Wed, May 30, 2012 10:02:07 AM

Hey!

Ok so just so you know i'm always a week behind on your emails because i take pictures of the screen and read them later that away i have the most time to type! This week as been so crazy!!! We've had awesome experiences and some really tough times. I am learning the importance of missionary work, and how important it is in others lives. and how devistating it can be when we are not able to help others.

I've cried more this week than probably my entire life. It started out with sunday we watched the movie 17 miracles and my entire companionship just could not keep it together. The next day one of our "investigators" told us that he could not longer take the discussions with us because his parents didn't support it and we didn't know what to say or how to help him. We knew that there was something we were supposed to say that would change his mind but we didn't know what or how. Afterwards our teacher (also our investigator) talked to us about how we should have handled the situation. It was a rough lesson and we really felt like we had failed. We said a prayer together, and it was probably the most spiritual experience I have had thusfar on my mission. Hearing him pray for us brought me to tears. Ironically after my companions had told him that I don't cry he made me cry. but it was so sweet and I felt how aware heavnely father is of our trials and weaknesses and that we need to work as hard as we can here in the ctm so that we can actually help people understand how important the gospel is to them.

Finally, two of our favorite districts (other than our own) left this week. We made such good friends with them and they helped us learn so much.The one disctict that left was amazing! They were hispanic and brazillian. Elder Reibero could speak portugues and english and he taught us so much, plus he was from Porto Alegre!!! His companion (Elder Qualerlo) was really short and kinda looked like a panda bear...so thats what the elders in our district call him. We would always tell him that he looked so cute, and Elder Reibero started saying it too. The way he says it is so funny!!! The CTM is just not the same anymore without them. We had some great times with those Elders and wish i could send you the pictures so you could know what they looked like but we can't do that here in the CTM :(

Other news, after playing i'm a child of god for the fireside This Sunday for mission conference i'm singing in a small choir Hold to the Rod. Its so intimidating because there are 3-4 sopranos and two of them are amazing! But its fun to get to sing, and its a really fun arrangement!  Oh and last night we got to listen to David Archuleta sing the Spirit of God! No he wasn't here, but a few weeks ago he sang at a fireside at the MTC that Elder Ballard spoke at and they sent the recording of it to us. It was an amazing talk and an amazing song! The really funny part is that some of the missionaries that had been in Provo got to listen to it twice haha.

I feel like there is always so much to say but I never have enough time!

I am so grateful to be here, and I love it here! Despite it being hard, and sometimes really frustrating the spirit is so strong!

Love you guys!!!

Sister Bradley

(I didn't post anything last week because the e-mail was surprisingly short.  Plus our computer crashed.  Ugh!  In her email she basically said she had 2 companions, they had been able to go to the Sao Paolo Temple and she said the prayer in Portugese.  Seriously, that was about it.   Now we know why!!!  :))

Alright, sorry about last week. We were told P-day ended at 6...but the forgot to mention that the computer labs close at 5. So we showed up at 4:50 and had just a few minutes to write and read. So let me tell you a little about the first two weeks here in the CTM.

ITS CRAZY!

Well, what can I tell you about the CTM? Everything is so unorganized here. The first few days were complete chaos, we never knew what schedule to follow and it kept changing on us. We were late to everything. And it didn't help that our first day here our alarm clock didn't go off and we missed breakfast and barely made it in time for personal study. It was a great way to start out our time here in the CTM. 

I love my professors Irma Korth (pronounced Korch) and Irmao Teixeira (don't even bother trying to pronounce, you'll do it wrong haha). But he plays the piano beautifully! and our district loves to sing so its been such a blessing, and good release for us as a class. But anyways they are awesome teachers. The first few days Irmao Teixeira only spoke Portuguese to us, we thought that he only spoke Portuguese, but every now and then we would say something so funny in English and he would fall against the board laughing...but we we'e never quite sure if he understood or wa00s just laughing because we were. Finally on Tuesday we were really struggling to understand the concept he was teaching and he taught us in English....he's fluent in in English as well.

(Elder Place is making this really hard...he keeps typing on my keyboard!!!! so sorry if theres any random letters his fault!!!!).

My district here is amazing! There are my 3 companions (I think she means there are 2 companions, 3 sisters altogether!) , S. Matiaco (oregon, going to the same mission as I) and S. Bullen (Alaska) and 6 Elders. All the Elders in our district are going to Foteleza, up north were its hot and all the sisters are going south to the cold. But we have a great time together and all love to sing. We sing before every class, after every class and whenever we get a little off track and need to feel the spirit again (which happens quite frequently).

On our second day here we taught our first investigator (Irma Korth) and then on the third day...taught the entire lesson in Portuguese!!! It took us 50 min and we're not sure if she understood what we taught but we did it. Then on Sunday I had to give the opening prayer in sacrament meeting...in portuguese! I made friends with the wrong elders :P  (I'm guessing they are the ones who asked her to pray!!)

On Wednesday we had our first P-Day...and got to leave the CTM!! We got up even earlier than usual and go to the Sao Paulo Temple. It is a beautiful temple, and we get to do our session in English! After we just wandered around the city surrounding the CTM. One of the shops here is run by a Brazillian woman who speaks engish, and served her mission in Porto Alegre North!! It was so comforting to hear her confidence/testimony that we are going where we're supposed to be, she said that our qualities/characterisitics are what is needed in our areas.

Ok so funny story. We have TRC, where we teach random investigators (either teachers, other missionaries, or members from Sao Paulo). We had our first on Saturday. Basically I totally messed up the lesson. Its all in portuguese and we were teaching another elder/investigator. The scenario is that his baby had cancer, well I thought he said that his baby had died from cancer. We switched gears in our lesson and started talking about the plan of salvation. \Well i thought that his baby had actually died....I told him that his child had gone to live with God and we started going into eternal families... as soon as i realized what was actually happening it was too late. he was trying so hard not to laugh (he was fake crying to hold it back) and then we all just started to laugh. it was terrible....and its on video. Even the mission presidents wife came up to me to find out what I said because everyone was laughing about it. Basically I killed a baby in my lesson. gah portuguese!!!

Real quick cuz i'm almost out of time, I also got to play the violin last night. With a choir of the entire CTM!!!! We played i'm a child of God and i got the music about 24 hrs before we played! It was alright, luckly everyone except the speaker, the mission president and whoever else is on the stand is listening. but Sister Steadman asked me to keep the violin and play along during devotionals on tuesday/sunday nights when I can. So I'm excited about that, its  nice to think about something other than what we're going to teach our investigators...and how in the world are we going to say it!

Our entire days are packed with portuguese!!! from 7am-9:30pm we are practicing portuguese, in class, in the cafeteria. Hopefully soon we'll actually be able to speak it with out frying our brains! The goal for today is to memorize the 1st vision in portuguese....almost got it but its hard to do in Portuguese.

BTW happy late mothers day! and were you able to get the putures i forwarded with my companions from the temple?

Well Iove you guys and miss you. well until next week

Sister Bradley

Irma Bradley and her companions!

Carissa has arrived at the Mission Training Center (CTM) in Sao Paulo, Brazil.  Here's proof!  We are so proud of her!

Carissa started her journey to Sao Paulo, Brazil early this morning.  She will arrive in Sao Paulo tomorrow morning about 8 am.  The journey will take about 20 hours (after accounting for time changes!)  She will be serving as a missionary for 18 months in the Porto Alegre North Mission.  But the first part of that will be at the CTM in Sao Paulo where she will study the Portugese language and culture, along with learning what it takes to be a missionary.  She will have the opportunity to share the restored gospel of Jesus Christ with the Brazilians and we are so excited for her.  As we receive letters, etc. from her I will post them on this blog. Also, her address will be updated as necessary or you can always e-mail her at the address listed.  Thanks for supporting her on this Greatest Adventure!