April 29, 2008 (first email from the CTM)

Hi Mom and Dad!

This will be my email address while I’m on my mission. You should be getting a letter from me pretty soon so I don’t have too much to talk about. I pretty much said everything in the letter.

Everything is going good. The MTC pretty fun and the food is good. The only problem is that it’s the same thing almost all the time. Rice, beans, and a type of meat. It’s good though. We also can eat as much as we want so I hope I don’t get too fat. We live on the sixth floor so maybe that’ll help burn the calories cause were not allowed to use the elevator.

The language seems like it will be pretty tough but I’ll be able to learn it. I can say some pretty basic things but that’s about it. When you get the letter I sent, just email back. You don’t have to write. In the letter I asked for Isdanish´s address so I didn’t have to wait for so long to write her. You gave out my mission home address instead of my MTC address. So if somebody sends me a letter I wont get it until I get to my mission in two months. I’m going to send an envelope to you with a letter to Isdanish in it. If you find out her address then could you mail it to her? Maybe Brayden could call her to find the address? Please? That would help me out A LOT. Anybody at her house would give it to you.

Let me know what happens. P days will be boring if I don’t have a lot of people to write. In the letter it has the best way to send packages and it has my address. It says to use this special envelope type thing to send stuff. Send candy and treats! ASAP! Haha! We don’t get anything like that and I’m craving candy. And I´m hoping that maybe you could send that coat. I don’t know how big the envelopes are though. It can turn into two coats so maybe you can send one at a time? If you send it any other way than the envelope then they will tax it too much and it wont even be worth it. It would be cheaper to just buy a new coat here. But I’m not sure. Maybe you can look it up to find out?

Everything here is good and, again, if you haven’t already got the letter it should be coming. I love you! Hope everything is going good!

Elder Hill

Your Missionary Has Arrived!

Date: Friday, April 25, 2008, 1:21 PM

Dear Parents,

We are happy to send the good news that your missionary has arrived safely at the Brazil MTC. What a great joy and privilege it is to greet each missionary as they come through the front door of the MTC for the first time.

They now have companions and are settled into their rooms. They are assigned to a district with capable and caring instructors for language and lesson study. The branch presidents and their wives, who are usually a senior missionary couple or mature Brazilian couple, will soon give them a second greeting. These couples are rewarded in their callings through the love they always develop as they embrace and watch over the missionaries.

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Joy and Sorrow

Then a woman said, ‘Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.’

And he answered:

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.

And how else can it be?

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.

Is not the cup that hold your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?

And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Some of you say, ‘Joy is greater than sorrow,’ and others say, ‘Nay, sorrow is the greater.’

But I say unto you, they are inseparable.

Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.

Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.

When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.

Kahlil Gibran