Week Three

Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2010 9:39 AM

Hi mom!

I hope you´re doing well. As far as I know, the CTM can receive packages, they just give you a slip in the mailbox and you pick it up in the mailroom. If i´m not in the CTM anymore then they won´t forward packages, but beyond that I haven´t heard. I hope that things are normal for you, and I´m doing fine, so don´t worry about me. Just look forward to all of the cool stuff that I´m going to be telling you soon! By the way, have you received my letters yet? I hope they get there safe. And look up pasteis (or pastels in America); you should definitely sell them at the bakery. Super unhealthy, but delicious. Don´t worry about how long it takes to write me or even writing me. Emails are just fine, and most of the time I have to email is spent talking to you, so I´m more than happy to communicate that way. I wanted to make sure you knew I had everything under control. I love you, and will write again soon.

Love, Eric

Hi Dad!

I hope you´re well. It sounds like things are going great at home, which is good to hear. I´m hoping there´s a sense of normalcy coming back to the house, because I don´t want you guys to have to worry about me. Things here have been good, the weather was cold for Brasil last week, but is starting to heat up now. I´m getting along really well with the other elders; we´re growing really close already and I know we´ll be friends after the mission. I forgot to tell Mom this, but Elder Burright was called to be Assistant to the Branch President, so I´m the new District Leader. It´s a little more responsibility, but I think it´ll be a good opportunity to serve the other elders and improve my leadership skills, in case I´m called in the field. The language is going well, and I´m starting to understand, but they still speak so fast! We have a Brasilian companionship in our room now taking up the two empty beds, and I can understand them and reply a lot of the time, but they think I know way more than I do and start talking super fast, which gets me confused. Overall though, I´d say I´m really starting to pick it up. Hopefully, by the time I leave the CTM, I´ll at least be proficient in the language. One of the districts on our floor just left, and a few of them are going to Curitiba, which was cool but kinda sad. It´s crazy that in a few weeks that´ll be us! The weird thing is that it felt like the end, when it´s really just the beginning of their time in the field and their time on the mission. Being at the CTM creates a weird mindset that is hard to describe, but I´m really enjoying it, despite still being stuffed up. I love you Dad, and I´m doing just fine, so don´t worry about me. Let me know what´s going on with everything, and I´ll do the same. I didn´t write a letter today, but I will for sure next week, and hopefully something new will have happened. Have a good rest of the week!

Love, Eric