Week One...MTC update

July 28, 2015
Oi, Tudo Bem familia,

     IT is great down here at the MTC and the first week has been full of its ups and downs so I have a lot to say and feel free to put everything this week on the blog or whatever.  So far I have some answers to your questions and some letters that I am going to mail out this week.  I can't write them as fast as Michael keeps sending them to me.  It is nothing like i expected down here but you learn and grow really fast.  I am doing pretty well at Portuguese and already committed my first Portuguese investigator to read the Book of Mormon and be baptized. Also on the second night we were here I got called as the Internet Coordinator for the entire Branch.  I am in charge of teaching the new missionaries how to write emails home and to the branch president. This means I get to go in to all the new districts to meet all the new elders and sisters.

    As far as the day we came in we had 36 new missionaries in our branch in three new districts.  The zone leaders are super chill and have really made this whole experience a lot less intimidating than it could have been.  I have 10 other elders in my district and no sisters.  Elder Call is our district leader from Gilbert Arizona.  Along with his compainions Elders Lunsford and Maughn, The other companionships are Elders Lowry and Gutierrez, Elders Price and Gonzalez, Elders Burchett and Robinson, and myself and Elder Loveland.  We have two going to Portugal, one going to Brazil, Two going to Cape Verde, and Five going to Mozambique,  I am the only one going to Canada in the entire zone.

     In my room I have elders Griffith, Osorio, Baker, And Brown.  All going to Mozambique but all are great missionaries and are making each other speak and pray in Portuguese while still having lots of fun. (Elder Brown dislocated his pinky on Friday kind of fun.) 

      This has been a great week spiritually as well.  On Sunday we had a trial by fire where the talks and lessons were all about worthiness and the atonement.  This made most of us feel that we were not really worthy to be here but at the end of the night we watched Character of Christ, a video of a talk by Elder Bednar.  I was at that time in the proper spirit to have my testimony just explode.  It has helped us bless the life of our investigator and has made this all really worth it.

With Love,  

Elder Sam Smith

Note: Sam didn't send us any photos this week, so I added this one taken at the Provo Temple just before we dropped him off at the MTC. (Missionary Training Center)