Hi y’all!
First off, If you think that you missed an email or that you were removed from the email list, rest assured that it was all on my end. Last Saturday, the day that I am allowed to communicate with friends and family (at least for the next 3-4 weeks, then the day may change), I was more busy than usual. I drove minha mãe (my mother) to the Veterans Hospital, which took the time that I would usually write my email, so I did not send an email.
Now for a recap of last week:
The biggest challenge was the internet issue in the area where I was. If you are in the Northern/Central Virginia region you would also have gotten blasted my large thunderstorms. Each evening the storms would blow in and, however much an inconvenience, prevent our satellite internet from working. Thankfully I still had cell service, so I was able to call my companions to have our daily companion study.
I am back in Alexandria now so the internet issues are resolved. I am very grateful for the internet connections that I have, no matter the issues, especially after this last year.
My funny story from last week happen on the Sunday after my first email. If you are familiar with how people try and prepare young men for missionary service you are likely with how they try and scare you into knowing how to sew a button back unto an unfortunate pair of pants. Like, every “mini-MTC” or once every other year I would be subjected to a panicked leader teaching us how to sew a button. I’m sure you can guess where this is going. A single button popped off one of my shirts. About three minutes later I was able to locate a sewing kit and had the button on more securely than previously. To those that teach people how to sew on a button/are those that help plan such activities: please calm down. It isn’t that complicated.
This week:
This week we started Portuguese immersion. I have about 6-7 hours of class each day almost completely in Portuguese (we have four 7-10 minute breaks throughout the day where you can ask questions in English). So far after 3 and ½ days of immersion my comprehension is way up. On Tuesday (the day that we started immersion) everyone in my district was so worn-out at the end of the day that our productivity was nil when we met together. I was lightly sick on Thursday (just a headache and fatigue; going to bed early after a Vitamin-C supplement fixed me up), so class was terrible for me—I gleamed almost nothing from our Portuguese chatter and teachers expressive hand-waving.
On Tuesday my companions and I also had our first Portuguese TRC. TRC (Teaching Resource Center) meeting is where we are given someone to teach (we did have an English one last week, but that was an unpleasant experience that I will not recall). Our 15-minute meeting was full of the three of us not understanding most of what our amigo Thomas was saying and us occasionally speaking in our broken Portuguese.
I am way tired after this week (I also started a more rigorous exercise routine, so that doesn’t help), but I feel rather fulfilled after watching my progress after such a short time.
My favorite part from the week has been reading the Book of Mormon in Portuguese. I am at the point that I can read about half of the verses without needing to translate from my English copy—it is always those words like “sojourn” that we do not use in everyday English that trip me up. I have read the Book of Mormon in English between 15 and 20 times but reading it so slowly and deliberately, aiming for comprehension, makes the experience that much better.
Alright, I have a talk to give at a friends baptism tomorrow that I need to start writing, so, as always, I love y’all,
Jonas Butikofer
(P.S. I found this version of “If You Could Hie to Kolob” that I really like… maybe give it a listen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
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