Week FIVE!!‏

Hey guys!!! I got your letters this week! :) I was so happy! I actually got both of them at the same time, so it was a great day. But, since I got both of them at the same time, I would say just go for the cheap way, since it seems to be about the same! Let´s see, I think I got them on Wednesday or Thursday, and you sent them on the 20, I can´t figure out the dates, but not much more than a week, right? But thanks so much for sending them!! I´m so glad I got to really read everything carefully, and all that stuff you sent along was amazing! The ABBA concert looks like it was great, Lisa´s art show, Hayley´s wedding annoucement!! Thanks so much for keeping me updated. And the New Era! Everyone was jealous!:)

So, I now have lots of stuff to respond to! That you asked me almost a month ago, but here goes! Ok, 4th of July! They actually had fun with it here, decorations in the cafeteria and served burgers and fries and everything. It was so cute! I don´t know if Brasil has any kind of independence day yet. I´m sure they do! Oh, we sing their national anthem every fireside! It´s SO cool! One of the coolest I´ve heard. You guys should listen!

So, the night sky - I barely get to see it! We go out for gym at night, but only for an hour - other than that the only time we go outside is all day Tuesdays! But when I see the little bit of the sky, it´s all clouds and pink-ness! I think from all the lights of the big city. So I don´t get to see any constellations.

Honestly, I didn´t even notice the water direction!! I´m going to notice all this week and see if it´s even noticeable! I can´t believe I forgot about that.

I don´t really get to hear news, no! When new people get here we always ask them what´s going on in the states. So updates about that would be greatly appreciated!:)

Classes are going great! Our teachers are both really caring and involved in our district. Both really helpful. Saturday we did something called TRC, I think stands for Teaching Resource Center. I hear they do it every week at Provo, but we only do it twice. So it´s just a practice teaching situation, which we do a lot, but it´s supposed to be more realistic. So you´re outside the door of a classroom, someone opens it, and you go in and get to know them and teach them a lesson. Usually the "investigators" are members, but they couldn´t get enough for us, so we taught brasilian missionaries, which is what we do most days in class. So it wasn´t too different, except we were being filmed! We watched after and got critiqued. The lady critiquing us said we did great and she could feel the Spirit even watching on the little fuzzy TV screen. So that was great!:)

Oh, let grandpa know I heard him down here at 10:00 on Sunday night, right as I was getting ready for bed!:)

I´m pretty sure I didn´t forget anything! Amazing, right? The problem is just going to be stuffing in all the stuff I´ve accumulated here. They gave me a bunch of materials and scriptures and stuff, and I have no idea what to do with it all! There´s a store around the block that sells bags with your mission name on them, so I´m thinking of getting another bag. So we´ll see how that goes! You definitely aren´t writing too much!! So anyway, everything here is great.

Hmmm, what can I tell you more about? I´ve been great this week, but nothing too new, we do the same thing pretty much every day. TRC was kind fo the only exciting thing. But I´ve been good, I got the cold that´s going around, but it wasn´t bad! And no Swine Flu yet:) SIster Johnson is great as well, we´re still getting along super well! We´re great friends, I´m glad we live in Utah so we can keep in touch after! It´s sad we´re not going to the same mission. But I´ve been able to talk to a few teachers and such who have served in my mission, it´s been great! I´ve found out a little bit: one teacher who just got back a few months ago says the apartments in Santa Maria are the best of the country. He says the President and his wife are great, and they get the whole mission together at Christmas like on a ranch or something to celebrate together. He was singing the mission hymn, and it was so pretty! He says it´s the prettiest of all, but then he´s biased. But I believe him!:) Everyone I tell that I´m going here (who´s brasilian) says "Ohh, muito frio!" (very cold) and "muito carne!" (lots of meat!) So there you have it.

Let´s see, what else can I update you on? Everything here is great, the days have ups and downs, sometimes it can be discouraging to realize you´re not as great at teaching as you thought or something, but there are great times too. We had a "Teaching Experience" this week, like a practice TRC, where we taught a brasilian teacher. At the end she looked at us very seriously and said in Portuguese: "Ok sisters, we have a problem. Actually two. We have two young women here who are very beautiful and very spiritual. I think it will be a problem for all the young men when you get home." I was so glad, I thought she was going to critique us hard! But she said our lesson was so powerful she was reminded of the missionaries who converted her, and she was really touched. So that was definitely one of the "up" moments:)

I love and miss you all!!! I can´t wait for those letters and pictures. If you want to send a package, I might send it to the mission home! Just so it doesn´t miss me here. Ummmmm, send whatever you want! I´m not missing any foods too much, chocolate isn´t very good here though, so send some of that maybe:) Ummm as far as anything else...all the elders here are so funny about missing peanut butter, after only 5 weeks, but it doesn´t bother me! I never ate it at home, so don´t worry about that. So really it´s up to you!:) Thanks for thinking about me!:)

I love you all to pieces and think of you often. Give Caroline a huge squeeze for me, and keep telling her about me every day!:) Give grandma and grandpa a huge hug. I love you all and hope to hear from you soon!!!:)

Love,

Sister Madsen