Carrie and the Map: Here's Brazil

Hey all of you.

I have been in the MTC for almost a month now. And I can't even believe that. I am basically amazed that I'm alive because they work us so hard here. I do believe that I have been having the most uplifting experience of my life here and I love it. It's so hard but it's so great. 

I've been seeing lots of people here in the MTC from back home. Which is a great feeling. IT's like "wow all these people I know are also serving missions!" And that is really uplifting. I've seen Sister Wadsworth, Sister Porter, Elder Graff, Elder Ostler, and Elder Colette. IT's just fun to see a few people here that you didn't get to know in the last few weeks. 

I also have seen Elder Wells. Which I didn't even know would happen! I guess I just didn't connect that he would be here at the same time as me. But In the book store he said hello and I was like "no way! Cousin!" So that was fun. 

Welp. Nothing has really happened since last week. I'm learning more and more but really it's the same thihng every day. And I love it. I still don't have my visa and I probably won't know if it's here or not till next Friday when reassignments come. I'm expecting to be reassigned and I'm ok with that. I'm actually really excited. This way I'll hopefully be able to have some experiences teaching in English, which I really have come to love and appreciate over the last few weeks. So I'm pretty excited for this upcoming week. 

I hope all is well wherever you are. 

I really don't have much more to say.... so I'll say things in Portuguese. Because that sounds fun: 

Oi. Eu quero falar em Portuguese um pouco. Eu nao posso falar moito bom mas eu posso falar sobre o evangelho muito. Nos Aprendemos mais sobra palavras da igreja porque nos usamos los muito. Em licaos e em classe e em nossas testemunhos. Eu acho que eu estou muito bom com portuguese mas eu sei que nao estou. Eu gosto de achar estou. Em classe, nossos professores nao falar muito en ingles e eu gosto de lo muito porque escutando de eles esta divertido para mim. Eu amo escutando e sabendo que eles falaram. Esta um sentimento muito ultimo. Eu se que Deus me ajuda com portuguese. Nao posso este obra sem ele. Eu lhe amo. Espero que todos de voces amam ele tamem. Tem um bom dia! 

I feel like I have a handle of speaking broken Portuguese. 

Everyone have a great day and remember that God loves you all so much. That is the greatest feeling ever... to know that an all powerful being is on our side wishing for our salvation and helping us achieve it because he loves us. Just soak it in. Let it become such a part of you. Because It is so true. God loves me and you. And I love God right back. Until next Tuesday!

Sister Damstedt

Popsicles Can be STICKY

I'll start off with an entertaining story from my time here at the MTC: 

I was going to eat a Popsicle and went to lick it. As I was going into the lick, my tongue hit it more than I expected and got stuck. That was embarrassing a bit. And like 5 people in my district were laughing and laughing and dying. They were like "put it in your mouth and it'll melt off of your tongue!" And I'm like Absolutely not. But they insisted it would work. So I eventually caved (since about half of my tongue was stuck and my tongue was freezing) and drew my tongue back into my mouth and closed it. And my entire mouth sealed to the Popsicle. Shut. Frozen shut around a Popsicle. I was so upset. I knew it was a terrible idea and did it anyway.... So then everyone in the caff near by me was laughing and looking and telling me one hundred different things to do to get myself unfrozen. So i started dripping water off my finger all around my lips and then tongue until I was free. And that all happened in under two minutes, so as you might imagine my tongue was mighty cold. as were my lips. It was an experience. 

And now I'll tell a stinkin' awesome story: 

In the MTC we do this thing every week called TRC. It's basically us talking in Portuguese to member who come and volunteer. Kind of like what the missionaries do after dinner at member's houses. They share a thought and whatever. So we were doing our first one last Friday and we hadn't really prepared anything because we had just finished prepping and teaching a lesson for one of our investigators. So we were like "quick! What do we talk about??" We decided on the Book of Mormon. So We had to go in like under a minute and we were scrambling for a scripture to help in the message we were sharing. So I was like "oh Mosiah 2:41!" Because I love that one. And so we found it, read it in Port really quick, and went off. We got in with the first guy and were chatting it up and then moved into what we were talking about: The Livro de Mormon. And Sister Mapa, along the beginning, decided to ask what his favorite verse in the BOM was. He was like "um.... em Mosiah.... capitulo dois...." And me and Sister Auna were like oh sakesssssss... "O ultimo verciculo." And roughly translated that meant: the scripture we had picked out to share. So we kind of like open mouth gasp/laughed for 75 seconds because we couldn't believe that had happened, couldn't remember any Portuguese any more and couldn't decided how to handle the situation in the Portuguese that we couldn't remember. That was one of THE COOLEST teaching experiences so far. 

Also cool story: 

Richard G. Scott came and talked at last Tuesday's devotional. It was the first ever MTC broadcast. So all the MTCs all over the world were either watching live or waiting for it for the next day. It was so inspiring. Twice during the meeting, he bestowed on all the missionaries learning a new language an apostolic blessing that according to our faith we would receive the gift of tongues. Coolest thing ever. And his talk was also pretty stinkin' great too. He is such a great speaker. 

Also, side note... I realized after sending the email talking about the MTC to Travis about the cord was stupid because he is going to Mexico. And not here. So that was dumb of me. My advise probably was lame and invalid for him. But if anyone else is ever entering the Provo MTC, it is very much so a thing. 

I don't have my visa. No one in my large district has. I'm basically just counting on being reassigned. I'm ok with that. I'm actually excited for it. Then I'd have experiences in a stateside and abroad mission and that would be awesome. I mean it'll be sad not to use my Portuguese but I'm not really worried about that. I'm far enough along that I think it'd be easy to pick up again. When I'm reading t, I'm basically pro. I noticed that this last week. I can read and basically understand everything that is going on. I love that. It's so evident that I am having help from on High to be able to speak this language. I love Portuguese. Things make sense in it. I find scriptures and I love them so much more in Port. I'm pretty sure I was supposed to be born into the Portuguese language but that there was a mix up, I came to English and so now I'm catching up with destiny and learning Portuguese. I love it so much. I cannot wait to learn even more. 

It's crazy to think I've been here for basically half my time. It feels like I just got here and it also feels like I've been here for forever. I love it though. As much as one can love the MTC. Something that is sad around here is that there aren't any good days and there aren't any bad days, just good moments and bad moments. That is the truest thing I'm heard about the MTC. Everyday is filled with so many different things that you really can't say any particular day was a good day. But There are always tender mercies and the smallest blessings throughout the day that counter the moments when you are hungry or tired or worried about anything. Those good moments are the best. Especially since being hungry and tired happens quite often. We, as visa waiters, are just thrown into the schedule wherever they can fit us. Which means getting up half an hour earlier than the rest of the campus. SO I, as a person who values and needs more than 8 hours of sleep to function cheerfully and correctly throughout a day, is going off of about 7 hours by the time I fall asleep after lights out each day. This has been one struggle but it is all working out. 

I Hope all is going well back wherever you all are. Have a great day! 

Sister Damstedt

Here is a picture of the food I get to eat. It's not bad. Today's lunch (pictured) was actually SO GOOD. I enjoyed this meal thoroughly. 

A Birthday ROCK

Hey everyone!

This is the birthday rock we sisters gave an elder on his birthday. It has all five sister in my district and one set of the elders.

THis is a really big bee hive/wasp hive we found on our temple rock. It is literally the size of my face.

So things are trekking right along! I don't know what it is, but the saying, make it till Sunday is so true. After the first Sunday came the hardness didn't go away, but it was faster. Well looking back it feels faster. Everyday is long and hard and feels like three days in one that will never end... but filled with things that make it so you never want it to end but long for bed. Like the two sessions of 3 hour classes we have every day. That's great. But I'm learning so much and I can't wait to get into an actual mission field where what I'm doing is actually helping someone other than me.

My Portuguese is doing fine. I'm getting a lot better at reading than I am at speaking, but I think that's a stress thing. I can think in Port pretty well, just making it come out of my mouth is hard sometimes. But we did a pretend lesson with a tricompanionship of elders the other day and we had maybe 20 minutes to prepare... and well we did what we prepared and then they asked a question that we weren't expecting. The coolest thing ever happened: I was just like "BAM - Portuguese words" flowing out in a choppy, but very informatively confident way. I was pleased.

We finished with our first investigator last week and it was basically just a "yes I'll agree to everything so you can work on Portuguese" experience. This week, we started teaching anew one and tomorrow another new one. It is hard! Knowing what to say and then saying it is even harder... because we CAN"T yet. It's such a learning experience. I'm learning a lot about patience and rewording sentences with a limited vocabulary. It's pretty fun. I'm a miserable way.

Thanks family (and the Rews!) for the food that was sent! I was quite pleased. The hunger problem is diminishing slightly. Because of the food and because my stomach has adjusted to the food time and portions and lengths between eating. That was one of the hardest adjustments. The food is fine, but I do miss Taco bell. And baking. The cookies just aren't as good and I don't really want to eat them. So I don't. Thanks for the prayers and everything.

Dad, I am impressed to hear you found that bag all by yourself (with Mark's help I'm sure, that fashionista.) It's perfect. and the granola bars are great!

The other day I saw Sister Garrett (sp?) on campus! She is a teacher here at the MTC. She saw my name tag and approached me and it was her! With her cute little pregnant belly! I thought that was a fun thing, seeing one of the sister missionaries from back home... off and going on with their lives and having children. Well in three more months.

Also, if Travis hasn't left yet, let him know that to upload pictures here at the MTC it's a struggle. You basically need an SD card reader to get the pictures. Some cords don't work. You can buy them here around 7 dollars for the cheaper generic type but more advanced ones here are more expensive... for fancier cards or whatever. And since I don't know how much they are in the real world I can't compare. But that's something no one told me and it was a bummer and is dumb.

Every so often, I'll remember what I am: A missionary. I'll stop and smile and realize that It's finally happening. I love that. I love that I am here and that I am serving. It took me longer than most to get out here from my calling, but I did. It's funny to see people react when I say I got my call last November. They just can't even understand. And then I explain a touch and they are like "uh... oh." It's funny. Even funnier is the visa thing. EVERYONE (especially the elders) want their visas to come. They  think that the MTC in Brazil will magically be better... or easier or something. So they are silly. So the first few days that was a thing: to ask about everyone's visas and when they put it in and whatever else they felt was needed. And I'm always like, "mines been in for 8 months...." And they just widen their eyes and are like "YOU KIDDING ME?? Mine is never coming." And I say "yeah that is basically what it means."  But it's weird... everything would be so different for me if I hadn't have extended my call date... I'd be off somewhere else teaching and forgetting my port.... I wouldn't know the elders and the sisters I know.... I wouldn't have had my teachers or investigators. Sometimes I let my mind wander to that what would be different.... but then I realize it isn't different and I'm here now. I'm ready now and I'm serving now. I am a missionary. And THAT is what matters. Right now.

 God be with you all. I pray lots every day so you're in them. Exercising my Portuguese vocabulary(; Have a great day and remember God loves you and so do I! 

Bom Dia!

MY pictures: The first Sunday here was a fast Sunday...and I was SO Hungry! And then that was on our temple walk with my companions. Sister Auna is the shorter one and Sister Mapa the taller one.They are great!  More pictures will come next week!

Week One!

Hey family and friends!

Well I made it past Sunday at the MTC and let me tell you, the MTC is a place like NO OTHER. I love it, I hate it, I can't imagine being any where else.

One fun thing that happens here is dinner at 4, which means I'm starving a couple hours later. I've gone to bed hungry every night. So that's a thing. Also my feet are often swollen. from the sitting and walking that I look like bigfoot. it's great.

Also for my parents, I have two thing: one to worry about, one to not. You don't need to worry about my atendance at BYU in winter 2015, but you do need to worry about my abikity and capacity to be able to attend college. I told you and many others that I would be home in De=cember. This is false. I will not be home till January 27, 2015. So my simple counting skills are shot. I should probably just drop out of college. Mom and dad, can you contact BYU and find out how to extend my defferal?

I love the spirit that is here. We were thrown into Portuguese and had to teach our first lesson the second day. Which was way hard and kinf of awful. This place is crazy like. that. And almost every day since we've taught. I really feel like I've tripled my abilities but coming out with what I had is REALLY helpful. I'm basically a star(; But It's amazing how much more comfortable I am with Port from the 5 days that I've been studying compared to the few months I had learning prior. God is here helping me. This i Know.

I still don't have my visa, sad, but rumor has it they are going faster so fingers crossed. I can't wait to get to Brazil!

I have two companions because there are 5 sisters in my district. Sister Auna and Sister Mapa. I'm white they are Poly. So I'm the odd man out. IT's fun. I want to send pictures but I don't know how.

I'm having a great time.

Please send letters (and mom and dad that package would really make my tummy happier. hint hint. ) because that is the most exciting part of the day.... to see if anyone sent something. Also there is Dear elder. So family figure out that because it is was convenient and so fast and easy. I'd like stuff from anyone really.

I would send pictures but I can't figure it out.

Have a great week and may God be with you and bless you.

The church is true.

-Sister Damstedt