Life at the CTM

So the CTM [Portuguese for MTC] experience is going great right now we are all having to teach entire lessons in Portuguese and stuff like that so its been pretty exciting to see how bad I am at teaching hahaha. It's getting harder and harder because we have to teach a complete lesson to fake investigators now, and we cannot look at any notes. And it's also ALL in Portuguese so that's great. Haha.

The food here is still not good and all my friends who were here before me left for their missions so this place is so flippin empty! There's just a bunch of Brazilians around me and the only thing I can really say to them is hi, how long have you been here, where is your mission, and maybe a couple of other things haha but the language is coming! it's coming much faster than if I was learning in high school or something because I have dom de linguas which is the gift of tongues!!!!

My teachers are so awesome here and they are super funny. the CTM is super decorated with lights and Christmas trees to celebrate Christmas so it's been pretty cool! I've also used the tinsel you sent me and decorated our room with it. I had my first p-day last week and it was sooooo fun. here at the CTM in Brazil we are allowed to go out on the streets which no other CTM allowes. so Me and my district went to a hamburger place and ate some super raw burgers that were really good and then I bought some ties from a guy who sells them out of his trunk of his car. not suspicious at all haha.

I had a pretty good sized cockroach in my suitcase the other day. Don't worry, I exterminated it swiftly, but it was pretty fast. I haven't seen any in there since.

Kollin comes home tomorrow so that frickin awesome!!!! He's been an amazing missionary and I Look up to him and Braeden!! oh!! so I packed my shock pen and that's been sooooo much fun to trick brazilians and other people with. So thats been a good pastime when I'm not studying or teaching.

I'm calling home on Christmas day from 18:30-19:00 and the time difference is six hours so mi familia better be ready haha. I'm running out of time to write but everything is going great here. There's a missionary in our district who is a good kid but he's been struggling pretty hard for a while. I've tried a lot to serve him and make him feel better. Me and Elder Julia gave him a blessing of comfort last nice so he's definitely going to be feeling better after that.

I love you and and can't wait to serve my Heavenly Father and the people of Brazil!! the CTM is already kind driving me crazy so ya. I Can't wait to get out into the field!!!!

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!

Elder Whelan

PS: I sent some stuff to you about the cookie shop, I don't know if you got it or not.

[Editor’s note: if you’d like to purchase a Care Package for Elder Whelan, especially for Christmas, you can purchase things at Mr. Cheney’s Cookies, and he can pick them up on his P-days, Wednesdays. https://www.missionties.com/product-category/care-package/cheney/ ]

First Email!

Hey everyone!!

The CTM is amazing! everyone here is so awesome and nice! We have so much fun trying to understand each other!! my comps name is elder Burbidge and he's pretty cool. super nerdy tho haha he carries a yo-yo and is always flipping that thing around. I've learned so much her and can't wait to learn more. The food at the CTM is kinda gross most of the time but you gotta eat it haha. i found a cockroach in my bag today and i'll admit it was a little surprising hahaha it was literally the size of a half dollar coin so its wasnt small. the weather is hot here and it even smells different haha not bad though.

The language is coming along.. I don't know as much as I feel I should then I realize. oh wait, it's only my sixth day haha as I have tried to serve others I have come to love them. And see them as Gods children!! its an awesome feeling. Literally you can talk to ANYONE and they will have a 10 minute conversation about whatever and that normal haha. they actually want to talk to you all the time. Oh and I was also called to be the zone leader a couple of days ago so that's cool. I have to set up sacrament meeting and get that all prepared and i have several other duties. I really don't have that much time to email so now I totally know why Kollin and Braeden said they never had time!!!!I anyways, when we have our actividade outside we can jump or kick the ball in volleyball and if you do its 10 pushup. its crazy!!! but you already know I ball up and still have fun haha. The days have felt super fast for me because i literally have every second planned from morning till night. we had to give a lesson in Portuguese yesterday and it went horrible hahaha we literally had everything written down and weren't able to understand our ``investigators replies at all`` I ended up just saying en nome Jesus Shrist amen and tchau haha. it was funny to laugh at latter. but I have soooo many fun stories already and i literally can share them all because I don't have the time to do it but oh well haha

Yesterday or the day before me and my district were playing volleyball and my comp flippin hits the ball super hard and it smashes into elder Julias' face and sends his glasses flying! this was right when we got there so bear that in mind. it was super funny but everything turned out to be ok and there were no hard feelings. oh! there are these relic things in the CTM that are passed down from elder to elder and I got the golden plates which are literally a 5 pound stack of flash cards with hundreds of word to study so that's been a blessing haha. some of the elders got some other relics like  green book that you're supposed to write advise in and stuff. that ones is cool because we eat the same thing pretty much everyday day and it tell you how to make some good food. especially good paninis!! Also we are aloud to come outside on p-days and we have about 6-4 hours to go eat all you can eat sushi, hamburgers, or cookies. I can't wait for that because I haven't done it yet. we also have the opportunity to go to the temple every p-day so that's flippin awesome!!!!! can't wait. I swear i've gotten more advice from everyone her about how to survive in the CTM than in my entire life haha and and sorry but there's no spell check here to fix my bad spelling and since I have little time I can't go back and fix those mistakes. I've had so much fun here because the Portuguese people know all about American music and stuff! like literally a Portugues elder just walked by singing ´´ i like to move it move it, i like to move it move it´´ haha and it sounds the same but with his accent haha it's been fun.

A bunch of American Elders left on their next journey last night and I miss them so much because they were literally the most fun guys every. Is like I know everyone here already and can talk to them no problem. for some reason I had no trouble adjusting to anything here. Im tired during the day but that's because my brain is literally trying to comprehend everything at once and its not working HAHA I`ll get better I know it. I have a firm testimony of this gospel and I love everything about it! I am beginning to have a firm testimony in the gift of tongues as well and can't wait until I am completely fluent in Portuguese!!! I love you all and hope you have an amazing week! And I´m so thankful for all the support and love! Your all are the best!!!!!

Deus te ama!!!

tchau!!

Elder Whelan

Arrived!!

So I made it!! 

The flight was really boring, but I met up with a bunch of cool missionaries on the way. That was fun! My p-day is on Wednsday but I email on Tuesday. There's a facebook page that they have and its called Centro De Treinamento Missionario-Brasil. So if you want to look at that you can. 

It's really hot here so thats nice haha. Doing great, feeling great! Hope you all are doing well as well!!

Elder [Dalton] Whelan