This Heart's on Fire

Hi family,

This Friday is Hump Day. It's not really important or anything. I just can't believe I have already been here for a month. You should celebrate by seeing Where the Wild Things Are, but don't tell me about it if you do, because I'll feel jealous.

A few days ago, one of the elders in my room went home. He wasn't my companion, but he was the first missionary that I met when I was still in Dallas. His parents are divorced and he said that there were family problems back home, which is apparently why he left. He spent much of his last day speaking privately with the MTC president. It was weird, though, because he told us that it looked like everything would be all right and that he would be able to stay. He didn't come to our evening class at all, and when the rest of us went back to our room, he and all of his things were gone. He left a note with his address on it, but that was it. The MTC president said that he could come back in six months, but we'll see what happens. He had a really serious girlfriend, so who knows.

Anyway, it was a pretty jarring experience. He was a good guy, and his departure was a complete shock. I'm in a trio again because he left, which is kind of a letdown. I'm with two great guys who want to learn and work hard, but everything is a little bit more difficult and inconvenient when there are three of you instead of two. We get by all right, and we're working better together every day.

The MTC is pretty uninteresting at this point because we do the same thing every day. But I am definitely progressing in my language skills and my knowledge of the gospel. Last night my district practiced teaching the second lesson in Portuguese to some Brazilian missionaries. I'm not sure how it worked out this way, but we hadn't taught a full lesson in Portuguese yet, so I was pretty nervous about it. It took me about three hours to do it, but I made it through my portion of the lesson. I wasn't using any notes or anything, so I had a pounding headache for a few hours, but I enjoyed doing it. The Brazilian missionaries are friendly and patient, and I love trying to communicate with them. It's so surreal.

I've started a little project to maintain my sanity for a while. I'm going to write down the lyrics of songs that I liked and try to translate them into Portuguese. I figure it will be a good way to learn words that I otherwise wouldn't, and I can revisit some of the music that I miss.

I don't have Annalisa's, Ben's, Wes's's's's's, or Kari's email addresses. It would be cool to include them in these emails, if they want them.

A bunch of elders from our floor left for the mission field last night. It was hard to see them go, but it just made me want to get out there more. I am enjoying my time in the MTC and constantly feeling the Spirit, but I want to get out of here and start serving people. It will be nice to have some stories to tell you guys.

Amo você!

love
elder wiggins