Hey Family!
So I kind of lied on my last email... but it was on accident. I thought my p-day was thursday, but it turns out they are on Friday... sorry about that. I wrote you all a handwritten letter today because you took the time to write me. So if you put all of them together, you can get a pretty good idea of what has been going on here.
Well, the language is coming along great. I was just asked to say the prayer in Priesthood meeting on Sunday, in Portuguese. I will be able to do it so I will be good. I will be a little nervous, but I pray in Portuguese all the time now. Well, half in Portuguese half in English because I can't express everything I want in Portuguese yet.
Thank you for the package. I got it yesterday (Thursday). Or maybe wednesday. I don't remember really, all the days just flow together and I can't remember what happened on certain days. I have already almost eaten all of the Redvines. And that gum should last me the entire 2 years. It is against the rules to chew gum while I am in public, but I can chew it in my room and stuff so it should last a while. Thank you though! All three of those treats were much appreiciated. (redvines gum and letters)
It is crazy I have been here for just over a week. It has flown by already.
So there is a scripture that helped me a lot this last week. I was kind of worried about the language and stuff because some other Elders in my district seem to just be absorbing everything and can speak fairly well. But I just think I am a little behind because my brain can't hold it all haha. But the scripture is Moses 6:31. I feel exactly like Enoch right now. I am always just wondering how can I possibly be able to communicate with the Brazilians. I know it has only been a week and I have a LOT to learn, but it is still on my mind. Then in chapter 7, I'm not sure which verse, it talks about how he had faith in Christ and his language was perfect and he spoke so strongly. Something along those lines. It is amazing that I will be able to talk to people in a different language.
Yesterday we had a TRC. I am not sure what that stands for but it is where we go and practice teaching investigators. There are local volunteers that come here to the MTC and act as investigators. We had to introduce ourselves in Portuguese and get to know them a little. That was a little rough but it went well. We were able to communicate what we wanted. Then we continued to teach the first lesson about the restoration in English. It was pretty tough to teach because our investigator continued speaking Portuguese so whenever I would ask him questions about the Book of Mormon or Prophets or anything I couldn't understand his answers. I could kind of get the gist of it, but mostly I really had to rely on the Spirit to tell me what I should teach him. It was interesting. I was nervous for some reason, but it worked out. I won't be nervous anymore now that I know what to expect.
Um what else... My district is sooooooo good. We are like a big family. There are 11 Elders in there and 2 Sisters. We all just bond so good and we all get a long. It is awesome. We study so hard in there. We get an hour of personal study where I read the Book of Mormon (Alma 43ish by the way) and then we get an hour of comp. study, and we go over the lessons in Preach my Gospel. Then we get a lot of time to do language study, like 2 hours a day and our entire district just sits in there and we teach ourselves. We just go crazy learning everything we can. We know just as much as the Elders that have been here a lot longer than us. They are all impressed with us. They were telling us to work hard one day, and then we like had conversations with them in Portuguese and we are right with them. It is crazy. I am impressed with the district. I just love everyone in there. My teachers Irmao Owen and Irmao Harmon are also legit. They are awesome teachers and bring a strong spirit with them every day. (Irmao meand Brother by the way)
I don't know if I have gained any weight or anything. There aren't any scales I don't think so I am still trying to figure out how other missionaries know exactly how much they have gained or lost.. All I know is the MTC is a perfect recipe to gain weight. The food is greasy and we sit in a classroom all day. We do get an hour of gym everyday, but we just play beach volleyball everyday so that isn't going to keep me from getting fat.
What do you have to do to win a cruise? I like how you made that challenge after I left.. haha.
Oh and you should write me on dearelder because then I can spend all my time writing instead of reading.. I explained it in someones letter. But emails also wrok just as well if that is easier. Well, I am running out of time. I love you all and I am really excited to keep learing more this next week. I love it here and I wouldn't want to be any where else right now. It is amazing. I love you all very much!
Elder Robertson
Friday, July 16, 2010
Saturday, July 10, 2010
First email from Elder Robertson
Ola! I have a mini P-day today. We had class this morning until 1 o'clock and then we went to lunch and have until 6 tonight for preparation. It is weird to be in jeans right now. My next P-day will be on Thursday so look for an email then. And by the way, if anyone is wondering, the can write me on dearelder.com and it is just like writing an email but I can read it the same day it is sent instead of once a week on the computer.
The MTC is awesome. The first day was crazy and I was confused out of my mind what was going on. But I have gotten the feel for things now. The second day, Thursday, was the LONGEST day of my life. I was beyond tired and I was struggling to stay awake but I figured I shouldn't sleep in class. But now I am getting used to the schedule and I can sleep at night as normal. The first night I couldn't fall asleep for about 2 hours. My mind was just racing with all kinds of thoughts. All is well now though.
So a typical day in the MTC is like this... Wake up at 6:30 and head to the gym. We have gym time everyday for an hour. We play some foursquare and kickball. Today we played beach volleyball. After gym we get ready for the day and then head to breakfast. Right after breakfast we are in class by 8:45 and we are in class until 1 which is when lunch is. Then after lunch we will go back to class until 6 in the evening. Then dinner till 6:45 then back to class. We might have some type of meeting randomly durning the day, but it is mostly class, class, class. We go back to our rooms at 930 and get ready for bed and plan for the next day.
It is amazing how much I have learned so far in just a couple of days. I have been learning how to teach people and not just to jump in to a lesson, but to get to know them. The main thing they stress here is that we teach people, not lessons. It is really cool to practice getting to know someone and loving them even though they are a complete stranger. It's amazing that I can get so connected to actors and people on a computer screen so quickly. I love it.
Portugese is coming along great so far. In just 3 days of learning, I have learned so much. I can bare my testimony in the language and introduce myself. We are learning how to congegate verbs now. I pretty much know how to do that because of Spanish so that is pretty easy. I just need to memorize what all these verbs mean and how to pronounce them correctly. I think I am getting it down pretty well. I am already loving Portugese and everyone in my district works hard to learn it. It is fun to try to teach ourselves outside of class by trying to talk to each other. Most the time we just say obrigado (thank you) and denada (your welcome) and muito bem Elder! (very good/well Elder!) It is pretty fun. But we are learning new things so it is great.
My district is really awesome. We all click and get along great. There are some funny Elders here. My roommates Elder Harris and Elder Brower are sweet. They make everything fun. I like them. My companheiro is cool. He is from Salt Lake and we get a long well. I just need to continue getting used to having him there all the time. It is weird that I can't escape but it is for the best I know.
I see elder Motes pretty much everyday just walking around or at the cafeteria. I see Elder Kuhn every once in a while but just long enough to say hi and not much else. They both seem to be doing well.
How are things back home? I heard about the NBA news, some other elders have found out through letters. Sounds like Miami is going to be the favorite for a while. dang it.
Well i have 5 more minutes, I will try to bare my testimony in portugese. Eu sei que Deus vive. Testifico que o livro de Mormon e verdadairo. That is about all I know how to say haha. It will come with time. I love you all and I want you to know that God loves each of you.
Elder Robertson.
The MTC is awesome. The first day was crazy and I was confused out of my mind what was going on. But I have gotten the feel for things now. The second day, Thursday, was the LONGEST day of my life. I was beyond tired and I was struggling to stay awake but I figured I shouldn't sleep in class. But now I am getting used to the schedule and I can sleep at night as normal. The first night I couldn't fall asleep for about 2 hours. My mind was just racing with all kinds of thoughts. All is well now though.
So a typical day in the MTC is like this... Wake up at 6:30 and head to the gym. We have gym time everyday for an hour. We play some foursquare and kickball. Today we played beach volleyball. After gym we get ready for the day and then head to breakfast. Right after breakfast we are in class by 8:45 and we are in class until 1 which is when lunch is. Then after lunch we will go back to class until 6 in the evening. Then dinner till 6:45 then back to class. We might have some type of meeting randomly durning the day, but it is mostly class, class, class. We go back to our rooms at 930 and get ready for bed and plan for the next day.
It is amazing how much I have learned so far in just a couple of days. I have been learning how to teach people and not just to jump in to a lesson, but to get to know them. The main thing they stress here is that we teach people, not lessons. It is really cool to practice getting to know someone and loving them even though they are a complete stranger. It's amazing that I can get so connected to actors and people on a computer screen so quickly. I love it.
Portugese is coming along great so far. In just 3 days of learning, I have learned so much. I can bare my testimony in the language and introduce myself. We are learning how to congegate verbs now. I pretty much know how to do that because of Spanish so that is pretty easy. I just need to memorize what all these verbs mean and how to pronounce them correctly. I think I am getting it down pretty well. I am already loving Portugese and everyone in my district works hard to learn it. It is fun to try to teach ourselves outside of class by trying to talk to each other. Most the time we just say obrigado (thank you) and denada (your welcome) and muito bem Elder! (very good/well Elder!) It is pretty fun. But we are learning new things so it is great.
My district is really awesome. We all click and get along great. There are some funny Elders here. My roommates Elder Harris and Elder Brower are sweet. They make everything fun. I like them. My companheiro is cool. He is from Salt Lake and we get a long well. I just need to continue getting used to having him there all the time. It is weird that I can't escape but it is for the best I know.
I see elder Motes pretty much everyday just walking around or at the cafeteria. I see Elder Kuhn every once in a while but just long enough to say hi and not much else. They both seem to be doing well.
How are things back home? I heard about the NBA news, some other elders have found out through letters. Sounds like Miami is going to be the favorite for a while. dang it.
Well i have 5 more minutes, I will try to bare my testimony in portugese. Eu sei que Deus vive. Testifico que o livro de Mormon e verdadairo. That is about all I know how to say haha. It will come with time. I love you all and I want you to know that God loves each of you.
Elder Robertson.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
MTC
This Photo was taken after Isaac was set apart as a full time missionary. Elders Robertson...30 years apart.
This is Elder Willis...he was the missionary that wisked Isaac away after a very brief curbside goodbye.
We had time for a walk on the Provo Temple grounds.Isaac entered the MTC in Provo on July 7, 2010 at 1:30 p.m. Elder Willis helped him with his luggage. He was ready to go. We got a short email today. He reports he is safe and busy. Every minute he will be doing something.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
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