Well here I am in the CTM (Portugues). The first day we came in the classroom and our teacher was just spewing out nonstop Portuguese. That, I think, is when I first questioned what I had gotten into.
The food is all good, its pretty much the same as what was in the Cannon Center at the Y. My companion's name is Elder Thomas, he went to BYU as well last semester. I am the district leader, if you ask me probably just because I am older and taller than the rest in my district. There is one other companionship of elders and a threesome of sisters in the district, one of them has a college degree from Purdue and is 22! Btw before I forget, I sent a letter home the first day so you'll get it in MI. But anyways, I see Eric fairly often because his class is down the hall from me and in the cafeteria. Everyone in my zone seems pretty fascinated with my twinship, which is good but also annoying.
My teacher's name is Irmao Durfee. He is like 23 and has such cool things to say, most of the time he talks in Portuguese, but whenever we talk about gospel things he has these awesome ideas. Like once he told us about eternity, and if we had all eternity before this wouldn't God maybe have known we would go to Brazil and help us learn Portuguese? And the Spirit brings all things to our remembrance, so maybe couldn't we just be remembering what we once knew? And once he told us about how people know the gospel, and in teaching if you get the right questions they can basically teach themselves. And then he showed us how! He's moving to Rio after the Olympics and I was thinking if I do an internship I will definitely go visit him.
We saw a video from Elder Bednar talking here and it was awesome, called the Character of Christ. He talked about how Jesus consistently turned outward in the hardest times of his life. Like when he was being taken after the Atonement and healed the man's ear, or when on the cross he helped his mother, or being tempted by Satan he sent angels to help John in prison. A lot of what I've learned is just to not focus on myself at all, even in learning Portuguese or anything, but to do everything for the Lord or for our investigators. We are representatives of Jesus Christ and as such should act as Jesus Christ.
The second full day here we got our first pescisador (investigator) Erik, and had to teach him. It was basically a train wreck, we didn't understand hardly anything. But we all pray every night and day for help learning Portuguese and working hard, and every lesson we do a little bit better. We actually committed him to baptism yesterday! It's difficult, but I think Elder Thomas and I are advancing pretty quickly and doing well with the help of the Lord.
Anyway that's awesome about Elder Klein! He was in my district and was really nice, he got his visa and is going to Brasil. I can't believe the chances of that. It's cool that he said good things about me! I'm trying to be a leader by example. But anyway, I'm doing really well and I know it'll only get better as I go along. Until I get comfortable, and then it'll probably change and be really hard. But that's okay.
Eu sei que Jesus Christo e nosso Salvador e nosso Redentor. Eu sei que A Igreja De Jesus Christo Dos Santos Dos Ultimos Dias tem o evangelho verdadiero en a Terra oje. Eu sei que Joseph Smith fei um profeta verdadiera, de o Senhor, e O Livro de Mormon e a palavra de Deus.
I love you guys! don't worry too much about me. But prayers help I think. I hope I didn't forget anything!
Love,
Elder Nick Olsen
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