Called to Serve in Cuiaba Brazil - as recorded by Mom: February 2011

Monday, February 28, 2011

Week 1 Letter

2/25/11
Hey,
Thank you for the letters! Yes, you have the right adress, I received all of your handwritten letters. Thank you so MUCH! I also recieved all of your dearelder.com letters. I get those the day that you send them! I am able to read letters every night, so feel free to send the dear elder ones anytime that you would like. Thank you mom for sending the yellow card fever and pedigree papers. Also, thank you for doing my money for me. I'm I going to get a ctr ring in the mail sometime :) While, to tell you about everything, everything is going great. I am working really hard at the language and everything else. Portuguese is really intense. I am able to pray and bear my testimony well, and I am also able to teach simple truths, and I am about to go and study verbs like crazy so that I can say way more. As a destrict, we have a goal to only speak in Portugues most of the day. It is crazy. I also went to the Provo temple today. It was awesome, but it also made me miss my little Spokane Temple. Sorry that I am all over the place, alot to say and not a lot of time. I lost and sewed on my first suit coat button today, so no worries mom. Also, I am doing laudry, so I will tell you how the whites turn out nex week hahaha. Tony, yep blue ties all the way this March, and Becca and Katie, pancakes in Portugues is panquecas, and polar bear is urso-sa de polar, although they sound way cooler than how they look because you say them through the nose. I am telling you, Spanish seems so easy now! At the same time, I heard some elders speaking in Chinese, and I feel pretty good about portuguese :) Sorry about the different ways that I have been spelling portugues (one is English, the other is portugues). I had me first dream in portugues though. I do not know if it was real portuguese or not, but hey, good sign, right? What else? I saw Robby Bise the other day. He is doing well, and getting ready to leave in the next couple of weeks. The food is great. No worries Tony, I think that I have lost wieght because it is more healthy than fatty pizza. Shauna, if you could remind mom to transfer the 60 dollars for the minutes on the phone, that would be great, and how do you like having the car? Fun, right! I still cannot believe that you are a Senior! Levi, you snow castle sounds really cool. I LOVE you buddy! Kolie, it is awesome that you are in my room. Tony is the best, huh. Ryan, I cannot wait to come back and tell you everything that happens on a mission. Katie and Becca, I could not believe that you wrote those letters to me. You both have incredibly good hand writting. I think that I sould practice mine by tracing over you letters! Josh, thanks for the letter man. You are going to be soooo old when I get back! Almost in high school, right? Dude! Alison, I am so glad that you are proud of me. That means so much to me. I am really proud of you. You are going to be a great young lady! Cameron, do not grow to much. Thanks for the letter. I know that you are a great little brother, and I am sure that you are a great big brother too. I am jelous of Josh, Koli, Ryan, and Levi (especially Levi when you are home from school). Tony, you are the man. You are going to love your mission soooo much! Yeah, I cannot wait to go out into the field, but now knowing the language helps you stay motivated and okay with staying for the full 9 weeks. Blue tie this month, and I will be thinking of you the whole time, and all of the good ole days. Shauna, you are amazing. Remember who you are, and remember who you are not :) You are going to love the MTC too! Shiloh and Scott, if you read this.... I love you guys and I cannot wait to here about all of your upcoming adventure, so feel free to keep me posted with email, and with dear elder.com. Mom, I love you soooo much! I know that I cannot tell everybody here that I have the best mom in the world, but I know that I do. Thank you for everything, I hope that you feel at least a part of my gratitude. I will spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you. Like I said, I get dearelder mail the night that you send it, and I love getting mail. It is like a breathe of fresh air after a mental exhausting day. Thankyou so much for your support. Dad, the handwritting was great. How is your arm doing? Keep me posted. I am always praying for you. I would like to thank all of you! I miss you guys so much. The work is great, and there is plenty to do! Write me about everything! I love hearing from you guys! I am constantly praying for you! Love you all. Time is almost out, so I will have to close. Send plent of mail (like I said, dear elder is great) and I will keep you all posted. Tell everybody I love them, grandma, cousins, aunts, uncles, and the rest. Write you next week.

Até logo
Elder Lee

Sunday, February 20, 2011

We heard from Shane!!!!!!!

2/19/11
Hey guys!
Well, thank you for the emails! I am able to check my email on fridays, although it was a saturday this week. So, to catch you up, I took the plane, and sat next to a minister, and so I was able to introduce the book of mormon to him. We had a great talk, and we built a great relationship. He was amazed by what I was doing and so it was really easy to talk with him about the gospel. I do not think that he will read the book of Mormon right away, because he says that there is no motivation, although I feel that I have explained it well. I think that he is a little afraid that it is true, but I am sure that he look at Mormons in a new light, and is amazed by our inward commitment. I arrived at the MTC early, and found that they did not expect me (the mission office did not tell them that I was coming a week early) but everything worked out okay. I have two companions who are awesome: Elder Vargas and Elder White. I am learning Portuguese incredably fast! I am already praying and speaking in it and it has been three days of learning. It is an incredible language. The nazal sounds are awesome, and the gift of tongues is so real. I am working all of the time, and I have no problem sleeping. I do miss you guys and love you all so much!
Also, I am the Senior companion, and on Thursday I was called to be the destrict leader, although I was promised that it would not interfere with my study time and learning of the language. So, what else is there... the food is great, although I think that I am losing weight because it is more healthy than Pizza Hut. I am really excited to get out into the field although I really want to know the language. Time in the MTC is really wierd. It feels like I have been here forever because of the long hours studying, but at the same time, it feels like I have hardly been here because there is so much to learn. I still have not gotten use to looking in the mirror as I walk by and seeing myself wearing a missionary name tag, but I guess that that will come with time. Tony, I cannot wait for you to experiance this! How can I explain it... it is like being in Hogwarts from Harry Potter. Everything is completely new and really strange, like a new world. Everybody is way ahead of you in languages. You walk down the hall and hear Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, French, Japanize, and many other languages all of the time. Over 50 languages are being taught in the halls that I am walking around!!! It is unreal!
So Mom, I promised you my mailing adress. There is a sight that you go to called dearelder.com that helps with the provo mission. You should be able to look me up with my first and last name, and my mail box number is 186. I also need a favor. To get into and out of Brazil, I need a yellow fever trifold card. I Should have one somewhere at home. I guess that I should have got it when I got the shot. I have not heard anything about my visa, and they are telling me that I will most likely be spending the whole 9 weeks here at this MTC, and hopefully I will then be on my way to Cuiaba, which seems to be the mission that every missionary wants to go to!!! So, if you could send me that, that would be great. Thanks. Also, I only have so much time to email before the computer locks me out, so if you could ask questions and all of that stuff in letters, it would be great.
About tything, it was 260 dollars, plus whatever you put into the bank. Well, time is running out, but I love you all and looking forward to hearing from you. Tchau Tchau
Elder Lee

Friday, February 18, 2011

Shane at the airport.

James set Shane apart on Tuesday night. Shane shared such a powerful testimony and his setting apart was amazing. He is ready. We had Shiloh and Scott with us via webcam. It was very nice. Shane's testimony touched us all and the Spirit testified to me that he was a valiant Son of God and prepared to serve.

Even though we all knew he was ready, the airport was very emotional.

Our last good-bye was the hardest thing I've ever done. It was hard enough just for me, but watching the kids with Shane was heart-wrenching. I guess that's what you get with a close family and siblings that truly love AND like each other. I would like to say I just can't wait for these two years to be over, but in those two years Shauna leaves for college and Tony will be ready to leave on his mission. Not to mention everyone else will just be 2 more years closer to leaving! I've got to start looking at this whole thing in a different way!

Well, with our Shaney gone, we all went home and collapsed on the couch. Our couch has never seated that many people. We all kind of cried and huddled and resolved to get on with our day knowing we would have to eventually get on with the next 2 years. I can't wait for Shane's first letter. We definately love our Shane.