Saludos do CTM

Hello my dear family! So I think I'm liking this Provo MTC thing......I'm hardly even gone! :D That's so neat that you saw me running on Saturday, Dad! That definitely was me if it was at the time you said :) I thought that was pretty incredible........until this morning when I literally ran into Mom on her morning jog!! Haha......that really made my whole day Mom! I've been smiling ever since :) It's nice to be so close to home that I don't really feel like I'm away! I think you all should keep coming around the MTC as much as you can and maybe we can keep being lucky!

So life at the MTC is super fun! I love my companion Sister Robson and all of the elders in my district. I forgot how crazy 19 year old boys can be....it definitely does keep things fun though. Portuguese is coming along and I'm really learning to love it! It is very much like Spanish....in fact so close that at first it was really confusing me! But I can tell that I'm quickly adjusting, because yesterday when I was trying to help some elders with their Spanish I could hardly speak anymore without throwing in Portuguese pronunciations! Oh well, hopefully I'll still be able to get Spanish back when I come home in 18 months........

So, not to sound pessimistic or anything, but I don't think that Dad has to worry about me heading to Brazil anytime soon...... The visa situation is very messy and more and more Brazilian missionaries are being reassigned to US missions! I met an elder yesterday who has been here for 20 weeks and still waiting for word! And he applied for his visa in January! But no matter what happens, I'm just going to take each day a day at a time......and just remember to love where I am and love everyone that I'm with! :) The Lord can make anything happen, so if he wants me in Brazil I'll be there......and if he wants me somewhere else, I hope I can still do what he wants me to do there!!

So this week has been pretty exciting........Mission President Seminar Week at the MTC! Tonight there is a special devotional and most likely a member of the Quorum of the Twelve will be speaking!! I'm pretty excited! We've also been on the lookout for general authorities this week....haha, it's funny, there is an Elder Parry in our zone, and so this week whenever Sister Robson mentions something like "I saw Elder Parry this morning......or "Look there's Elder Parry!" I assume she's talking about Elder L. Tom Perry and get all excited! haha it's happened twice now :)

So here is a typical day in the MTC: Wake up at 5:30 am......read scriptures for 15 minutes and then head to the gym for Sister Missionary Yoga/Pilates (it's great!) Then usually we have gym time or personal study time until breakfast. After breakfast we have class for 4-6 hours and then have companionship study and some free time to practice the language, teach a lesson, or practice contacting.. Really, most of our time is self-directed, which makes it great because you really can get as much out of it as you want! Sister Robson is very motivated and we've been working hard..

Lately we've been trying to practice teaching by finding missionaries, getting to know them and then sharing our testimonies with them.. It is a lot of fun and it makes me realize that if you're trying to be a friend and work on loving every one you meet, you can really make a difference in people's lives.. And everyone has a need that you can fill........even other missionaries. It just takes being bold and following the spirit.. That's really why we are all here on earth........to help each other come closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ :)

I am so excited to share the gospel and I'm so glad I'm a missionary! I love you all!!!

Love, Sister Jamie Gee