First week in the CTM!

Oye todo mundo!!!! como estao?
So I'm out here living my best life in Sao Paolo. It's wild. It hasn't really hit me that I'm in another country because I haven't been outside much except for actividade fisica (our daily exercise). The city of Sao Paolo is HUGE. When we were descending on the plane, it just goes on for miles and miles. It's so so big. My window has a cool view of some skyscrapers and tomorrow were going to the temple and we get to explore the city and I'm so excited for that. We're gonna go with some brasilieros so we don't get lost but it'll be way fun.

So I can email on Tuesdays and my pday is Wednesday. The days of the week are funny here. Monday through Friday are segunda-feira, terca-feira and so on. Then saturday and sunday are sabado and domingo. It was confusing at first but I'm getting a hang of it.
Ok so my flight was kinda lit. We got dinner and blankets and breakfast. I talked to the guy next to me for a bit and there were 7 other missionaries on my flight. The plane was huge and the flight didn't feel like 9 hours. It went by sort of quickly.

Brasilieros are so so nice and like to help us speak Portuguese. They are so nice, even though I know I'm so bad at it. But I'm able to get my message across at least 90 percent of the time and that's good. The CTM (centro de trenamento de missionaries) has like 200 people there. The majority are Brazilians, either going to other parts of Brazil or going to other places in South America. Then, there are people who speak Spanish and are learning Portuguese. Then there are the 30 or so of us Americans learning Portuguese. We stick out sooo much. Also there's a district of people, about 15, who are going to Japan so they're learning Japanese from Portuguese. Props to them because I'm sure that's a hard language. It makes me glad I'm learning Portuguese. They're in the ctm for like 9 weeks, I only have 6.

My companion is Sister Maxwell and I love her. She's great and fun and a hard worker. And shes straight up which I love. My district is so so fun. I love all 7 of them so so much. We have gotten so close, probably because we spend like 16 hours a day together. We share scriptures we like during personal study and that's fun. They're all great and I learn a ton from them.

So I'm getting better at Portuguese. I go to lots of classes and learn lots. All my teachers are brasilieros and they speak some English but teach almost completely in Portuguese. kind of a trial by fire, but it's good. I'm realizing that I know more than I think I know. Spanish helps a ton. I can understand a decent amount. Yesterday my proudest moment was being mistaken for a brasiliera and I was so proud. I don't know if it was how I looked or how I spoke but they were definitely surprised I was american. And others tell me I'm speaking well for only having been here a week. Muito bem. Immersion totally works. You progress in the language way faster when it's all you're supposed to talk in. We have a goal thing called fala sua lingua and were supposed to speak minimal english, or try to say it in Portuguese before we say what we wanna say in English. It helps you realize you know more than you think. I like it.

So funny story time, you don't flush toilet paper here. I keep forgetting and then I stress about clogging the toilet so much. And then today it actually happened. Our toilet was clogged and it was all my fault!!!!!! I felt so so bad. But I thought, I'll just find a plunger and take care of it myself. there are no plungers in the cleaning closet. So I try to explain to my roommate who speaks Portuguese what I mean and she's confused. She doesn't know what I'm talking about and she usually gets me. So then I ask a cleaning lady, a teacher, someone at the help desk and NO BODY UNDERSTANDS WHAT A PLUNGER IS. I even drew one out and like had the teacher google it. So I'm pretty sure they don't have plungers here in Brazil. The help desk said they'd take care of it but it's night time now and it is still not taken care of. I want to die. This is the worst. I will update you next week on my predicament but it's so so funny. I just laugh.

They use military time here which I'm still getting used to.

Here's my spiritual part:
When I'm worried about stuff, I was reminded of Doctrine & Covenants 18:15-16, which talks about the great joy I will feel: "And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!  And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!"
And when I'm scared about the mission, I remember the great commission in Matthew 28:19 when the savior promises that he will always be with us: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

Every day this week I've had cool experiences where I remember why I came. It makes me excited to share what I believe. It's like I have this great gift and i wanna share it with todo mundo.

Okay tchau tchau, te amo voceis

Sister Dobbs