Love P day emails (P day #4)

Oi todas pessoas,

Thank you for all your wonderful support and for all the letters.  I am very appreciative.  The MTC is going great.  The gospel is true and the spirit is so strong here.  The language is still coming.  1 more week until I'm fluent. If I'm lucky.  The MTC is currently broken.  Yesterday and this morning there was no hot water.  So showering was really fun for all of us.  They also couldn't wash dishes so we had paper stuff.  There is also a lack of apple juice lately which I have become addicted to.  And we can't print emails today because that doesn't work either.  So they turned off the timer which is nice, but we're still supposed to be fast.  The video play on the internet was down yesterday too so no Sunday night movie night.  and the shower heads consistantly fall off on us in the shower which is always fun.  It's happened to me twice.

     Other than those minor things it's great here.  The gospel's still true.  I ran into Martha or Sister Proctor on Thursday and many times since.  It's good to see a familiar face around here.  But there are lots.  Lots of people from high school and from BYU.  My district makes fun of me for knowing everyone.  Martha and I didn't have much time to talk though.  Not much time for those kinds of things when you're constantly busy.  I love the schedule though I'm really enjoying it.  Especially the study time.  We study a lot for our "investigators".

     Our "investigator" Miguel (the Evangelical) commited to being baptized on Saturday which was and is really exciting.  My companions make fun of me for  bring up Baptism all the time.  All the time being twice in one lesson.  They call me Elder Calhoon [from the movie The Best 2 Years] and now my district does every once and a while.  Miguel is great he is 28 and hitchhiked from Uruguay when he was 18 and his mother died.  He quotes the Bible on us all the time which is difficult when you don't understand the scriptures in another launguage. 

     I'm excited to see Taylor Bryant this week.  Hope he's excited.  I've seen a couple people from Wyview in the last couple days.  Travis, Trevor, and Eric (who works in the Cafeteria).  I'm excited to hear what he's been up to in the past few weeks.  Not that we'll have tons of time to do so.  I've been taking more pictures lately and yesterday during temple walk we discovered the whole back of the temple we'd never been to which opens up so many more possibilities.

    The Sisters in my District said they'd never met anyone like me.  In a good way.  Sister Ricks from Highland is constantly laughing at what I say which I don't entirely understand.  She says my mannerisms are just funny.  They told me they're going to be waiting at the airport with all of you when I get back.  And they want to meet my family to know why I'm the way I am.  Look forward to that.

     Yes I do have a bit of a spanish accent when I speak portuguese.  It's a bad habit.  I made friends with some foreign missionaries that speak spanish.  I talk to them all the time because they seem to be everywhere.  My companions and I still get along great.  We have different personalities, but it works out.  Unfortunately one of my teachers in going to California with his wife's family this next week so we'll have some Italian subs.  Then in 2 weeks my other teacher Irmao Jones is quitting and starting his new job.  So my teachers will be changing up the next few weeks.  No idea who our new teacher will be. 

     Funny story of the week my teacher told us about how he mixed up ter and ser.  He was trying to say he wanted to have a beautiful wife when he got back, but messed up and said he wanted to be a beautiful wife when he got back.  Funny language mistakes.  I've been talking to Elder Michael Hoggard lately and he's going to Finland.  I'm glad portuguese is so close to english, unlike Finnish.  Too confusing for me.

     Family I'm sorry for not sending you a letter this last week.  It was an effort to conserve stamps.  I write lots of letters.  Everyone who writes me and sometimes more.  Thank you all again for all the lettters.  I am very appreciative.  I love you all.  I wish I had more exciting things to write about, but my life is kinda repetetive these days.  Eu sei que a igreja e verdadeira e que Jesus Cristo vive.  Eu sei que o livro de Mormon e verdadeiro. Thomas S. Monson e um profeta de Deus e Joseph Smith foi um profeta de Deus.

Eu amo voces.  and I miss you all.

Love you too,

Elder Reeve Sudweeks

Reeve's MTC branch

Email - p day #3

7/18/11
Oi!
     The MTC is going great and the language is coming.  I just make a lot of spelling mistakes which is weird since it´s supposed to be easier to spell in portuguese.  We talk many more lessons this week in Portuguese and we learn more words and get better every time.  What have ya´ll been up to?  It's been a pretty normal routine week here at the MTC.  I would tell you everything, but it would  be boring.
     First off, thank you for my glasses.  They are very much appreciated.  When I first put them on they were making me sick so I only wore them for a little while.  The next morning we played four square (MTC four square is intense--well at least with our Branch).  My depth perception was so off because of my glasses.  I was doing so bad and it was really funny.  But I've gotten used to them and I own once again.
     Thank you to those of you who wrote letters this week.  Charlotte, I'm very sorry about your letter.  I wrote you one and I didn't know I didn't send it until I read my letter saying I didn't and I found it in my notebook.  Elder Hutchins' family was in Florida this last week.  They sent lots of pictures of them in Disney World, Harry Potter World, and Universal Studio.  It was really funny because it was kinda rubbing it in his face and he was a little jealous.  Elder Head and I laughed though.  Speaking of Harry Potter I missed it.  But I was excited to hear a little about it from you all.  Irmao Jones, our teacher, went and saw it at midnight.  We were all very jealous.
    Another exciting part of the week was that pretty much my whole District got sick.  It started with Elder Head who just had a really bad cold.  Then I got a sore throat, fever, and I lost my voice.  It was this super high pitched, tiny voice like it was when I lost it about a year ago.  My companions made fun of me so bad.  Actually the whole district.  It lasted for 3 whole days it was funny at first then it got really annoying--especially when you're trying to learn a language and you have to teach.  Next came the Sisters who both had fevers and terrible colds.  Then Elder Freeze who became sick to his stomach and finally Elder Onskt who was throwing up a lot.  It was really weird how we all had different symptoms.
    I went to Sick Bay because of it and that was exciting.  I got in pretty much right away which is unusual.  Then the nurse checked all my vitals, stuff like that, then tested for strep.  She said it was going to 8 minutes.  I kept checking my watch and about 20 minutes later was the last time I remember before I fell asleep sitting up on the bench thing they have in doctor's offices.  I would up about 40 minutes later still sitting up waiting.  Then waited another 5 minutes and the doctor came in.  Apparently I have a virus that hopefully feeling the end of.  I got my voice back yesterday though which was great.  My companions just had to sit in the waiting room the whole time.  They were waiting with another Elder from my branch who got hit in the side of the head with a soccer ball and lost his hearing in that ear.  It's coming back slowly though.  Ok not that exciting, but still.
    Our Zone Leaders are leaving this week.  Elder Morrey and Elder Manning from my district are the new ZL's. They have power over the other districts, but Elder Head is in charge of them.  They have no free time on Sundays.  I'm glad I still have mine because it's nice to relax.
     We had our devotional yesterday which was excellent as usual.  President and Sister Sonne spoke.  He was the mission president of the Salt Lake City Mission and did a lot of stuff with President Hinckley and the Apostles.  There were lots of cool stories shared, but I don't have time to type them up.  I need to learn to type faster.  Afterwards we had our weekly movie night and watched the 2010 First Presidency Christmas message.  It was great and funny because of the time of the year.  The background behing them reminded me of Jeopardy.  I made a joke about it and it took everyone a second to get it.
    Eu sei que esta igreja e verdadeira.  E que Jesus Cristo vive e que Ele morreu para nos.  O livro de Mormon e verdadeiro.  Eu sei que Thomas S. Monson e um profeta de Deus. En nome de Jesus Cristo amem.
  I love you all and miss you all.  Write lots of letters.
Love you too,
Elder Reeve Sudweeks

PS I did not throw away the sandals.  I will try and find some super glue, but I doubt they have that here.  They're far too cool to throw away.  I love you and thank you for all the support, packages, and letter.

Joyous bundle of letters

7/11/11
Dearest Family,
     I need to learn to type faster so I can write longer, better emails.  Oh Buddy, he's one tough dog.  You'll have to keep me updated on how he's doing.  I think he's part tank.  [Our dog was hit by a car, but seems absolutely fine.]
     Brother Cree-L Kofford spoke at the devotional on Tuesday.  It was excellent.  I sang in the MTC choir at it.  It was a great experience and guaranteed me a seat which is hard to come by.
     Our zone leaders are leaving next week which means we'll be getting new ones.  The current zone leaders said they were most likely to come from our district or the one above us.  We'll see.  It's weird because we've only been here 2 weeks.  Thank you for all the letters and packages.  We missionaries live off of mail.
     It was good to hear some about trek.  I'm glad it was a spiritual experience.  It's very spiritual here.  I'm sure you all know that.  Elder Head has been sick the last couple days.  Not too bad though.
     More peole from our district should be getting their visas soon supposedly.  I'll have to tell Brother Adamson about the Days.  [In response to Reeve's prior question if we know certain people.] I did understand your email dad.  [His dad wrote to him in Portuguese.] We read and speak a lot in Portuguese, definitely not fluent though.  I feel like the language is going well for me.  Our lessons are going well too.  Well I love and miss you all. I wish I could write more, but life is kinda predictable here and my hand hurts.  We've been playing soccer lately; the gym is closed right now.  Soccer and volleyball.
     I love you!

love, Elder Reeve Sudweeks

[We all got separate letters as well that day.  In mine, Reeve answered some of my questions.]

Dearest Mother,
     Thank you so much for the package.  I was very surprised to get it the same day I asked.
Well every day we have breakfast, 2 classes for 3 hours in 3 different slots depending on the day, TALL which is on the computer, gym time every day, but Sunday and P day, personal study, companionship study, language study, devotionals, and meals.  It's pretty repetitive, but it's good.
     Sundays we have sacrament meeting at 8, priesthood at 11, lunch after, then temple walk, then devotional, then it's movie night [not the movies most 19 years are watching :)].  We have lots of free time, but we have to be in our class rooms.  My favorite experience is just teaching in Portuguese.  Pray for language help.  I love you, mother.

Love you too,
Elder Reeve Sudweeks

Sorry it's bedtime.

P day #2

Oi!

Tudo bem? The MTC is going great.  This week has really flown by.  It feels like just yesterday is was last p day which is great.  P days are so relaxed.  The Temple is closed right now so we have and extra couple hours of personal time.  We have class at five and meals, but other than that we use our time as we please.  We just get our laundry done super early.

    The language is coming really well.  After a week and a half I know so much more than I expected.  We can speak entirely in portuguese if we want--but it's choppy.  My companions and I have 2 investigators.  There names are Miguel and Emanuel.  They are our teachers acting as investigators they taught, but we teach one every day and we treat it as real situations.  Emanuel is 17 and asked to see pictures of our families and is now set on marrying Elder Hutchins' 17 year old sister.  When we asked him to pray about the first vision he also asked to marry her which was hard not to laugh during the prayer.  Miguel is much harder.  He is Evangelical and he knows his Bible.  He quotes Galatians and Ephesians on us all the time.  It's hard to answer all his questions with our limited language.  Yes we teach entirely in portuguese and we teach one lesson a day.  We've been teaching since about last Tuesday.  Our teachers tell us our portuguese is very good.  We had an "investigator" at the TRC tell us our language was better for one week than any other district he's encountered in the 2 years he's been coming.  Sister Smith is so good, but she took 16 credits of portuguese at BYU before coming.

    The Sisters always tell me I'm hilarious and I'm not even trying to be funny.  Sister Ricks can't even look at me without laughing.  I really don't understand.  Apparently people don't speak the way I do.  Our teachers are excellent.  I really like both of them.  Irmao Brough is so good at teaching and he loves it.  He and his wife just found out she was pregnant.  Irmao Jones is harder to understand when he speaks, but it's good for us because we learn more from the challenge. 

   Our district is getting so close.  They're all from the West coast pretty much because apparently they go through a different office and tend to get their visas faster.  Speaking of which on Saturday Elder Manning and Elder Morrey got letters from the MTC.  So seeing as my companions and I get the mail we took it to class and left it on their desks.  We were joking about telling them it was their Visas.  Irmao Brough suggested we write Visa! on them so we did.  They freaked out and it was so funny.  It wasn't their Visas.  I probably shouldn't be telling you this.  We don't pull pranks other than that.  So later that day we got travel plans for Elder Onskt and Elder Kline who actually did get their Visas.  So we did the same thing writing Visa! on them.  They didn't believe us at all, but then they opened it and they got really excited.  So they leave a week from tomorrow.  Sister Smith just got her online.  A lot of us haven't done that yet.

     I have lots of pictures so I would appreciate a new SD card so I can send the one I have to you.  I would also appreciate some bleach, new sandals (mine broke--the shower was too much for them), and my old seminary/book of mormon scriptures. (they're the ones without tabs).  Oh and Elder Head wants a girlfriend to write him so he told me to ask.

  The sisters were teaching their investigator and tried to say "Temos um mensagem sobre Jesus Cristo" but said "temos um massagem" which means massage.  It was really funny.

I love you all and miss you.

Time's up

Love you too,

Elder Sudweeks

Waiting for us when we got home from trek!!

7/4/2011

Dearest Family,
My first week is almost done.  Only 8 more to go.  It's gone by pretty fast.  It's the 4th of July, Monday, and P Day.  The temple is closed for the next couple of weeks so we have tons of free time.  Lots of elders sleep in, but we didn't.  We got up and our laundry done.

The emails are kinda stressful.  There's a 30 minute time limit and we couldn't get in for about half of it.  So my first email wasn't great.  You have to push send before it kicks you out.  So anyone can email me, but I can only reply to immediate family and grandparents.  I have to write letters to everyone else.  I hope you guys enjoy trek this week.  [Mom's note:  We hope many of you will write him letters.]

There were lots of devotionals in the gym this week.  First the Independence Day one on Saturday.  I told you a little about that in my email.  It was packed in the gym and there was an overflow.  The gym was so white it was moito legal [very cool].  The speakers were excellent too.  Some of the elders afterward made some remarks that upset our zone leaders.  Elder Aublarach & Elder Rodgers (ZLs) didn't exactly appreciate the devotional [not being from this country].  There were bagpipes which was really cool.  We also got to watch the fireworks so we weren't in bed by 10:30.  President Brown (MTC president) said, "We encourage you not to return to your rooms until after the fireworks have concluded."

Portuguese is coming along well.  Elder Hutchins said the prayer for fast and testimony meeting in Portuguese and Elder Head and I bore our testimonies in Portuguese.

Sundays are much more relaxed here - except for Elder Head who had training meetings.  We have to prepare a talk in Portuguese each week and we might get called on in Sacrament Meeting. [to give the talk]

Classes are going well.  I told you some about that.  The other day we taught and MTC teacher as himself.  It was weird at first, but it turned out really good and the spirit was so strong it was almost tangible.  I didn't recognize how strong it was at first here at the MTC - and by it I mean the spirit.

My companions and I are still getting along great.  We do have different interests.  Elder Hutchins likes ballroom.  Elder Head red-shirted a year on the basketball team at Texas A&M International, a sister school to Texas A&M.  It's in Texas still, very, very southern Texas.

I promise to write a better email next week.  One for everyone.  Remember my time is limited though.  I print off emails to read, exit out, then go back in to reply.  Thank you for the emails by the way.  I love you guys and I miss you so much.

We went on a temple walk yesterday and it was so hot.  We took lots of pictures as a district.  In my district there is Elder Manning (Oregon), Elder Morrey (California), Elder Kline (Colorado and he goes to MIT studying mechanical engineering), Elder Onist [a couple of letters run together so not sure of spelling] (kinda everywhere, he's in a military family), Elder Freeze (Vegas), Elder Chavez (Alaska; he and Elder Head know each other), Sister Smith (Sandy, UT), and Sister Ricks (St. George, UT, but her parents are now in Highland in our stake).

Well if you guys have any questions, feel free to ask.  I love you.  How's life back home?  Well I love you and I'll write again next week.  Thank you for the package of brownies.  They were delicious.  I love you all.  Say hi to everyone for me.  Say hi to the other Sudweeks.  I love you.

Love you too,
Elder Sudweeks

P.S. I'd like Moses 1:39 for my scripture.

First Emails home

 Dearest Mother,

     Thank you so much for the brownies.  My companions and I have enjoyed them.  The MTC is going great.  I don't have a ton of time with computer restrictions and I wasted a lot of time trying to figure out my password.  My P days are Mondays.  I love you, Mom.  Read dad's email for more.  We watched the Joseph Smith movie yesterday in our Zone Leaders room.  They have a huge tv.  We did it after the devotional. 

    How is everyone doing?  Know that I've been praying for everyone.  We pray a lot here.  They're really simple because of language, but they're still sincere.  Please send stamps, laundry detergent stuff, and tell everyone I love them. Gotta go Love Reeve

[Mom's notes for those who aren't familiar with missionary culture:  MTC stands for Missionary Training Center.  P days or preparation days are when they do laundry, email, etc. & don't have as many classes.]

[And to his dad - initial attempts at spelling in Portuguese, since Sterling speaks Portuguese.]

Oi Pai,

     The MTC is going great. Meuo companheiros e Elder Hutchins e Elder Head.  Elder Head is the district leader.  Classes are going great and the portuguese is coming along.  The spanish helps with knowing the vocab and some conjugation, but not the pronunciation.  I finally got over saying de correctly not like it is in spanish.  We have 2 firesides a week.  One on Sunday and one on Tuesday.  Yesterday it was Jenny Oaks Baker--Elder Oaks daugthter.  She is the best violinist I've ever heard.  Her children performed too and despite their young age they were amazing at piano, cello, and viola. 

     We also had mission conference yesterday because it was fast Sunday.  I bore my testimony in portuguese yesterday.  It's pretty amazing how fast it's coming.  We need to know more conjugations though.  Elder Hutchins is really good because he studied a little before he came.  He helps me with vocab.  My teachers are excellent.  Irmao Brough and Irmao Jones.  They're both good, but you can tell Irmao Brough is more experienced.  They speak pretty much all in portuguese when they're teaching language. 

     we got to watch the fireworks on Saturday so we were up later than 10:30.  We still had to wake up early though.  i haven't had any problems with that at all though.  This keyboard is semi broken and the shift doesn't always work.  There was a devotional before that and it was pretty cool.  They had missionaries carry in flags from where they were from.  My Zone Leaders didn't enjoy it as much since they're not from the U.S.  One of the Branch Presidents spoke.  He was and I don't know if he still is, but judging by his stories it still sounds like he is, an advisor to multiple Presidents of the United States. It was very patriotic.  Well I used a lot of my time trying to figure out my password.  I love you, Dad, and I miss you.  Have fun on trek.  My testimony is really growing and the spirit is so strong here.

Love,

Elder Sudweeks

First Letter Home - Very Reeve

6/30/2011

Dear Family,

Sorry I was not able to write the first day.  It was kinda a crazy day.  I miss you guys and love you.  Provo is so exotic, just like everyone describes it.  The weather is so different from back home.  It really rains here.  And the culture is so different.

Well my companions are named Elder Hutchins and Elder Head.  Yes I have 2.  Elder Head is tall, skinny, likes to play basketball, and from Nome, Alaska.  Elder Hutchins is about my height, wears glasses like mine occasionally, and from Seattle, Washington.  They're both going to Brasilia.  Actually most of my district is going to Brasilia.  There are 9 elders and 2 sisters.  I'm the only one going to Curitiba.  My companions and I get along great.  It's really relaxed.  I have a bunk bed and desk to myself.  My zone leaders are from Guatemala and Wales.  They're both going to Cape Verde.

The first day was so busy.  No time to unpack, straight to classes.  There was a giant role playing thing.  3 actors in different situations.  They're really good actors too.  The food is also really good.  All different sorts of lemonades, juices, milks, and sodas too.  Not much free time, not that we have anything to do besides letters and pictures.  Don't worry  I took some.

My original companion - that I haven't met yet - was transferred to another elder who's companion got his visa.

We're in a pilot program.  Our teachers only speak in Portuguese - with lots of hand gestures.  We haven't talked about pronunciation yet, only our purpose.  Well I have lots of people to write and very limited time so I'll write again soon.

Love you too, Elder Sudweeks

P.S. Elder Head is district leader and Brother Adamson is my first counselor in the Bishopric.  Knows grandpa and lives in Highland.  Said to ask dad if he knows Orville Day.   .... [Which of course we do :)  ]