December 27, 2011

Merry Christmas again!!! So since I wrote you on Sunday I don't really have a whole lot to tell this time. I'm glad you guys got my email though. The computers were so slow because everyone in the MTC was trying to email. They had us do it in shifts but it was still crazy. The rest of Christmas was pretty awesome as well. We had another speaker, an area Seventy who's name I forget right now. He was super funny! He kept asking questions that we had to stand up or stay seated to answer AND he let us take our suit coats off!! That never happens during firesides!! He told us a story about when he was a stake President and he was spraying a kid with water from the water fountain at church. It was one of those ones that when both are going, they lose pressure but when one turns off the other one shoots really high. He said he did it about 8 times and the kid never knew it was him. It was super funny. His talk was about missionary work and how we all need to stay strong and work our hardest so that we can return home knowing that our mission was acceptable to God. His and Elder Bednar's talks were probably my favorites since being here. We then watched Mr. Kruegar's Christmas before bed. It was a pretty good Christmas though. The only things it was missing was family and grandma's cooking. Shane sent me a picture of Christmas dinner and I'm kind of jealous! But I had a really good day.

So Brodie emailed me. AND he said that all the talk about only one bag is a lie!! Basically he said you can bring the same amount of stuff as you can on other airlines. 2 bags, a carry on, and a personal item. I still have to pack light but not that light!! It's crazy to think that I'll be there in one week exactly! So we leave from the Salt Lake airport at 9:53 AM on the 3rd and then have a layover in Boston. I don't remember exactly what time but it's about a 4 hour layover I think. I don't know if I'll phone from Boston or Salt Lake so maybe try to stay home that day? I'll try to find out more and email it to you next Monday before I leave but I will definitely call you sometime on Tuesday. Not much else happened though since Sunday. I went with Elder P. off campus so that he could get some prescription medications but thats probably the most exciting thing that has happend. We get to host again on Wednesday but my companion and I have to do traffic duty. Not quite as fun but it will still be good. I'm going to try to get some pictures with Jordan before I leave because he's in my residence building.

That sucks that Orlando lost!! Have they made any trades yet?? I heard that the Lakers lost to the Clippers in pre-season. Also that Jimmer played really good on Sunday?

Well I miss you all. It will be good to phone you guys next week. I'm super excited to leave!! Enjoy the rest of your holidays!

Amo voces!!!

Elder Brandon Dola

December 25, 2011

FELIZ NATAL!!! Eu ainda estou aqui...BUT I got my flight plans on Friday and I leave on January 3 at 9:55 from the Salt Lake Airport!!! How exciting hey??!?!?? Also today is Christmas and since we don't get to phone home I get to email! Not as cool but still. I hope you guys read this at sometime during the day. Although you are probably enjoying a delicious Christmas dinner at grandma's house while just had my cafeteria meal. Although it was't that bad. Elder David A. Bednar came today and his talk was so amazing!!! He talked about finding the Character of Christ in our lives and how that will help us become fully converted to the gospel. We also had a sacrament meeting with around 2120 missionaries. It was really awesome. Probably one of the biggest sacrament meetings in the world and it only happens every 7 years when Chrismas falls on a Sunday. Pretty cool experience. Thanks for all the stuff that you guys sent me!! I really appreciate it a lot. Please tell grandma and grandpa thanks as well. I will send them another letter but I won't be able to do that until Tuesday. I don't know what exactly my flight plans are right now but I will email them to you on Tuesday during my P-day. We have a pretty long lay-over in Boston where I think I will get to call home. I only have a week left!! Christmas Eve was pretty much a normal day except we watched a re-enactment of the nativity and then watched "A Chrismas Carol." It was a pretty good night and the first time I've seen the full movie I think. It wasn't the Grinch like we were hoping but it was still really good. So I've seen Jordan twice since he got here. The first time was when I was hosting new missionaries and the missionary I was hosting was in his district so I saw him when I brought the missionary to their classroom. Then I saw him at lunch one day. He seems to be doing really well and seems really excited. He is on the third floor of my residence building so I am going to try and see him again before I leave. It's crazy to think that I've been here for almost 2 months already. This next week is either going to go by really fast or it is going to drag on forever. I hope it kind of goes in the middle. But I am really excited to leave. Today we had a combined district meeting with some of the other districts in our Zone and read through the Christmas story in the Bible while singing Chrismas songs in Portuguese. We then finished with a testimony meeting and now we are emailing. I don't really have much else to write but if I remember anything I'll send it on Tuesday.

We are going to start preparing to leave and I'm going to have to figure out what I need and what I need to send back home. I think for the most part I have everything that I need but I am definitely going to have to send some stuff home.

The Spirit is so strong here, whether it's in English or Portuguese. Especially today. I love Christmas and even though it still feels a little weird not being at home with all my family, it's still Christmas and the Spirit is just as strong. I love all of you guys and am so thankful for all the amazing things that you do for me. Anyways, I have to get off because they still have to have tons of other missionaries email today. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and I will write again on Tuesday. I am super excited to go to Cape Verde and serve the people there. The Church is true and I want to share it with everyone!! Amo voces!!!!

Elder Brandon Dola

December 20, 2011

Tudo Bem!! Feliz Natal!

So this week has gone by really fast. I only have two weeks left before I leave for Cape Verde!! I'm super excited. Nothing too exciting happened this week though. It snowed finally! But only about half an inch. It is super weird because most days feel like Spring right now. Also Utah is super disgusting. There is this thing called inversion which pretty much means that there is a super thick layer of pollution hanging around in the air. You can actually see it, and it traps all the warm air down below. It looks like it's permanently foggy but it's dirty fog. I'm definitely glad it's not like that where we live. It doesn't really feel like Christmas here. Other than the decorations and the lights up everywhere, you wouldn't really be able to tell. Christmas day should be really sweet though. We get to watch a couple Tabernacle Choir presentations. I'm not entirely sure if it means they're coming here or not but I'm pretty sure they aren't. We are getting an apostle at least on Sunday during sacrament meeting because the entire MTC is having a combined meeting. It's gonna be crazy! Thats over 2000 missionaries all having one sacrament meeting. It's so the branch presidencies can go home to their families. Thats why we are having an apostle. We're guessing though that we'll have a minimum of two come though in the next two weeks because we have a lot of extra firesides and devotionals. It should be interesting!

Wednesday is the last day that new missionaries will arrive while I am here and our district gets to be hosts. That means we get to show the new missionaries to their residence hall, help them get their books and then show them their classrooms. We are pretty excited because we were worried that we wouldn't get to do this. Jordan comes in this week but I don't know if I'll see him right away because I'm guessing he'll be flying in and I don't know where the missionaries who fly in get dropped off.

I'm almost finished reading the Book of Mormon again. The branch presidency challenged us to finish it before we leave. I'm just starting 3 Nephi and if I keep going at the same pace I'll definitely finish in two weeks. Portuguese is coming along as well. I feel like there is only so much more I can learn here though and that I need to get out and be completely immersed to become fluent. We are trying to have more speak your language days but it is still hard and not everyone in our district wants to do it so sometimes we forget. We're trying though and I feel like I can speak pretty well.

Basketball is so much fun right now! The past couple of weeks we've got a lot of new elders in our gym period who play basketball so it gets really intense. I feel like my jumping is coming back quite well and I dunk all the time now. One elder calls me White Howard because I always wear my Superman shirt. It's a lot of fun though. There are some really cool people here. Volleyball can be fun at times but it never gets competitive and I lose interest easily. Plus the lines are always super long.

I look forward to hearing from Brodie because it would be good to hear more specific details about what it is like in Cape Verde. Nobody really knows much about Cape Verde here. All my teachers served in Brazil. Anyways my time is up. I hope you all have a good Christmas! I'll be thinking of you as you are enjoying grandma's delicious home cooked meal and I am eating my cafeteria meal. Eu amo voces!!

Elder Brandon Dola

December 13, 2011

Tudo bem!!!

Well another week has passed by and nothing new or exciting has really happened. I only have three weeks left in the MTC but it still feels like it is so far away. Umm the BYU Men´s Choir came on Sunday for our devotional and did a program for us. It was pretty good, they did a really cool version of the ´´hummer pum pum´´ song that I think K. would have liked. Other than that though everything here is pretty much the same. It feels like spring outside right now. It snowed a little bit while we were at the temple but it´s pretty much gone already. Today was the last day that we get to go to the temple because it closes for Christmas I think on Saturday and doesn´t open up again until the day that we leave. We also ate lunch at the temple again so that was good. The language is continually improving and we had another speak your language day yesterday. It went pretty good and I learned a lot. Last week when we tried it we pretty much failed. The Wednesday we made it until after lunch and then we kind of stopped. The Saturday was even worse. But yesterday went well and we are going to do it again tomorrow. C. leaves tomorrow for Boston which is crazy. He came in two weeks after me and gets to leave three weeks before me. He´s really excited though which is good.

I don´t really know what to write this week. My journal entries are slowly getting shorter and shorter because we don´t really do much different. Yesterday I played basketball in gym and it was really fun because it was super intense like when I used to play at home. I dunked on one kid and then hit a game winning three which was really cool. It was nice to play competitively again though so I really enjoyed that. Volleyball is a lot more fun now too because the new district that just came in has a whole bunch of volleyball players in it. I think K. would like breakfasts here. Almost everyday we get some kind of pancake, waffle or french toast and usually they are pretty good. Sometimes they are a little cold or undercooked but for the most part they are good. My birthday was really just another day here. Although I definitely got the most mail that day. My district sang happy birthday in one of our classes in Portuguese which was kind of cool but other than that it was just a normal day. We had to teach two lessons and we got new missionaries in our room but that was about it. I did get the package. Thanks a lot! I hope I can finish the box of cereal before I leave. I can only really eat it on P-day and I definitely won´t be able to bring it to Cape Verde.

I don't get to call home on Christmas but I will get to call home from the airport. I'll know more about that though in a couple weeks. Also the MTC stops accepting packages on the 23 and won't start again until the 26. I'm supposed to tell you that in case you try to send packages before Christmas. I started reading the Book of Mormon in Portuguese everyday during my personal study and I can understand maybe about 75% of it which is pretty amazing I think. I have to look up some words and I keep my English scriptures nearby but it is helping me expand my vocabulary quite a bit. How's everyone else doing at home? I don't hear from anyone other than you guys and grandma and grandpa. C. says he hasn't heard from anyone outside of his family at home either.

Well I don't really have anything else to write. I'm still having fun and learning a lot. Hopefully in the next three weeks I can improve my speaking quite a bit more since I'm not going to understand anyone in Cape Verde anyways, I might as well be able to talk to them. I love you all and hope to keep hearing from you lots.

Love,

Elder Brandon Dola

December 6, 2011

Tudo bem!!

So not much happened here this week. Sometimes the days seem to just blend together. Probably because we do the same things every day. But I am learning a lot and am continuing to progress with my speaking. I still have a very basic vocabulary but tomorrow we are having a "Fala Sua Lingua" day. This means we speak only Portuguese all day except for at meal times. Everyone has been telling us that we need to do this in order to learn faster and we were finally able to convince the rest of our district to do it. So... we'll see how it goes.

We have been told that we have to relax sometimes and have some fun. Apparently some missionaries become stressed out because they work too hard and never take any breaks. I'm not going to let that happen. We are having fun though and that makes it so much easier to learn. We get to teach every other day and have so much study time. We got to watch the Christmas Devotional on Sunday and it was really good.

Today we went to the temple and then ate lunch in the cafeteria. The food was soo much better than MTC food!! We are really getting tired of eating food that makes you feel sick after eating it, although nobody else has been super sick since Thanksgiving. I've learned that the salads are usually pretty safe to eat as well as the ice cream. I got your card today so thanks! It's the first time I've had more mail than the sisters. They get so much mail and so many packages it's ridiculous!

Thats good that the NBA is back although I was hoping it would miss a season so I would only miss one. Oh well... it doesn't matter. I just hope Howard doesn't get traded. The gym person got mad at me again because I brushed the rim when I went up for a dunk. I just flicked the ball in, didn't hang or anything, but my hand brushed the rim on my way down and they didn't like that. So now I just try to dunk in games. It snowed here the other day but it didn't last long. It is getting colder though, but not too bad. They have Christmas lights up all over the place but it still doesn't really feel like Christmas time. Probably because right up until Christmas we will be studying and working. It's going good though and I'm half way done my time here in the MTC.

I don't really think I need anything more right now. Although I am really getting bored of my ties. Also if you found some way to send real food without it spoiling in the mail, we have a fridge in our room!!! Just kidding but I'm doing good and learning a lot. Other than that, I like hearing from you. Please forward me the letters from all my friends. The one Sister P. puts together from all the missionaries. Thanks.

Anyways, thanks for everything and eu amo voces!!

Boa noite!!

Elder Brandon Dola