My mission adress for fortaleza is:
Av. Santos Dumont, 1789, sl. 1612, 16th andar
Ed. Potenza - Aldeota
60150-160 - Fortaleza - CE
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
What a wonderful week!
What a wonderful week! Missions are awesome :) I feel like i´m almost officially in motion as to what the MTC is about. It´s a really set schedual so there aren´t really times through the day where I can just lay around... busy busy busy busy... but it´s a wonderful busy! I wish I could really describe to you how i´m feeling but I really can´t. I just know that this is what i´m supposed to be doing and i´ve learned to just enjoy the moment. One of my teachers doesn´t really teach us what you would call a "normal" lesson. He teaches how he feels we should learn things, and that is honestly what i´m going to be doing for my investigators. It´s great :) anyways so not to much new is happening because i´m just learning a lot. The only thing I can really say is that i´m constantly building my relation ship with our heavenly father and my savior Jesus Christ. The days are launching by, I felt like I wrote you guys an e mail yesterday but it´s been a week.
So my teacher (2nd one 1st one is awesome to) talked to us this week about confidence and happiness. Just live life in the moment with no regrets. Never look back or look to far forward. Just enjoy the moment and what´s happening around you. You choose your happiness. If you want to be sad you´re going to be sad and the other way around. I found out that being happy is a lot better then struggling to get through the day. A failure is just a lesson LEARN FROM IT and grow. If you moup to much about the past you won´t get anything done. If you worry to much about what´s gonna happen in the future or say "oh hey things will be better in another month" it´s not gonna just be happy and live in the moment :) ha I feel so cheesy saying it but it really does make a difference if you are activley applying those principles in your life!
ps me and elder davis are kinda gettin swollen ( aka hittin the gym erry day!) :))
and lastly this week my challenge to everyone is to find beauty in the little things. God gives us SO much that you sometimes forget to just stop and look at the things that are just right in front of you. For example at the end of my day I look out the window and I have an absolutely BEAUTIFUL view of the city. I sometimes find myself staring at it for at least an hour at 10:30 when I should be sleeping but it´s just to wonderful. Life is so simple and so wonderful and it´s ours for the taking make the most of it :) The gospel is real and I love my savior and my father in heaven, i´m so thankful for the blessings I recieve even if they are the small things :)
I love you all and have a wonderful week
Elder Diamond!
Thursday, November 10, 2011
To start Brazil is great!
To start Brazil is great! I got off the plane pretty tired. On the way to Sau Paulo I got to teach and talk with a brazilian it was pretty good, but unfortunately due to me not thinking I forgot to bring my portuguese O livro de mormon... So I ended up giving him a card with the website. I got his e mail so maybe i´ll try to communicate later or something :D
On the way to the CTM I got to see the city and it was very very pretty! took some pictures n stuff like that, got off the bus went inside and got my paper... my companion is ELDER DAVIS WOOOO :) totally made my day... Got up to my room and he was already unpacking and yeahh just very glad I have my old companion for the rest of the CTM me and him get a along a lot.
The food is pretty good it;s a lot of rice and beans with some meat but unfortunately NO SAUWWSSCCCEEE. Sorry dad I can´t be the sauwce boss for two years =/ oh well ha! the deserts are pretty funky half the time my district and I eat em and all of our faces turn into odd shapes and we don´t touch it any more haha. Oh yeah PS sorry that my spelling and english may sometimes get bad. I´m starting to spell things like they would be in portuguese so yeah....
The language is difficult... Very difficult. It´s so hard to not be able to express yourself the way you want to. There are times I just wanna cry because I know when I get out there I won´t be able to communicate that well to the people who I so want to bring the gospel to. I know Deus ( god ), Cristo, and Espirito Santo will help me get through it. Other then that I am absolutely loving it. The language will come and I know it will it´s just sometimes it really gets to you.
So when I entered the CTM I thought that I had a pretty good testimony of this gospel and woww.... The spirit hit me across the face with what felt like a 2by4. This is by far the most difficult (and I know it´s only going to get harder) thing i´ve ever done in my life. The amount of spiritual, physical, and emotional stress i´m undertaking is more then i´ve ever had to deal with... But I love it. so much. My testimony has grown about 10 fold of what it used to be. I KNOW this gospel is real. I will never be able to put into words just how I feel about everything that god has given to me. I entered the CTM with very little knowledge as to how much our heavenly father does actually love us. The answer is more then we will ever know. He loves us so much. Just think about the blessings you´ve recieved in your life and it still will be a fraction of the amount of love you think he has for you. It´s such an amazing thing to know that no matter what happens, we are never truly alone. Families are eternal and god wants us to return to him :) such simple doctrine but it hits me in ways i´ve never felt before. Maybe it´s because I´m a missionary :) it still hasn´t hit me that I am a missionary yet but I hope it will soon!
But i´m really enjoying myself SO happy, by far the happiest i´ve been in my life. I´m so eager to go preach to the people god has prepared for me it´s gonna be great! anyways my teachers are great the first one my district and I were a little scared of at first but now we aren´t when he warmed up (which was by the second day) he is an absolute CRACK up such dry but great humor. My second teacher blows my mind. He makes me think about myself and investigators more then I have ever thought about myself or them before. love it I wish I could tell you more but time won´t allow for it. Also my mind is racing at a million miles an hour because I only get 30 minutes on here so I have to pick and choose what i´m going to say.
On the way to the CTM I got to see the city and it was very very pretty! took some pictures n stuff like that, got off the bus went inside and got my paper... my companion is ELDER DAVIS WOOOO :) totally made my day... Got up to my room and he was already unpacking and yeahh just very glad I have my old companion for the rest of the CTM me and him get a along a lot.
The food is pretty good it;s a lot of rice and beans with some meat but unfortunately NO SAUWWSSCCCEEE. Sorry dad I can´t be the sauwce boss for two years =/ oh well ha! the deserts are pretty funky half the time my district and I eat em and all of our faces turn into odd shapes and we don´t touch it any more haha. Oh yeah PS sorry that my spelling and english may sometimes get bad. I´m starting to spell things like they would be in portuguese so yeah....
The language is difficult... Very difficult. It´s so hard to not be able to express yourself the way you want to. There are times I just wanna cry because I know when I get out there I won´t be able to communicate that well to the people who I so want to bring the gospel to. I know Deus ( god ), Cristo, and Espirito Santo will help me get through it. Other then that I am absolutely loving it. The language will come and I know it will it´s just sometimes it really gets to you.
So when I entered the CTM I thought that I had a pretty good testimony of this gospel and woww.... The spirit hit me across the face with what felt like a 2by4. This is by far the most difficult (and I know it´s only going to get harder) thing i´ve ever done in my life. The amount of spiritual, physical, and emotional stress i´m undertaking is more then i´ve ever had to deal with... But I love it. so much. My testimony has grown about 10 fold of what it used to be. I KNOW this gospel is real. I will never be able to put into words just how I feel about everything that god has given to me. I entered the CTM with very little knowledge as to how much our heavenly father does actually love us. The answer is more then we will ever know. He loves us so much. Just think about the blessings you´ve recieved in your life and it still will be a fraction of the amount of love you think he has for you. It´s such an amazing thing to know that no matter what happens, we are never truly alone. Families are eternal and god wants us to return to him :) such simple doctrine but it hits me in ways i´ve never felt before. Maybe it´s because I´m a missionary :) it still hasn´t hit me that I am a missionary yet but I hope it will soon!
But i´m really enjoying myself SO happy, by far the happiest i´ve been in my life. I´m so eager to go preach to the people god has prepared for me it´s gonna be great! anyways my teachers are great the first one my district and I were a little scared of at first but now we aren´t when he warmed up (which was by the second day) he is an absolute CRACK up such dry but great humor. My second teacher blows my mind. He makes me think about myself and investigators more then I have ever thought about myself or them before. love it I wish I could tell you more but time won´t allow for it. Also my mind is racing at a million miles an hour because I only get 30 minutes on here so I have to pick and choose what i´m going to say.
Today was GREAT finally got to go OUTSIDE FRESH AIR A WHUT UP??!! Brazilian culture is awesome I can´t wait to see more. Spiritually i´m growing more and more everyday so loving it!
The thought i´d like to share with you this week is humility. Humility is a wonderful thing. It´s one of the many principles that christ taught. being humble is more then just being thankful for your things. it´s not being jealous of anything or anyone no matter what. Just be you. I can´t even put into words what i´m trying to say... Just practice humility :) i´ll try working on better things to bring next week but i´m running out of time so I can´t ponder what i´ve learned to much...
Diferences between provo and this CTM is this one is honestly just better... about 300 missionaries compared to like 1800 or something like that?? much more personal and I get to go out into brazilian culture... also apparently some brazilian roomates are gonna move in with us soon so yeh :) anyways can´t talk much more LATER
Much love, Elder Diamond (my name in brazilian is pronounced gia-mon-chh)
Friday, November 4, 2011
Arrived Safely Letter from President
Dear Parents,
We are happy to send the good news that your missionary has arrived safely at the Brazil MTC. What a great joy and privilege it is to greet each missionary as they come through the front door of the MTC for the first time. We promise to take good care of your missionary.
They now have companions and are settled into their rooms. They are assigned to a district with capable and caring instructors for language and lesson study. The branch presidents and their wives, will soon give them a second greeting. These couples are rewarded in their callings through the love they always develop as they embrace and watch over the missionaries.
The MTC has a full time live-in physician to care for their health needs. He is assisted by his able wife. We are also happy to report that the Cafeteria food is abundant and very good.
Your missionary will be able to e-mail home on Preparation Day after a morning at the Temple. This will be either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on individual assignments.
Your very important young person is about to make an eternal difference in the lives of others. We hope you will be encouraged and comforted by this quote by President Lorenzo Snow: “There is no mortal man that is so much interested in the success of an elder [sister] when he is preaching the gospel as the Lord that sent him to preach to the people who are the Lord’s children.”
Please accept our love,
President Donald L Clark and Sister Zaza Clark
WE Strongly eNCOURAGE sENDING HAND WRITTEN LETTERS. Please write your missionary´s first and last name. Your missionary will provide you with his district and box number. Also, please DO NOT SEND ANYTHING BY FEDEX, DHL, UPS, or other private carriers. The cost to get this type of correspondence is exorbitant.
We are happy to send the good news that your missionary has arrived safely at the Brazil MTC. What a great joy and privilege it is to greet each missionary as they come through the front door of the MTC for the first time. We promise to take good care of your missionary.
They now have companions and are settled into their rooms. They are assigned to a district with capable and caring instructors for language and lesson study. The branch presidents and their wives, will soon give them a second greeting. These couples are rewarded in their callings through the love they always develop as they embrace and watch over the missionaries.
The MTC has a full time live-in physician to care for their health needs. He is assisted by his able wife. We are also happy to report that the Cafeteria food is abundant and very good.
Your missionary will be able to e-mail home on Preparation Day after a morning at the Temple. This will be either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on individual assignments.
Your very important young person is about to make an eternal difference in the lives of others. We hope you will be encouraged and comforted by this quote by President Lorenzo Snow: “There is no mortal man that is so much interested in the success of an elder [sister] when he is preaching the gospel as the Lord that sent him to preach to the people who are the Lord’s children.”
Please accept our love,
President Donald L Clark and Sister Zaza Clark
ADDITIONAL information . . .
DO not send packages to the Brazil Missionary Training Center. All packages must be sent directly to the mission where your missionary will be serving not the MTC. If you have already mailed a package to the Brazil MTC and it arrives after your missionary has left for the field, please understand that the package can not be forwarded to his or her mission and will be returned to you. The only other option is for us to open the package and forward the letters and photographs, giving the rest of the content of the package to the missionaries that are here.WE Strongly eNCOURAGE sENDING HAND WRITTEN LETTERS. Please write your missionary´s first and last name. Your missionary will provide you with his district and box number. Also, please DO NOT SEND ANYTHING BY FEDEX, DHL, UPS, or other private carriers. The cost to get this type of correspondence is exorbitant.
Phone contact with mom before flying to Brazil!
Rourke was able to speak with Vicki last week before he left. "He said he absolutely loves it. He doesn't miss anything about home except mostly his hair. He does miss his family, however, he is not homesick. His visa finally came thru on October 31, and he flew out to Brazil 11/1/2011. He called me from JFK, he had a 5 hour layover and spent $30.00 in phone cards, but he sounded good. He said he is learning a lot, already knows quite a bit of Portuguese. Anyways, he is doing good. He was excited to go to Brazil, and serve the people. He said he cant wait to get there and just share the gospel with them. As soon as I get his new address I will let you all know. He should be writing via emails, however, he said they do not get much computer time. Ive heard maybe 30 minutes per week is all they get. So, said just to tell everyone he is doing well and LOVES and MISSES everyone. He said the gospel is true and he just wants to get out there."
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