Hey everyone!! I got all your letters this week, thanks so much! Apparently the mail has something against me and can´t bring me a letter on Tuesday, when I could write back, but only on Wednesday when I have to wait a week. But I was so glad to get all your updates about North Dakota, and handwritten letters from alex and katie! Thanks so much, the handwritten ones were great, almost like I could hear your voices. They made my day!!
So everything sounds like it´s going great! I didn´t find too many questions from you guys that needed answering except when I get to Santa Maria, which I forgot to tell you is September 1! Sorry about that. So I´m starting week 7 of 9! Weird huh?? I can´t believe it´s going so fast. So I think you guys are in Jackson right now! That´s so cool, I can´t wait to hear about it. Oh, actually I think you did write about it but I´ll wait to get those in the mail to have more time to read. Thanks for both emailing and writing, it´s much easier!
So as for me, this week has been great! It´s been hard because our district all got sick with what I had last week, only for me it was a little cold, nothing to worry about, but they all took it way worse! Just my amazing immune system. But Sister Johnson got it really bad so she rested a lot and I just hung out in the room and studied. So it was kind of a strange week, but good. The highlight of the week was we got to go proselyting!! We get to go out twice during our stay here to street contact. It was amazing! We went out with a different instructor than we´ve ever had because both of ours were sick, but she was amazing. She gave us a little example contact (just go up to someone, say you´re missionaries and share a short message) and then we each gave away 2 Book of Mormons. It was so cool!! We talked to an older-ish lady who reminded me a ton of Amparo from Spain, and she was really interested. It was so hard to understand anyone!! But I would say we had only been here 5 weeks and they would laugh and feel bad for us:) Most people were nice, only a few outright brushoffs. But it was such an awesome experience!! So hard to walk up to the first person and overcome my natural shyness, but it got so much easier.
Hmmmm, what else can I tell you about? Oh, Katie asked more about Brasil in general and how I would describe it. It´s hard to tell because 6/7 days I´m here in this same building! The elders in our district say it´s like "Groundhog Day" here. We really do the same thing every day! But when we do go out, it´s pretty different than anywhere we´ve been. All the vegetation, when there is any, is so jungly looking to my Utah eyes! Everyone scoffs when you compare it to jungle. Like it´s offensive. But it´s kind of a crazily built city, really haphazard. We´re just in the middle of a normal middle class area, so not touristy at all. Havaianas are big though! What else....there are a ton of preschools and baby stores around! It´s a cool neighborhood, but I get the idea that aside from the baby stores, most of the stores around here probably rely solely on the missionaries! There´s an internet cafe right across the street called Mr. Cheney´s Cookies, so funny, internet and overpriced cookies, that I´m positive relies solely on missionaries for income. So funny!
What else can I tell you...classes are comnig well, but it´s so weird, Brother Lopez has to be gone all the time for meetings and such, so our district has had 14 teachers! We counted the other day. So it´s hard to get consistency and stuff. But we´re working on teaching the second of four (or five) lessons. Most days we practice teaching in the classroom a bunch and do portuguese grammar. Then at night we have Missionary DIrected Study time where we either study quietly or practice teaching. So pretty much the same thing every day, seriously! But it´s fun. Oh, did I tell you every night at 9:30 they have "cake time"? They serve cake and chocolate milk every night! It´s great. Maybe I already told you that, it´s hard to remember!
I´m getting excited to get to the field, but also nervous!! It was so hard to understand people out street contacting. I could give a little message but then just kind of stared blankly at some people when they responded. It was so funny, too, because I can understand all the teachers here! So I had the experience that lots of provo missionaries do, "That´s not the language they taught me in the MTC", even though I´m being taught by native speakers! But they know how to speak to slow americans, unlike most people, I guess. But everything´s going really well! I love getting your letters. I´m still getting along great with Sister Johnson, our whole district is really close, it´s great. Good thing, too, being together 14-some odd hours a day! But all the elders are great. Oh, I got a copy of those temple pictures you got! They express everyone´s personality so well. It was so cute! We got to go to the temple again today, which was great. Everything´s fabulous, I´m learning tons every day and getting better at portuguese and teaching and everything. I love you guys so much and I´m so grateful you´re supporting me in my decision to serve a mission. You´re definitely the best family anyone could ask for. I miss you and hope you´re all doing fabulously, can´t wait to hear from you all about Jackson Hole!!
Love you!!
Sister Madsen
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