Erich at the MTC – Vol. 5 (of 5) Yup. I got you good, huh?

Opa, esta semana passada foi louca.

Yesterday was awesome, as usual! Lots of stories, anecdotes, and principles that were like spiritual beeeef. Om nom nom. It was great. But I’m jumping the gun here. :P Leeeet’s step back a little bit.

The first day of note was Tuesday, jam-packed with surprises and good experiences. Once again, the district got cut in half by visa receipt…for ME! That’s right. I got my freaking visa. I’m going to Brazil…with a flight tomorrow at 5 in the morning.

If you remember from last week, my first-ever companion Elder Shaw had to take his leave because of visa receipt. Sending him off made me sad…but my new companion, Elder Barnard, is pretty cool too. AND I got to room with Perkins and Gooch (zone leadership, for anyone who doesn’t remember).

Holy crap. I’m gonna be in the CTM in São Paulo, Brazil. In 2 days.

*squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee*

TRC also happened to be on Tuesday. It was amazing. We met a brasileira named Sister Roque who had worse English than we did Portuguese…but she was so loving. Her compassion for missionaries was so contagious, and she was super enthusiastic to talk to us. Kindest. Lady. Ever. For some reason, her Portuguese was much easier on the ears than that of my teachers (I love you, Irmãos Smith and Schirmer!) Maybe it’s because she’d been speaking it her entire life and understood that our verbal comprehension was less than the average Portuguese speaker. Still…I also have to consider some of the Brasilian Elders here, and how fast they spoke. *shivers*

So yeah. Life’s a little chaotic here right now. I gotta pack all my stuff up today AND get all this email and typing and whatnot out the door.

By the same token, this ALSO means that any contact info specific to the Provo MTC (read: anything that’s NOT an email address) will no longer be useful to you if you want to contact me. If you’ve sent any letters on Friday or Saturday, make sure I got them – I haven’t gotten anything in the mail today. If you’re not sending me a package while I’m in Brazil, I would really encourage you to avoid the two-week trip one way and send me an email instead until the end of my mission.

Returning back to Provo here, I’m simultaneously excited and sad to be leaving the MTC. I never thought about the goodbyes I’d give…or the numerous friends I’d make here. I’ve basically tripled my mailing list, and I hope I’ll be getting a lot of email from y’all in the future. By the same token, I still want letters from y’all at home! Write me a postcard, shoot me an email, do…something! I want to know how the people that kept me going at home are doing – and that’s YOU.

I’m going to miss playing 4-square with people here. But I’m also excited to get tossed into the Brazilian fire. I want to become fluent. I want to be able to call up my teachers and have a conversation in Portuguese. Currently, those people are Professor Santanna, and Irmãos Smith and Schirmer. Watch out, you three – I’m gonna be thinking of you as I master this language.

While I’m on the topic, I also have a tiny list of things I’ve found funny about Portuguese in the last week:

· “Pregar” means “to preach”, and “opregar” means “to force, to oppress”

· “prejudícia” is an adjective that means “harmful”

· “coração” and “oração” mean “heart” and “prayer” respectively

Cool, huh? I’ll try hard to remember more later. I know there’s much more left that I’ve thought about. That’s what my little Thinkpad is for. :P

Well, I've got to close up for now, but I've got a parting shot before I'm at the mercy of foreign powers and the TSA. It's about how I see my lifestyle currently changing - that is, having a purpose. By no means have I mastered missionary work. I'm not a great teacher, nor am I as good of a speaker of Portuguese as I would like. And yet, I've come what I feel is a considerable distance in this single month with much help from Him - and I realize that much of the education happens on the job. I think that this progress is because I have a purpose. Setting goals and carrying them out: these are the things that a purpose-oriented lifestyle requires. For 16 hours a day, I've been trying to apply these two things, and you know what? It's awesome. There's never any doubts about what I should do next, and I know what I'm doing is worthwhile because I decided before I ever got around to doing it. It's powerful. It's easy to adapt to. And best of all...it gives you a purpose! I can tell anybody what it is, without hesitation, in English and/or Portuguese. Since I got here, I've had a orientation around a purpose - and I plan on keeping it that way.

Anyway. Preciso sair ao Brasil agora. Tchau!

P.S.: Random quote of the week: "The spider do not like to be milked."

On Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 8:47 PM, Erich Gubler <erich.gubler@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Family and friends,

Today's craziness has prohibited me from getting the post and most of my other emails out this morning as I planned. Sorry to keep you waiting, I promise I'm still alive!

Also, added s'more people to the mailing list. To the IntelliServ guys - I'm SO sorry I haven't updated you before this point. Definitely my fault. :\

Anyway. I'm alive! Here I am, world! DON'T FORGET TO WRITE! If you don't know where the info is, search the blog (http://erichgubler.blogspot.com), or the FB page (parents give a link to the FB page?)

-Erich Gubler

Erich at the MTC – Vol. 4 (of 9)