Week 1: First week in Sao Paulo at the CTM

The photo taken at the CTM of their arriving group of missionaries

Elder Olson’s letter is short and sweet this week and I attached it below. He said to let you all know he only has 50 minutes to email and call on Tuesday evenings and today he had some technical difficulties and had to switch rooms and computers so he got even less. We were able to voice chat with him via google hangouts for a little bit. (He could see us on video but we couldn’t see him) They aren’t allowed to plug in any devices (no webcam) or upload any pictures while at the Brazilian CTM so there was no video calling and he couldn’t send any pictures.

But Here are a few things he told us but didn’t have time to write about…

- His P-Days are actually on Wednesday and all 400 missionaries at the training center have the same P-Day because every week they go to the temple. For the next couple of weeks they have to drive 1.5 hours to the Campinas Brazil Temple because the Sao Paulo one is closed for cleaning. But he said he also is supposed to get to go to the distribution center there (he’s looking forward to getting a scripture case for his Portuguese scriptures) and the general store (which is good because he forgot index cards for studying and forgot shampoo and soap). 

- He’s lost 3 lbs already (the kid doesn’t have much to lose so I told him to eat more) and he said he eats and the food is good but not anything where he wants more than he already eats. It’s probably the stress of things too along with just sitting in class all day. I’m sure once he gets out into the field and is walking everywhere, he’ll work up more of an appetite. 

- Every other day except Sunday and P-day goes about like this…

• 6:30 wake up
• Breakfast - he’s been having ham and cheese paninis for breakfast a lot along with a “oatmeal soup” (runny runny oatmeal in a mostly milk mixture of sorts) which he said is actually pretty good. One day they actually had regular “cold cereal” as an option but the milk was warm so it was more like “warm cereal” and not very appetizing that way
• Classes - He said they do language classes ALLLL morning long, with a teacher who won’t speak English to them so they are all very very confused and getting a little frustrated
• Lunch- Consists of mostly rice and beans and various kinds of meat, which he likes. This is usually the bigger meal of the day.
• Classes - Language classes ALLLLL afternoon, but this teacher is better and more helpful and funny and interesting
• Exercise - They have to run 5 laps around a little indoor track before they are allowed to do anything else. Mostly they play basketball, which is not really his thing but his companion loves it. So he and some others just play “speed” bball at the other end of the gym to pass the time.
• Dinner - about the same as lunch 
• After dinner - he didn’t say what they do. He did say they have an hour for personal study time at some point during the day but it’s hard to keep at it when his brain is so tired from being in classes all day.

Thankfully, since he can't upload pictures right now, we were able to find a couple of pictures of Elder Olson on the CTM facebook page and downloaded them. 

- Sundays are his favorite day because the Sunday school lessons are really great. They don’t do any “Preach my gospel” classes during the week yet so he’s really feeling a little spiritually hungry by the time Sunday rolls around. The CTM president does devotionals twice a week on Sunday and on  Wednesday and apparently is a talker, often going on for 1.5 hours. Spencer says he knows very well the importance of exact obedience and what the rules of the CTM are because that is usually the focus of the devotionals thus far. Haha. We told him the Lord is teaching him patience and long suffering already…prepping him for the future.

- He is on the 6th floor of his “dorm” building which is actually the 7th floor because they start numbering their floors at 0 and then 1, 2, 3, and so on. His companion likes to run up the steps every time they go up so Spencer is developing his aerobic capacity. His companion is a soccer and basketball player. There are 6 missionaries in his room and he said were all on the flight from the US with him to Brazil. He said he likes them all but it IS a little squishy with 6 of them in there.

- He said one night a week is “movie night” and they watch “safety zone” videos and they get a kick out of those. There are vending machines in the CTM and each missionary gets 7.50 Reais, Brazilian money, (that equals $1.85 US Dollars) on their card each day that doesn’t carry over to the next day. So they each by something every day and try to save up their candy for “movie night.” He’s also had way too much Guarana already and he loves the stuff but heard it’s famous for causing kidney stones. I told him, for now, just drink up those calories. 

-He seems to be enjoying the other missionaries he’s met and I’m sure he’ll have some good friends for life from this bunch of Elders and Sisters. 

Here’s the letter he sent...

Hey everyone,

It's only been a week since I left, but it feels like much longer. I have learned so much about the language. My companion is Elder Neeley. We flew in together from salt lake. He's pretty cool. We both like the same music so that's neat. We get along well. The food is interesting, but good. For some reason they think tuna and corn are acceptable pizza toppings, and panini sandwiches are a breakfast food. I have made lots of new friends, and have strengthened my testimony. I'm so excited to go out in the field and share. The church is true and the book is blue!

Tchau,

-- 

Elder Olson