August 27, 2013 The Candy Cane Award

Is it already P-day again?! Ah! Crazy!

The weeks are going by so fast. Our district signed up to host the new missionaries coming in tomorrow, so I'm super excited about that! 

This morning while walking home from the temple I saw the guy from Hilliard Ward that's from Brazil! He looked familiar and then was like, Hey! You're from North Carolina! Apparently he just applied to teach at the MTC. So that was cool seeing him. I wonder if Trevor remembers him...

Hey Colin- good luck with middle school! You're going to rock it dude! I love you!!

Portuguese is coming easier and easier. Our district is trying harder to speak Portuguese during mealtimes, but it's hard. There's one elder who is really funny and tells these awesome stories, but he's really struggling with the language. So he just speaks in English and it throws everyone else off. Kinda frustrating. Sister L and I have been listening to conference talks in Portuguese and reading O Livro de Mormon in Portuguese as well. It's been cool to pick up random words and stuff.  I've also been practicing a lot harder with my verb conjugations. Super fun stuff, I know. 

So this week, we went to teach our investigator and he was "drunk". That was interesting. I don't think our teacher understood and started acting all crazy so we knew what was happening. We clearly understood, but he was telling us stuff like "speak American" and saying all these English phrases. It was actually pretty funny. We ended up teaching about the Word of Wisdom, so we'll see how that goes. 

Last night Irmao Taylor got all of our parents email addresses because he wants to send you an email about us. He didn't explain what he was going to say, so mom, look out for an email in your yahoo account. And if you want to dear elder or email it to me that would be pretty sweet. I want to know what he's going to say! If it's bad, it wasn't me I promise!

What's Grandma's email? She sent me a dear elder and I want to respond to it... 

So Sister L just told me that she woke up late last night, and heard me talking in my sleep. She said it was so funny that she wrote it down. Apparently I was saying, "Oh, I didn't think she was that young. I didn't think she was that young." No idea what that was about. haha like I said I don't remember my dreams... 

One of the districts on our hall left yesterday, and they bestowed upon us a giant candy cane because apparently we're the coolest district. It's just this giant stick of candy cane that has been floating around the floor for about three years. The legend goes that an elder got it for Christmas or something and didn't want to eat it. And when we leave, we have to keep the tradition alive and pass it on. Yeah, we have to do some strange things to keep us from going crazy. 

We also do yoga during gym time occasionally. There's a sister who teaches yoga, and it is seriously the most hilarious thing to watch all the elders try to do the poses. And their comments are hilarious. I think I get a better workout from laughing so hard. 

We've pretty much engraved the idea into our heads that whatever weight we gained here at the MTC, we'll lose in Brazil. Probably by a tapeworm. At least Sister L is banking on that. Sister H said," My theory is that if everyone gains weight, nobody notices!" 

Sorry the email is pretty scatterbrained. Once again. There's just a bunch of stuff that I keep remembering!

I love the cardigan you sent, mom! I've already gotten compliments on it and it's MUSTARD! Yeah mustard. It's the good stuff. 

So I wish you could hear Sister L's talk. She's so funny! She has quite a few awful dating stories that are hilarious. Word has gotten around, and other districts have been requesting her to tell it. I don't know if I told you or not, but Sister M and I made up a pretty legit MTC rap. That's also gotten a few requests. Our district basically got that candy cane because of the super awesome sisters. Let it be known.

I also discovered that I look kind of like a bunny. But mostly when I make this creepy bunny face. The elders love it when I do it, and I'm not even being sarcastic. One time I paired it with this indian head bob thing and a hobbly walk. It freaks out Sister Mt, and Irmao Taylor thought it was hilarious. He even came into class one time trying to do it and was like, "Sister Baker! Yeah?!" Kind of like asking for a stamp of approval. It was a nice moment. Haha. 

Sorry I don't have any pictures. We can only take pictures on Sundays and P-days, and I look kinda rough on P-days. I'll ask some of the elders to forward pictures to me, though. They've got some stellar pictures of me on there. Mostly selfies, of course. I mean, their posterity has to remember me somehow, right?!

Questions from back home:

1.        How long do you get to take showers? Pretty much however long you have time for. 

2.       Can you take showers in the morning and night or just morning or do you get a choice? We can choose. Usually I take them at night, but sometimes we have gym in the morning so I wait until after that so I won't be nasty all day. 

3.       Why do visa waiters have to get up earlier than everyone else? I really don't know. I think we're considered to be on a guest schedule because we're technically supposed to be in Sao Paulo. But it's not that big of a deal anymore. I'm tired all the time either way. Haha.

4.       Do they have a place there for you to buy things that you may need like shampoo, etc.? Yeah they have a lot of stuff at the bookstore. I haven't needed to get anything there except some stuff for scripture marking. And I got a Portuguese hymnal! It's mini sized and pretty awesome. But I've been using that little sized shampoo bar and it will probably last me a few more weeks. That was definitely a good investment Mama Baker!

5.       Have you gotten your haircut yet? Nope. I probably should, though. They have them for free here, but our time is so limited on p-day that I would rather take a nap.

6.       Have you all thought of fasting for your visas? No we haven't talked about it. I think we're all prepared to get reassigned. I'm ok with going somewhere else for a while. It will definitely be a good experience, but I'm just concerned that I'll loose what little Portuguese I know.

7.       I heard the pillows there are really flat..true? Not too bad. I prefer fluffier. But in the words of my dear companheira, "I'm happy to suffer in the service of my Lord." (she says that probably about twenty times a day. and by twenty I mean like 3)

8.       What do you want me to send you if you get sent somewhere stateside that is cold?  I want to start getting ready. 

I'm not sure. Haha it hasn't even started getting cold here. It's the perfect temperature right now. We play beach volleyball during gym time, so we can go outside and enjoy the (somewhat) fresh Utah air. I'm not all that bad at it, either. Although I get really excited and make weird noises whenever I hit the ball. The other districts think I'm pretty entertaining.

9.       Do you have a small hymnal in Portuguese? Sim. See above. :)

10.   Are you learning to sing in Portuguese? Yup. We sing a few times a day, and church is entirely in Portuguese. So that's pretty cool. Even most of our branch presidency are returned missionaries from Brazil so they speak to us. 

11.   Have you started to dream in Portuguese yet? No. I usually don't remember my dreams, so I'll be excited when that happens!

12.   Where do you store your suitcases? Up on top of my closet. Some of the other sisters just stuck theirs in the corner.

13.   Did you empty everything out of them or did you keep some stuff in them? I emptied pretty much everything out except the sunscreen because I don't need it right now. 

Well, that's pretty much it for now. Tchau tchau! I love you!

Sister Baker