Just Like Kindergarten

Hey everyone!! Wow it feels like months ago since I have seen or talked to any of you, but it's only been 11 days.  Anyway, the MTC is great! The food is delicious and Sister Hintze you're right. The oatmeal is way good.  I don't know what they do differently, but its scrumptious!! 

My district is awesome we all get along really well sometimes too well and we start getting off task, but we try our best to stay focused.  Our teachers are really patient and they think we are a hard working group so that's good.  My teachers don't know how to pronounce my name so by the end of the first day they started calling me Sister Neu, but now it goes back in forth between Sister Neu and something that kind of is like Neuberger.  I think it's hilarious.  I have two companions, Sister Clark and Sister Christensen.  They have a slight flare for the dramatics in different ways so it all works out.  Sister Clark is so good at Portuguese which is awesome for lessons when I don't know what our investigator is saying.  We all also have blue stickers on our tags so the teachers call us blunies instead of greenies.  Also, Carnival has been happening all week which is so loud at night cause we're close to the samba drum, but it's fun to hear the music of Brazil!

My district also thought my birthday was on the 29th of February because I said I was 5 at heart and so I just went with it and on Feb 29th they all wished me happy birthday.  I told them later on that day that it wasn't actually the 29th and they were like, wait, what, its not?  I had a good laugh at that.

On our first day I got to talk to some Brasileiros that had just come to the MTC too and I told them the few phrases that I knew in Portuguese and they were very impressed so shout out to Kyle and Dad for some Portuguese lessons.  I love learning a new language. I'm terrible at it right now, but I love it all the same. The other day in our lesson I did it all without writing down exactly what I was going to say and it went well!!  Then yesterday I didn't do as well and our investigator told me that she thought I was speaking gibberish, so that was a little blow to my confidence, but the rest of the day we pretty much had language study so I just focused on that.  Also, on our first day we talked to Sister Schneider one of the couple missionaries, and she told us about how the homesickness will come and be kind of there almost the whole mission, but we should not worry because the Lord would not send us here and get us all the way here and then leave us.  We are never alone because the Lord is always with us. 

The area Seventy came and spoke to us last Thursday and I loved the part where he told us to write a letter to ourselves for 20 years in the future saying what we will be doing and how our life is and then talk about what the gospel means to you now and he hopes that it will not change or only increase for joy in the gospel with time.  He also said to end everyday exhausted because then you know that you've done all that you possibly can.

We sat next to some elders the other day and one elder told us about how he's the only member in his family and that he hopes that through his mission his family will see how much the gospel means to him and want to get baptized.  I think it is awesome how diligent and hard working he is because of that mind set. 

On Sunday we got to speak in English almost the entire day which is awesome!!!  The president gave a great talk about how some missionaries work hard as any others, but don't all have the same success, but no matter what we should all work as hard as we can.  Even when its gets frustrating keep going we only have this opportunity once, so keep on keeping on.  One day at a time!!  God knows us and knows how to help us grow.  It won't be easy, but it will be worth it.  His wife said something I really liked too. She said pray ponder and obey.  We must pray to know what we need to do. Ponder the response and then obey, and blessings will come.  Angels are looking out for us and people are waiting for us to teach them.  We have been called so we must prepare so we can declare. 

Monday was a little harder for our district because it had been almost been a week since we had heard from back home, so one of the elders wrote a rap about how it's hard and we don't think we can go any farther, but we need to press on and the Lord is there helping us when we feel like we are going to fall.  There are ten people in my district including me.  Sister Magno who is one of the first Philippinos to serve in Brazil is super nice and just always puts a smile on my face and reminds me why we're here.  Sister Wixeler is so funny and she's as old as me, so we laugh about how young our district acts sometimes.  She's the only sister not going to the same area after the MTC. Sad day!  And then there's Elder Hatch who's super good at Portuguese.  Elder Burningham or as the brazilians call him Elder Bacon (Get it?).  Elder Pina who lived in Saudi Arabia, but is Philippino and has recently been living in Utah.  Elder Daniel who is from Washington and is super funny and Elder Nichols who is also super funny and reminds me exactly of Porter.  All three of us have the same sense of humor, so it makes class a lot more fun.  Elder Nichols also told us that his family has become inactive, but his brother still would not change the fact that he went on a mission and he hopes that through his mission that his family will feel the spirit again and want to come back to church. 

We got to hear a devotional from Elder Holland on Tuesday which was amazing!! Such a good end to the day.  One of the best things he said was that the mission will cost you everything, but the reward will give you everything.  Conversion of yourself before your investigators is so important. 

Anyways I love you all and hope all is well!!  Remember to pray ponder and obey and have a wonderful week!!!

Moroni 8.25-26

Sister Neuberger