged when I can't teach the way I want
to because of the language barrier. So obrigada Uncle Pedro! (pedro is
peter in porkandcheese)

Something kind of funny....remember our pesquisador Geraldo? Well, turns
out he's now our other teacher. So now his name is Irmao Workman. Yup, I
know, it's weird. Mas both our teachers are great and I'm learning sooo
much from them. They both served in Mozambique and so they speak
Continental Portuguese instead of Brazilian. It's all good though because
they can speak Brazilian Portuguese too. PUXA VIDA I LOVE PORTUGUESE.
(maybe I should take the time to mention that puxa vida translates directly
to "pull life" but Portuguese speakers use it like "Oh my gosh!"

I can understand almost everything my teachers say now. Sis Lopez and I
have found a few Brazilians here and when we try to talk to them in
Portuguese it doesnt' work because they speak REALLY rapido and slur all
the words together. It makes it sound pretty but we can't understand what
they're saying. At all.

I honestly can hardly remember anything specific that happened this week.
All the days feel like a week and then the blend together and I can hardly
tell one day from another. Well, we went to the temple last Tuesday and it
was OTIMO. So good. It was exactly what all of us needed that day. On
Sunday we went to MTC choir and that was really fun too. I had my first
real Sunday here and it was great!! I love the devotionals on Domingos e
Teira-Feiras.

Our district sang a musical number at church on Domingo! It was soo good. I
love singing in Portuguese!

Something funny is that all of the Portuguese speaking missionaries always
say Oi! (Hi!) when we see each other because hello is Ola! and we don't
want to be confused with the Spanish speaking missionaries because we're
obviously cooler. Other missionaries always look at our tags and are like
oh you're spanish speaking where are you going and we're like, NO IT'S
PORTUGUESE. BRAZIL WOO WOO!

Something else otimo, our district gets to host tomorrow!! That means we
get to go help get all the little newbies and rip them away from their
familias and give them a incredibly fast tour of the MTC and then drop them
off at their classroom as they stare around in confusion and wonder what in
the world is happening! Yay! It's almost unheard of to be hosting after
you've only been here two weeks so obvi we're a pretty otimo district.

Two times a week we wake up super early and get to go do service in another
building. I know this is weird to say, mas it's actually fun to clean.
Especially when it's service. It's a muito bom way to start a dia.

So if anyone is wondering why Portuguese speaking sister missionaries
aren't called Irmas is because in there language if I walked around with a
nametag that said Irma Helm they would think I'm a nun. So yeah. Just a fun
little tidbit of info. So we're called sister, but they pronounce it like
seestair. And plural sounds like seestairres.

Also our devo this last Domingo was a brother from the Media Missionary
Dept of the Church. Look out for something really cool the day after
Thanksgiving and also Dec 7th on YouTube!

The mish is great. I'm so excited to teach everyone about o evangelho.
Tambem all the Brazil missonaries thusfar have been sent to the states to
wait for their visa because Brazil is mad at the U.S. right agora. :((

On that happy note, I'm out of time. I love you all and I thank you for
your amazing examples!

Com amor,

Sister Helm